English Test Result of Applied Language Centre of University College Dublin--28th August, 2015

English Test Result of Applied Language Centre of University College Dublin--28th August, 2015

Feelings of Safety among International Students in Ireland. (Analysis with the questionare)

Feelings of Safety among International Students in Ireland

1.INTRODUCTIONMy research mainly concerns about the perception of safety among international students, because people in different ages, with different experience or from different cultures, have different experiences of adapting to a new life of study abroad. Even the feelings of people who have the same basic elements above (age, nationality, etc.) may have very different experiences. How to let students know that they are safe is the main purpose of this study. As more and more international students choose to come and study in Ireland, the impact of different cultures and national social situations is becoming more apparent on Irish third-level campuses. Though Ireland has a reputation as a relatively safe country. This view is not always well accepted by each international student. Partly this is because people will commonly feel unsafe in a foreign country. On the other hand, a lack of the common knowledge and life experience of a specific country is a main complication for international students. (Sei-Ching Joanna Sin, 2015). Each international student takes his own society with himself here. Everything they experience is framed through their prior experience back in their homelands. Although international students can be very different from each other, it is still possible to find some useful basic elements to measure their feelings of safety. Factors including cultural background, social situations, government policy and common life style, or even the currency may also cause distress to the new international students due to their unfamiliarity with them. If the student failed to feel safe on campus in any reason, they would make efforts to seek to amend this situation. Hence, what their behavior will be in the next period is hard to predict (Ugur Eray Tahta, etc, 2015). As a result, such students often fail to focus on their studies and important campus time. The most effective way to help the international students focus on their important campus time is to offer them the safety feeling. But the safety feeling seems to be quite hard to provide to students with different nationalities ( Rongqin Yu, etc, 2015). As individuals are different and have their own ways of determination of what makes them feel safe or not, there might be troubles to provide the same level of feeling of safety to each student. But it is still useful to help the student to feel safe and enable them to focus their limited energy on the valued campus life.

2.METHOD
As this project focuses on the feeling of safety among international students studying in Dublin, it is essential that as wide as a set of responses as possible was obtained. In order to do this, a sample constituting variety of nationalities was assessed. A set of 26 questionnaires that asked questions related to feelings of safety in different social situations was sent to the 26 international students. These questionnaires were designed as simple as possible within only 10 questions aiming to the subjective feeling of safety.
As there might be so many individual differences among international students, it is nearly impossible to design such a huge questionnaire to contain and express all the elements of an individual. Because of the space constrains of a questionnaire is there. But the solution can be simple. To let the group of elements function themselves and reduce the interference between each element (such as nationality, sex, culture and individual experience, etc) naturally might be the right way.
Before the questionnaires are given out, firstly, a clear-organized introduction shall be given for international students. Four elements shall be stressed.
•focusing on the feeling of safety
•life comparison between the hometown and Dublin
•a set 5 levels for measuring the different extent of students’ feelings on safety shall be developed
•give a clear idea of the safety, defining the meaning of this word and limiting the meaning of safety
Secondly, a well-designed questionnaire will be used in investigating the real feelings of international students about their safety.
•5 different level answers will be given with an explanation for each level
•contains the main reasons people feel safe or unsafe
•contains the main description for different reasons
Lastly, an official proposal will be given after the data analysis. Data will be stored for a further study.
•a well-designed excel
•accurate data
•a wide and large capacity of interviewees if it is possible
•a graphical representation of results will be shown

3.RESULTS
3.1 General information
The first part of the questionnaire, general information, includes two basic questions. Graph 1 shows the percentage of the sample`s nationality ( China, 77%; Brazil, 15%; Saudi Arabia, 8%). Graph 2 shows the percentage of the sample`s ages (age 18 to 23, 65%; age 24 to 29, 19%; age 30 to 35, 15%). Usually the age 18 to 23 covers the period that people study in college. The age 24 to 35 covers the period that people have had more extensive social experiences.



3.2 FEELING OF SAFETY IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
The second part of the questionnaire
3.2.1 Difference between feelings of safety on campus and on the streets outside the campus.
Graph 3 shows the percentage of different levels of international students` feeling of safety on campus. Graph 4 shows the percentage of different levels of international students` feeling of safety on streets. The comparison of feeling of safety between on campus and on streets shows a significant trend. The level of international students` feeling of safety decreased when international students were on the streets instead of on campus. It means they feel safer on campus.



3.2.2 Different familiarity levels generate different feelings of safety
Graph 5 shows the percentage of feeling of safety between Dublin and in the students’ hometowns. Graph 6 shows the percentage of different reasons of to feel unsafe (not familiar, 67%; safety situation is worse, 17%; other, 13%; people don`t seem nice, 4%).

Graph 7 shows the percentage of different levels of familiarity to Dublin. Graph 8 shows the percentage of witness of crime in Dublin. Nearly a half of the international students said they had seen or been involved in crime in Dublin.
To compare Graph 2, Graph 6 and Graph 7, the result shows the low familiarity level correlates to a low level of feeling safety in Dublin.

To compare Graph 6 and Graph 8, the result shows that seeing or being involved in any crime did not correspond to the first reason of feeling unsafe (I am not familiar with the city, 67%).
People are more familiar with their hometown than Dublin, and, perhaps predictably, they feel safer in their hometown than in Dublin. Levels of feelings of safety may depend on the familiarity levels.

3.3 IMPACT OF LACK OF SAFETY
The final part of the questionnaire is designed to calculate the mental result of lack of safety.
Graph 9 shows the percentage of recovering time from a unsafety situation ( 3 to 6 months, 40%; more than 6 months, 28%; less than 3 months, 32%). Graph 10 shows the percentage of possibility of unsafety causing anxiety ( yes, 48%; no, 27%; no sure, 27%).
As most of the students are taking their one-year program in Dublin, according to these results there will be anxiety effect on at least 48% of them.


4.DISCUSSIONAs the international students become more familiar with life in Dublin, their feelings of safety may also improve, like they did in their hometown. But to reduce the time it takes to achieve this level of comfort and familiarity is still necessary. It can help students to focus on their studies instead of spending their limited energy harbouring feelings of anxiety. Hence, the solution is to guide the international students to become more familiar with Dublin as soon as possible.

5.CONCLUSIONThis study examined the reasons causing unstable feelings of safety among international students. The element of familiarity has a statistically significant effect on international students` lives in Dublin the most. In other words, to lead them to feel familiar with Dublin will make international students feel safer. The way to make the international students familiar with the life in Dublin can be seen as the most important part of providing feeling of safety. The reason to provide feeling of safety is to satisfy international students and let them feel as safe in Dublin as they did in their hometown. As a result, it is easy to maximize their satisfaction and minimize their anxiety. Finally, it may help the international students to gain a good beginning of their valuable campus life.

REFERENCESRongqin Yu, Susan Branje, Loes Keijsers, Wim Meeus, (2015), “Associations between young adult romantic relationship quality and problem behaviors: An examination of personality–environment interactions,” Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 57, August 2015, Pages 1–10
Sei-Ching Joanna Sin, (2015), “Demographic Differences in International Students' Information Source Uses and Everyday Information Seeking Challenges,” The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 41, Issue 4, July 2015, Pages 466–474
Ugur Eray Tahta, Sevil Sen, Ahmet Burak Can, (2015), “GenTrust: A genetic trust management model for peer-to-peer systems”, Applied Soft Computing, Volume 34, September 2015, Pages 693–704

Supervision experience in the past 6 years

Supervision experience in the past 6 years


Shijiazhuang Railway Station

Huairou North Railway Station

Xizhimen Railway Station

Tianjin West Railway Station

Wuqing Railway Station

Academic Reports Attendance of Southwest Jiaotong University in 2014/2015

西  南  交  通  大  学

研究生参与参加学术报告专题讲座登记卡

姓名：  芦亚民  年级：   2014级    硕、博专业  交通运输工程 

学术报告、专题讲座题目	主讲人	日  期	导师签字
1.学术之路、奋斗人生	翟婉明	2014-03-21
2.模型预测控制-理论、应用与挑战	席裕庚	2014-03-22
3.Scalable Control of Positive Systems	Anders Rantzer	2015-03-26
4.欧洲智能交通发展前沿及利兹大学留学项目推荐会	Frank Lai	2014-04-02
5.On Some Theoretical and Practical Aspect of Traffic Signal Control	Ke Han	2015-04-07

注：1.博士研究生须参加不少于8次学术报告或专题讲座（国内、外），其中本人主讲不少于1次。

2.硕士研究生须参加不少于5次学术报告或专题讲座（国内、外）。

3.导师根据研究生参加学术报告或专题讲座后写的书面收获和体会或研究生本人主讲提纲阅签。

4.研究生凭此卡片和导师阅签后的书面收获、体会到本人所在院、系（所）和研究生院培养办公室登记学分。

研究生参加学术报告专题讲座回顾

交通运输工程，芦亚民

学术报告（一）：

报告主题：翟婉明：学术之路，奋斗人生

报告人：翟婉明

时间：2014-03-21

地点：九里校区国际会议厅

翟婉明教授毕业于唐山铁道学院（西南交通大学前身），是中国科学院院士，西南交通大学首席教授，国务院学位委员会机械工程学科评议组成员，国家“千人计划”专家顾问组成员。他长期从事铁路工程领域动力学理论与应用研究，创建了机车车辆－轨道耦合动力学理论体系，建立了车辆－轨道统一模型等，曾获“长江学者”成就奖、2012年度四川省科技杰出贡献奖等荣誉，共主持和参加了40余项国家、铁道部、教育部与四川省的纵向科研课题。 

翟院士与大家分享了他充满“艰辛和欢乐”的求学之路。作为寒门学子，满怀理想，勤奋努力，朝着自己年少立下的科学家梦想前行。翟院士道出了求学之路的本质是勤奋刻苦的历练过程。在学术之路上，翟院士鼓励学子们遵从兴趣与爱好。翟院士认为，广泛地阅读文献、学习知识，是打下学术科研坚实基础的第一步。讲解中，翟院士还结合自己的研究过程，为同学们介绍了做学问的一些思路及研究方法。在活动的尾声，翟院士表达了对交大学子的六点期待：“不畏艰难”、“持之以恒”、“大胆创新”、“脚踏实地”、“抓住机会”，以及“学术诚信”。

学术报告（二）：

报告主题：模型预测控制-理论、应用与挑战

报告人：席裕庚

时间：2015-03-22

地点：九里校区电气馆3211

席裕庚，1984年在德国慕尼黑工业大学电气工程系获工学博士学位，现为上海交通大学电子信息与电气工程学院自动化系教授、博士生导师。长期从事预测控制、大系统和复杂系统控制、智能机器人系统与技术等方向的基础研究。在国内率先开展了预测控制的研究，出版了国内首部《预测控制》专著。在国内外学术刊物上发表论文300余篇，出版教材专著4本，主编学术会议论文集3本，获国家教委、上海等省市科技进步奖9次，国家优秀教材、图书奖4次，并被授予国家有突出贡献的中青年专家等荣誉称号。曾任IFAC大系统技术委员会副主席、亚洲控制协会主席、中国自动化学会副理事长等职。目前的主要研究方向为预测控制理论与应用、大规模复杂网络系统的控制与优化等。

报告会上，席裕庚教授简要回顾了模型预测控制的发展历程，介绍了预测控制的基本原理，从工业应用和理论研究的不同角度分别阐述了预测控制承担的角色和学术、技术关注点。结合典型案例介绍了预测控制在工业过程中的应用，总结了预测控制现代综合理论的基本理念和发展概况。在此基础上，指出了现有的预测控制理论和技术面对着经济和社会发展日益增长的需求面临的巨大挑战，并提出了模型预测控制今后可能的发展方向。

席裕庚教授指出，克服理论与应用的脱节,针对各应用领域的不同需求,发展高效算法,提供理论依据充分、实用性强、兼顾优化与稳定等性能要求的系统理论和算法,并以此推动预测控制理论的进一步发展,这是预测控制研究始终追求的目标,也是预测控制未来发展的方向。

学术报告（三）：

报告主题：SCALABLE CONTROL OF POSITIVE SYSTEMS

报告人：ANDERS RANTZER教授

时间：2015-03-26

地点：九里校区工程中心楼403室

Prof. ANDERS RANTZER于1991年在瑞典斯德哥尔摩的瑞典皇家理工学院获得博士学位。他于1993年加入隆德大学，在1999年出任自动控制专业教授。在2004至2005学年他在加州理工学院任客座副教授。2013年至2015年他也担任瑞典科学委员会主席，主管自然科学和工程科学方面事务。Prof. ANDERS RANTZER一直是IEEE自动控制和其他一些期刊的副编辑。他是SIAM Student Paper Competition和IFAC Congress Young Author Price的获奖者。他也是瑞典皇家工程科学院的成员。他的研究主要针对控制系统的建模，分析和综合运用，学术上倾向于研究系统的不确定性，优化和分布式控制等方面。

在学术报告会上，他指出，经典控制理论没有在像交通网络系统，电力系网和化工生产系统上表现出足够的优越性。而应用POSITIVE SYSTEMS将使人们的对大型系统的研究上取得便利，并且已经取得了一定的成果。

学术报告（四）：

报告主题：欧洲智能交通发展前沿及利兹大学留学项目推荐会

报告人：FRANK LAI博士

时间：2015-04-02

地点：交通运输与物流学院X2323

Dr. FRANK LAI是英国利兹大学的国际教育合作主管和高级研究员。1997年在利兹大学运输组织与工程专业取得工程硕士学位，后于2005年在利兹大学取得交通运输博士学位。他主要致力于道路交通安全、交通管理、智能交通系统及人机系统方面的研究。

通过Dr. FRANK LAI的报告，我对近年来欧盟国家在ITS方面的主要情况有了初步了解，对欧洲各国家的管理体制、技术开发和应用到经营与服务各种问题有了一定的认识。细细想来，能够看到欧洲国家在智能交通上的研究态度，他们更加重视交通规划、在强调综合的同时也非常注意专业分工，充分应用信息技术提供的手段，发挥已有的基础设施、设备及装备的综合应用，为出行者和各方面的用户提供连续的、透明的交通服务。值得注意的是，他们善于利用信息技术克服传统部门分工的界限，强调服务，在不打破原有部门格局和利益格局的基础上，实现信息服务的一体化，从而逐步实现管理的一体化。另外，欧洲的交通项目非常重视评估，循序渐进的进行交通体系的完善工作。

学术报告（五）：

报告主题：ON SOME THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL

报告人：Ke Han博士

时间：2015-04-07

地点：九里校区逸夫馆4305B

Dr. Ke Han自2013年起帝国理工大学土木与环境工程分院交通经营与物流专业副教授。他2008年中国科技大学应用数学专业，并于2013年在美国宾夕法尼亚大学获得博士学位。Dr. Ke Han研究范围广泛，涵盖了交通运输科学和技术的大部分领域，包括交通流理论、交通网络建模、动态交通分配、交通运营和管理、网络和机制设计、可持续运输和城市物流等方向。他还是Transportation Research Part B - Methodological and International Journal of Transportation的一名责任编辑。同时也是运筹学与管理科学协会，工业与应用数学学会，交通运输研究委员会和中国海外运输协会COTA的会员。

讲座中，Dr. Ke Han主要集中在信号交叉口对于交通的管制作用，他指出信号交叉口在城市交通设计、管理和城市交通网络控制方面扮演者重要地位，大部分的控制策略，都集中在这一位置，并将设计这和管理者的理论思想体现出来。同时，对其所应用的管理、控制理论进行了演示讲解。通过Dr. Ke Han的讲解，使我对城市交通管理有了进一步的认识。

勇于实践，勇于创新--研究生参加学术报告专题讲座心得体会

交通运输工程，芦亚民

经过一年半紧张忙碌的课程学习， 顺利地完成了工程硕士研究生共计二学年的全部课程，现在正着手于毕业论文的开题。至此，回顾一年多以来的学术报告与讲座，写下自己的心得体会，以更好地指导未来一年的学习生活。参加学术报告与讲座，是我们研究生学习必不可少的一个环节。专家教授的精彩演讲，传播着最新的科学前沿，带给我们深刻的思想启发与引导。

交通运输工程涉及交通基础设施的布局和修建、载运工具的运用、交通信息工程及控制、交通运输规划与管理和交通运输的现代化及安全技术等，它们有共同的理论和专业基础，与电子、土木、机械、材料、信息、管理等学科领域有着密切的联系和交叉。学科领域和范围包括公路、城市道路、铁路和机场的规划、设计、施工和养护，建设智能化、综合化交通信息控制系统的技术，交通运输总体规划及运营管理技术，适应重载、高速、高效、安全运输的载运工具运用技术等。因为我本科专业为安全工程，所以格外关注一些本质安全相关思想和技术，更希望通过网络技术和计算机智能等先进的信息科学技术，对交通运输领域安全管理进行深入的探讨。

近年来，我国道路交通迅猛发展，在为社会经济快速发展带来强力支撑的同时，也将日益严峻的交通安全问题摆在了人们面前。如何提高交通安全水平成为政府管理部门、科学研究机构和学者们不得不面对的现实问题。2014年3月以来，我参加的数个学术报告，都是基于“道路交通安全智慧管理”这一主题，力求通过智能交通、预测技术等前沿科学、技术，搭建从管理实践到科学研究的桥梁，研讨如何借鉴国外成熟的科研和实践成果，为提高我国交通安全管理水平服务。同时，立足交通运输管理实践，商讨如何在交通管理管理领域和科研领域建立长期的合作渠道，包括数据信息的收集、处理和分析等相关工作。 

围绕“道路交通安全智慧管理”的主题，我在一年的学习里，针对“道路交通安全研究方面的进展”和“欧洲道路交通安全管理实践”研读了一些论文，并做了一定研究归纳。 

在我国的道路交通事故在近几年一直呈上升趋势的背景，但是很多自己从前的研究和见解都是极其片面的，所以通过学术报告主要是为了建立自己的“道路交通安全研究框架”，理顺已经学习过的知识。这些学术报告针对道路交通的特点，系统地阐明了研究交通安全的相关学科、研究内容、主要包括道路、安全设施与环境方面的研究、交通参与者的交通特性研究、车辆技术性能的研究、道路交通安全管理方面的研究。 通过对系统框架的建立，使我明确了自己知识的不足之处，为进一步研究打下了良好的基础，真正的知其所以然。 

尤其是斯德哥尔摩大学、利兹大学和英国帝国理工大学教授们带来的学术报告，介绍了欧洲在交通安全领域的最新研究成果。包括围绕公路可视性预警、驾驶模拟器道路设计安全评价、道路安全自动检测、交通安全指标度量、驾驶辅助系统人机界面评估、信控交叉口安全确认行为、分神驾驶的风险、道路交通安全审计、交通安全规划、事故数据管理、汽车主动安全、高速公路救援响应、非机动车安全等研讨主题，确定了定量分析的指标体系和基于计算机网络信息技术的管理方法，也同样提到了智能平台的应用。这些前沿的科学成果，极大的拓宽了我的思路。 同就交通事故频发、智能交通系统实现困难等当前热点问题与主讲专家做了进一步交流，专家们都热情洋溢地给予了一一解答。 

通过这些讲座，拓宽了自己对智能交通系统的认识，也让我对未来我国智能交通系统的发展充满了信心。自己也要努力学习交通专业知识，争取以后能为交通事业做出贡献。创新型人才成长要重视从知识、能力、精神三个方面全面塑造自己。一个人的成长成才有四种途径，即教育成才，岗位成才，团队成才，事业成就成才。尤以翟婉明院士对同学们的勉励最让人记忆犹新。

态度决定一切，只有在工作岗位上好好学习各种知识，立足于事业，轻看待遇，满怀奉献的精神，就能真正的成就自己。我相信，不管是接下来一年的学习研究，还是从事的工作中，我都将充满斗志，勤苦努力，做出成绩。

2015年7月
July, 2015