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Current student development theories are mostly grounded in the experiences of domestic students in North America. The increasing portion of the international students in the post-secondary student population has created a glaring gap for a unique theory of international student development. A unique theory for international student development, with a focus on their intercultural learning experiences, will serve as a necessary theoretical foundation for international student programmes and services that are offered in most hosting universities of international students as an overlay on top of general student services. Through a critical review of existing literature, this paper endeavours to develop a coherent theory of international student development that endorses a critical and post-structural approach to the key issues of intercultural identity, intercultural competence and intercultural adaptation for international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the number of Chinese international students studying overseas. There has also been a corresponding increase in the media stories about their cross-cultural difficulties. Reported in this study is a reflective inquiry into my work as an international student advisor with a large number of Chinese students in a top Canadian university. Through five composite stories, I hope to present a few areas of challenges Chinese students experience and reflect on how advisors can better support them from the intercultural perspective. I also hope to engage other advisors through this study in exploring ways to contribute to the field of international education as frontline practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have fewer and immature mitochondria than somatic cells and mainly rely on glycolysis for energy source. During somatic cell reprogramming, somatic mitochondria and other organelles get remodeled. However, events of organelle remodeling and interaction during somatic cell reprogramming have not been extensively explored. We show that both SKP/SKO (Sox2, Klf4, Pou5f1/Oct4) and SKPM/SKOM (SKP/SKO plusMyc/c-Myc) reprogramming lead to decreased mitochondrial mass but with different kinetics and by divergent pathways. Rapid, MYC/c-MYC-induced cell proliferation may function as the main driver of mitochondrial decrease in SKPM/SKOM reprogramming. In SKP/SKO reprogramming, however, mitochondrial mass initially increases and subsequently decreases via mitophagy. This mitophagy is dependent on the mitochondrial outer membrane receptor BNIP3L/NIX but not on mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) dissipation, and this SKP/SKO-induced mitophagy functions in an important role during the reprogramming process. Furthermore, endosome-related RAB5 is involved in mitophagosome formation in SKP/SKO reprogramming. These results reveal a novel role of mitophagy in reprogramming that entails the interaction between mitochondria, macroautophagy/autophagy and endosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]