Leveraging Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Improve Technology Dependency and Intercultural Competencies

In this chapter, the authors discussed the use of virtual exchange (VE) courses in a global context to prepare college students, including journalism students and pre-service teachers, for technology dependency and intercultural competencies through the faculty-librarian-instructional designer collaboration. They shared the pedagogical and technological issues encountered when implementing the VE courses with their international partner professors and described their journey of an ongoing process of collaboration and problem solving prior to and during the pandemic. Concrete examples were provided to demonstrate how they used VE to produce meaningful student learning outcomes and to expand accessible international education. The authors also discussed future research and further implementation of the VE courses.

Mapping the endemicity and seasonality of clinical malaria for intervention targeting in Haiti using routine case data

Towards the goal of malaria elimination on Hispaniola, the National Malaria Control Program of Haiti and its international partner organisations are conducting a campaign of interventions targeted to high-risk communities prioritised through evidence-based planning. Here we present a key piece of this planning: an up-to-date, fine-scale endemicity map and seasonality profile for Haiti informed by monthly case counts from 771 health facilities reporting from across the country throughout the 6-year period from January 2014 to December 2019. To this end, a novel hierarchical Bayesian modelling framework was developed in which a latent, pixel-level incidence surface with spatio-temporal innovations is linked to the observed case data via a flexible catchment sub-model designed to account for the absence of data on case household locations. These maps have focussed the delivery of indoor residual spraying and focal mass drug administration in the Grand’Anse Department in South-Western Haiti.

International ECOpreneurship: Environmental commitment and international partner selection of Finnish firms from the energy sector

Although numerous scholars recognize that entrepreneurial firms and their environmental innovations play a key role in global environmental progress, the topic of ecopreneurial internationalization has received only scant research attention. This article explores how the environmental commitment of ecopreneurs influences partner selection during the internationalization of their ventures. It does so by following a multiple-case study strategy and examining ecopreneurial small- and medium-size firms from Finland’s energy sector. The study proposes that, depending on a dominating type of environmental commitment—affective, continuance, or normative—these ventures should favor partner-related and task-related criteria in different ways when selecting international partners. This article contributes to ecopreneurship and to the literature on partner selection in international entrepreneurship.

You Say Tomato, I Say Radish: Can Brief Cognitive Assessments in the U.S. Health Retirement Study Be Harmonized With Its International Partner Studies?

Objectives To characterize the extent to which brief cognitive assessments administered in the population-representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and its International Partner Studies can be considered to be measuring a single, unidimensional latent cognitive function construct. Methods Cognitive function assessments were administered in face-to-face interviews in 12 studies in 26 countries (N = 155,690), including the U.S. HRS and selected International Partner Studies. We used the time point of the first cognitive assessment for each study to minimize differential practice effects across studies and documented cognitive test item coverage across studies. Using confirmatory factor analysis models, we estimated single-factor general cognitive function models and bifactor models representing memory-specific and nonmemory-specific cognitive domains for each study. We evaluated model fits and factor loadings across studies. Results Despite relatively sparse and inconsistent cognitive item coverage across studies, all studies had some cognitive test items in common with other studies. In all studies, the bifactor models with a memory-specific domain fit better than single-factor general cognitive function models. The data fit the models at reasonable thresholds for single-factor models in 6 of the 12 studies and for the bifactor models in all 12 of the 12 studies. Discussion The cognitive assessments in the U.S. HRS and its International Partner Studies reflect comparable underlying cognitive constructs. We discuss the assumptions underlying our methods, present alternatives, and future directions for cross-national harmonization of cognitive aging data.

Research on Exchange and Cooperation between China-Russia International Friendship Schools-A case study of Primary and Junior Schools in Heihe.

This article examines and summarizes the problems of development and exchange of experience and cooperation between Chinese and Russian primary and secondary schools, and also indicates the priority areas of the dynamics of exchange and cooperation between partner schools. The purpose of the article is to analyze the inter-action of educational institutions in Heihe District with educational institutions in the Russian Far East. The novelty of the topic is to notice the problems of cooperation and communication between Russian and Chinese international partner schools for the de-velopment of communication. To this end, the author describes in detail examples of interaction between Russian and Chinese international partner schools and analyzes the exchange and cooperation activities between them.

Creating an Authentic International Development Learning Opportunity

This paper draws from the author’s experience of developing a short-term intensive international learning experience within the framework of a one-semester course. The paper is aimed at faculty members who are interested in implementing a short but effective and authentic international learning opportunity, but who may not have expertise in issues surrounding international development and learning abroad. It addresses some of the challenges, successes, and lessons learned, such as working with an appropriate international partner, overcoming barriers to student participation, ensuring discipline-specific learning, and providing the appropriate context of international development issues within the time-frame of a single semester. Nous nous fondons ici sur notre propre expérience d’élaboration d’une situation d’apprentissage internationale, intensive et à court terme, dans le cadre d’un cours d’un seul semestre. Cet article est destiné aux enseignants qui, sans nécessairement posséder une expertise en matière de développement internationale et d’apprentissage à l’étranger, souhaiteraient mettre en œuvre une expérience d’apprentissage internationale aussi brève qu’efficace et authentique. Nous abordons les difficultés, les réussites et les leçons tirées de l’expérience, comme la nécessité d’un partenaire international adéquat, le dépassement des obstacles à la participation des étudiants, l’apprentissage adapté à des disciplines en particulier, et l’établissement d’un contexte approprié pour les questions de développement international dans le cadre temporel d’un semestre unique.

Internationalisation business processes in an under-supported policy contexts: evidence from Italian SMEs

PurposeThe main objective of this research was to identify the key critical determinants of internationalisation business processes that entrepreneurs adopted in under-supported policy contexts.Design/methodology/approachThis research utilised a case-study design, incorporating multiple case examples, applying non-probability purposive selection criteria. A total of five in-depth, structured 90-min to two-hour case interviews were conducted with Italian entrepreneurs, in which four out of the five cases selected are goods-oriented, and one is services oriented.FindingsRegarding internal entrepreneurial motives, four crucial determinants were recognised: (1) Making more profit, (2) Expanding market, (3) Personal tendency to export and (4) Obtaining social respect. Regarding external networking capabilities, two key factors were identified: (1) Developing relationships with an international partner or representative and (2) Maintaining relationships with industry-relevant authorities.Research limitations/implicationsThe data gathered for this paper depends on self-announcing, expanding the likelihood of being one-sided for social desirability answers. The sample of research is also limited to small and medium businesses and has covered a limited number of companies.Originality/valueAn under-supported policy context forces international entrepreneurs to make their own arrangements and tailor their business process through personal initiative and interactions with network partners. Taking advantage of field-based data, this paper is probably one of the earliest research studies to identify several internal and external factors impacting on firm internationalisation business processes in the low policy support context for entrepreneurship.

Cameroon polls may extend anglophone crisis

Significance This comes amid mounting domestic and international frustration over President Paul Biya’s approach to ending the long-standing anglophone crisis. A controversial bill to give ‘special status’ to both regions was adopted by parliament last month but has been widely criticised as inadequate to end the impasse. Impacts The much-criticised legislation will further vindicate armed separatists who rejected Biya’s ‘Major National Dialogue’ last October. US criticism of Biya's approach will likely increase following the apparent breakdown of Swiss-mediated peace talks. Absent significant pressure on Cameroon from France, its major international partner, Biya appears unlikely to change course any time soon.