The Challenges of Psychological Adjustment for International Students: A Critical Analysis of Coping Mechanisms and Support Services

This paper critically analyzes the challenges of psychological adjustment faced by international students and explores coping mechanisms and support services that can help them overcome these challenges. The essay first introduces the background information on international students and highlights the importance of psychological adjustment for their well-being and academic success. The challenges of psychological adjustment, including cultural, academic, social adjustment, and language barrier, are discussed in detail. The essay then explores coping mechanisms, including problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, seeking social support, and cultural adjustment programs, and the support services, including counseling services and international student services, that can help international students adjust to their new environment. Finally, the essay evaluates the effectiveness of these coping mechanisms and support services, emphasizing the importance of cultural competence in providing effective support services. This essay has practical implications for higher education institutions in providing tailored support to international students and highlights the need for future research to explore the effectiveness of coping mechanisms and support services for different groups of international students and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their psychological adjustment

The Effect of Social Isolation on the Mental Health of International Students

This paper looks into how social isolation affects international college students mental health. An increase in international students studying at colleges and universities abroad can be attributed to increased global mobility over the previous few decades. Because of this, these students struggle in certain ways to fit into their new academic and social surroundings. Among these difficulties, social isolation among overseas students has been recognized as a major issue. This essay will investigate how social isolation affects the mental health of international college students by drawing on existing studies. The various types of social isolation will be covered in the essay along with how they may affect mental health. It will also be looked at whether factors like linguistic difficulties, cultural shock, prejudice, and discrimination contribute to social isolation among overseas students. In light of the hazards to mental health posed by social isolation among international students, this presentation will offer some potential solutions. The findings of the inquiry will be utilized to create solutions that can assist overseas students in reducing the detrimental impacts of social isolation on their mental health. Compared to other groups, college students’ mental health has not been adequately researched, even though social isolation can be an emotionally and mentally damaging experience. The paper will focus on the various mental health impacts that international college students experience such as depression, anxiety, and long-term psychological harm. An analysis of existing literature on the topic, interviews with international college students, and the mental health resources available to this population are also discussed. The main findings of the research show that international college students living in a foreign country experience significant levels of social isolation due to language barriers and cultural differences

Redefining Islamic garden: comparative analysis of approaches, ideas and design framework

The term Islamic garden has been defined in various ways considering different aspects and values. These definitions draw a broader perspective to Islamic garden, a key feature of Islamic civilization throughout the history. This paper aims to analyze these views and compare them in order to reach toward a holistic definition for Islamic garden- its origin, evolution, principles and essence. Also searching for a way to revitalize the original essence and application of Islamic gardens in the contemporary societies are discussed in a brief way

Apraisal of workplace Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in office buildings at Penang Island

As the weather is quite a big challenge to Malaysia, thus the Malaysians are tending to create the living environment as comfortable as we can.Workplace environment is very important as it ensure the health, activeness and productivity of workers who work in there.To ensure an optimum working environment, the indoor environmental quality, or frankly said, the HVAC system plays a big role.The objective if this paper is to determine the current indoor environmental quality of the selected offices in Penang Island.A few parameters were determined such as temperature, humidity, air velocity, air flor, noise level and lighting condition.Through indoor environmental quality measurement, it is found that most of the offices facing the lighting and noise problem

Multiwall carbon nanotube promising route for removal of chromium from wastewater via batch column mechanism

Water pollution regarding heavy metals issue keep lingering our days from time to time, and some problems even left unattended. The most crucial cause of this pollution is the industrial waste, especially waste water that had been released into the drainage system without being treated first. This activity had been done illegally and left a huge impact towards the environment also human. In this study multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are promising route for removal of chromium was investigated. Results revealed that the optimum conditions for highest removal (99.97%) of chromium are pH7,0.04g of MWCNTs dosage, and flowrate of 20.83 mL/s. Based on adsorption isotherm for this experiment, the amount of chromium adsorbed, qm calculated was 50.51 mg of chromium/gram of MWCNTs. From the results obtained, it had been proved that MWCNTs can be used as an effective adsorbent in chromium removal from aqueous solution due to high adsorption capacity

The impact of quality management systems on construction performance in the North West of England

As the total construction output in the North West of England (NWE) is forecast to rise by an average of 2.5% over the next five years. It is imperative for organizations in the region to improve their overall construction performance, particularly if they are to hit the targets presented by UK Government in the construction 2025 report. Despite the known benefits of quality management systems (QMS) its implementation in relation to construction performance is very limited, particularly in the UK. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether QMS can affect construction performance in the NWE. A pragmatic mixed method approach of sequential explanatory strategy was adopted to conduct this research. This initially involved a quantitative approach of questionnaire surveys to gain opinions and views of a representative sample of industry professionals based in the NWE. The quantitative results were analyzed to discover relationships in the data and further formulate the questions for the qualitative interviews. Three interviews with leading industry professionals were then conducted and the data was analyzed using a thematic approach. The themes identified in the interviews were then cross-referenced with the data discovered in the questionnaire survey and literature review. The findings provide a clear indication that the implementation of a QMS has a positive effect on construction performance in the NWE. Immediate improvements in efficiency of a construction organization when implementing a QMS were discovered, including greater managerial control and the recording and reduction in defects. Long term effects of changing company attitude by setting out company requirements and responsibilities through highlighting the significance of quality, and furthermore encouraging a culture of co-operation and teamwork, were also proven to increase construction performance as time progresses. To further enhance this research the focus could be on the whole of the UK. However, a greater amount of time would be required to gain the required representative sample. Furthermore, although the questionnaire survey was distributed equally within the selected sample, a greater number of respondents working for contractors responded. Therefore, the respondents of the questionnaire survey were not equal in terms of organization (client, contractor, sub-contractor, project manager). According to the best knowledge of the authors and through searching many sources, there are no specific studies examining QMS and their effect on construction performance in the UK and particularly in the NWE. Therefore, it is believed the study is the first of its kind. The study discovered many findings that can be considered as a contribution to practice and theory. Moreover, it can be considered as a fundamental base for future studies in this research area. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in a Thai hospital: a molecular epidemiologic analysis and identification of bactericidal Polymyxin B-based combinations

BACKGROUND: Limited knowledge of the local molecular epidemiology and the paucity of new effective antibiotics has resulted in an immense challenge in the control and treatment of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Acinetobacter baumannii infections in Thailand. Antimicrobial combination regimens may be the only feasible treatment option in such cases. We sought to characterize the local molecular epidemiology and assess the bactericidal activity of various antibiotics individually and in combination against XDR A. baumannii in a Thai hospital. METHODS: All XDR A. baumannii isolates from Thammasat University Hospital were collected between October 2010 and May 2011. Susceptibility testing was conducted according to reference broth dilution methods. Pulse-field gel electrophoresis was used to genotype the isolates. Carbapenemase genes were detected using polymerase chain reaction. In vitro testing of clinically-relevant concentrations of imipenem, meropenem, doripenem, rifampicin and tigecycline alone and in combination with polymyxin B was conducted using multiple combination bactericidal testing. RESULTS: Forty-nine polymyxin B-susceptible XDR A. baumannii isolates were identified. bla(OXA-23) and bla(OXA-51) genes were detected in all isolates. Eight clonally related clusters were identified, resulting in the initiation of several infection control measures. Imipenem, meropenem, doripenem, rifampicin, and tigecycline in combination with PB respectively, exhibited bactericidal killing in 100%, 100%, 98.0%, 100% and 87.8% isolates respectively at 24 hours. CONCLUSION: Molecular epidemiologic analysis can aid the early detection of infection outbreak within the institution, resulting in the rapid containment of the outbreak. Imipenem/meropenem/rifampicin in combination with polymyxin B demonstrated consistent bactericidal effect against 49 bla(OXA-23)-harbouring XDR A. baumannii clinical isolates, suggesting a role of combination therapy in the treatment of these infections

Engineering Sciences Технические науки Modeling of Flood Water Flow: A Review 1

Abstract. A flood is an overflow of water that submerges or drowns land. In general flooding scenario, water levels rise causing areas neighboring water bodies and some road segments in these areas to be flooded and they said two aspects of flooding interest us first, the water body floods reaches a water level higher than normal causing water to flow to the surrounding areas and second, the flowing water interacts with roads, covering road segments. The primary effects of flooding include loss of life, damage to buildings and other structures roadways, and canals. Damage to roads and transport infrastructure may make it difficult to mobilize aid to those affected or to provide emergency health treatment. One of the methods to reduce the velocity of flood water flow across road is to design obstacle objects as diffuser and places it along beside road shoulder. The velocity of water flow will depends on the diffusion pattern of water. The pattern of diffused water will depends on the design of the obstacle objects. This paper will review the impacts of flooding and modeling to protect road floodin

Autonomy in Classroom Assessment: Teachers' Perceptions on the Abolition of Level 1 Biennials Examinations in Malaysian National Schools

Classroom assessment requires teachers to focus their autonomy optimally in assessment without having to be distracted by other forms of assessment, especially among level 1 teachers in primary schools in Malaysia. Three objectives of the study were set; to identify whether teachers are still conducting mid-year and end-of-year examinations for level 1 students, to identify support for the abolition of examinations for level 1 students and to identify increased autonomy in classroom assessment.  The quantitative approach was used with survey method as a data collection technique and conducted using an online questionnaire instrument.  A total of 662 teachers teaching at level 1 were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were then analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25 descriptively.  The findings of the study showed that teachers felt an increase in autonomy in classroom assessment as well as supporting the abolition of examinations for level 1 students. However, the majority of teachers still conduct biennial examinations as part of the assessment

Modeling of students online social presence on social networking sites with academic performance

Social Presence is a vital component of learning experience. This study develops a predictive model of students' online social presence on social networking sites "SNS". This study used SmartPLS software in the model development process. The study explored five facets of SP and its relationship with students' academic performance. The model is based on the survey data that collected from tertiary students in Malaysia. The findings of this study showed that there is a significant relationship between all five facets of online social presence and students' academic performance. SNS is appropriate tools that supports students' sense of social presence which contributes to better learning and academic performance. Consequently, the developed model can be used by instructional designers, instructors, and researchers to measure students' online social presence and its effect on students' academic performance