Culture shock of international students in Canada

vii, 85, 3 leaves ; 29 cm. --Although the immigrant's orientation to the Canadian way oflife forms a part of ESL classes, we still tend to think and speak separately of learning a second language and learning a new culture. Moreover, while acquisition ofESL is addressed by linguists and psychologists, very little research has occurred to date on the process of immigrant's acquisition of a new culture. And yet, it is held by many ESL teachers that the difficulties of 'learning the culture' upstage even the difficulties of learning English as a Second Language. (Disman, 1982, p. 71) As the number of international students increases in Canada and the number of English as a Second Language (ESL) students continues to grow in both private and public institutions, a demand for culture shock understanding is necessary by both teachers and educational institutions that deal with international students. "If language shock and cultural shock are not overcome and if the learner does not have sufficient and appropriate motivation and ego-permeability, then he will not fully acculturate and hence will not acquire the second language fully" (Schumann, 1981,p. 34). This study examines international students' experiences in one Canadian university. The foci of the study are to determine what factors contribute to culture shock and to explain the ways in which students deal with culture shock. The study also identifies international students' perceptions of how they feel teachers and educational institutions can improve in order to better facilitate the international students' induction into the new cultural milieu. The participants for this study were chosen through a screening survey from an "advanced" group of students at a university in Western Canada. From a group of 24 students, six were chosen to participate in a focus group interview. Each of the participants selected has been identified as having experienced some degree of culture shock

New partnerships for co-delivery of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development

Partnerships have become a corner stone of contemporary research that recognizes working across disciplines and co-production with intended users as essential to enabling sustainable resilience-building. Furthermore, research that addresses sustainable development challenges brings an urgent need to reflect on the ways that partnerships are supported, and for the disaster risk management and resilience communities, efforts to support realization of the wider 2030 Agenda for sustainable development bring particular pressures. In November 2019, the UK Disasters Research Group (DRG) brought together a number of key stakeholders focused on disaster risk, resilience, and sustainability research relevant to Official Development Assistance to consider how fit for purpose existing partnership models are for the pace of change required to deliver the priorities of the wider 2030 Agenda. Participants were invited to discuss how research partnerships across three levels (individual and project-based; national and institutional; and international) could be improved based on elements that facilitate robust partnerships and learning from aspects that hinder them. From the discussions, participants emphasized the importance of effective communication mechanisms in building partnerships, co-designing projects, and establishing shared objectives. Enhanced approaches to addressing equitable partnerships and funding more substantive timelines will be key to responding to the challenges of the 2030 Agenda

Climate change adaptation and cross-sectoral policy coherence in southern Africa

To be effective, climate change adaptation needs to be mainstreamed across multiple sectors and greater policy coherence is essential. Using the cases of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, this paper investigates the extent of coherence in national policies across the water and agriculture sectors and to climate change adaptation goals outlined in national development plans. A two-pronged qualitative approach is applied using Qualitative Document Analysis of relevant policies and plans, combined with expert interviews from non-government actors in each country. Findings show that sector policies have differing degrees of coherence on climate change adaptation, currently being strongest in Zambia and weakest in Tanzania. We also identify that sectoral policies remain more coherent in addressing immediate-term disaster management issues of floods and droughts rather than longer-term strategies for climate adaptation. Coherence between sector and climate policies and strategies is strongest when the latter has been more recently developed. However to date, this has largely been achieved by repackaging of existing sectoral policy statements into climate policies drafted by external consultants to meet international reporting needs and not by the establishment of new connections between national sectoral planning processes. For more effective mainstreaming of climate change adaptation, governments need to actively embrace longer-term cross-sectoral planning through cross-Ministerial structures, such as initiated through Zambia’s Interim Climate Change Secretariat, to foster greater policy coherence and integrated adaptation planning

Informing UK governance of resilience to climate risks: improving the local evidence-base

International assessments of evidence on climate change (e.g. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) or national climate change risk assessments (e.g. UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, CCRA) do not offer a sufficiently granular perspective on climate impacts to adequately inform governance of resilience to climate risks at the local level. Using an analysis of UK decision-makers managing and responding to heatwaves and flood risks, this paper argues how more robust local evidence is needed to inform decision-making regarding adaptation options for enhancing local resilience. We identify evidence gaps and issues relating to local climate change impacts, including sources and quality of evidence used, adequacy and accessibility of evidence available, ill-communicated evidence and conflicting or misused evidence. A lack of appreciation regarding how scientific evidence and personal judgement can mutually enhance the quality of decision-making underpins all of these gaps. Additionally, we find that the majority of evidence currently used is reductively based upon socio-economic and physical characteristics of climate risks. We argue that a step change is needed in local climate resilience that moves beyond current physical and socio-economic risk characterisation to a more inclusive co-constitution of social and politically defined climate risks at the local scale that are better aligned with the local impacts felt and needs of stakeholders

Excavations on the Route of the Dalkeith Northern Bypass, 1994-95 and 2006

An evaluation and subsequent targeted excavations were carried out along the route of the proposed A68 Dalkeith Northern Bypass by the Centre for Field Archaeology (CFA) between September 1994 and March 1995, with additional watching briefs taking place in 1997. The work was commissioned by Historic Scotland on behalf of the Roads Directorate of the Scottish Office Industry Department. The bypass was not constructed at the time, and further pre-construction mitigation work was recommended in 2005, with fieldwork being carried out in 2006-08 by CFA Archaeology Ltd, for Historic Scotland on behalf of Transport Scotland.This report describes the results of the evaluations and each excavation individually. The route traverses a narrow strip of the Lothian plain which contained several prehistoric sites (two ring-groove structures, a stone-paved area and two pit alignments), a Roman temporary camp, a post-medieval building, an 18th-century designed landscape, and two industrial sites (a brick and tile works and a coal pit engine house). Several sites also produced ephemeral remains of earlier or later date. Overall, the results indicated a settlement pattern and land use which concentrated on the sands and gravels of the river terraces, with far less settlement on the unforgiving compacted clays which otherwise characterise large parts of the road corridor

Assembling Neurospheres: Dynamics of Neural Progenitor/Stem Cell Aggregation Probed Using an Optical Trap

Optical trapping (tweezing) has been used in conjunction with fluid flow technology to dissect the mechanics and spatio-temporal dynamics of how neural progenitor/stem cells (NSCs) adhere and aggregate. Hitherto unavailable information has been obtained on the most probable minimum time (∼5 s) and most probable minimum distance of approach (4–6 µm) required for irreversible adhesion of proximate cells to occur. Our experiments also allow us to study and quantify the spatial characteristics of filopodial- and membrane-mediated adhesion, and to probe the functional dynamics of NSCs to quantify a lower limit of the adhesive force by which NSCs aggregate (∼18 pN). Our findings, which we also validate by computational modeling, have important implications for the neurosphere assay: once aggregated, neurospheres cannot disassemble merely by being subjected to shaking or by thermal effects. Our findings provide quantitative affirmation to the notion that the neurosphere assay may not be a valid measure of clonality and “stemness”. Post-adhesion dynamics were also studied and oscillatory motion in filopodia-mediated adhesion was observed. Furthermore, we have also explored the effect of the removal of calcium ions: both filopodia-mediated as well as membrane-membrane adhesion were inhibited. On the other hand, F-actin disrupted the dynamics of such adhesion events such that filopodia-mediated adhesion was inhibited but not membrane-membrane adhesion

Distinct Functional Roles of β-Tubulin Isotypes in Microtubule Arrays of Tetrahymena thermophila, a Model Single-Celled Organism

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The multi-tubulin hypothesis proposes that each tubulin isotype performs a unique role, or subset of roles, in the universe of microtubule function(s). To test this hypothesis, we are investigating the functions of the recently discovered, noncanonical β-like tubulins (BLTs) of the ciliate, <em>Tetrahymena thermophila</em>. <em>Tetrahymena</em> forms 17 distinct microtubular structures whose assembly had been thought to be based on single α- and β-isotypes. However, completion of the macronuclear genome sequence of <em>Tetrahymena</em> demonstrated that this ciliate possessed a β-tubulin multigene family: two synonymous genes (<em>BTU1</em> and <em>BTU2</em>) encode the canonical β-tubulin, BTU2, and six genes (<em>BLT1-6</em>) yield five divergent β-tubulin isotypes. In this report, we examine the structural features and functions of two of the BLTs (BLT1 and BLT4) and compare them to those of BTU2.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>With respect to BTU2, BLT1 and BLT4 had multiple sequence substitutions in their GTP-binding sites, in their interaction surfaces, and in their microtubule-targeting motifs, which together suggest that they have specialized functions. To assess the roles of these tubulins <em>in vivo</em>, we transformed <em>Tetrahymena</em> with expression vectors that direct the synthesis of GFP-tagged versions of the isotypes. We show that GFP-BLT1 and GFP-BLT4 were not detectable in somatic cilia and basal bodies, whereas GFP-BTU2 strongly labeled these structures. During cell division, GFP-BLT1 and GFP-BLT4, but not GFP-BTU2, were incorporated into the microtubule arrays of the macronucleus and into the mitotic apparatus of the micronucleus. GFP-BLT1 also participated in formation of the microtubules of the meiotic apparatus of the micronucleus during conjugation. Partitioning of the isotypes between nuclear and ciliary microtubules was confirmed biochemically.</p> <h3>Conclusion/Significance</h3><p>We conclude that <em>Tetrahymena</em> uses a family of distinct β-tubulin isotypes to construct subsets of functionally different microtubules, a result that provides strong support for the multi-tubulin hypothesis.</p> </div

Hardened institutions and disaster risk reduction

Recent research on business resilience demonstrated that there are groups of institutions that require ‘Hardening©’. This paper uses a series of models to exemplify how this might be explained. These institutions can be shown to operate in a new and challenging global context that is summarised by the ‘Godfear Model©’ and in a new risk context that is summarised by the ‘Gray Model©’. The means of operating within these contexts is defined by the ‘Gordon Model©’ and the ‘Racornir Model©’. While this is not the only way of looking at risk, resilience or hardening, integrated and contextual modelling may assist institutions to analyse sustainability opportunities and threats better. This article summarises the ‘Godfear Model©’, the ‘Gray Model©’, the ‘Gordon Model©’ and the ‘Racornir Model©’ and places them within the context of disaster risk management. A brief analysis, using case studies from varied human-induced and environmentally related disasters, outlines ways in which the three models may benefit the disaster risk management of institutions in a development environment. It is also suggested that beyond the institutions themselves development teams can use the approach to assist in assessing context, risk and management responses