Acculturative stress can be a big problem for international students. Among the adaptation difficulties they may face, adjusting to new foods in a new environment is crucial to their well-being. Existing studies related to dietary acculturation point to gender differences, mostly on objective health impacts. Using the information processing approach, this study aims to examine the subjective perception of dietary acculturation difficulties, with a focus on the influence of social connectedness. Using the Bayesian inference approach with the Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique on a sample of 268 students from a Japanese international university, we found that female students are more likely to have perceived difficulties in the process of adjusting to new foods, but social connectedness lessens this effect. We also found no significant differences between domestic and international students regarding perceived difficulties of food adjustment in this study site, likely due to its highly multicultural environment. We suggest international universities provide better information about the food situations on campuses, especially for female students, and organize more cultural exchange events and food-related social activities to help students overcome barriers of food stress.
The study was conducted from October 2016 to December 2017 at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Animal Science, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, with the aim to evaluate the interaction between farming model types and reproductive performance of Ho and Dong Tao chickens. The two farming model types used in this research were (1) the traditional type – backyard and (2) the ameliorate type – battery cage. Data were collected from 61 Ho hens and 61 Dong Tao hens continuously during 52 laying weeks. The total number of eggs laid by hens raised in battery cages averaged 88.47 eggs (for Ho hens) and 94.91 eggs (for Dong Tao hens), 35-38% higher than the number of eggs laid by hens raised in a traditional model. The FCR index per 10 eggs laid in battery cages was significantly lower than that in the back-yard model (P< 0.001). In both the Ho and Dong Tao breeds, the rate between the number of embryonated eggs by number of incubated eggs recorded in the ameliorate model was higher than that recorded in the traditional model (P< 0.01 for Ho chickens, P< 0.001 for Dong Tao). The weight of eggs produced by hens raised in battery cages was higher than eggs laid by free-range hens for both Ho and Dong Tao chickens (P< 0.01). As such, the reproductive performances and egg quality of both Ho and Dong Tao breeds were apparently improved when chickens were raised in battery cages.
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