Russian language maintenance through bedtime story reading?: Linguistic strategies and language negotiation in Russian-French speaking families in Switzerland

This article proposes an interactional approach to the question of Russian language maintenance through the activity of bedtime story-reading in Russian-French bilingual families in French speaking Switzerland. Reading stories appears to be a language maintenance strategy commonly employed by the Russian speaking parent. The ritual and recreational moment of story-reading therefore becomes an opportunity for language learning. Drawing upon a language socialization perspective, this paper proposes an interactional analysis of the language use in the activity of story-reading. It shows how the language choice of the participants may be requested, negotiated and challenged during the interaction. The analysis further informs us about the language choice pattern and the bilingual competences in these families. We will gain insight into (Russian) language maintenance as a daily social and linguistic practice.

Teacher emotions in the classroom: Associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal teacher-student relationship

The present study explores teacher emotions, in particular how they are predicted by students’ behaviour and the interpersonal aspect of the teacher-student relationship (TSR). One hundred thirty-two secondary teachers participated in a quantitative study relying on self-report questionnaire data. Based on the model of teacher emotions by Frenzel (2014), teachers rated their experienced joy, anger and anxiety during classroom instruction (dependent variable). Students’ motivational behaviour (= engagement), socio-emotional behaviour (= discipline in class) and relational behaviour (= closeness; interpersonal TSR) were assessed as the independent variables. Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs served as a control variable. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the interpersonal relationship formed between teachers and students was the strongest predictor for teachers’ joy (positive relation) and anxiety (negative relation), whereas lack of discipline in class best predicted teachers’ anger experiences. Students’ engagement also proved a significant predictor of teacher emotions. The results suggest that interpersonal TSR plays a particularly important role in teachers’ emotional experiences in class.

How should complementary and alternative medicine be taught to medical students in Switzerland? A survey of medical experts and students

In Switzerland and in the whole western world, the growing popularity of CAM is calling for its implementation in the undergraduate medical curriculum.

Developing a smoking cessation program for Turkish-speaking migrants in Switzerland: novel findings and promising effects

Introduction: Recent studies show that smoking prevalence in the Turkish-speaking migrant population in Switzerland is substantially higher than in the general population. A specific group treatment for Turkish-speaking migrants was developed and tested in order to provide the migrant population with equal access to smoking cessation programs and to improve the migration-sensitive quality of such programs by sociocultural targeting. Methods: The evaluation of the program included quantitative (questionnaires t1 and t2 and follow-up by telephone) and qualitative methods (participant observation and semi-structured interviews). Results: The results showed that 37.7% of the 61 participants were smoke free at the 12-month follow-up. The factors of being in a partnership and using nicotine replacement products during the program were positively associated with successful cessation. We also demonstrated the importance of “strong ties” (strong relationships between participants) and the sensitivity of the program to sociocultural (e.g., social aspects of smoking in Turkish culture, which were addressed in relapse prevention), socioeconomic (e.g., low financial resources, which were addressed by providing the course for free), and migration-specific (e.g., underdeveloped access to smoking cessation programs, which was addressed using outreach strategy for recruiting) issues. Conclusions: Overall, the smoking cessation program was successfully tested and is now becoming implemented as a regular service of the Swiss Public Health Program for Tobacco Prevention (by the Swiss Association for Smoking Prevention).

Secondary Forests and Local Livelihoods along a Gradient of Accessibility: A Case Study in Northern Laos

Rural livelihoods in developing countries can be enhanced by improving access to natural resources, services, and markets. In remote rural areas of the humid or semihumid tropics, forests represent an important resource for livelihoods. In countries like Laos, where most primary forest has been converted to secondary forest, and where an intricate and interlinked mosaic of forest and farmland prevails, people depend on secondary forests as a prime source of goods and services. The linkages between local livelihoods and secondary forest resources are subject to changes caused by improving accessibility. This article studies how accessibility affects the condition of forests and local livelihoods by comparing three villages along a gradient of accessibility in Phonxay district, Luang Prabang province, northern Laos. The results of this research show that accessibility strengthens the influence of the government and of markets, and that local livelihoods improve with increasing accessibility, while forest condition deteriorates.

Secondary succession and dipterocarp recruitment in Bornean rain forest after logging

To understand succession in dipterocarp rain forest after logging, the structure, species composition and dynamics of primary (PF) and secondary (SF) forest at Danum were compared. In 10 replicate 0.16-ha plots per forest type trees >= 10 cm gbh (3.2 cm dbh) were measured in 1995 and 2001. The SF had been logged in 1988, which allowed successional change to be recorded at 8 and 13 years. In 2001, saplings (1.0-3.1 cm dbh) were measured in nested quadrats. The forest types were similar in mean radiation at 2 m height, and in density, basal area and species number of all trees. Among small (10 <= 31.4) and large ( >= 31.4 cm gbh) trees, in both 1995 and 2001, there were 10- and 3-fold more dipterocarps in SF than PF respectively; and averaging over the two dates, there were correspondingly ca. 10- and 18-fold more pioneers. Mortality was ca. 60% higher in SF than PF, largely due to a seven-fold difference for pioneers: for dipterocarps there was little difference. Recruitment was similar in PF and SE Stem growth rates were 37% higher in SF than PF for all trees, although dipterocarps showed the opposite trend. Among saplings, dipterocarps dominated SF with a 10-fold higher density than in PF. For dipterocarps, the light (LH) and medium-heavy (MHH) canopy hardwoods, and the shade-tolerant, smaller-stature other (OTH) species (e.g. Hopea and Vatica) were in the ratios ca. 40:15:45 in SF and 85: < 1:15 in PF. LHs had higher mortality than OTHs in SE In PF ca. 80% of the saplings were LH: in SF ca. 70% were OTH. The predominance of OTHs in SF is explained by the logging of primary rain forest which was in a likely late stage of recovery from natural disturbance, plus the continuing shaded conditions in the understorey promoted by dense pioneer vegetation. At 13 years after logging succession appeared to be inhibited: LHs were being suppressed but MHHs and OTHs persisted. Succession in lowland dipterocarp, rain forests may therefore depend on the successional state of the primary forest when it is logged. A review of logged versus unlogged studies in Borneo highlights the need for more detailed ecological comparisons.

Caries-preventive effectiveness of fluoride varnish as adjunct to oral health promotion and supervised tooth brushing in preschool children: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of biannual fluoride varnish applications in preschool children as an adjunct to school-based oral health promotion and supervised tooth brushing with 1000ppm fluoride toothpaste. METHODS 424 preschool children, 2-5 year of age, from 10 different pre schools in Athens were invited to this double-blind randomized controlled trial and 328 children completed the 2-year programme. All children received oral health education with hygiene instructions twice yearly and attended supervised tooth brushing once daily. The test group was treated with fluoride varnish (0.9% diflurosilane) biannually while the control group had placebo applications. The primary endpoints were caries prevalence and increment; secondary outcomes were gingival health, mutans streptococci growth and salivary buffer capacity. RESULTS The groups were balanced at baseline and no significant differences in caries prevalence or increment were displayed between the groups after 1 and 2 years, respectively. There was a reduced number of new pre-cavitated enamel lesions during the second year of the study (p=0.05) but the decrease was not statistically significant. The secondary endpoints were unaffected by the varnish treatments. CONCLUSIONS Under the present conditions, biannual fluoride varnish applications in preschool children did not show significant caries-preventive benefits when provided as an adjunct to school-based supervised tooth brushing with 1000ppm fluoride toothpaste. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE In community based, caries prevention programmes, for high caries risk preschool children, a fluoride varnish may add little to caries prevention, when 1000ppm fluoride toothpaste is used daily.