Red and Blue Make Purple: Alignment of Socially Just and Neoliberal Approaches to Higher Education Internationalization

Internationalization of higher education may have “lost its way” Knight (2014), such that “the end of internationalization” may be on the horizon (Brandenburg & de Wit, 2015). Competing visions and goalsetting may be at the heart of this dissolution, and may be mirrored in both global tensions between market- and justice-based perspectives, as well as in the fragmented offices and disparate goalsetting of a large Canadian university, UX (a pseudonym). Thus, UX has a Problem of Practice wherein international supports do not work together in a concerted way to effectively support international, and perhaps other, marginalized students. In this Organizational Improvement Plan, transformative leadership will present a synergistic path forward, using Riel & Martin’s (2017) constructive alignment to distill positive elements of both perspectives, specifically informing the transformation of one such office of international support: the International Foundations Program. This vision is largely based on a wider vision of intercultural needs, including Indigenous, LGTB, and other marginalized populations alongside international within the learning community. These populations provide not only models for deeper recognition, service, and support in higher education, but also serve to expand the market for the International Foundations Program. Overall, the OIP is intended to provide leadership in UX internationalization support, with the eventual goal of restructuring internationalization offices and informing UX Internationalization policy

The Multimodal Effects of Voice-Based Asynchronous Technology-Mediated Communication on EAP Speaking Performance

This study investigates how using a voice-based Asynchronous Technology-Mediated Communication framework (ATMC) can affect English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students’ fluency, accuracy, and intelligibility. Research has highlighted the benefits of ATMC in improving various elements of spoken communication, but to date, its application to EAP contexts has been little studied. In EAP speaking/listening courses at a large Canadian university, a team of instructor-researchers developed a system to provide learners more speaking and listening practice opportunities and to give individualized video feedback (veedback) on speaking performance. The instructor-researchers used a practitioner enquiry research methodology to investigate the effectiveness of the voice-based ATMC for 14 participants, drawing upon qualitative data from student interviews and the instructor’s qualitative and quantitative assessment of the students’ responses to tasks. Findings indicate that the system resulted in overall gains in fluency, accuracy, and intelligibility due to a combination of the voice-based ATMC design, repetition and practice, and the veedback. Qualitative comments from participants indicate personalized feedback led to increased motivation. The framework described in this article, therefore, represents several important benefits for the application of voice-based ATMCs in EAP classrooms. La présente étude examine les façons dont le recours à un cadre de communication asynchrone au moyen de la technologie (ATMC) axé sur la voix peut affecter la maîtrise de la langue, la précision et l’intelligibilité chez les apprenantes et apprenants d’anglais académique. Les recherches ont fait ressortir les avantages de la communication asynchrone au moyen de la technologie pour l’amélioration de divers éléments de la communication orale, mais cette méthode d’enseignement a été peu étudiée jusqu’ici dans des contextes d’anglais académique. Les membres d’une équipe de professeurs-chercheurs actifs dans l’enseignement de l’utilisation et de l’écoute de l’anglais académique dans une grande université canadienne ont élaboré un système permettant de fournir aux apprenantes et apprenants davantage d’occasions d’apprendre à utiliser et à comprendre l’anglais académique en mettant à leur disposition un système de rétroactions personnalisées par vidéo (veedback) qui leur permet de constater la justesse de leur expression orale. L’équipe de professeurs-chercheurs a utilisé une méthodologie de recherche basée sur l’interrogation des praticiens pour examiner l’efficacité de la communication asynchrone au moyen de la technologie axée sur la voix chez 8 participantes et 6 participants à l’aide de données qualitatives obtenues lors d’entrevues avec ces derniers et d’évaluations qualitatives et quantitatives fournies par les enseignantes et enseignants relativement à la réponse des étudiantes et étudiants aux tâches qui leur étaient assignées. L’étude a permis de constater que le système produisait des avantages globaux dans les domaines de la maîtrise, de la précision et de l’intelligibilité de l’anglais académique grâce aux effets combinés de la conception du système de communication asynchrone au moyen de la technologie axé sur la voix, à la répétition, aux exercices et au veedback. Les commentaires qualitatifs fournis par les participantes et les participants indiquent que la rétroaction personnalisée faite par le système a eu un effet positif sur leur motivation. C’est donc dire que le cadre décrit dans le présent article représente plusieurs avantages importants relativement à l’utilisation d’un système de communication asynchrone au moyen de la technologie axé sur la voix dans les classes d’anglais académique

Temporal variations in English Populations of a forest insect pest, the green spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum), associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation and global warming

Based on an exceptionally long modern ecological dataset (41 years), it has been possible to show that warm weather in England associated with a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index causes the spring migration of the green spruce aphid (Elatobium abietinum), a pest species of spruce trees (Picea) to start earlier, continue for longer and contain more aphids. An upward trend in the NAO index during the period 1966-2006 is associated with an increasing population size of E. abietinum. It is important to understand the mechanisms behind the population fluctuations, because this aphid causes considerable damage to Picea plantations. Present day weather associated fluctuations in forest insect pests may be useful analogues in understanding past pest outbreaks in forests

Selection of Executive Secretary for IAS Committee Report

For a number of years the Iowa Academy has felt a growing need for more effective promotion of science and science education in the state of Iowa. The establishment of a permanent office with a salaried executive secretary is envisioned as a major step toward the accomplishment of this goal. This committee report indicates recommended procedures for making such a move by September, 1967

Holocene lake sediment core sequences from Lochnagar, Cairngorm Mts., Scotland - UK final report for CHILL-10,000

The CHILL 10,000 research objective at Lochnagar is to examine proxy data for temperature and climate conditions. Changes in lake sediment stratigraphical data can be used to reconstruct past conditions. These proxies include organic and minerogenic matter as a bulk proxy for catchment and within-lake productivity, chironomids as a proxy for air temperature, diatoms as an indicator for lake water pH, pollen as an indicator of catchment vegetation and finally biomarkers to help determine changes in proportions of organic source material within the lake mud

People and climate: holocene sediment records of environmental change in Middle Egypt: fieldwork report and initial results

The aim of this project is to reveal more about the history of Lake Qarun through a multidisciplinary environmental study. This approach primarily concerns the examination of sediment records, but also includes collection of data from archaeological sites in the Faiyum. The sedimentary history of Lake Qarun will be compared with (i) independent palaeoclimate records for the East African Highlands and the eastern Mediterranean; (ii) local evidence (including Nile alluvial and palaeo-shoreline sequences and Holocene playa deposits); and (iii) the cultural history of the Faiyum. This report describes the fieldwork performed to obtain long sediment cores for palaeolimnological analysis and presents initial results from those cores. Results will be used to construct a Geographical Information System (GIS)

Will they be back? A framework to guide rare macrophyte conservation decisions in lakes

Shallow lake restoration typically focusses on the re-establishment of macrophytes. The likelihood of a species returning to a site is contingent on dispersal, proximity to propagule sources, and the on-site propagule-bank viability. We explore the potential of palaeoecological records in combination with botanical surveys and distribution maps, to ascertain the loss of three submerged macrophytes (Littorella uniflora, Najas flexilis, and Elatine hydropiper) from, respectively, two lakes (Barton Broad, Norfolk and Esthwaite Water, Cumbria) and one lake landscape (Greater Glasgow, Scotland). We discuss re-establishment likelihood when accounting for species' autoecology and current water-chemistry conditions. L. uniflora is widespread in the United Kingdom but absent locally in Norfolk without known seed bank, hence is unlikely to naturally recolonise Barton Broad. Furthermore, current conditions are unsuitable for this species suggesting that nutrient reduction is required prior to translocation. N. flexilis is extinct in Cumbria and the long distances involved (>100 km) for recolonisation of Esthwaite Water suggest that spatial dispersal is unlikely, rendering the seed bank the last chance of natural recovery. Alternatively, translocation may be feasible. E. hydropiper is a nationally scarce species in the United Kingdom yet would have only a short dispersal distance (~10 km) to recolonise Loch Libo, hence there being no requirement for translocation. In exploring the recovery possibilities for the three focal plant species, we develop a time–space integrated framework that can be employed to guide conservation decisions for other species, enabling a more rational use of translocations in the future, in line with international guidelines

Pollen-based quantitative reconstructions of Holocene regional vegetation cover (plant-functional types and land-cover types) in Europe suitable for climate modelling

We present quantitative reconstructions of regional vegetation cover in north-western Europe, western Europe north of the Alps, and eastern Europe for five time windows in the Holocene [around 6k, 3k, 0.5k, 0.2k, and 0.05k calendar years before present (bp)] at a 1 degrees x1 degrees spatial scale with the objective of producing vegetation descriptions suitable for climate modelling. The REVEALS model was applied on 636 pollen records from lakes and bogs to reconstruct the past cover of 25 plant taxa grouped into 10 plant-functional types and three land-cover types [evergreen trees, summer-green (deciduous) trees, and open land]. The model corrects for some of the biases in pollen percentages by using pollen productivity estimates and fall speeds of pollen, and by applying simple but robust models of pollen dispersal and deposition. The emerging patterns of tree migration and deforestation between 6k bp and modern time in the REVEALS estimates agree with our general understanding of the vegetation history of Europe based on pollen percentages. However, the degree of anthropogenic deforestation (i.e. cover of cultivated and grazing land) at 3k, 0.5k, and 0.2k bp is significantly higher than deduced from pollen percentages. This is also the case at 6k in some parts of Europe, in particular Britain and Ireland. Furthermore, the relationship between summer-green and evergreen trees, and between individual tree taxa, differs significantly when expressed as pollen percentages or as REVEALS estimates of tree cover. For instance, when Pinus is dominant over Picea as pollen percentages, Picea is dominant over Pinus as REVEALS estimates. These differences play a major role in the reconstruction of European landscapes and for the study of land cover-climate interactions, biodiversity and human resources.Peer reviewe