The Intercultural Communication Experiences of Arab Muslims Studying in New Zealand: Academic and Social Perspectives

The number of Arab Muslim students in New Zealand has increased significantly in recent years, yet there is a lack of New Zealand studies that investigate this phenomenon. Studies that have examined the experiences of these students in Western academic contexts suggest, however, that there is a need for further investigation to understand the extent to which these students (re)construct and (re)ne¬go¬tiate their identities as a result of their intercultural communication experiences. The purpose of this study is to examine how universities’ communication practices influence the negotiation process of these students’ cultural and religious identities. In addition, the study investigates which communication practices adopted by students facilitate, or inhibit, good communication with New Zealanders. Cultural identity theory and structuration theory were used as the theoretical framework to understand the reconstruction and renegotiation of students’ cultural and religious identities. In-depth phenomenological interviews were conducted with 45 male and female participants to elicit their personal stories. Eight university administrators were also interviewed, and university documents were analysed to explore the organisational perspectives in dealing with the presence of these students. Thematic, content, and structuration analyses were conducted with the assistance of NVivo software. Given that the researcher is also an Arab Muslim student, methodological and ethical challenges (e.g., recruiting and engaging with participants, and conducting semistructured face-to-face interviews) were explored reflexively. Analysis of the data for this study suggested three main findings. First, both Islamic and cultural values guided the direction of Arab Muslim students’ daily lives. Participants noted a number of issues that reflected their emphatic, forthright identification with their own cultural and religious heritage. These issues involved insisting on the role of social networks to protect feminine identity and the integrity of people’s social reputation; the importance of consuming halal food and securing a space to perform daily prayers; the avoidance of working with the opposite sex, and avoid any university and community activities that include practices contrary to their own values. Second, the negotiation of power between universities and participants was observed. As New Zealand universities used human and nonhuman resources, they were able to wield power over participants and influence them to negotiate and reflect on their own values and norms. Participants appealed to the concept of the purification of Islam to rationalise their motivation for reflecting on and questioning their own values and norms. This reflection resulted in the adoption by students of guidelines and strategies for interaction, avoidance, and normalisation. Third, the students’ length of residence appeared to be an indicator of disiden¬ti¬fi¬cation with their own values and identification with the dominant values in matters relating to the segregation of the sexes and modesty. A redefining of concepts of gender roles, being alone, freedom, and others was observed over time. The experience of negotiating cultural and religious identities affirmed that cultural identity is constructed in the intercultural communication context as participants worked out a sort of two identities which combines elements from the old and the new. The study contributes significantly to existing research on intercultural communication by hearing Arab Muslim students’ voices on issues that arise as they encounter new cultural values, seek to maintain their cultural and religious identities, and navigate between home and host values. Among significant contributions to theoretical knowledge, we can include conceptualising the gender roles, being alone in a Western country, gender relations, segregation of the sexes, modesty, freedom, hijab, and personal freedom. In particular, the study enriches the extant literature examining the negotiation process of individual identity from the structuration and cultural identity point of view. In addition to these contributions, implications were drawn for educational institutions, government policies, and future Arab Muslim students to help them obtain constructive intercultural communication experiences in a dominant culture. The suggestion for future studies was made to further explore the role of female gender and length of residency in the reconstruction and renegotiation of cultural identity

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF RELATIVIZATION IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC WITH REFERENCE TO TRANSLATION PEDAGOGY

ABSTRACT This thesis presents a theoretical overview of relativization in English, relativization in Arabic, and contrasts between them. It also investigates the problems encountered by fourth-year English department students of El-Mergib University in Libya in translating relative clauses from English into Arabic and vice versa. Despite the fact that some studies have been conducted that include relativization in English and Arabic, none of them could be considered comprehensive. Therefore, this thesis presents a detailed discussion of relativization in both languages and examines translation between them. It can also be considered as an attempt to suggest a link between contrastive linguistics and translation studies. It also aims to persuade the officials of the University of El-Mergib to revise the teaching programme at the department of English and/or to establish a new programme in which translation is taught as a separate course. This is shown in the remedial solutions suggested in the conclusion chapter of this thesis. The thesis comprises seven chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to the study. Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature on contrastive studies and relativization in the world’s languages with an emphasis on English-Arabic relativization. Chapter Three presents a theoretical discussion of translation theories, pedagogy, and assessment. Chapter Four gives a theoretical background to relativization in English, relativization in Arabic, and a contrastive study between them. Chapter Five presents the research methodology and design. Chapter Six presents the quantitative and qualitative data analysis. This chapter is the empirical part of the research. It focuses on the description of students’ errors. Chapter Seven (the last one) deals with the conclusion, presents some remedial solutions, gives some recommendations for the University of El-Mergib to overcome the students’ difficulties in translating relative clauses from English into Arabic and vice versa, and suggests some topics for further research

Removal of selected heavy metals from wash water generated from ready-mix concrete trucks, Dubai, UAE.

Dubai is one of seven Emirates that form the United Arab Emirates. The Emirate of Dubai is currently undergoing a fast-paced construction boom that involves huge amounts of concrete mixes. Such mixes are usually delivered to the site in ready form. The major environmental issue with ready-mix concrete production around the world is water pollution. The wash water generated from ready-mix concrete trucks is extremely alkaline and contains significant levels of heavy metals. Removal of heavy metals from the wash water is an environmental problem and economic concern. This demonstrates the urgent need for safe, feasible and economical methods for the elimination of heavy metals from the wash water. The present study aims at characterizing the heavy metals present in the ready-mix concrete wash water with high levels in addition to investigating the most efficient technologies of removing them. It is concluded from this study that (1) the possible source of potentially toxic heavy metals in the wash water was the cement sample, (2) high levels of Chromium (Cr) and Strontium (Sr) were found in the wash water with concentrations as high as 2.04 mg/L and 12.21 mg/L, respectively, (3) chemical precipitation was the most efficient technique to remove both the Chromium and Strontium from the wash water, (4) Barium Chloride lowered the Chromium to less than 0.03 mg/L while Disodium Hydrogen Phosphate lowered the Strontium to less than 0.2 mg/L. A conceptual design of a small treatment plant for the ready-mix concrete wash water is proposed

Studies on Stable Crack Growth

The goal of this work is to experimentally investigate the stable crack growth (SCG) fracture behavior of AISI 4340 alloy steel. A series of mode I and mixed mode SCG fracture tests were carried out on 8 mm thick compact tension (CT) specimens subjected to quasistatic loading. The wire cutting technique was used to introduce a pre-notch/ pre-crack of 0.05 mm root radius to the specimen. Five different loading angles Ψ between the loading axis and the crack surface were employed; 90° (mode I), 75°, 65°, 60° and 50°. Five different ratios of original crack length to specimen width ao/w were also employed, 0.41, 0.42, 0.43, 0.44 and 0.45. Different combinations of Ψ and ao/w were used. Data concerned with direction of initial crack extension load-load line displacement (L-LLD) diagrams, initiation and maximum loads, range of stable crack growth, crack blunting, crack front geometry, fracture surfaces, and scanning electron microscope fracto graphs were obtained. A noticeable blunting was observed prior the crack initiation. Although the crack commences its growth from a pre-notch / pre-crack of a straight front it has a considerable tunneling at each stage of stable crack growth. In mixed mode, the crack takes place along a straight-line path initially, inclined with the main crack at an angle equal to the direction of crack extension. The loading angle Ψ and the initial crack length to the specimen width ao/w ratio affect the SCG fracture behavior significantly. The direction of initial stable crack extension was determined through an elastic finite element analysis. There was reasonably good agreement between the experimental and the predicted results

A critical evaluation on combating child sexual abuse and the limitations of international law: a case study of United Arab Emirates

Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime. It consists of a variety of pernicious practices which include, but are not limited to, online child pornography, rape and incest. Globally, an estimated 15 million female adolescents have been coerced into sex during their lifetime, whilst the figure for boys is unknown.1 In many instances, this crime is perpetrated by those who are closest to the victims. Child victims may be severely traumatised and as a result become dysfunctional members of society. Child sexual abuse harms the very fabric of society and society thus pays a heavy price for continuing to tolerate this crime. As such, as this crime predominantly takes place behind closed doors and victims only very rarely report cases,2 a comprehensive legislative and policy approach must be adopted in order to effectively combat child sexual abuse. Legislators around the world as well as the international community must therefore make combating child sexual abuse a priority. However, the question arises whether there exist difficulties and weaknesses within international law which contribute to the persistent problem of child sexual abuse. Accordingly, this research probes whether international law accords adequate protection to the rights of the children and, if not, whether it fails to adequately protect children from sexual abuse. For this purpose, a detailed examination of relevant UAE laws is undertaken in the form of a case study. It is argued that international law has failed to clearly establish norms and also lacks enforcement mechanisms. The main international instrument, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, fails to determine the age of the child. Instead, it empowers domestic law to do this. Other shortcomings also limit the effectiveness of international law, particularly implementation issues. In the context of the UAE, the fundamental problem is that cultural values entrenched in Islamic criminal and family law have not shown an understanding of the child sexual abuse paradigm. Instead, the honour ideology has been reinforced

Praziquantel coverage in schools and communities targeted for the elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis in Zanzibar: a cross-sectional survey

© 2015 Knopp et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. The attached file is the published version of the article

Improvement of Tuberculosis Laboratory Capacity on Pemba Island, Zanzibar: A Health Cooperation Project.

Low-income countries with high Tuberculosis burden have few reference laboratories able to perform TB culture. In 2006, the Zanzibar National TB Control Programme planned to decentralize TB diagnostics. The Italian Cooperation Agency with the scientific support of the "L. Spallanzani" National Institute for Infectious Diseases sustained the project through the implementation of a TB reference laboratory in a low-income country with a high prevalence of TB. The implementation steps were: 1) TB laboratory design according to the WHO standards; 2) laboratory equipment and reagent supplies for microscopy, cultures, and identification; 3) on-the-job training of the local staff; 4) web- and telemedicine-based supervision. From April 2007 to December 2010, 921 sputum samples were received from 40 peripheral laboratories: 120 TB cases were diagnosed. Of all the smear-positive cases, 74.2% were culture-positive. During the year 2010, the smear positive to culture positive rate increased up to 100%. In March 20, 2010 the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Zanzibar officially recognized the Public Health Laboratory- Ivo de Carneri as the National TB Reference Laboratory for the Zanzibar Archipelago. An advanced TB laboratory can represent a low cost solution to strengthen the TB diagnosis, to provide capacity building and mid-term sustainability

Fresh And Mechanical Properties Of Concrete With Replaced Coarse Aggregate By E-Waste

The environment, natural resources, and waste recycling must all be preserved in today's world. One of the world's most serious environmental challenges is the toxic nature of electrical (E) waste. As a realistic means of disposing of E-waste and reducing the extraction of natural aggregate using E-waste as aggregate in concrete, hence reduces harm to the environment and aids in sustainable development. Therefore, in this study, the fresh and mechanical properties of mixtures with replacing coarse aggregate by nonmetallic printed circuit board (NMPCB) in volume ratios of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%. The experimental results indicated that the density, slump value, concrete compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and rebound number were reduced in various ratios by increasing the replacement ratio of NMPCB. These results may be attributed to the low strength, flakiness shape, and smooth surface of NMPCB particles compared to coarse aggregate. Moreover, the replacement of E-waste by up to about (10-20) % does not significantly reduce the mechanical properties. Therefore, it is a good alternative material for lowering aggregate usage, which lowers the cost of materials and is an eco-friendly way to dispose of E-waste

Management of Esophageal Foreign Bodies, retrospective study.

Background: Foreign body impaction in the esophagus is a common problem. Our Objective is to draw conclusions from a retrospective over viewing a number of cases to assess current methods of management and to come out with recommendation from collected experience. Patient and method: A retrospective study of (62) patients admitted to the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Medical City Teaching Hospital from January 2002 to December 2004 with history of foreign body swallowing and impaction. Six patients excluded from the (62) patients after having negative esophgoscpic findings. On presentation, history about type and time of ingestion, associated signs and symptoms were recorded, x- ray was taken. Rigid esophagoscopy or direct laryngoscopy and Magill forceps has been used. After the procedure completion, type and site of the foreign body and state of esophageal mucosa at the site of impaction were recorded. Chest Xray done postoperatively in certain patients when we had peroperative findings of bleeding, suspicion of perforation. All patients except 2 were discharged within 24 hours after the procedure. Results: The results showed that the commonest age group was among children between 1-10 years (27) patients, and 77% of the patients presented with dysphagia as the most common presenting symptom, site of impaction mostly in upper third of esophagus 68%, and 68% of the FB were radiopaque. Types of the FB were versatile but 50% of them were metalic objects. Conclusion: Esophageal FB is a common problem especially among children; it requires urgent intervention because of its deleterious complications if left untreated.Suspecion is enough indication especially in children. Management requires good experience in using the appropriate tools like Magill forceps, which is safe and quick in good hands