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As the world becomes more interconnected, educators have opportunities to collaborate across cultures. Using the theory of educational cosmopolitanism and the pedagogy of collaborative inquiry, this collective case study explores how Chinese and American teachers perceive the assets and challenges of conducting collaborative inquiry with their students across cultures, and how they collaboratively planned in order to conduct these inquiries. Results demonstrated both assets (i.e. promotion of global citizenship and interpersonal skills) and challenges (i.e. digital access and the need for sustainable external support). Additionally, results on how the teachers collaborated revealed the four dimensions of educational cosmopolitanism (i.e. hospitality, reflexivity, intercultural dialogue, and transactions of perspectives) were in play, although to varying degrees. The research sheds light on how educational cosmopolitanism holds promise as a potential theoretical lens for conducting collaborative inquiry with culturally and geographically diverse teachers and students.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on harmony topics including preservice teaching, students' storywriting, and the discoursed used by educators in West Virginia to demand an education budget.

The article presents abstracts related to the science of religion which include the relationship between religion and politics across borders, the issue of transnationalism, diaspora and Islam among Turks, the legal and religious challenges facing the diaspora Hindus and the judiciary system in the U.S.

The current Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2002a) places increased emphasis on respect for different cultures. For example, culture has been added as an important factor in respecting the rights and dignity of those with whom psychologists work (Principle E). APA has also released guidelines meant to influence psychologists' sensitivity and behavior toward multicultural issues in various aspects of professional work (APA, 2002b). The purpose of this article is to discuss cultural issues in the context of rehabilitation practice. The authors focus on Latinos, the fastest growing minority group in the United States. The case example of Cesar Garza is used as a vehicle for discussing how to integrate consideration of cultural factors into rehabilitation practice, consistent with sound ethical decision making. The case illustrates missed opportunities, for which the authors offer concrete solutions that reflect appropriate ethical conduct. The authors also hope to demonstrate that integration of cultural issues is consistent with overall rehabilitation psychology practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The local distribution of woody vegetation affects most functional aspects of semiarid landscapes, from soil erosion to nutrient cycling. With growing concern about anthropogenic climate change, it has become critical to understand the ecological determinants of woody plant distribution in semiarid landscapes. However, relatively little work has examined the determinants of local variation in woody cover. Here we examine water balance controls associated with patterns of tree cover density in a topographically complex semiarid woodland. Location Los Pinos Mountains, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge LTER, New Mexico, USA. Methods To explore the relationship between local water balance variation and tree cover density, we used a combination of high-resolution (1 × 1 m), remotely sensed imagery and quantitative estimates of water balance variation in space and time. Regression tree analysis (RTA) was used to identify the environmental parameters that best predict variation in tree cover density. Results Using six predictor variables, the RTA explains 39% of the deviance in tree cover density over the landscape. The relationship between water balance conditions and tree cover density is highly contingent; that is, similar tree cover densities occur under very different combinations of water balance parameters. Thus, the effect of one environmental parameter on tree cover density depends on the values of other parameters. After tree cover density is adjusted for water balance conditions, residual variation is related to tree cover density in the neighbourhood of a particular location. Conclusion In semiarid landscapes, vegetation structure is largely controlled by water supply and demand. Results presented here indicate that localized feedbacks and site-specific historical processes are critical for understanding the responses of semiarid vegetation to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]