Feb 28, 2008 Identify the three parts of introduction

Red: Move1
Blue: Move2
Green:Move3


Article 1.
Three recent publications serve to illustrate the growing interest in the teaching and researching of Business English (BE) amongst language teachers and researchers: the 1993 bibliography compiled by Kennedy, Hewings and Dudas, which lists research into various aspects of business communication, Dudley Evans and St. Johns’ review of BE research and teaching materials, and the 1996 special issue of English for Specific Purposes edited by St. John and Johnson, which contains articles relating to BE research and teaching, and the implications of research for teaching.
As these and other publications show, there as been a gradual but steady increase in Business English research during the 1990s in cross-cultural and intercultural studies, investigating the English used in business settings by native and non-native speakers (Yamada, 1990; Maier, 1992; Yli-Jokipii, 1994; Akar and Louhiala-Salminen, 1999). This no doubt reflects the fact that not only in English the language of international business but also that “as an international language, English is used as the means of communication in business transactions between people none of whom is a native user of the language” (Robinson, 1991, p. 98).
Despite the interest in both teaching and researching Business English in general, and in cross-cultural research in particular, little is known about the effectiveness of using hands-on cross-cultural and intercultural research as way of raising student awareness of the problems native and non-native speakers may experience in intercultural business encounters. This paper therefore outlines a course we have developed in research methods for intercultural text analysis for final year masters students in the business communication department at the University of Nijmegen. It begins with brief details of the background to the course, and it presents the literature we discuss and the types of activities we use during classroom sessions together with several examples of past student research projects. The paper concludes with discussion of some of the methodological problems we have encountered whilst developing and teaching the course, and, wherever this has been possible, the solutions that we have found and incorporated into our teaching.

Article 2.
An elaborate system of marking social distance and respect is found in the morphology of Nahuatl as spoken in communities of the Malinche volcano area in the Mexican states of Tlaxcala and Puebla. The complexity of the morphology involved, the semantic range of the elements, and the variation in the system in use raise questions of considerable interest for our understanding of the form and function of such systems, both in Nahuatl itself and in other languages.A system of elements usually referred to as 'honorifics' or 'reverentials' is reported by all the grammarians of Classical Nahuatl (cf. Olmos, 1547; Molina, 1571a; Carochi, 1645; Simeon, 1885; Garibay, 1970; Anderson, 1973; Andrews, 1975). Similar systems are reported for several modern varieties of Nahuatl (cf. Whorf, 1946 for Milpa Alta in the Federal District; Pitman, 1948 for Tetelcingo in Morelos; and Buchler and Freeze, 1966 and Buhler, 1967 for Hueyapan and Atempan in northern Puebla). None of these reports, except for Pittman's, describes the system in much detail. The present account is based on materials collected in 1974-75 and during the summer of 1976 in a linguistic survey of Nahuatl-speaking communities on the western and south-western slopes of the Malinche volcano.

Article 3.

In recent years applied researchers have become increasingly interested in the interpersonal relationships with manager-subordinate dyads. The majority of studies have focused on actual similarity between managers and their subordinates as related to managers’ appraisals of subordinates’ performance, subordinates’ job satisfaction and subordinates’ evaluations of their managers.
A few studies have examined the extent to which subordinates congruently perceive their managers (referred to here as “subordinate’s perceptual congruence”). These studies suggest that subordinates who are more perceptually aware of their superiors’ work-related attitudes receive higher performance evaluations and are more satisfied with their superiors.
Each of these previous studies has researched only a part of this complex dyadic interpersonal relationship. First, none of the studies has examined the effects of a manager’s congruent perception of a subordinate’s work-related attitudes. Second, no studies can be found that directly compare the relative importance of actual similarity with that of perceptual congruence. Third, none of the previous studies has looked at interpersonal perception by the manager and by the subordinates simultaneously within the same dyad.
The purpose of the present field investigation was to study both actual similarity and perceptual congruence and to examine them from the perspective of both the manager and the subordinate. The study investigated the relationships of these perceptual processes in two important organizational outcomes: subordinates’ satisfaction with work and supervision, and managers’ evaluations of subordinates’ job performance. Specifically, the study examined: (a) the relative magnitude of perceptual congruence and actual similarity with these two organizational outcomes; (b) whether the more congruently a subordinate perceives the manager (subordinate’s perceptual congruence), the more satisfied the subordinate will be; and (c) whether the more congruently a manager perceives the subordinate (manager’s perceptual congruence), the higher the subordinate’s performance will be evaluated.

Article 4.

Over the past twenty years there have been a number of significant changes to the health care system in Australia. These changes have occurred at the local, state, and federal levels. This paper will examine reforms at the state level for Victoria. This focus has been chosen because it is at this level that changes have had the most impact. Rather than superficially describing a large number of reforms, a detailed description and analysis will be presented of three revisions: the Workcare system, the deinstitutionalization of mental health patients, and the introduction of case-mix funding.

Article 5.
The thermal properties of glassy materials at low temperatures are still not completely understood. The thermal conductivity has a plateau which is usually in the range 5 to 10K and below this temperature it has a temperature dependence which varies approximately as T. The specific heat below 4K is much larger than that which would be expected from the Debye theory and it often has an additional term which is proportional to T. Some progress has been made towards understanding the thermal behaviour by assuming that there is a cut-off in the photon spectrum at high frequencies (Zaitlin and Anderson, 1975a, b) and that there is an additional system of low-lying two-level states (Anderson et al., 1972; Phillips, 1972). Nevertheless more experimental data are required and in particular it would seem desirable to make experiments on glassy samples whose properties can be varied slightly from one to the other. The present investigation reports attempts to do this by using various samples of the same epoxy resin which have been subjected to different curing cycles. Measurements of the specific heat (or the diffusing) and the thermal conductivity have been taken in the temperature range 0.1 to 80K for a set of specimens which covered up to nine different curing cycles.

Feb 26, 2008 EAV Chap12, 7b(#2)

Dear Mom and Dad,

It has been for a while without hearing from you. How are you doing at the countryside?

I am still working on the coal mine that I have been working for in the past ten years. The owner of the mine is a very mean person. He always provides us the worst food, which is stale and cold. I and another 9 young colleagues have to share a small room, which has not bathroom. There is no running water here; hence, I generally take a bath once a month. The winter is very cold in northern England; however, the owner even doesn’t give us the coal for heating in the room.

Everyday I work sixteen hours underground and I don’t have weekend. Even I am very sick sometimes, I am forced to work. I and other miners do the work manually. We dig the coal using pickaxe and shovel underground, put them into carts, and then pull them up. It is very dusty and wet at the scene, and I even can’t breathe sometimes. In addition, it is very dangerous for working underground. Two of my colleagues have been killed in the past year because of cave-in. However, the owner doesn’t care our lives and spends almost nothing to improve the working conditions and safety. Furthermore, I am paid very low.

In order to change this kind of bad situation, we form a worker union and are on strike now. Unfortunately, I don’t expect these mine owners are going to accept our requirements. The government is on their side. Moreover, it is very easy for them to find new workers to replace us since young fellows are flooding into this area from countryside to look for jobs.

In the meantime, I heard a lot of stories from the new continent, the United States. It is very easy to find a job there because the country is expanding fast and the labor is scarce. Even for the same job, it is paid much better than here. Maybe I will find my own fortune in the new continent. At the same time, I will be far far away from you then.

Yours son,

Tom

Homework on Feb 19, 2008 Positive and negative effects of monopoly

Most of the time, monopoly brings negative effects. First, monopolies tend to become less efficient and innovative over time because they do not have to be efficient or innovative to compete in the marketplace. Hence, the technology advancement is comparatively slow when one company controls a particular market. Second, monopolies generally overcharge the end consumers because there is no alternative on the market and companies are always greedy. Third, consumers have no place to complain if they are not satisfied with the products or services since those monopolies most often ignore these voices and do nothing. Most of monopolies become complacent giants eventually. Sometimes this very loss of efficiency can raise a potential competitor's value enough to overcome market entry barriers, or provide incentive for research and investment into new alternatives.

Hence, if one monopoly wants to keep its status for a long term, it behaves as if there were competition because of the risk of losing their monopoly to new entrants. Sometimes, consumers feel more comfortable if the market is controlled by one responsible monopoly because the product value will stay steadily, therefore, their investment is safe for a long term, particularly, in terms of these luxury, however, without any intrinsic value, jewelry such as gem-diamond.

From my point of view, the best business model is that the market is dominated by several (less than 5) major players. Hence, these companies are able to collect enough revenue to invest on research and development. In the meantime, they have to compete against each other to improve their product and service in order to stay in the market. These kinds of case can be found in the soft beverage market (Coca-cola and Pepsi), the computer microprocessor market (Intel and AMD), and the civil aviation market (Boeing and Air Bus).

Summarizing comments about Obama on 02/14/2008

Bloggers gave different, even disparate, comments about Obama.
Some bloggers [Sarah, Show-Me MO, Amy in Ohio] say Obama does not have any detailed plan and doesn’t say anything so far. However, other bloggers [Bryan] disagrees with this and claims he has specific policy proposal.
Some bloggers [Spock, Randy] claim that Obama is the most liberal Senator and has never stood on single issue. Instead, his answers in general are to appease both sides. Other bloggers [Ryaple] totally disagree to this and give a detailed list showing Obama stands on a lot of issues.
Some bloggers [No Obama] says Obama is not producing results and not work hard. While, others [Mrsnivel] argues that Obama is there to work for us.
A lot of bloggers [Kfol, etc.] claim that the support wave for Obama is a cult. Others [Digital Disease] say it is a movement.
In general, it is very normal for a lot of people to have diverse opinions to a heated debated news or characters, especially on the internet. For the case of Obama, it is interesting to know how people think of his sweeping success in the current primary election and find the reason behind it.

Citation Review on 02/142008

Researchers have arguments about the purpose of citations in academic writing. Most researchers agree that citations are good ways to acknowledge other’s original work. However, different points of view about citations are proposed as well. Some researchers suggest that proper citations are a matter of ethics and are a means to prevent plagiarism. Some researchers [Gilbert 1977] claim that citations are mainly for providing support to authors’ statements. Other researchers [Bavelas 1978] argue that the completeness of citations can show the writers’ familiarity to a particular field. In a word, citations are used to give credit to original authors, to prevent plagiarism, to support claim, and to demonstrate familiarity with the field. More investigation are needed to show their relationship in the future

EAV Chapt 7, 7b(2)

I once did a three-month internship at Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) in the summer of 2006. At that moment, SGI was developing and testing its new released high-performance reconfigurable computer and I was hired to write applications for performance testing. The working environment was quite typical and I was assigned a cube in a big office. The employees at SGI were always happy to help when I encountered any technical problems. Because I already knew the platform I was going to use before the internship started, I was able to begin my work from day one. In the meantime, my supervisor at SGI didn’t assign other work to me except the application development; so that I was able to focus on one single task and produce a lot of result at the end. Overall, I was doing the work I was interested; I was able to get the help immediately when problem arose; and I was paid quite well too. However, the disadvantage of this three-month internship is that I didn’t get a lot of challenges. I knew what and how I was going to do even before I went to SGI; hence, I just moved from one application to another one and didn't have a lot of chances to try something beyond my knowledge. Although I accumulated a lot of experience for one particular task, my overall knowledge didn’t grow. I believe the latter is more important.

Homework on Feb 07, 2008

EAV Chapter 6

1.
a) heart
b) structure
c) first
d) major
e) changes
f) percentage
g) enough
h) salary
i) change
j) restrictions
k) duties
l) skills
m) says
n) factors
o) money

3.
1) a steady job
2) working class
3) job security
4) odd jobs
5) workplace
6) task force
7) on-the-job training
8) workout
9) works of art
10) workload
11) foreign assignment
12) job description
13) job satisfaction
14) workaholic

4B.
1) initially
2) interactive
3) dominant
4) locate
5) sufficient
6) comments
7) illustrations
8) emphatic
9) react
10) correspondingly

5.
1) emphasis
2) basic
3) sufficient
4) routine
5) put
6) theoretical
7) outcome
8) funds
9) gave
10) raise

7B.2.

Testing, i.e. exam, can evaluate how comprehensive a student has understood a particular subject and mastered the necessary knowledge. In the meantime, subjects of arts and subjects of science may require totally different ways for testing. In order to realize the testing objective of scientific subjects, different methods should be applied in the test. For example, multiple-choice questions are good for assessing the basic points of a subject by mixing solutions with false ones. Then simple questions can be given to test the student’s capability of solving problems that are related with only one or two elements in the subject. At the end of the test, one or two advanced or difficult questions can be used to demonstrate the student’s skill of applying multiple elements together to solve a problem. However, testing methods for subjects of arts may use one method only. For instance, writing an essay is the typical way for testing a student’s skill in English writing class. Doing a small project and giving a short presentation is a good way for pushing students to dig up the real story in history class. No matter what kinds of testing methods are used, it is necessary for them to assess the knowledge comprehensively and deeply.

Summarization Exercise on 02/07/2008

1.a.
Electronic communication can let students find classmates, contact scholars, post and share ideas by attending online groups easily, and provide a good means for project research; hence, it dramatically extends the way for students to work with other people.

1.b.
In order to maximize the learning effect for most possible students, teachers should adjust the teaching methods appropriately to reflect the different learning styles of students and differnt learning activities from time to time.

Summary of Chapter 1 of "The craft of research"
In the first chapter of "The craft of research", the authors explain what research is, why we need to write the research report, and why we have to write the report in a formal way. Research basically is a process to find the solution for a particular problem by exchange information with other people in this world. In order to make the research valuable and accessible, it is important to write it up; furthermore, writing a report can help remember what the researchers find, understand the results better, and make your idea clear. To achieve these three objectives of writing, it is necessary to write the report formally because it can help make the ideas more accurate from readers' point of view. In a word, writing the report in a formal way can help both, the researchers and the readers, for better understanding each other and making the research more valuable to the community.

Homework on 02/05/2008

EAV Chapter 4

4b.
(1) participation, (2) categorized, (3) participate, (4) random, (5) tradition, (6) voluntary,
(7) injuries, (8) acquire, (9) regional, (10) normally, (11) energy.

6a.
(1) import, (2) porter, (3) port, (4) report, (5) deportation, (6) transportation,
(7) portable, (8) portfolio, (9) export, (10) reporter.

7b. my extracurricular activities in college

It was the story long time ago; however, the experience of extracurricular activities in college is imprinted in my memory forever. I started to feel a little bit loneliness after I spent one and half semesters in the first year of college. One day, I saw the hiring post of the campus café, which was managed by students under the supervision of university. I decided to do something different than studying at that time and went to apply for the position of waiter. I was recruited and started the par-time job of working behind the bar once or twice a week. In the café, I had the chance to know the students beyond my own major, such as the students from business school, law school, etc. In the meantime, my devotedness to the part-time job was acknowledged by those managers, who themselves were students; hence, I was promoted to be one of the shift managers after one and half semesters and later was appointed to the position just behind the general manger. At the beginning of my third year in college, I was picked up by the university and joined the unit that supervised all of those student-organized small businesses, such as café, supermarket, etc. I spent one year to work with these different types of organizations, and decided to quit at the beginning of the forth year.
The two-and-half-year experience participating in these student-organized businesses dramatically changed my life from the outside. In one sentence, I was wearing sneakers at the beginning and was wearing leather shoes at the end. However, my inside didn't change a lot actually. I was still a very naive student after I quit from the part-time job at the end.
At the same time, my focus was shifted from study as well and my grade was not as good as the first year. I was not sure this bad influence of the grade was related with the part-time job because that job didn't take a lot of time indeed.