Experiences Of Newcomers Research Articles

Reducing potential dual-use risks in synthetic biology laboratory research: a dynamic model of analysis

Synthetic biology (SynBio) is an interdisciplinary field that includes biology, genomics, engineering, and informatics. The introduction of machine learning technology reduces the requirement for human participation in SynBio research, which may lead to increased biosafety and biosecurity concerns within the complex human–technology-management system in SynBio laboratories compared with traditional biology. The rapid development of SynBio and machine learning technology has added to the systemic complexity of management and technology subsystems, the risks of which remain unclear. To fully understand and address these risks, there is an urgent need to develop a quantitative model. In this study, three-round Delphi interviews were conducted with SynBio experts who have published articles in top journals (e.g., Nature, Science, Cell, etc.) and applied the system dynamics method to build a quantitative analysis model. The model explores the potential risk factors and their complex relationships in the SynBio research. We analyzed three subsystems (biotechnology, information technology, and management), identifying seven key risk factors. Among these, the Average Experience of Newcomers and Tolerable Error Frequency play an essential role in laboratory management. Notably, the biosafety atmosphere has the greatest impact on reducing error rate and increasing safety awareness, as well as on the infrastructure safety of SynBio laboratory. In addition, we also consider the impact of the progressiveness of machine learning in the SynBio research and find that using more advanced machine learning technology leads to lower instrument safety. This study provides a framework for quantifying potential risk factors in SynBio research and lays a theoretical foundation for future laboratory safety management and the development of a global code of conduct for interdisciplinary scientists.

(In)visibility during organizational entry: Newcomer perceptions of visibility in remote work

ABSTRACT While the research on communication visibility has typically focused on how visibility is enacted among employees who are familiar with the networks, practices and technologies of the organization, this study focuses on the experiences of newcomers. Additionally, while technology use around newcomers has typically been approached in parallel with face-to-face communication, our study concentrates on fully remote organizational entry. Qualitative interview and survey data among 24 newcomers revealed that the dimensions of visibility – the sociomaterial context, actors’ actions and observers’ actions – play a role in uncertainty and impression management during the entry process, while simultaneously reflecting to visibility management. The findings contribute to a model theorizing the relationship between visibility, uncertainty, impression management and sociomateriality during remote organizational entry.

Onboarding: Key to perception of the company as a great place to work

The purpose of this paper is to analyse onboarding practices, in order to test their role in generating a perception of the company as a Great Place to Work (GPTW) and to identify which ones contribute most to this perception. The experience of newcomers during the onboarding process is assessed using a questionnaire based on the 30 onboarding practices of Klein, Polin and Soutton (2015) and the criteria used by GPTW. The sample consisted of 194 university students in their final year in internship programs with companies. We applied descriptive, cluster and correlation analysis. A large part of applied and valued onboarding practices are those where personal support is perceived at different levels of hierarchy, knowledge and roles. Guidance and information practices have the greatest influence on the perception of the company as a GPTW. We demonstrate the existence of a positive relationship between the evaluation of onboarding and GPTW. This research expands the knowledge about onboarding and analyses it from a novel perspective: its relationship with the perception of the company as a GPTW.

Increasing Participation in Peer Production Communities with the Newcomer Homepage

For peer production communities to be sustainable, they must attract and retain new contributors. Studies have identified social and technical barriers to entry and discovered some potential solutions, but these solutions have typically focused on a single highly successful community, the English Wikipedia, been tested in isolation, and rarely evaluated through controlled experiments. We propose the Newcomer Homepage, a central place where newcomers can learn how peer production works and find opportunities to contribute, as a solution for attracting and retaining newcomers. The homepage was built upon existing research and designed in collaboration with partner communities. Through a large-scale controlled experiment spanning 27 non-English Wikipedia wikis, we evaluate the homepage and find modest gains, and that having a positive effect on the newcomer experience depends on the newcomer's context. We discuss how this impacts interventions that aim to improve the newcomer experience in peer production communities.

Beyond "Economic Immigration": Understanding the Role of Labor Market and Lifestyle Expectations in Technology Sector Newcomer Experiences in Canada.

Canada has long sought to disperse skilled immigration across the country, with the goal of promoting economic development, improving cultural diversity, and mitigating population decline. The Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) are one mechanism for achieving regionalized immigration: they allow Canadian provinces and territories to use labor market information (LMI) to identify in-demand skills and offer visas to newcomers who match local needs. However, even when LMI is accurate, many factors can prevent newcomer access to local labor markets, particularly in third-tier cities (populations of 100,000 to 500,000), including credential recognition, discrimination, and a lack of settlement infrastructure. This paper centers the stories of three newcomers to Canada, each with senior technology sector experience and arriving through PNPs into third-tier cities. Amidst well-established themes in settlement narratives, such as housing affordability, family, lifestyle, and the role of Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), this paper suggests that newcomers arriving under programs such as the PNPs may experience LMI congruence or incongruence: the degree to which expectations of a labor market (shaped by being selected for immigration based on particular in-demand skills) match or do not match newcomers' real experiences of labor market access. Policymakers and institutions that use LMI to guide decisions may consider two lessons from the narratives offered in this study: one, the continued importance of reducing barriers to labor market entry for newcomers, and two, the possibility that LMI congruence and accurate expectations play a role in retention.

Labour market integration of newcomers to Canada: The perspectives of newcomers in a smaller urban centre

AbstractIn Canada, newcomers are often faced with many challenges when integrating into the labour market. This study examined the labour market integration experiences of newcomers in Regina, Saskatchewan. Data were collected using a structured survey which was made available in several languages. A total of 305 (n = 305) newcomers participated in this study. It was found that length of stay in Regina, level of education, having children and lack of access to transportation had a strong relationship with newcomers' labour market integration (p < 0.01). Specific barriers that were found to affect newcomers included language, access to a vehicle, lack of Canadian work experience and Canadian credentials. These challenges have substantial implications for the well‐being of newcomers and their contribution to the Canadian economy. It is recommended that resettlement agencies develop informed strategies and programmes that target these barriers to enhance the economic integration of newcomers in smaller cities in Canada.

It’s Just About Having Fun’? Interrogating the lived experiences of newcomers To Canada in introductory winter sport programmes

This study examined the underexplored relationship between winter sport, newcomer participation, integration, and national identity. Winter sports hold a prominent place within Canadian culture and identity; newcomers recognize this and express a willingness to try winter sports to feel ‘more Canadian’. Using a qualitative intrinsic case study design, I interrogated how newcomers to Canada experienced the significance of participating in one introductory winter sport programme – the WinSport Newcomers Programme – for their integration into Canadian society. Study methods included qualitative in-depth interviews and a photo elicitation focus group with WinSport Newcomers Programme participants, as well as participant observations of the programmes. This research was theoretically informed by social constructionist perspectives on race and ethnicity, as well as critical insights on sport-related integration. Using reflexive thematic analysis, I developed two themes focusing on the relationship between winter sport participation and newcomer integration, and considerations about future winter sport participation. Results illustrate that study participants experienced diverse programme outcomes and drew varied meanings from learning prominent Canadian winter sports. Various program shortcomings were also identified, which weakened the WinSport Newcomers Programme's integrative potential. Acknowledging the programme shortcomings, I argue that the role of introductory winter sport programmes for newcomer integration is worthy of future inquiry.

Mapping the Newcomer Journey for More Equitable Population Health: Insights from an Ontario Health Team.

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified systemic vulnerabilities and made the global and Canadian newcomer experience even more fragile. In 2022, the Kitchener, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich (KW4) Ontario Health Team launched a journey-mapping initiative with the aim to better understand newcomers' lived experiences with regard to their health and wellness within the first two years of their arrival in the region. We interviewed 17 newcomers from 11 different countries. The outcomes of this project are helping to inform a people-centred integrated health system approach toward service redesign and the creation of technological solutions to improve newcomers' abilities to self-navigate local services toward more equitable population health outcomes.

Understanding the Linkage Between Workplace Humor and Loneliness Among Newcomers

A vast body of literature emphasizes upon the essential role of workplace humor and links its different types with positive or negative impacts on employees’ performance. However, there is a limited understanding regarding how newcomers respond to the workplace humor and experience individualized changes in them. Building on the social identity theory, this article develops a unique process model and develops a linkage between workplace humor and loneliness among newcomers. Further, it identifies the underlying mechanisms and conditions which impacts the social identity changes of newcomers during this process. Based on the proposed mode, it is suggested that exposure to workplace humor is likely to lead to surface acting by newcomers during the initial days of their adjustment, particularly when the risk of social exclusion is high among them. On the one hand, consistent engagement in surface acting is likely to lead to positive emotions among those newcomers who will experience identity synergy. Thus, those individuals will embrace positive social identity changes over time. On the other hand, lack of alignment and the perceptions of identity conflict among some newcomers will trigger negative emotions in them, which will eventually lead to their rude behavior at the workplace; such individuals are likely to experience loneliness at the workplace. Overall, the proposed conceptual model presents a thorough relational process model of workplace humor, thus contributes a useful understanding of the deep and internalized change experiences of newcomers.

Transitioning from face-to-face classes to emergency remote learning

Abstract
 The COVID-19 pandemic forced higher education institutions to pivot their traditional face-to-face teaching to emergency remote teaching (ERT), causing a shift in delivery modalities. Recent studies have described ERT's existing experiences as an emerging transitioning methodological alternative to comply with the social distancing and safety guidelines stipulated globally. This research study merges data from two sources in a convergent parallel mixed method design. Thus, the study presents a systematization of the action plan undergone by the faculty authorities of Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica and a follow-up trace analysis of newcomer's experiences in the Bachelor major in English Teaching as a Foreign Language at the school of Literature and Language Sciences (ELCL, Spanish initials) during the first term of 2020. Results evince the students' experience in tech possibilities, electronic device ownership, and healthy, economic, social, or physical learning setting issues. Lastly, the researchers propose an empathetic design thinking further research study to determine where to integrate technology at the BA TEFL major.
 
 Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face teaching, emergency remote teaching, newcomer students' experiences, higher education

Class performativity, modernity and the Ashkenazi-Mizrahi divide the Jewish urban middle classes of Egypt in Israel 1948-1967

ABSTRACT In the analysis of Israeli society and the experience of immigration and integration into it in the first decades after its establishment in 1948, an Ashkenazi-Mizrahi dichotomy became prevalent, and the explanatory efficacy of other contributing factors went mostly unnoticed. The academic, institutional and public discourses that focused on those among the Mizrahi Jews, who struggled to fit-in, perpetuated the early Ashkenazi establishment’s biases against all that was Arab and by extension Mizrahi. Exploring socio-cultural practices - such as dress codes and choice of language, of Jews arriving in Israel from Egypt during this period, this paper will examine the role of class identity and performativity (rather than ethnicity) in shaping the immigrant experience of newcomers. Relying on multiple sources including interviews, life stories and oral testimonials, it will argue that the Jews of Cairo and Alexandria shared an urban middle-class habitus with the Israeli Ashkenazi elites; and that the performative expression of this shared identity enabled them to open doors closed to many other Middle Eastern and North African groups and paved their way into the Israeli mainstream despite their Mizrahi decent.

How Gender-Biased Tools Shape Newcomer Experiences in OSS Projects

Previous research has revealed that newcomer women are disproportionately affected by gender-biased barriers in open source software (OSS) projects. However, this research has focused mainly on social/cultural factors, neglecting the software tools and infrastructure. To shed light on how OSS tools and infrastructure might factor into OSS barriers to entry, we conducted two studies: (1) a field study with five teams of software professionals, who worked through five use cases to analyze the tools and infrastructure used in their OSS projects; and (2) a diary study with 22 newcomers (9 women and 13 men) to investigate whether the barriers matched the ones identified by the software professionals. The field study produced a bleak result: software professionals found gender biases in 73 percent of all the newcomer barriers they identified. Further, the diary study confirmed these results: Women newcomers encountered gender biases in 63 percent of barriers they faced. Fortunately, many kinds of barriers and biases revealed in these studies could potentially be ameliorated through changes to the OSS software environments and tools.

When do arts-based methodologies work?: a case illustration involving newcomer experiences and knowledge-production in community-based research

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the joint-knowledge production that emerged through a community-based research project conducted in partnership with a social service organization. Specifically, we present an unanticipated metaphor (‘Canada is clean’) that became evident through utilizing an art-based methodology. The methodology had five participants assemble photo-diaries over the span of two weeks. Participants took (unedited) photographs of themselves and their environments using their smartphone. The photo diaries were then presented to two focus groups: (1) a group of consumer-recipients of the social service organization and (2) a group of program workers. The focus groups were analyzed through Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis tailored for assessing groups. We address the meaning of the central metaphor, though place an emphasis on the milieu that promoted its co-construction and thereby upon the conditions that enabled arts-based research to succeed.

“It’s cold here:” Lessons learned from the welcome perceived by newcomers to Brandon, Manitoba

ABSTRACT Rural immigration is increasing, but still underrepresented in the literature. What does it mean to welcome well in places without large ethnocultural communities and the diverse range of supports dedicated to settlement and integration? What are the perceptions surrounding newcomer integration, and what experiences are newcomers having outside urban centers? Over the past three years, I used a board game, Refugee Journeys, which uses real-life experiences of newcomers in Canada to launch discussions about inclusion and equity, to conduct focus groups and interviews with newcomers, community leaders, educators, and community members. As someone who grew up in a rural area, I wanted to know if the rosy neighborliness of my childhood would translate to an environment of hospitality, welcome, and inclusion for newcomers, or if the stories told to me by my students over the years – stories of slurs hurled in grocery stores, or exclusion from job opportunities – were closer to the truth. I found a deep disconnect between intentions and impacts, particularly around the topics of language diversity and tolerance. This article describes some of the realities currently experienced by newcomers in Brandon, MB and offers new insights on what it means to settle outside urban areas.

JenniferShermanDividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American DreamUniversity of California Press, 2021, 284 p., $85.00

JenniferShermanDividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American DreamUniversity of California Press, 2021, 284 p., $85.00

Examining Privilege in Engineering Socialization Through the Stories of Newcomer Engineers

ABSTRACT Prior research has demonstrated that early career socialization experiences play an important role in career outcomes, including learning, performance, satisfaction, and retention. What is not yet well understood, however, is how the organizational socialization experiences of different groups of early career engineers vary and how such variation leads to different career outcomes. By examining the experiences of first year engineers, this article contributes new insights into factors affecting socialization experiences and draws attention to privilege as an important factor shaping engineering socialization experiences. The stories of negative interpersonal interactions experienced by first year women civil engineers are presented and used to glean forms of privilege that affect newcomer socialization. The primary forms of intersectional privilege identified stem from gender and race, with religion and nationality also shaping newcomer experiences. The stories are used to inform proposed additions to a model of engineering socialization.

“Language alludes to everything”: A pilot study on front-line worker experience with newcomer integration

There remains an ongoing need to address not only the post-migration experiences of newcomers settling in Calgary but also to understand how systems that serve them perceive, make sense of, and contribute to these experiences. By hearing from those who work with newcomers within the institutional settings that support newcomers, we can begin to understand some complexities of newcomer integration. The purpose of this qualitative pilot study was to explore the perceptions that front-line workers hold regarding needs and experiences of newcomers. This study involved a series of eleven semi-structured interviews with workers at an immigrant-serving language-learning agency which were analyzed using thematic coding. The findings highlight: front-line workers perception of their newcomer clients’ identity in correlation to language; the clients’ emotional burden and sense of belonging; and the challenges clients faced balancing everyday commitments. Moreover, this study explores the front-line worker’s role in cultural brokerage and promoting wellness.

Integration Experiences of Newcomers Across the Prairies: Untangling Perceived Dichotomy Between Immigrants and New-to-Towns

Integration Experiences of Newcomers Across the Prairies: Untangling Perceived Dichotomy Between Immigrants and New-to-Towns

Information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada

PurposeStudies on the information behaviour of immigrants including refugees across the globe show a significant dependency of immigrants on their informal networks for meeting various settlement and everyday life information needs. Although there are quite a few studies in LIS that globally report the dependency of immigrants on their personal networks, very little is known about their experiences with their informal personal networks in the contexts of their settlement in informational terms. This paper explores the information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada consulting informal networks including broader Bangladeshi community people in pre- and post-arrival contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a mixed-method approach including semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with Bangladeshi immigrants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Interview data were analysed thematically, and descriptive statistics are used to describe the survey data relevant to this study.FindingsAlthough the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the information experience derived from an analysis of the interview data with some relevant references to the survey data when deemed appropriate. This paper provides insights into the information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants within their personal networks, including friends, family and ethnic community people. The findings of this study show that participants sometimes received discouraging, unhelpful or wrong information from their personal networks. The multiple dimensions of the information experiences of the study participants show the many consequences for their settlement lives. For some participants, settlement was particularly impacted by the concept of “information sharing fear” that emerged from the interviews. Information sharing fear relates to concerns that sharing information about the challenges faced by newcomers could be considered by potential immigrants as a kind of active “discouragement”. Participants described being sensitive to charges of envy or jealousy when they shared information related to challenges newcomers face, as friends and family see them as trying to prevent competition for social status.Originality/valueThe findings related to the information experiences of immigrants consulting informal networks has potential implications for research in various discipline such as LIS, migrational studies and psychology that explore the benefits of social networks in newcomers' settlement. The study also sets a ground to take a more holistic approach to the information experiences of newcomers, not just naming the sources newcomers utilize in settlement and everyday life contexts. The study also provides some future directions to comprehensively understand the culturally situated information behaviour of various immigrant groups.

Preventing Stress-Related Ill Health Among New Registered Nurses by Supporting Engagement in Proactive Behaviors-A Randomized Controlled Trial.

New registered nurses (RNs) are at risk of developing symptoms of stress-related ill health. To evaluate the effect of a 3×3hour group intervention aiming to prevent symptoms of stress-related ill health among new RNs by increasing engagement in proactive behaviors. The intervention involves discussions and models of newcomer experiences and stress and the behavior change techniques reinforcing approach behaviors, systematic exposure, and action planning. A randomized parallel group trial with an active control condition. The study sample consisted of 239 new RNs participating in a transition-to-practice program for new RNs in a large county in Sweden. Participants were randomized to either the experimental intervention or a control intervention. Data on experiences of stress, avoidance of proactive behaviors, engagement in leisure activities, role clarity, task mastery, and social acceptance were collected before and after the intervention. Effects were evaluated using multilevel model analysis and regression analysis. Missing data were imputed using multiple imputation. The control group experienced a statistically significant increase in experiences of stress during the period of the study (t(194.13)=1.98, p=.049), whereas the level in the experimental group remained stable. Greater adherence to the intervention predicted a greater effect on experiences of stress (β=-0.15, p=.039) and social acceptance (β=0.16, p=.027). Transition-to-practice programs may benefit from adding an intervention that specifically addresses new RNs' experiences of stress to further support them as they adjust to their new professional role. However, replication studies with larger samples, more reliable measures, and longer periods of follow-up are needed.