The importance of culture in a New Zealand high school context: An exploration of whether the culture of overseas teachers is seen by students, in Years 12 and 13, to impact on the quality of their learning experiences.

New Zealand education has long been dependent on overseas teachers to fill vacancies in the secondary school system. Historically this supply of teachers tended to be from the UK, but as we move into the 21st century, the supply of teachers is now from a much wider group of countries. The focus of this work was to explore whether the multicultural nature of this workforce does have an impact on the learning experience of New Zealand students. The need for cultural responsiveness from both teachers and students is an important factor in classroom communication and teacher effectiveness. Although there is a large body of research on cultural responsiveness within New Zealand schools, there has been little research on the student's perceptions of overseas teachers' levels of cultural responsiveness. I believe that there is a need to study this aspect of the education system, given that the overseas teaching group make up a considerable percentage of teachers in the New Zealand secondary school system. The 30 students taking part in this study had experience of being taught by both New Zealand and overseas teachers and were from three high schools situated in a relatively isolated region of New Zealand. The questions asked of the students were in the form of a taped, semi-structured group interview, undertaken at the students' respective schools. The interviews focused on the students' experiences and beliefs on the quality of their learning experience. Overall, the teacher's cultural responsiveness was found to be most important to the quality of the student-teacher relationship. A secondary factor emerging was the students report that clarity was the aspect that impacted the most on the quality of individual lessons. The study adds to existing understanding of the importance of culture within the New Zealand classroom. While this study used students from the general student body rather than a specific ethnic group, the findings supported recent research undertaken with such specific ethnic groups

Inclusion and education in European countries

The focus in this report is strategies that address the disadvantages experienced byminority background students in schools within the United Kingdom (UK) and the wider policy context in which these operate. More specifically, the focus is on four groups ofstudents:• Ethnic minority students including refugee and asylum seekers' children;• Gypsy/traveller students;• Students in care (Looked After Children - LAC); and,• Linguistic minorities e.g. Gaelic, Welsh.The devolved nature of government in the UK means that while some broad principlesare common across the four nations that constitute the UK (England, Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales), the particular emphases adopted and the strategies developed tofoster social inclusion vary from one to another. In addition, there is no integrated policyfor social inclusion but rather separate policy statements for each of the categories ofdisadvantage identified in the study. All four countries within the UK have a combinationof private and state-funded schooling. In much, if not all, of this report the emphasis ison the state-funded sector

Strategies for supporting schools and teachers in order to foster social inclusion: UK interim report

The focus in this report is on those strategies used to address the disadvantages experienced by minority background students in schools within the United Kingdom (UK) and the wider policy context in which these operate. More specifically, the focus is on four groups of students: ethnic minority students including refugee and asylum seekers’ children; Gypsy/traveller students; Students in care (Looked After Children – LAC); and, linguistic minorities e.g. Gaelic, Welsh

The University of Strathclyde summer experience : the impact of a widening access residential summer programme for children in care

The Innovative Routes to Learning (IRL) unit at the University of Strathclyde ran a three-day on-campus residential programme for children from a looked after (care) background from three Glasgow City Council schools during summer 2013, designed to build pupils' academic confidence and raise their awareness of and aspiration to progress on to university. Evaluation of the programme shows very positive results in a number of areas, including pupils' aspirations and confidence to undertake university-level study, pupils' knowledge of higher education, and attitude towards school-work. Participants also benefitted greatly from working with student mentors and other young people from different areas. In order to maximise the benefits of such programmes it is important to bear in mind issues around correct targeting of participants, effective communication between stakeholders and ensuring the programme is set within an extended, co-ordinated programme of support

The gamification of cybersecurity training

Due to the rapidly and continued evolving nature of technology, there is a constant need to update police officers’ training in cyber security to ensure that the UK continues to be a secure place to live and do business. Rather than deliver traditional classroom-based training, our project assesses the effectiveness of the delivery of cyber security through the use of games based learning to simulate cybercrimes and provide training in incident response. The aim of our research is to transform the delivery of first responder training in tackling cybercrime.Through the use of a Game Jam and subsequent prototype development, we have trialed training materials that are based on serious games technology. The game poses a common incident reported to the police, for example the problem of a virtual person receiving offensive messages via Facebook and the training reflects the dialogue with that person and the technical steps to ensure that a copy of the evidence has been preserved for further investigation. Evaluation has been conducted with local police officers. Overall, this approach to the large-scale provision of training (potentially to a whole force) is shown to offer potential

On the use of serious games technology to facilitate large-scale training in cybercrime response

As technology becomes pervasive in everyday life, there are very few crimes that don’t have some ‘cyber’ element to them. The vast majority of crime now has some digital footprint; whether it’s from a CCTV camera, mobile phone or IoT device, there exists a vast range of technological devices with the ability to store digital evidence that could be of use during a criminal investigation. There is a clear requirement to ensure that digital forensic investigators have received up-to-date training on appropriate methods for the seizure, acquisition and analysis of digital devices. However, given the increasing number of crimes now involving a range of technological devices it is increasingly important for those police officers who respond to incidents of crime to have received appropriate training.The aim of our research is to transform the delivery of first responder training in tackling cybercrime.A project trialling the use of computer games technology to train officers in cybercrime response is described. A game simulating typical cybercrime scenes has been developed and its use in training first responders has been evaluated within Police Scotland. Overall, this approach to the large-scale provision of training (potentially to a whole force) is shown to offer potential

The Physiological and Performance Effects of Honey Consumption in Sport and Exercise: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Honey is a naturally occurring foodstuff composed from several mono- and di-saccharides, but predominantly, fructose (~35-40 %) and glucose (~30-35 %) together with other constituents such as water, polyphenols, vitamins and minerals. Research has identified ergogenic effects on exercise performance when such constituents have been consumed independently. Therefore, the rationale exists for a functional food containing a myriad of potentially ergogenic components to improve exercise performance. Accordingly, this review aimed to assimilate the current evidence pertaining to the performance and/or physiological responses to honey supplementation in sports and exercise settings. Methods: In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, database searches (MEDLINE, PubMed, SPORTDiscus) were conducted to locate relevant research publications. Articles were initially scanned (titles, abstract), and then 24 full texts screened in agreement with pre-defined inclusion criteria. Having excluded three records following a quality assessment, 11 studies were selected for the final review. Results: Five of the 11 studies assessed physical performance and/or physiological outcomes concomitantly across a single exercise session, while six investigated physiological responses of chronic honey supplementation over several weeks. Honey was as equally effective as high glycaemic index carbohydrates regarding the time to complete a simulated stage of the Tour de France (128.8 ± 3.5 vs. 128.3 ± 3.8 min respectively). Similar patterns have been observed in soccer, whilst running distances improved versus water alone (3420 ± 350 vs. 3120 ± 340 m). Honey ingested chronically from 20 g.d-1, or 70 g ingested ~ 90 min before exercise, attenuated oxidative biomarkers (i.e., lipid peroxidation; 2.9 ± 0.9 vs. 4.7 ± 0.8 nmol.mL-1), while pro-inflammatory interleukin cytokines (Tumour Necrosis Factor -TNF-α, IL-1β) and reduced DNA damage have been identified at several time points versus no supplementation. Increases in T-lymphocyte cells (+16.2 % vs. pre-test), antioxidant enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase) and total antioxidant capacity were also evident. Discussion and Conclusion: The evidence suggests favourable improvements to immunological biomarkers and indices of exercise induced oxidative stress following chronic honey ingestion. Similarly, acute honey supplementation demonstrated efficacy in maintaining physical performance comparable to high glycaemic index carbohydrates. Research opportunities exist to further investigate the physical performance and physiological effects of honey ingestion in the sports and exercise sciences. Researchers may wish to consider homogeneity in terms of the carbohydrate and exercise stimuli examined

Working Memory and the Suppression of Reflexive Saccades

Conscious behavioral intentions can frequently fail under conditions of attentional depletion. In attempting to trace the cognitive origin of this effect, we hypothesized that failures of action control—specifically, oculomotor movement—can result from the imposition of fronto-executive load. To evaluate this prediction, participants performed an antisaccade task while simultaneously completing a working-memory task that is known to make variable demands on prefrontal processes (n-back task, see Jonides et al., 1997). The results of two experiments are reported. As expected, antisaccade error rates were increased in accordance with the fronto-executive demands of the n-back task (Experiment 1). In addition, the debilitating effects of working-memory load were restricted to the inhibitory component of the antisaccade task (Experiment 2). These findings corroborate the view that working memory operations play a critical role in the suppression of prepotent behavioral responses.Psycholog

Structural studies on purple non-sulphur bacterial pigment-protein complexes

The B800-820 light harvesting complexes from the purple non-sulphur bacteria Rhodopseudomonas acidophila strains 7050 and 7750 are integral membrane pigment-protein complexes. They have been studied using protein crystallography and mass spectrometry in an attempt to determine the high-resolution structure and to characterise the polypeptides.The growth of the bacteria and the subsequent purification of the B800-820 complex from each of the strains of bacteria are described. Also described is the growth of crystals of both complexes, which were then exposed to x-rays in order to test their diffraction quality. No crystals were observed to diffract x-rays beyond the 3.0A resolution currently available for the LH3 complex from strain 7050 (McLuskey, 1999) and none were observed to diffract to high resolution for the LH3 complex from strain 7750. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was employed to identify any contaminating polypeptides in the purified complexes. The polypeptides and contaminants were proposed to be identifiable by comparison of theoretical masses. Fragmentation studies were carried out by the enzymatic digest of the whole complex by different proteinases. The differences in masses of the fragments produced were then used in an attempt to assign partial sequences to the polypeptides. The results from the mass spectrometry are described, showing that several polypeptides are present in sample previously thought to contain only one pair. X-ray crystallography was used to determine the structure of a reaction centre mutant from Rhodobacter sphaeroides R26-1 at 2.8A resolution. This mutant is carotenoidless, and this work was carried out in order to prove, crystallographically, the presence of a reconstituted carotenoid. The carotenoid was reconstituted chemically, with one purified from another strain of bacteria. The structure was solved using molecular replacement, with the search model being a high-resolution reaction centre structure containing a carotenoid. Several rounds of refinement were carried out with the carotenoid omitted from the search model in order to minimise model bias. The carotenoid, spheroidene, is found in the same binding pocket, and in the 15-cis confirmation as in the wild type structure (within resolution limits). A comparison of the solved reaction centre with the structure used as the search model is given

Island disaster para-diplomacy in the commonwealth

This chapter covers one particular aspect of the foreign relations of non-sovereign island jurisdictions (SNIJs), namely relations arising from disaster-related activities. Islands are among the territories most seriously affected by calamities, including the spectre of rising seas that may come with climate change. Yet non-sovereign islands are not so well equipped to speak and act effectively for themselves in the face of such threats. This may be true even within the governing structures in which these islands find themselves, but it is even more serious given the weaknesses that may exist in their capacity to speak to and act in the international community on disaster-related activities.peer-reviewe