Accessibility of discoursal data in critical genre analysis: international commercial arbitration practice

A análise crítica de gênero, especialmente quando enfoca práticas profissionais específicas, depende de modo crucial da disponibilidade de dados discursivos da prática profissional sob investigação, o que nem sempre é fácil. Neste artigo abordo um exemplo típico desse tipo de dificuldade, enquanto enfoco uma iniciativa internacional em que estive envolvido nestes últimos anos, com a colaboração de mais de vinte equipes de pesquisa de um mesmo número de países. Ao nos debruçarmos sobre dados discursivos (narrativos, documentais e interacionais), é possível enxergar as motivações para processos e procedimentos interdiscursivos. Entretanto, o assim chamado dever de estrita confidencialidade, observado e praticado nas práticas de arbitragem internacional, torna difícil o acesso aos dados das práticas de arbitragem e, assim, de levar adiante uma pesquisa interdisciplinar crítica com base na noção de gênero. No presente artigo enfocarei algumas das questões importantes envolvidas no estudo da prática profissional e discutirei as implicações desse requisito de confidencialidade amplamente obedecido, bem como suas implicações para a pesquisa na e desenvolvimento da instituição de arbitragem. Também proponho alternativas para a coleta de dados da prática de arbitragem, de modo a tornar esse tipo de pesquisa possível.El análisis crítico de género, especialmente cuando enfoca prácticas profesionales específicas, depende de modo crucial de la disponibilidad de datos discursivos de la práctica profesional bajo investigación, lo que ni siempre es fácil. En este artículo abordo un ejemplo típico de ese tipo de dificultad, mientras enfoco una iniciativa internacional en la que estuve envuelto en estos últimos varios años, con la colaboración de más de veinte equipos de investigación de un mismo número de países. Al inclinarnos sobre datos discursivos (narrativos, documentales e interacionales), es posible ver las motivaciones para procesos y procedimientos interdiscursivos. Al mismo tiempo, el así llamado deber de estricta confidencialidad, observado y practicado en las prácticas de arbitraje internacional, vuelven difícil el acceso a los datos de las prácticas de arbitraje y, así, de llevar adelante una investigación interdisciplinar crítica con base en la noción de género. En el presente artículo enfocaré algunas de las cuestiones importantes involucradas en el estudio de la práctica profesional y discutiré las implicaciones de ese requerimiento de confidencialidad ampliamente obedecido, bien como sus implicancias para la pesquisa en el desarrollo de la institución de arbitraje. También propongo alternativas para la colecta de datos de la práctica de arbitraje, de modo a tornar ese tipo de investigación posible.Critical genre analysis, especially targeting specific professional practices, crucially depends on the availability of discursive data from the professional practice under investigation, which is not always easily accessible. In this paper, I take up a typical example of this kind of difficulty focusing on an international initiative, in which I have been involved for the last several years, with collaboration from more than twenty research teams from as many countries. By drawing on discoursal data (narrative, documentary and interactional), it is possible to look at the motivations for interdiscursive processes and procedures. However, the so-called duty to strict confidentiality observed and practiced in international arbitration practice makes it difficult to get access to data from arbitration practice and thus to undertake such critical genre-based interdisciplinary research. In this paper, I will focus on some of the important issues involved in this study of professional practice and discuss implications of this generally assumed requirement of confidentiality, and its implications for research in and development of the institution of arbitration. I also propose alternatives to collection of data from arbitration practice to make such research possible

Critical Genre Analysis: Theoretical Preliminaries

Genre theory has generally focused on the analysis of generic constructs with some attention to the contexts in which such genres are produced, interpreted, and used, often giving the impression as if producing and interpreting genres is an end in itself, rather than a means to an end. As a consequence, there has been very little attention paid to professional practice, which is the ultimate objective of these discursive activities. It is thus necessary to develop a more comprehensive and multiperspective genre analytical framework to analyze interdiscursive performance in professional practice. In this paper, I propose such a multiperspective critical genre analytical framework and attempt to discuss some of the key theoretical perspectives underlying critical genre theory

Methodological Issues in Genre Analysis

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An investigation into formal and functional characteristics of qualifications in legislative writing and its application to English for academic legal purposes.

The present investigation is based on a linguistic analysis of the 'Housing Act 1980' and attempts to examine the role of qualifications in the structuring of the legislative statement. The introductory chapter isolates legislative writing as a "sub-variety “of legal language and provides an overview of the controversies surrounding the way it is written and the problems it poses to its readers. Chapter two emphasizes the limitations of the available work on the description of language-varieties for the analysis of legislative writing and outlines the approach adopted for the present analysis. This chapter also gives some idea of the information-structuring of legislative provisions and establishes qualification as a key element in their textualisation. The next three chapters offer a detailed account of the ten major qualification-types identified in the corpus, concentrating on the surface form they take, the features of legislative statements they textualize and the syntactic positions to which they are generally assigned in the statement of legislative provisions. The emerging hypotheses in these chapters have often been verified through a specialist reaction from a Parliamentary Counsel, largely responsible for the writing of the ‘Housing Act 1980’• The findings suggest useful correlations between a number of qualificational initiators and the various aspects of the legislative statement. They also reveal that many of these qualifications typically occur in those clause-medial syntactic positions which are sparingly used in other specialist discourse, thus creating syntactic discontinuity in the legislative sentence. Such syntactic discontinuities, on the evidence from psycholinguistic experiments reported in chapter six, create special problems in the processing and comprehension of legislative statements. The final chapter converts the main linguistic findings into a series of pedagogical generalizations, offers indications of how this may be applied in EALP situations and concludes with other considerations of possible applications

Introduction

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Introduction to Thematic Section: Critical Genre Analysis

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Synthesis of Al and Ag nanoparticles through ultra-sonic dissociation of thermal evaporation deposited thin films for promising clinical applications as polymer nanocomposite

Nanoparticles (NPs) having well-defined shape, size and clean surface serve as ideal model system to investigate surface/interfacial reactions. Ag and Al NPs are receiving great interest due to their wide applications in bio-medical field, aerospace and space technology as combustible additives in propellants and hydrogen generation. Hence, in this study, we have synthesized Ag and Al NPs using an innovative approach of ultra-sonic dissociation of thin films. Phase and particle size distributions of the Ag and Al NPs have been determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thin film dissociation/dissolution mechanism, hence conversion into NPs has been characterized by SEM- scanning electron microscope. EDXA & ICPMS have been performed for chemical analysis of NPs. Optical properties have been characterized by UV-Vis and PL spectroscopy. These NPs have also been investigated for their anti-bacterial activity against Escherichia coli bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time when NPs has been synthesized by ultra-sonic dissociation of thin films. As an application, these NPs were used further for synthesis of nanocomposite polymer membranes, which show excellent activity against bio film formation

Bedaquiline, Delamanid, Linezolid and Clofazimine for Treatment of Pre-extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND Treatment success rates for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remain low globally. Availability of newer drugs has given scope to develop regimens that can be patient-friendly, less toxic, with improved outcomes. We proposed to determine the effectiveness of an entirely oral, short-course regimen with Bedaquiline and Delamanid in treating MDR-TB with additional resistance to fluoroquinolones (MDR-TBFQ+) or second-line injectable (MDR-TBSLI+). METHODS We prospectively determined the effectiveness and safety of combining two new drugs with two repurposed drugs - Bedaquiline, Delamanid, Linezolid, and Clofazimine for 24-36 weeks in adults with pulmonary MDR-TBFQ+ or/and MDR-TBSLI+. The primary outcome was a favorable response at end of treatment, defined as two consecutive negative cultures taken four weeks apart. The unfavorable outcomes included bacteriologic or clinical failure during treatment period. RESULTS Of the 165 participants enrolled, 158 had MDR-TBFQ+. At the end of treatment, after excluding 12 patients due to baseline drug susceptibility and culture negatives, 139 of 153 patients (91%) had a favorable outcome. Fourteen patients (9%) had unfavorable outcomes: four deaths, seven treatment changes, two bacteriological failures, and one withdrawal. During treatment, 85 patients (52%) developed myelosuppression, 69 (42%) reported peripheral neuropathy, and none had QTc(F) prolongation >500msec. At 48 weeks of follow-up, 131 patients showed sustained treatment success with the resolution of adverse events in the majority. CONCLUSION After 24-36 weeks of treatment, this regimen resulted in a satisfactory favorable outcome in pulmonary MDR-TB patients with additional drug resistance. Cardiotoxicity was minimal, and myelosuppression, while common, was detected early and treated successfully

The viral capsid as novel nanomaterials for drug delivery

The purpose of this review is to highlight recent scientific developments and provide an overview of virus self-assembly and viral particle dynamics. Viruses are organized supramolecular structures with distinct yet related features and functions. Plant viruses are extensively used in biotechnology, and virus-like particulate matter is generated by genetic modification. Both provide a material-based means for selective distribution and delivery of drug molecules. Through surface engineering of their capsids, virus-derived nanomaterials facilitate various potential applications for selective drug delivery. Viruses have significant implications in chemotherapy, gene transfer, vaccine production, immunotherapy and molecular imaging