Working in the border zone: Developing cultural competence in higher education for a globalized world

© 2014 by the Contemporary Science Association, New York. In this paper we examine the tension between the educational needs of a globalized world and the institutional structures of a globalized education system. One of the most important consequences of the current discipline-based education system is a missed opportunity to encourage reflexive thinking about discipline-based normative assumptions and world views. We argue that this is one of the conditions necessary for producing researchers and students who are culturally competent: able to engage with the community in messy non-disciplinespecific problems, critique and integrate information from many knowledge sources and work collaboratively. We report on two case studies in Indigenous Australia and the Pacific: projects that involved students and that demonstrate the special quality and value of cultural competence and its connection with work across, and beyond, academic disciplines

Dilemmas of transgression: ethical responses in a more-than-human world

To transgress is ‘to do something that is not allowed’; in a human-constructed world, animals, especially those seen as ‘incompanionate’, are often deemed to be doing something not allowed. We explore the ethical dilemmas of ‘transgression’ in the context of critical reflection on an instructive example of dingo–human relations on Fraser Island, Australia, which has incited ongoing debate from diverse publics about the killing of ‘problem’ dingoes. We outline the historical and ethical complexity of such relations and suggest that human–nonhuman encounters,direct or indirect, have the potential to produce new, less anthropocentric topologies in which transgression is reconstructed, and humans and animals can share space more equitably. The kind of knowledge and ethical re-positioning beginning to emerge in dingo–human relations suggests transgression itself as a metaphor for its further re-imagining: a disruption of spatial, emotional and ethical boundaries to shape more responsive, respectful and less anthropocentric topologies

Simple Calculations to Reduce Litigation Costs in Personal Injury Cases: Additional Empirical Support for the Offset Rule

This article demonstrates that if the nominal rate of interest equals the growth rate of nominal earnings, then a strong case can be made for calculating lump-sum damage awards by using the offset rule, i.e., by simply multiplying the annual loss by the number of years the loss is expected to continue. An examination of the Canadian data not only supports the offset rule, but also suggests that plaintiffs are being systematically undercompensated by rules currently in use

JLIN: A java based linkage disequilibrium plotter

BACKGROUND: A great deal of effort and expense are being expended internationally in attempts to detect genetic polymorphisms contributing to susceptibility to complex human disease. Techniques such as Linkage Disequilibrium mapping are being increasingly used to examine and compare markers across increasingly large datasets. Visualisation techniques are becoming essential to analyse the ever-growing volume of data and results available with any given analysis. RESULTS: JLIN (Java LINkage disequilibrium plotter) is a software package designed for customisable, intuitive visualisation of Linkage Disequilibrium (LD) across all common computing platforms. Customisation allows the user to choose particular visualisations, statistical measures and measurement ranges. JLIN also allows the user to export images of the LD visualisation in several common document formats. CONCLUSION: JLIN allows the user to visually compare and contrast the results of a range of statistical measures on the input dataset(s). These measures include the commonly used D' and r(2 )statistics and empirical p-values. JLIN has a number of unique and novel features that improve on existing LD visualisation tools

Genome-wide linkage and association mapping of disease genes with the GAW14 simulated datasets

We combined the results of whole-genome linkage and association analyses to determine which markers were most strongly associated with Kofendrerd Personality Disorder. Using replicate 1 from the Genetic Analysis Workshop 14 Aipotu, Karangar, Danacaa, and New York City simulated populations, we determined that several markers showed significant linkage and association with disease status. We used both SNP and microsatellite markers to determine patterns and chromosomal regions of markers. Three consistently associated markers were C01R0050, C03R0280, and C10R0882. Using generalized linear mixed models, we modelled the effect of the three predefined phenotypic categories on disease status and concluded that the phenotypes defining the "anxiety-related" category best predicted the outcome

High Tensile Permanent Electric Fence, Planning and Design

This fact sheet provides detailed information about planning and designing a permanent electric fence

High Tensile Permanent Electric Fence, Electrifying the Fence

This fact sheet discusses the proper way to energize or power the high tensile fence so livestock will respect its boundaries

High Tensile Permanent Electric Fence, Installation

This fact sheet details important installation steps to follow to ensure a durable and long-lasting high-tensile electric fence.

Working in the border zone: developing cultural competence in higher education for a globalized world

In this chapter we examine the tension between the educational needs of a globalized world and the institutional structures of a globalized education system. The globalized education system encompasses market-driven funding arrangements for both research and teaching in higher education, which depend on international ratings systems structured around traditional discipline areas. The development of these competitive market structures has resulted in the removal by institutions of 'unsuccessful' disciplines, and a risk-averse approach to cross-disciplinary, problem-focused research and curricula. One of the most important consequences of this discipline-based education system is a missed opportunity to encourage reflexive thinking about discipline-based normative assumptions and world views. An advantage of interdisciplinary work is that it casts new light on the practitioner’s own discipline, as well as enabling a critique of assumptions in other disciplines. A reflexive and critical approach to disciplinary knowledge is, we propose, one of the conditions necessary for cultural competence in both researchers and students. Yet just as it is now argued that the globalized world needs graduates who are culturally competent - cross-culturally aware, reflexive, engaged with community in messy non-discipline-specific problems, able to critique and integrate information from many knowledge sources and work collaboratively – the competitive global education system increasingly marginalizes the cultural and structural contexts which foster such cultural competence. We provide two case studies in Indigenous Australia and the Pacific: both involve students and demonstrate the special quality and value of cultural competence and its connection with work across, and beyond, academic disciplines. We conclude that, while the political economy of the globalized education system is largely inimical to interdisciplinary work and the development of cultural competence, catalysing and supporting these processes is the responsibility of higher education institutions in a globalized world