Students' intercultural development through language learning in Vietnamese tertiary education: a case study on the use of film as an innovative approach

Vietnam's open-door policy, its socialist-oriented market economy, recent growth in cross-border education and skills mobility, regionalisation and globalisation have created an increasing demand for Vietnamese graduates to develop not only their English language but also their intercultural competence. This paper discusses the issue of student intercultural learning and development in the Vietnamese English as a foreign language (EFL) class. Especially, it addresses the use of film as an innovative approach to engage Vietnamese students in intercultural learning and development in the EFL classroom. The study reported in this paper draws on rich sources of data which include in-depth interviews with students, student reflective journals and video-recorded class observations at a university in central Vietnam. Overall, five key themes relating to student intercultural learning through film have been identified in this study. These include enhancing knowledge about cultural differences, engaging in cross-cultural comparison, breaking cultural stereotypes, immersing students in authentic learning and living in the world of ‘other’ culture and the integrated mode of intercultural language learning. The study is a significant contribution to scholarly research on the use of media objects to enhance student intercultural learning in language classrooms in developing countries.

Use of plastic and textile media in polishing primary treated effluent

The majority of on-site sewage management systems in Australia fail to perform to expectations. About 60% to 80% of on-site systems reportedly fail to produce acceptable effluent quality, and there is an increaed concern about the risks associated with public health and environmental pollution. In Victoria, a large proportion of septic tank installations have been reported to discharge highly polluted waste to drains and streams. Users, often considered by regulators as operators, have to bear the costs of upgrade/replacement of their old systems to meet stringent water quality guidelines. Some of the common problems include clogging of the disposal fields due to solids and organic overloading and surfacing of highly polluted effluent. Large land application area is subsequently required for irrigating the effluent and/or installation of upgraded disposal fields.
This paper investigates the effectiveness of various types of textile and plastic media, in polishing primary tank effluent, downstream from a typical two-compartment septic tank system. Results to date show that high biochemical oxygen demand removal rates are achieved from the textile and plastic media (up to 86% and 83% respectively). At these removal levels, the performance of a combined conventional septic tank system and plastic/textile filters is comparable to that of an advanced aerated wastewater treatment system. This approach, subject to further investigation, could provide a less costly upgrade.

NGO's use of the media to create changes in corporate activities and accountabilities : evidence from a developing country

This paper investigates how social and environmental NGOs use the news media to create changes in the operations and associated accountabilities of multinational companies operating in, or sourcing products from, a developing country. In this research, we explicitly seek the views of senior officers from global and local NGOs operating in Bangladesh, as well as the views of journalists from major global and local news media organisations. Our results show that social and environmental NGOs strategically use the news media to effect change in the operating and disclosure policies pertaining to corporate labour practices. More particularly, both the NGOs and the news media representatives stated that NGOs would be relatively powerless to create change without media coverage. Our results also show that the media agenda has been responsible for creating improvements in working condition within Bangladesh, but further improvements are necessary. This is the first known study to specifically address the joint role of NGOs and the news media in creating changes in the social and environmental operating and disclosure practices of organisations operating in developing countries.

Use of digital media and dance within the classroom

Beckwith spoke on and conducted workshops on the use of digital media and dance within the classroom.

From the website http://ausdance.org.au/news/article/2011-dance-across-the-domains-2011 :
Dance Across the Domains (DADs) is an innovative program for teachers and educators to receive professional development from dance industry practitioners and leading dance teachers.

In 2011 the focus for the conference is “dance from many cultures”. A key feature of the conferences is exploring the ways dance can enhance learning in other areas of the curriculum, such as literacy, numeracy, humanities and ICT.

DADs is includes practical activities, theory-based sessions, peer observation, case studies, resource sharing and networking. The conference supports schools’ implementation of VELS domains and strand, provides curriculum advice and related support materials.Megan spoke on and conducted workshops on the use of digital media and dance within the classroom. 

Characterizing university library use of social media: a case study of twitter and facebook from Australia

The work presented here characterise the engagement of one university library with two social media platforms popular with academic libraries. The collected data are analysed to identify the forms of Twitter and Facebook activity that engage library stakeholders in social media conversations. Associations were observed between: i) directed tweets from the library and mentions of the library by others on Twitter; and ii) comments from the library and comments from others on Facebook. Three broad classes of Twitter user interacting with the library were revealed: i) accounts strongly linked to the library with multiple to/from tweets; ii) those weakly linked to the library with, typically, a single tweet; and iii) those indirectly linked to the library through tweets mentioning the library and sent by other users. Two divergent forms of Facebook interaction with the library were highlighted: i) a library post generating a large sequence of comments, typically in response to a competition/challenge and ii) a library post with no comments, typically a photo post or a post inviting readers to click a link to find out more about an event/service. The work presented here is an initial investigation that provides useful insights, and offers a methodology for future research.

Screen media, parenting practices, and the family environment in Australia: a longitudinal study of young children’s media use, lifestyles, and outcomes for healthy weight

Few studies of media use and adiposity explore the influence of parenting on children’s lifestyle behaviors. Screen media access, bedroom television, lack of physical activity, and snacking on energy-dense foods have long been implicated in child overweight. This research used data from the first three waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to investigate, prospectively, the associations between parental practices in early to middle childhood and children’s behaviors and weight in late childhood. A path model was used to investigate whether consistent parentingpredicted setting of boundaries for access to and use of media, and was indirectly associated with children’s lifestyle behaviors that increase the likelihood of healthy weight maintenance. The findings demonstrated that children’s lifestyles pertinent to weight maintenance and media use cluster together and involve both old and newer screen media, but are also predicted by parenting practices and the family environment.

Review of the literature on the use of social media by people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Purpose: To review the literature relating to use of social media by people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), specifically its use for social engagement, information exchange or rehabilitation.

Method: A systematic review with a qualitative meta-synthesis of content themes was conducted. In June 2014, 10 databases were searched for relevant, peer-reviewed research studies in English that related to both TBI and social media.

Results: Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria, with Facebook™ and Twitter™ being the most common social media represented in the included studies. Content analysis identified three major categories of meaning in relation to social media and TBI: (1) risks and benefits; (2) barriers and facilitators; and (3) purposes of use of social media. A greater emphasis was evident regarding potential risks and apparent barriers to social media use, with little focus on facilitators of successful use by people with TBI.

Conclusions: Research to date reveals a range of benefits to the use of social media by people with TBI however there is little empirical research investigating its use. Further research focusing on ways to remove the barriers and increase facilitators for the use of social media by people with TBI is needed. Implications for Rehabilitation: Communication disabilities following traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be wide-ranging in scope and social isolation with loss of friendships after TBI is common. For many people, social media is rapidly becoming a usual part of everyday communication and its use has the potential to increase communication and social participation for people with TBI.There is emerging evidence and commentary regarding the perceived benefits and risks, barriers and facilitators and purposes of use of social media within the TBI population.Risks associated with using social media, and low accessibility of social media sites, form barriers to its use. Facilitators for social media use in people with TBI include training the person with TBI and their communication partners in ways to enjoy and use social media safely.There is minimal rigorous evaluation of social media use by people with TBI and scant information regarding social media use by people with communication disabilities after TBI. Further investigation is needed into the potential benefits of social media use on communication, social participation and social support with the aim of reducing social isolation in people with TBI.

Understanding the use of social media by organisations for crisis communication

Many businesses have commenced using social media for crisis communication with stakeholders. However there is little guidance in literature to assist organisational crisis managers with the selection of an appropriate crisis response strategy. Traditional theories on crisis communication may not adequately represent the social media context. This study took a qualitative approach and explored organisational use of social media for crisis communication at seventeen large Australian organisations. An analysis of 15,650 Facebook and Twitter messages was conducted, drawing on the lens of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) (Coombs & Holladay, 2002). Findings suggested that when large Australian organisations responded to crises via social media, they lacked an awareness of the potential of social media for crisis communication. Organisations often did not respond to stakeholder messages or selected crisis response strategies that may increase reputational risk. The paper contributes important understandings of organisational social media use for crisis communication. It also assists crisis managers by providing six crisis response positions and a taxonomy of social media crisis messages that stakeholders may send to organisations. Key implications are discussed.

Understanding organisational use of social media for crisis communication.

This research examines the use of social media by organisations for communication with stakeholders during a crisis and provides a theoretical framework for guiding organisations in this area.

The major drawbacks to the use of wireless communication products in education

This paper considers the use of wireless devices as an educational facilitator both in the classroom and in a business environment.  There are many characteristics of such devices which are favourable to their use in such settings.  But there are also problems.  We identify the main problematic areas as being security, low speed and reliability, and the lack of interoperability.  In our opinion, the use of wireless devices for educational purposes will grow quickly, and the problems of reliability, speed and standards will be overcome.  However, the issue of security will remain a major problem into the distant future.

Use of in vitro critical inhibitory concentration, a novel approach to predict in vivo synergistic bactericidal effect of combined amikacin and piperacillin against pseudomonas aeruginosa in a systemic rat infection model

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to explore the use of in vitro critical inhibitory concentration (CIC) as a surrogate marker relating the pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters to in vivo bactericidal synergistic effect [pharmacodynamic (PD)] of amikacin + piperacillin combination against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a systemic rat infection model. METHODS: The in vitro antibacterial activities of amikacin and piperacillin, alone and in combinations at various ratios of the concentrations, were tested against a standard [5 x 10(5) colony-forming units (CFU)/ml] and a large (1.5 x 10(8) CFU/ml) inoculum of P. aeruginosa ATCC 9027 using a modified survival-time method. The CIC of each individual antibiotic for the different combinations was determined using a cup-plate method. In vivo studies were performed on Sprague-Dawley rats using a systemic model of infection with P. aeruginosa ATCC 9027. PK profiles and in vivo killing effects of the combination at different dosing ratios were studied. RESULTS: An inoculum effect was observed with the antibiotics studied. Synergy was seen against both the inocula at the following concentration ratios: 70% C(ami) + 30% C(pip) and 75% C(ami) + 25% C(pip), where C(ami) and C(pip) are the concentrations of amikacin and piperacillin to produce a 1000-fold decrease in bacterial population over 5 h, respectively. The CIC values determined corroborated with the order of in vitro bacterial killing observed for the antibiotic combinations. The dosing ratio of 12.6 mg/kg amikacin + 36 mg/kg piperacillin (a 70:30 ratio of the individual doses) exhibited the greatest killing in vivo when compared to the other ratios. The PK-PD relationships were described by simple, linear regression equations using the area under the in vivo killing curve as a PD marker and the AUCIC(ami)/CIC(ami) + AUCIC(pip)/CIC(pip), AUC(ami)/CIC(ami) + AUC(pip)/CIC(pip), C(max,ami)/CIC(ami) + C(max,pip)/CIC(pip), and AUCIC(ami)/MIC(ami) + AUCIC(pip)/MIC(pip) as PK markers for the amikacin + piperacillin combination. CONCLUSION: The combination of amikacin and piperacillin exhibited synergistic killing effect on P. aeruginosa that could be modeled using CIC as a surrogate marker relating the PK parameters to in vivo bactericidal effect.

The use of alcohol by Vietnamese living in Melbourne, Australia

Background: The size of the Vietnamese community residing in Melbourne, Australia has continued to grow steadily over the past decades; however, little is known about their level of alcohol consumption.

Aims: To collect data on alcohol consumption and consider the impact of demographic variables such as age and gender.

Method: A questionnaire was administered to 1080 people recruited through Vietnamese organizations and the media. The survey questions were drawn from existing and validated instruments and demographic questions such as age and gender.

Results: The findings suggest that Vietnamese Australians in Melbourne consume alcohol at a lower rate than the general population, but higher than the Vietnamese community in Sydney and Western Australia.

Conclusions: Due to the limited research in this field, these findings make an important contribution to understanding the alcohol consumption patterns of Vietnamese Australians.

A study into how Australian banks use social media

Social Media is a term commonly used to describe a group of individual web based services that have grown beyond the provisioning of the capability to connect, network or blog. The popular social networking services have evolved into a ‘platform’ by incorporating a multitude of functionalities through an array of applications to attract millions of users. This has created a favourable environment for businesses to exploit the benefit of having access to millions of social media users by using it as a business support tool. Studies indicate that social media services are being used by businesses for engaging with the general public, enhancing customer interaction, and for crisis communications. Whilst there are many businesses who have adopted social media, others have either rejected the idea or are still unsure about how to proceed. This paper analyses the functionality of selected social media services in order to explore how Australian banks use such services strategically. It reports findings from a longitudinal study of Australian bank use of four popular social media services: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube.