Investigating perceptions of master's students on English-as-a-medium-of-instruction programmes in East Asia

This PhD thesis is as investigation into the positionings, voices and experiences of students who use English for their postgraduate studies in the fields of business and English language teaching, in particular relation to their writing practices. Positioning this research as informing the English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and Global Englishes fields of enquiry, emergentism, complexity theory, performativity and integrationism are drawn on in order to assist with the interpretation and characterisation of the accounts of English offered by participants in the study, and to help understand what ‘language’ is in relation to ELF research. Further to these conceptual aims, English-as-a-medium-of-instruction programmes are investigated and discussed in order to understand how recent shifts in higher education are impacting on the lives and educations of students studying in the medium of English. The students’ accounts of their experiences offer insights into how aspects of educational and ecological practices impact on the linguistic realities of those studying on EMI programmes in these regions. Utilising semi-structured interviews and notes from the field, the findings indicate a high degree of diversity among student ‘communities’, with various backgrounds, orientations, experiences and future trajectories making variation an inherent characteristic of these groups and classrooms. The diversity found among and between contexts emphasises the primacy of temporal dimensions of language practices, as opposed to rigid geographical, disciplinary or cultural borders. Also, instances of students’ communicative engagements formed important parts of their conceptualisations of English (and language), but did not appear to align with current native / non-native dichotomies that are often prioritised in the field, as these linguistic landscapes are clearly more complex than can be accounted for by simple dichotomies. Regarding writing, the findings suggest that the proliferation of static notions of ‘academic style’ and ‘formal register’ as a priori properties of English academic writing can create a feeling of distance from the meaning making practices of formal written English. This, exacerbated by reported vocabulary shortages and a perceived need to repeatedly duplicate the same forms and structures in academic essays, presents a barrier to understanding what ‘academic writing’ does, who does it, and why they do it. It also seems evident that basing normative judgements of students’ writing on intrinsically sociocultural constructs of communication, which register, formality and aspects of structure inherently are, reifies aspects of writing that are more fluid in nature, thereby reinforcing a cognitive gap between how language works and how students are taught to communicate. This also presupposes a reader, or superaddressee, who is ‘western’, or, at least, who is an advocate of ‘western’ writing cultures. Such reifications could result from direct instruction or students’ own reactions to feedback (or, more likely, a combination of both), but either way they reinforce ideas of expertise and asymmetry between teachers and students, and between experts and novices, which results in feelings of frustration among some students. The findings support current moves in the field towards more critical and holistic forms of instruction and assessment that treat written language as a socially negotiated meaning making process, rather than as an endlessly reproduced body of pre-ordained parts that form a coherent static system of reference. Similarly, this research maintains that approaches to enquiry in Global Englishes and ELF can benefit from descriptivist engagement with people’s motivations, experiences, ideas and communicative behaviours when attempting to account for global linguacultural landscapes. Finally, it is proposed that those involved in EMI programmes might address potential issues in their contexts, particularly upon reflection on intersections between language and content, where uncritical treatment of language can result in difficulties for content instruction and assessment, and issues to student experience more generally

Academic Study and the Phenomena of Dialogue

To what extent is the academic study of religion interested in Hindu-Christian dialogue, and to what extent can it handle the phenomena of dialogue within the limitations of its method

The effect of prior upper body exercise on subsequent wingate performance

It has been reported previously that the upper body musculature is continually active during high intensity cycle ergometry. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of prior upper body exercise on subsequent Wingate (WAnT) performance. Eleven recreationally active males (20.8 ± 2.2 yrs; 77.7 ± 12.0 kg;  1.79 ± 0.04 m) completed two trials in a randomised order. In one trial participants completed 2 × 30 s WAnT tests (WAnT1 and WAnT2) with a 6 min recovery period; in the other trial, this protocol was preceded with 4 sets of biceps curls to induce localised arm fatigue. Prior upper body exercise was found to have a statistically significant detrimental effect on peak power output (PPO) during WAnT1 (P < 0.05) but no effect was observed for mean power output (MPO) (P > 0.05). Handgrip (HG) strength was also found to be significantly lower following the upper body exercise. These results demonstrate that the upper body  is meaningfully involved in the generation of leg power during intense cycling

Development and synthetic applications of the asymmetric anionic amino-Cope rearrangement

The thermal and anionic amino-Cope rearrangement of suitably functionalised 3-amino-1,5-hexadienes could potentially constitute a powerful tool for the stereoselective synthesis of highly functionalised acyclic or cyclic systems. [Illustration omitted.] Incorporation of β-aminoalcohol auxiliaries into the diene enabled high diastereoselectivity to be obtained during the 1,2-addition of the allyl Grignard reagent to α,β-unsaturated imines. Asymmetric anionic amino-Cope rearrangement of the diastereoisomerically pure 3-amino-1,5-diene substrates furnished the target aldehyde in good yield and with high levels of asymmetric induction (up to 94% e.e.). The aldehyde obtained was used as a non-racemic starting material to synthesise small heterocycles, with high levels of diastereoselectivity in some cases, providing a high yielding route to some important chiral building blocks. The successful formation of both tetrahydropyrans and lactones without any apparent loss of chirality was achieved and provided a background for investigation into the synthesis of piperidines, which could lead to a plausible route to biologically significant aza-sugars. [Illustration omitted.

NEMA wire and cable standards development programs

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) is the nation's largest trade association for manufacturers of electrical equipment. Its member companies produce components, end-use equipment and systems for the generation, transmission, distribution, control and use of electricity. The wire and cable division is presented in 6 sections: building wire and cable, fabricated conductors, flexible cords, high performance wire and cable, magnet wire, and power and control cable. Participating companies are listed

An Overview of the Upper Carboniferous Fossil Deposit at Linton, Ohio

Author Institution: Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and Museum of Natural History, Princeton UniversityThe cannel coal that underlies the Upper Freeport coal (Westphalian D, Upper Carboniferous) at Linton in Jefferson County, Ohio, has yielded a remarkable fossil assemblage of at least 10 invertebrate taxa and nearly 40 vertebrate taxa. Spirorbid worms, crustaceans (primarily syncarids and conchostracans), and fishes (coelacanths, haplolepid palaeoniscoids, and xenacanth sharks) are the most abundant fossils in the deposit; small aquatic amphibians (including nectridean, temnospondyl, and aistopod species) are also common. Other arthropod and tetrapod taxa are exceedingly rare and possess obvious adaptations for terrestrial existence

Polluters’ Profits and Political Response: Direct Control versus Taxes: Comment

In a recent issue of this Review, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock (B-T) presented a public choice analysis of the relative merits of direct controls and taxes in externality control. In Section IV of their paper, B-T consider the case of reciprocal external diseconomies of consumption. They ask whether ... persons in this sort of interaction, acting through the political processes of the community, will impose on themselves either a penalty tax or direct regulation (p. 143). Their analysis is carried out within the context of a two-person model in which each person consumes the same quantity of a good (or carries out the same quantity of an activity) in the precontrol equilibrium, but in which the two transactors exhibit different price elasticities of demand for the good. B-T show that under these circumstances the imposition of equal quotas would be preferred to the imposition of an efficient tax by one transactor but not the other. Their analysis that supports that conclusion is incorrect

ECRG4 regulates neutrophil recruitment and CD44 expression during the inflammatory response to injury.

The complex molecular microenvironment of the wound bed regulates the duration and degree of inflammation in the wound repair process, while its dysregulation leads to impaired healing. Understanding factors controlling this response provides therapeutic targets for inflammatory disease. Esophageal cancer-related gene 4 (ECRG4) is a candidate chemokine that is highly expressed on leukocytes. We used ECRG4 knockout (KO) mice to establish that the absence of ECRG4 leads to defective neutrophil recruitment with a delay in wound healing. An in vitro human promyelocyte model identified an ECRG4-mediated suppression of the hyaluronic acid receptor, CD44, a key receptor mediating inflammation resolution. In ECRG4 KO mouse leukocytes, there was an increase in CD44 expression, consistent with a model in which ECRG4 negatively regulates CD44 levels. Therefore, we propose a previously unidentified mechanism in which ECRG4 regulates early neutrophil recruitment and subsequent CD44-mediated resolution of inflammation

Airships in U.N. Humanitarian and Peace Operations: Ready for Service?

This study examines whether the United Nations should take steps in the near future to exploit the operational characteristics of lighter-than-air (LTA) and hybrid aircraft in support of its peace and humanitarian operations. Continued progress in the development of LTA transport system makes this a timely issue. At the same time, this progress highlights persistent challenges to the conduct of reliable and safe LTA operations, particularly in the face of bad weather and threats from groups hostile to the UN mission. The report examines this issue in four sections: (1) the potential advantages of LTA operations; (2) their disadvantages; (3) current developments in available systems; and (4) their general application to peace and humanitarian operations. In conclusion, the study recommends that the United Nations and its Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) begin an active program to assess the progress of and develop contacts within the emerging LTA industry. Once a proven airship of modest size becomes available on a contract basis, the study suggests that the United Nations seek an opportunity to integrate it into pilot projects and selected humanitarian and peace operation. Eventually, if its initial projects are successful, the UNHAS should look to acquiring a small fleet of LTAs