An analysis of friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, and satisfaction levels of international students

International students continue to grow in number worldwide, prompting researchers to look for ways to make the study abroad experience more fruitful. One avenue of research has focused on friendship formation, the significant role it plays in the study abroad experience, and the unique friendship combinations made possible by the study abroad experience. International students form friendships with individuals from their own country, from other countries, and from the host country. Research has found that international students often have more friends from their home country; however, research has also demonstrated a relationship between having more host country friends and satisfaction, contentment, decreased homesickness, and social connectedness. The current study looks to further explore these relationships through a social network lens by examining friendship network ratios, strength, and variability of the three friendship groups. A friendship network grid was developed to assess where international students’ friends are from and how strong those friendships are. Eighty four international students completed a survey examining the relationship between friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, contentment, and satisfaction. Contrary to prior research, international students did not report having a higher ratio of individuals from their home country in their friendship networks. However, international students with a higher ratio of individuals from the host country in their network claimed to be more satisfied, content, and less homesick. Furthermore, participants who reported more friendship variability with host country individuals described themselves as more satisfied, content, and more socially connected. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

He Asked Me What!?—Using Shared Online Accounts as Training Tools for Distance Learning Librarians

ABSTRACT

This study explores the idea of creating a knowledge base from shared online accounts to use in training librarians who perform distance reference services. Through a survey, follow-up interviews and a case study, the investigators explored current and potential use of shared online accounts as training tools. This study revealed that the participants viewed the concept positively, but many encountered barriers to effectively employing a local knowledge base as a training tool.     

Technology at Washington University School of Medicine Library: BACS, PHILSOM, and OCTANET

A brief overview of the Bibliographic Access and Control System developed by the Washington University School of Medicine Library is presented. Because the system has been described in two previous reports, this paper focuses on its relationship to other automated programs (i.e., PHILSOM and OCTANET), education of users, evaluation of the system, and outreach to the medical center. In operation for more than two years, BACS represents the computerization of much of the managerial and operational functions of the library, and marks the completion of stage 1 of the three stages of library evolution described in the AAMC report Academic Information in the Academic Health Sciences Center: Roles for the Library in Information Management.     

Physiological correlates to off-road cycling performance

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between maximal and submaximal tests for aerobic fitness and performance in an off-road cross-country circuit race. Thirteen competitive off-road male cyclists participated in the study. Peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak), peak power output, and lactate thresholds corresponding to 1 mmol x l(-1) above baseline (lactate threshold) and to 4 mmol x l(-1) (onset of blood lactate accumulation) were measured during an incremental cycling test. Race time and final ranking within the same group of cyclists were determined during a cross-country off-road competition. All correlations between the measured parameters of aerobic fitness and off-road cycling performance were significant, particularly between race time and physiological parameters scaled to body mass0.79 (r = -0.68 to -0.94; P < 0.05) and between final ranking and physiological parameters expressed relative to body mass0.79 (r = -0.81 to - 0.96; P < 0.001). Moreover, there was a large difference (effect sizes = 1.12-1.70) in all measured parameters of aerobic fitness between the group of six cyclists with a race time above the median and the group of six cyclists with a race time below the median (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study provide empirical support to the widespread use of these maximal (VO2peak, peak power output) and submaximal (lactate thresholds) parameters of aerobic fitness in the physiological assessments of off-road cyclists. Furthermore, our results suggest body size should be taken into account when evaluating such athletes.     

How Web 2.0 is Changing the Nature of Museum Work

Abstract George Brown Goode, a former Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian in the late 1880s, said that the nature of museum work is not only knowledge creation, but also knowledge dissemination, and, ultimately, learning: “The museum likewise must, in order to perform its proper functions, contribute to the advancement of learning through the increase as well as through the diffusion of knowledge” (1991, 337). Elaine Heumann Gurian noted that: “The use of the Internet will inevitably change museums. How museums respond to multiple sources of information found on the Web and who on staff will be responsible for orchestrating this change is not yet clear. The change, when it comes, will not be merely technological but at its core philosophical” (2010, 95). The catalyst for this change—and for accelerating the pace of change—is Web 2.0.     

Voting Power on School Governing Boards: The Countenance of Proportionality

Acknowledging the realities and responsibilities of power is a precondition to using it wisely. The claim that there has been a shift in power away from the formal providers of education towards the individual consumer is one that needs closer investigation. This paper uses the mathematics of cooperative multiperson game theory to analyse the relative strengths of the various representative groupings on three different models of school governing bodies. Only a basic knowledge of mathematics is assumed as the various coalitions are analysed and compared, and conclusions drawn about the relative power of major and minor factions. Voting strategies, suggested payoffs for winning coalitions and implications for committee-forming are fully examined. The paper is based on the author's direct experience of school amalgamations in the border region of Ireland. An extended consideration of the theory of voting in multiperson games can be found in his book Decision-Making and Game Theory (2002, Cambridge University Press).