Intertextual Episodes in Lectures: A Classification from the Perspective of Incidental Learning from Reading

In a parallel language environment it is important that teaching takes account of both the languages students are expected to work in.  Lectures in the mother tongue need to offer access to textbooks in English and encouragement to read. This paper describes a preliminary study for an investigation of the extent to which they actually do so. A corpus of lectures in English for mainly L1 English students (from BASE and MICASE)  was examined for the types of reference to reading which occur, classified by their potential usefulness for access and encouragement. Such references were called ‘intertextual episodes’. Seven preliminary categories of intertextual episode were identified.  In some disciplines the text is the topic of the lecture rather than a medium for information on the topic, and this category was not pursued further. In the remaining six the text was a medium for information about the text. Three of them involved management, of texts by the lecturer her/him self, of student writing, or of student reading. The remaining three involved reference to the content of the text either introducing to students, reporting its content, or, really the most interesting category, relativizing it and thus potentially encouraging critical reading. Straightforward reporting that certain content was in the text at a certain point was the most common type, followed by management of student reading. Relativization was relatively infrequent. The exercise has provided us with categories which can be used for an experimental phase where the effect of different types of reference can be tested, and for observation of the references actually used in L1 lectures in a parallel-language environment

Meaning and Impact of Board and Staff Diversity in the Philanthropic Field: Findings from a National Study

The report's premise is that the staffs and boards of philanthropic institutions have not kept pace with the general population in terms of diversity, and that if responsiveness and diversity are linked, then foundations must attend to their internal diversity if they wish to offer a more credible outreach to diverse communities. It seeks to find answers to the following questions: What is the empirical reality that grounds these conjectures? Can we quantify the changes in foundation staffing? How well represented are different identity groups within the field, and how do members of these diverse groups fare in their career advancement? How do different types of foundations address inclusiveness, and what are examples of practices that lead to successful implementation of staff and board diversity? The report is the result of a multi-stage research project that combined surveys, interviews, and focus groups to reach more than 600 grantmakers nationwide

Adaptive resource use in a re-introduced black rhinoceros population

Ph. D, Faculty of Science, University of Witwatersrand, 2011The aim of biological management for black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) conservation is to maximise meta-population growth rates to aid species recovery. This research investigated how adaptive resource use in response to seasonal variation in resource availability could affect maximum productive habitat capacity for this critically endangered species. Analysis was based on a population of rhinos which had shown excellent annual growth rates and low inter-calving intervals since re-introduction to Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape of South Africa in 1995. Acacia haematoxylon, a semi-evergreen species, was identified as the key resource forming the majority of diet contents during the late dry season. Use of this species resulted in a low level of seasonal variation in dietary contents of energy and protein. During the data collection period, energy and protein gains of individual female rhinos were estimated to exceed maximum requirements for reproduction throughout the seasonal cycle. An experiment designed to test the compensatory growth response of A. haematoxylon found that clipping trees in a way that simulated rhino browsing stimulated an increased growth response in the following wet season. This response indicated potential for a facilitatory relationship in the short term. A large proportion of the available area at Tswalu was not used by black rhinos. Home range location and habitat type selection within home ranges during the dry season were positively associated with two shrubveld habitat types containing greater A. haematoxylon biomass than other habitat types. Results from all aspects of field data analysis emphasized the importance of A. haematoxylon as the key dry season resource for black rhino at Tswalu. Field data were used to develop a conceptual model of how seasonally adaptive resource use by black rhinos could determine maximum productive habitat capacity. The crux of the model was to estimate the highest population density at which female rhinos could attain maximum energetic gains for reproduction throughout the entire seasonal cycle. The most limiting period was the nutritional bottleneck during the late dry season. The rationale behind this approach was to enable females to maintain body condition and be capable of meeting nutritional requirements for reproduction throughout the year, thus minimizing inter-calving intervals and maximising population growth rates. Model projections indicated that female rhinos could not attain energy gains for reproduction throughout the dry season in certain habitat types due to low availability of A. haematoxylon. However, model outputs indicated potential for an increase in rhino density by approximately one third in the two favoured shrubveld habitat types, assuming that habitat conditions remained unchanged. Availability of semi-evergreen A. haematoxylon was identified as the key vegetation component determining maximum productive habitat capacity for black rhino at Tswalu. Monitoring available biomass of this species at the end of the dry season could provide a simple plant-based indicator of how close the population is to maximum productive habitat capacity. Managing rhino densities in fenced reserves elsewhere around spatial and temporal availability of key resources may assist in achieving black rhino conservation goals of maximising metapopulation growth rates. Joanne Aileen Sha

Intertextual Episodes in Lectures: A Classification from the Perspective of Incidental Learning from Reading

In a parallel language environment it is important that teaching takes account of both the languages students are expected to work in. Lectures in the mother tongue need to offer access to textbooks in English and encouragement to read. This paper describes a preliminary study for an investigation of the extent to which they actually do so. A corpus of lectures in English for mainly L1 English students (from BASE and MICASE)  was examined for the types of reference to reading which occur, classified by their potential usefulness for access and encouragement. Such references were called ‘intertextual episodes’. Seven preliminary categories of intertextual episode were identified.  In some disciplines the text is the topic of the lecture rather than a medium for information on the topic, and this category was not pursued further. In the remaining six the text was a medium for information about the topic. Three of them involved management, of texts by the lecturer her/himself, of student writing, or of student reading. The remaining three involved reference to the content of the text either introducing it to students, reporting its content, or, really the most interesting category, relativizing it and thus potentially encouraging critical reading. Straightforward reporting that certain content was in the text at a certain point was the most common type, followed by management of student reading. Relativization was relatively infrequent. The exercise has provided us with categories which can be used for an experimental phase where the effect of different types of reference can be tested, and for observation of the references actually used in L1 lectures in a parallel-language environment

Youth Volunteering: New Norms for Policy and Practice

Young people engaging in volunteering are encountering some of the greatest, unanticipated challenges facing society in decades including the impact of Covid-19, the rise in extreme poverty and an increase in the number of migrants and displaced persons globally. Youth volunteering is understood as embracing a wide range of civic and societal objectives. It acts to encourage young people to become active citizens and agents of positive change for communities. It has a role in providing developmental opportunities to young people including pathways to education, training and work. While some characterisations of volunteering highlight benefits it accords at the individual level, increasingly, policy responses are focusing on the ‘other-oriented’ elements that contribute to an inclusive, committed and tolerant society. This paper examines the potential role of volunteering in fostering a culture of citizenship, democracy and social cohesion among youth, in particular, an emerging focus on empathy and global consciousness as key elements of policy and practice

English for Academic Purposes at Swedish universities: Teachers’ objectives and practices

In a parallel-language environment the use of textbooks in English in courses otherwise in the local language is naturalized and not widely discussed or questioned. The aim of this study was to elicit the attitudes and syllabus infrastructure that underlie the practice. A large-scale survey was carried out and answers were obtained from over 20% of teachers at Swedish universities. Results confirmed that a majority regarded English as important during and/or after university studies and showed that they considered the use of Englishlanguage textbooks as providing a useful opportunity for incidental language learning. In strong contrast to the situation in a content and language integrated learning environment, only a small minority of courses were reported to have any specified learning outcome related to English. Open answers showed awareness of the benefits and risks of parallel-language practices, but no interest in making aims explicit. In our view, there is no contradiction between incidental learning and explicit aims, and course aims which remain implicit make rational planning and constructive alignment more difficult. They also inhibit discussion of appropriate methodology

Comparison of microbial signatures between paired faecal and rectal biopsy samples from healthy volunteers using next-generation sequencing and culturomics

Acknowledgements We are indebted to our volunteers for providing the faecal and biopsy samples without which this study would not have been possible. We thank the members of the Rowett Gut Health research team for discussions and advice. The authors thank the Centre for Genome Enabled Biology and Medicine for Illumina sequencing and useful discussions. Funding This work was supported by funding from Probi AB (Grant Ref: RG14104). The Rowett Institute (University of Aberdeen) receives financial support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Learning subject-specific L2 terminology:The effect of medium and order of exposure

In the globalised university environment, many university students are expected to learn subject-specific terminology in both the local language and the L2 (English) by learning from two media in two different languages: lectures in the local language and reading in L2 English. These students' bilingual learning is greatly affected by the learning strategies they employ. An experiment was designed to investigate the effects of student choice of learning media and the order of media on their learning and perception of learning of terminology in English. The results confirm that added exposure to terminology in different media, even in different languages, contributes to learning and show that, in some circumstances, learning terminology from reading may be more effective than learning it from a lecture. The results also show that students do not correctly judge their knowledge of terms learnt from different media in different languages and that they underestimate knowledge gained from reading in L2. Implications for teaching are discussed

AccessRI

AccessRI, a studio team comprised of ten graduate students in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College, was commissioned by New York State Senator José M. Serrano to identify and provide strategies to address residents’ concerns regarding the quality of life on Roosevelt Island. Roosevelt Island, located between Manhattan and Queens in the East River, is an exceptional place within the varied fabric of New York City. The island provides its residents with an existence apart from the typical hassles associated with urban life, yet its proximity to the rest of the city allows residents to partake in countless amenities. Not only does the island possess a unique geographic location, but its history as a master-planned community has helped to create its distinct character, while simultaneously creating many challenges. Roosevelt Island was virtually abandoned after decades of service as a place for New York’s sick and infirmed. The city, under the Lindsay administration, embarked on an ambitious redevelopment plan. The master plan designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1969, utilized the island’s exceptional views and established a framework for an idealized, “auto-free,” mixed-use development. The development scheme included low and moderate-income housing, a parking garage, the preservation of six historic structures, abundant public spaces and a commercial corridor. The original master plan successfully established a distinctive community that enjoys some of the finest views and greatest amounts of open space that the city has to offer. Yet despite these advantages, the current residents of the island are struggling with a myriad of issues that range from problems caused by aging and neglected infrastructure to demographic and social changes resulting from an influx of residents moving into newly built or renovated residential developments. These concerns are coupled with residents’ perceptions of inadequate governance, that result in the feeling that their concerns are ignored and will never be addressed. Through initial investigation, AccessRI found that the best way to assist residents in improving their quality of life would be to improve access to the facilities and services necessary for well-being