Language shift and host society attitudes: Dutch migrants who arrived in New Zealand between 1950 and 1965

Language shift and host society attitudes - Dutch migrants who arrived in New Zealand between 1950 and 1965 Abstract A study published in 2010 reported on past and current language use of a group of older Dutch migrants in New Zealand. Respondents interviewed for the study consisted of 30 retired Dutch migrants, all of whom had arrived in New Zealand between 1950 and 1965 when they were aged between 18 and 35 years of age. All respondents were living in the Greater Auckland area and were aged between 65 and 92 at the time of the interview. All respondents were asked questions based on a sociolinguistic life questionnaire and asked about their language use and experiences since migration. Interviews were recorded and information from interviews and questionnaires was supplemented by data collected from participants’ adult children.This paper will focus on respondents’ comments in relation to their motivation to either maintain their L1 Dutch or shift to their L2 English in the home environment. It appeared that external societal attitudes affected respondents’ language use in a number of domains, including the home environment

Improving psychological skill in trainee interpreters

The general effects of self-efficacy and explanatory style on performance have been thoroughly researched in the field of psychology. This article is based on Atkinson’s (2012) psychological skill model, which attempts to construct these factors to complement traditional conceptions of interpreter and translator skill, and apply them to interpreter and translator training. This article is a discussion of psychological skill, including factors of self-efficacy, explanatory style, and locus of control, and outlines how self-efficacy and explanatory style can become a focus of interpreter training. Resources to help students conduct self-analysis on their occupational self-efficacy and explanatory style are provided in the appendices, in the form of scales educators can use in their classes. A range of ideas are highlighted to assist students in becoming aware of their psychological skill, and pedagogical suggestions are offered for changing and improving aspects of psychological skill in students

Biases in the albedo sensitivity to deforestation in CMIP5 models and their impacts on the associated historical radiative forcing

Climate model biases in the representation of albedo variations between land cover classes contribute to uncertainties on the climate impact of land cover changes since pre-industrial times, especially on the associated radiative forcing. Recent publications of new observation-based datasets offer opportunities to investigate these biases and their impact on historical surface albedo changes in simulations from the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Conducting such an assessment is, however, complicated by the non-availability of albedo values for specific land cover classes in CMIP and the limited number of simulations isolating the land use forcing. In this study, we demonstrate the suitability of a new methodology to extract the albedo of trees and crops–grasses in standard climate model simulations. We then apply it to historical runs from 17 CMIP5 models and compare the obtained results to satellite-derived reference data. This allows us to identify substantial biases in the representation of the albedo of trees and crops–grasses as well as the surface albedo change due to the transition between these two land cover classes in the analysed models. Additionally, we reconstruct the local surface albedo changes induced by historical conversions between trees and crops–grasses for 15 CMIP5 models. This allows us to derive estimates of the albedo-induced radiative forcing from land cover changes since pre-industrial times. We find a multi-model range from 0 to −0.17 W m−2, with a mean value of −0.07 W m−2. Constraining the surface albedo response to transitions between trees and crops–grasses from the models with satellite-derived data leads to a revised multi-model mean estimate of −0.09 W m−2 but an increase in the multi-model range. However, after excluding one model with unrealistic conversion rates from trees to crops–grasses the remaining individual model results vary between −0.03 and −0.11 W m−2. These numbers are at the lower end of the range provided by the IPCC AR5 (−0.15±0.10 W m−2). The approach described in this study can be applied to other model simulations, such as those from CMIP6, especially as the evaluation diagnostic described here has been included in the ESMValTool v2.0

Digoxin treatment reactivates in vivo radioactive iodide uptake and correlates with favorable clinical outcome in non-medullary thyroid cancer

Purpose Non-medullary thyroid cancer (NMTC) treatment is based on the ability of thyroid follicular cells to accumulate radioactive iodide (RAI). However, in a subset of NMTC patients tumor dedifferentiation occurs, leading to RAI resistance. Digoxin has been demonstrated to restore iodide uptake capacity in vitro in poorly differentiated and anaplastic NMTC cells, termed redifferentiation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the in vivo effects of digoxin in TPO-Cre/LSL-Braf(V600E) mice and digoxin-treated NMTC patients. Methods Mice with thyroid cancer were subjected to 3D ultrasound for monitoring tumor growth and I-124 PET/CT for measurement of intratumoral iodide uptake. Post-mortem analyses on tumor tissues comprised gene expression profiling and measurement of intratumoral autophagy activity. Through PALGA (Dutch Pathology Registry), archived tumor material was obtained from 11 non-anaplastic NMTC patients who were using digoxin. Clinical characteristics and tumor material of these patients were compared to 11 matched control NMTC patients never treated with digoxin. Results We found that in mice, tumor growth was inhibited and I-124 accumulation was sustainably increased after short-course digoxin treatment. Post-mortem analyses revealed that digoxin treatment increased autophagy activity and enhanced expression of thyroid-specific genes in mouse tumors compared to vehicle-treated mice. Digoxin-treated NMTC patients exhibited significantly higher autophagy activity and a higher differentiation status as compared to matched control NMTC patients, and were associated with favourable clinical outcome. Conclusions These in vivo data support the hypothesis that digoxin may represent a repositioned adjunctive treatment modality that suppresses tumor growth and improves RAI sensitivity in patients with RAI-refractory NMTC.Diabetes mellitus: pathophysiological changes and therap

Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool) v2.0 - An extended set of large-scale diagnostics for quasi-operational and comprehensive evaluation of Earth system models in CMIP

The Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool) is a community diagnostics and performance metrics tool designed to improve comprehensive and routine evaluation of Earth system models (ESMs) participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). It has undergone rapid development since the first release in 2016 and is now a well-tested tool that provides end-to-end provenance tracking to ensure reproducibility. It consists of (1) an easy-to-install, well-documented Python package providing the core functionalities (ESMValCore) that performs common preprocessing operations and (2) a diagnostic part that includes tailored diagnostics and performance metrics for specific scientific applications. Here we describe large-scale diagnostics of the second major release of the tool that supports the evaluation of ESMs participating in CMIP Phase 6 (CMIP6). ESMValTool v2.0 includes a large collection of diagnostics and performance metrics for atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial variables for the mean state, trends, and variability. ESMValTool v2.0 also successfully reproduces figures from the evaluation and projections chapters of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and incorporates updates from targeted analysis packages, such as the NCAR Climate Variability Diagnostics Package for the evaluation of modes of variability, the Thermodynamic Diagnostic Tool (TheDiaTo) to evaluate the energetics of the climate system, as well as parts of AutoAssess that contains a mix of top-down performance metrics. The tool has been fully integrated into the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) infrastructure at the Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum (DKRZ) to provide evaluation results from CMIP6 model simulations shortly after the output is published to the CMIP archive. A result browser has been implemented that enables advanced monitoring of the evaluation results by a broad user community at much faster timescales than what was possible in CMIP5

Semi-authentic practices for student health interpreters

This paper will briefly describe some pedagogical tools used to provide semi-authentic practices for trainee healthcare interpreters. Such practices facilitate legitimate peripheral participation by a Community of Learners in the Community of Practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998, 2000). Special emphasis will be placed on the importance of shared pre-professional practice, and two examples of this will be described in some detail. The pedagogical tools outlined in this paper can be easily replicated by interpreter educators internationally

Thrown in the deep end: challenges of interpreting informal paramedic language

At the authors’ university, interpreting pedagogies reflect the situated-learning theories proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991) and others especially in specialized areas such as health and legal interpreting. This paper reports on a project where health interpreting students in a language-neutral cohort were given the opportunity to practise interpreting with the aid of authentic material involving paramedic-patient interactions. Authentic audiovisual clips were posted online. Pauses and blank screens were inserted at points where the speakers took turns, to allow student interpreters to record their interpretation with minimal disruption. Recordings were anonymized and detailed feedback was given by language-specific markers following performance-based criteria. Formative feedback was passed on for students to reflect on their performance. Error analysis was carried out to measure students’ performance when interpreting natural language. Student responses were gauged using pre- and post-intervention surveys. Students enjoyed being able to face actual challenges of interpreting ‘in the setting’, with the added advantage of receiving formative feedback that enabled them to reflect upon and improve their performance. One of the main challenges identified was that of interpreting informal paramedic discourse in a manner that was culturally appropriate, achieving pragmatic equivalence (Hale, 2014)

Getting their wires crossed: Interpreters and clinicians' expectations of the role of the professional interpreters in the Australian health context

The positive impact the provision of professional language services has in the health context is well documented: the greater the engagement of qualified interpreters and culturally competent health professionals, the better the health outcomes of patients with limited English proficiency. However, while most professional interpreters in Australia generally adhere to the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (2012a) Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct, a significant number appear to ignore or reject important precepts of the Code in their practice, especially if these interpreters are casual (non-inhouse) agency interpreters. Similarly, while most health professionals display an understanding of the role professional interpreters have in the health context, a number of them fail to grasp the importance of key elements of the Code of Ethics, including appropriate briefing, what should be interpreted and how, and the appropriate role boundaries of the interpreter. These findings are based on the analysis of two interpreter and two clinician surveys, both conducted in Australia.fals

The complexities of interpreting in refugee contexts: An examination of issues and practice

Interpreters working with refugees experience a complex working environment. They are sometimes required to interpret traumatic material, and those who are refugees themselves might be coping with their own traumatic histories or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This paper reports the results of a survey that investigates the interpreting experience and the vulnerability of interpreters to vicarious traumatisation or re-traumatisation. Further, it investigates the training and preparation of interpreters who are working in such environments and explores the requirements of other professionals involved with these interpreters

Teaching interpreters selfcare

Personal factors as well as the nature of certain assignments may negatively impact interpreters and cause stress. The authors sought to examine the various stressors that affect interpreters. They argue that if interpreters are able to identify a potential stressor early on, they may be able to address it through self-care. In the worst-case scenario, ongoing and unaddressed negative impact may result in burnout, at which stage professional assistance will be required and there may be long-term consequences. The authors propose an approach aimed at helping interpreters recognize signs of being negatively impacted, as well as teaching them self-care techniques, so as to reduce the deleterious effects of the stressors they face