Stormy Outlook? Domestic Students' Impressions Of International Students At An Australian University

The education of international students in Australian universities has grown significantly over recent years and Australia has the highest ratio of international students to domestic students among the major English speaking destinations popular with international students. While there is a variety of research that examines the learning experiences of international students, little research has been conducted that examines the impact that international students have on their domestic counterparts. This paper reports on research that solicits the perceived advantages and disadvantages as held by 300 domestic students who are sharing their educational experience with international students studying hospitality and tourism management. This paper identifies that there is a sizable proportion of domestic students who consider there to be too many international students on campus; that domestic and international students do not readily mix and highlights that racist incidents, while uncommon, do occur. This paper suggests that institutions wishing to increase their number of international students must take into consideration the feelings and concerns of their domestic students

Air Rage: An Emerging Challenge for the Airline Industry

Airline personnel have, increasingly, found it necessary to deal with unruly and disruptive passengers, some of whom display violent behaviour. This behaviour can result in serious injury to staff and passengers and can compromise the safety of the aircraft. Termed 'Air Rage', this phenomenon enjoys regular media attention and airlines, unions and governments are attempting initiatives to tackle this issue. This paper examines the main incidents of air rage and presents reasons why this phenomenon should come to the public eye in recent years. This paper also summarises initiatives that airlines, air transport unions and aviation authorities have introduced in an attempt to combat air rage incidents. Finally, the paper concludes by reporting on preliminary research undertaken to assess the importance of including air rage in higher education curricula and discussing the role higher education can play in better preparing graduates to deal with these situations

Linking Learning Style Preferences and Ethnicity: International Students Studying Hospitality and Tourism Management in Australia

International student enrolment at Australian higher education institutions has grown significantly over the past decade. Traditionally, many international students that study for an Australian qualification originate from Asia and a majority of these students are of Confucian culture heritage. While there is a growing body of literature that explores learning issues of Asian students involved in Australian higher education, there are examples in the literature that promote stereotypical views of the strengths and weaknesses of international students. This paper examines the individual and collective preferred learning style of a sample of Confucian heritage culture university students, analyses links between ethnic origins and preferred learning style and suggests that preferred learning styles should be taken into consideration when developing curriculum which is accessed by international students

Issues Determining the Development of Cruise Itineraries: A Focus on the Luxury Market

While the cruise industry has been identified as an ever increasingly important aspect of the wider tourism industry, this sector remains relatively under researched. Cruises have shown strong year on year growth and, in 2004, was the holiday of choice for more than 12 million tourists worldwide. Challenges facing the industry are concerned with market segmentation and the development of new and exciting ports of call. This research focuses on one aspect of the luxury cruise industry: that of the development of cruise itineraries. Specifically, this research will identify the itinerary planning process in the luxury cruise industry, determine the main issues and challenges faced when developing itineraries and finally present an overview of the influences that might shape luxury cruise itinerary planning in the future

A Comparative Study of Student Learning Styles in Hospitality and Tourism Management: A Hierarchical Perspective

Within the context of the hospitality and tourism educational environment in Australia and the UK, this paper provides a comparative analysis of the preferred learning styles of students studying hospitality and tourism programmes. Specifically, it compares the learning styles of students studying in Scotland and Australia depending on the year level of study and as such it highlights the learning style preferences displayed by students at different stages of their educational experience. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding the importance of recognising the potential changes in learning style preferences as student's progress in their studies. The paper further concludes with discussion regarding the implications of such changes for academic staff

The transformative potential of mid-term grades & feedback for student success

Midterm grades and feedback have the potential to positively impact equitable student success and retention. What if instead of treating midterm grades as one-way opportunities for summative feedback, midterm grades were framed as opportunities for two-way formative feedback. At James Madison University, this Spring 2023 research project piloted an alternative midterm grade and feedback system with 10 faculty across three colleges. The intervention included a mandatory part A that included transparent communication about the role of midterm grades in the specific class at the semester’s start and an optional part B which had the student submit their perceived midterm grade and learning goals for the semester. This presentation shares the research findings, including student, advisor, and faculty data, that suggests midterm grades and feedback can be transformative for both the student and faculty member

Meeting Potential New U.S. Climate Goals

We explore the performance of a potential addition to U.S. climate policy using authority under Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, with special attention to distributional effects among the states. This portion of the Act concerns trans-boundary air pollution, and under its provisions a national greenhouse target could be allocated among the states, with the details of state implementation optionally guided by a model rule as under other provisions of the Act. With trading allowed among the states, such a measure could lead to a national price on the covered gases. While we adopt features of a possible Section 115 implementation, the illustrative analysis is applicable to similar cap-and-trade programs that might be adopted under other authorities. We investigate the implications of such a policy using MIT’s U.S. Regional Energy Policy (USREP) model, with its electric sector replaced by the Renewable Energy Development System (ReEDS) model developed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Existing federal and state climate policies are assumed to remain in place, and a national constraint on CO2 emissions is applied to achieve 45% or 50% reductions below the 2005 level by 2030. We apply the policies in a Baseline and a Low-Cost Baseline, the latter with more aggressive assumptions of technology cost improvements. The U.S. is aggregated to 18 individual states and 12 multi-state regions, and the effects of the national emissions restriction are investigated under three alternative methods by which the EPA might allocate these targets among the states. We find the cost of achieving either target to be modest - allowing for nearly identical economic growth, even without taking account of air quality and climate benefits. The alternative allocation methods generate varying per capita revenue outcomes among states and regions and drive most of the welfare impact through a direct income effect. It is assumed that states distribute permit revenue to their residents in equal lump-sum payments, which leads to net benefits to lower income households. Under the Low-Cost Baseline, carbon prices in 2030 are about ⅓ those in the Baseline, and the overall pre-benefit welfare effects are negligible. Considering climate benefits evaluated using the social cost of carbon and particulate matter air pollution health benefits, less the mitigation costs, we find net benefits in all cases, with slightly larger net benefits with the 50% reduction below 2005 emissions

Halogenation as a tool to tune antimicrobial activity of peptoids

Abstract Antimicrobial peptides have attracted considerable interest as potential new class of antibiotics against multi-drug resistant bacteria. However, their therapeutic potential is limited, in part due to susceptibility towards enzymatic degradation and low bioavailability. Peptoids (oligomers of N -substituted glycines) demonstrate proteolytic stability and better bioavailability than corresponding peptides while in many cases retaining antibacterial activity. In this study, we synthesized a library of 36 peptoids containing fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine atoms, which vary by length and level of halogen substitution in position 4 of the phenyl rings. As we observed a clear correlation between halogenation of an inactive model peptoid and its increased antimicrobial activity, we designed chlorinated and brominated analogues of a known peptoid and its shorter counterpart. Short brominated analogues displayed up to 32-fold increase of the activity against S. aureus and 16- to 64-fold against E. coli and P. aeruginosa alongside reduced cytotoxicity. The biological effect of halogens seems to be linked to the relative hydrophobicity and self-assembly properties of the compounds. By small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) we have demontrated how the self-assembled structures are dependent on the size of the halogen, degree of substitution and length of the peptoid, and correlated these features to their activity

Placebo-controlled study in neuromyelitis optica : ethical and design considerations

BACKGROUND: To date, no treatment for neuromyelitis optica (NMO) has been granted regulatory approval, and no controlled clinical studies have been reported. OBJECTIVE: To design a placebo-controlled study in NMO that appropriately balances patient safety and clinical-scientific integrity. METHODS: We assessed the "standard of care" for NMO to establish the ethical framework for a placebo-controlled trial. We implemented measures that balance the need for scientific robustness while mitigating the risks associated with a placebo-controlled study. The medical or scientific community, patient organizations, and regulatory authorities were engaged early in discussions on this placebo-controlled study, and their input contributed to the final study design. RESULTS: The N-MOmentum study (NCT02200770) is a clinical trial that randomizes NMO patients to receive MEDI-551, a monoclonal antibody that depletes CD19+ B-cells, or placebo. The study design has received regulatory, ethical, clinical, and patient approval in over 100 clinical sites in more than 20 countries worldwide. CONCLUSION: The approach we took in the design of the N-MOmentum trial might serve as a roadmap for other rare severe diseases when there is no proven therapy and no established clinical development path

Phagocytosis in the retina promotes local insulin production in the eye

The retina is highly metabolically active, relying on glucose uptake and aerobic glycolysis. Situated in close contact to photoreceptors, a key function of cells in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is phagocytosis of damaged photoreceptor outer segments (POS). Here we identify RPE as a local source of insulin in the eye that is stimulated by POS phagocytosis. We show that Ins2 messenger RNA and insulin protein are produced by RPE cells and that this production correlates with RPE phagocytosis of POS. Genetic deletion of phagocytic receptors (‘loss of function’) reduces Ins2, whereas increasing the levels of the phagocytic receptor MerTK (‘gain of function’) increases Ins2 production in male mice. Contrary to pancreas-derived systemic insulin, RPE-derived local insulin is stimulated during starvation, which also increases RPE phagocytosis. Global or RPE-specific Ins2 gene deletion decreases retinal glucose uptake in starved male mice, dysregulates retinal physiology, causes defects in phototransduction and exacerbates photoreceptor loss in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. Collectively, these data identify RPE cells as a phagocytosis-induced local source of insulin in the retina, with the potential to influence retinal physiology and disease