The health and wellbeing of international students at an Australian university

A representative sample of undergraduate and postgraduate international students at a large Australian university (n=979, 64% females) completed a mail-back survey of their health and wellbeing. Most students evaluated their current and previous physical and mental health positively. Health-related risk practices such as unprotected sexual activity, drug use, smoking and gambling, were reported by few students. There was little change in health or risk behaviours since coming to Australia and few changes that were health compromising. Few demographic or situational variables, including age and gender, had a significant impact on students' wellbeing. This study has revealed that few international students find the experience of studying in an overseas country detrimental to their wellbeing. Nevertheless, for those students who encounter difficulties or are at increased risk of health-compromising outcomes, we must ensure better delivery of health promotion education, and access to, and use of, available counselling and health services.

The materiality of biographical knowledge – ethnography on aesthetic practices

ABSTRACT

The article aims to develop a theory of biographical knowledge and practices of aesthetic articulation. Thus, it examines the aesthetic practices of young people beyond their verbal utterances. Using seven video case studies, it demonstrates the extent to which biographical knowledge is articulated in aesthetic practices – drawing, dancing, making music, etc. Aesthetic practices of articulation are theoretically defined as modes of relation between people and objects and between people and spaces. The article introduces a new ethnographic approach in biographical research that takes into account the lack of research into the significance of aesthetic practices in non-formally institutionalized areas and is thus also an epistemological guide that goes beyond highly cultural patterns and contexts. This has also proved particularly relevant for investigating subjectivation processes of vulnerable groups or, more specifically, the emergence of unequal subject positioning.     

Ethnographical mapping of thick places – teaching and learning practices in teacher training schools

The aim of this study is to use an ethnographic method in order to map where understandings of teaching and learning practices (TaLP) are being discussed in three schools. The questions posed are: what are the relations between thick places, meaning, affect, and TaLP? This study uses an ethnographic method outside the classroom and in between different activities as a starting point for understanding TaLP and where many students at the same school produce thick places of affect and meaning. The main conclusion from this study is that matters of where, what, and who are shaping TaLP. Another important conclusion from this study is that training schools offer new conditions for teacher students, but also offer new opportunities for ethnographic studies that aim at understanding these school environments with a range of new questions.     

Parenting styles and bullying. The mediating role of parental psychological aggression and physical punishment

Studies concerning parenting styles and disciplinary practices have shown a relationship between both factors and bullying involvement in adolescence. The scarce available evidence suggests that abusive disciplinary practices increase teenagers’ vulnerability to abuse in school or the likelihood of them becoming abusers of their peers in the same context. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the indirect effect of parenting styles in adolescents’ bullying involvement through disciplinary practices, although a relationship between parenting styles and disciplinary practices has been shown. The aim of this research was to determine the mediating role of punitive parental discipline (physical punishment and psychological aggression) between the dimensions of parents’ parenting styles and their children's involvement in bullying victimization and aggression. We used a sample comprising 2060 Spanish high school students (47.9% girls; mean age = 14.34). Structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data. The results confirmed the mediating role of parental discipline between the parenting practices analyzed and students’ aggression and victimization. Significant gender-related differences were found for aggression involvement, where boys were for the most part linked to psychological aggression disciplinary practices and girls to physical punishment. Victimization directly correlated with parental psychological aggression discipline behavior across both sexes. In conclusion, the results seem to suggest that non-democratic parenting styles favor the use of punitive discipline, which increases the risk of adolescents’ bullying involvement. Therefore, intervention programs must involve parents to make them aware about the important role they play in this process and to improve their parenting styles.     

Chinese university EFL teachers’ beliefs and practices of classroom writing assessment

This study investigates the extent to which university teachers’ beliefs about classroom writing assessment are congruent with their self-perceived practices in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts, and what factors contribute to belief-practice inconsistencies. Drawing on data from a survey of 136 Chinese university EFL writing teachers and ten teacher interviews, results showed a degree of belief-practice alignment regarding assessment for learning (AfL) practices that make learning explicit, but belief-practice discrepancies were more salient. AfL practices that empower students to take responsibility in writing assessment were perceived to be more important than assessment of learning practices; however, the reverse was found in teachers’ practice. Impacts of micro-level factors including assessment training, teaching experience, student attributes, meso-level school factors, and macro-level assessment culture are discussed, and implications are drawn.     

论知识经济的报酬递增特点及其经济管理意义

报酬递增是知识经济的基本特点,可以说知识经济在本质上就是报酬递增的经济。本文基于作者对报酬递增现象的多年研究,深入探讨了知识经济作为报酬递增经济对经济管理的理论和实践产生的深远影响。     

COVID-19, digital privacy,and the social limits on data-focused public health responses

The implementation of digital contact tracing applications around the world to help reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the most ambitious uses of massive-scale citizen data ever attempted. There is major divergence among nations, however, between a “privacy-first” approach which protects citizens’ data at the cost of extremely limited access for public health authorities and researchers, and a “data-first” approach which stores large amounts of data which, while of immeasurable value to epidemiologists and other researchers, may significantly intrude upon citizens’ privacy. The lack of a consensus on privacy protection in the contact tracing process creates risks of non-compliance or deliberate obfuscation from citizens who fear revealing private aspects of their lives – a factor greatly exacerbated by recent major scandals over online privacy and the illicit use of citizens’ digital information, which have heightened public consciousness of these issues and created significant new challenges for any collection of large-scale public data. While digital contact tracing for COVID-19 remains in its infancy, the lack of consensus around best practices for its implementation and for reassuring citizens of the protection of their privacy may already have impeded its capacity to contribute to the pandemic response.     

Teachers’ perceptions and concerns about the implementation of the 2005 preschool curriculum in Tanzania

The aim of this study was to examine teachers’ perceptions and concerns about the implementation of the preschool curriculum developed over 10 years (2005–2015). This paper reports findings from an interpretive case study design in four preschool settings in Tanzania with 12 teachers and 8 parent participants. Data were generated using interviews and documentation. The research focus was on how teachers have implemented the 2005 preschool curriculum. The findings indicate that the implementation of the curriculum was problematic due to teachers’ lack of knowledge of a child-centred pedagogy. In addition there were no teachers qualified to work with young children, overcrowded classrooms, poor teaching and learning environments, and insufficient teaching and learning materials and facilities. This study recommends that to improve the current situation and attain quality provision of early education, teachers need to develop their professional knowledge through in-service training. The government policy planners need to provide initial teacher education, professional development, and conducive teaching and learning environments with available resources for effective teaching and learning practices.     

The ties that bind – the roles and mundane practices of networks in constructing Educational Internationalisation in the High North

This article seeks to present an original and distinct contribution to the literature on internationalisation of Higher Education, by focusing on the very mundane processes through which agreement is reached on the nuts and bolts of the enactment of ‘internationalisation’, and the nature of ‘internationalisation’ as an experience, not just for students, about whom there is quite an extensive literature, but for the academics and administrators responsible for bringing it into being. It thus aims to provide an alternative understanding of internationalisation of Higher Education from that most commonly found in macro-level studies, through a focus on how internationalisation is creating a new set of cross-national shared institutional practices.     

基于二叉排序树的最佳适应算法

当前操作系统在管理内存时,常采用最佳适应算法对空闲内存块进行分配,但该算法存在效率不高、时空消耗大的缺点,对此提出基于二又排序树的最佳适应算法,改变原有的最佳适应算法中把所有空闲分区按容量大小顺序连接成空闲分区链的特点,而把所有空闲分区组建成一颗二叉排序树,进程发出请求时,根据二叉排序树的性质依次查找满足条件的空闲分区,并在分配后重组二叉排序树,保证二叉排序树的结构不被破坏,改善现有的最佳适应算法在查找过程中的效率问题.