Improving intercultural communication skills: A challenge facing institutions of higher education in the 21st century

Following discussion of the rationales for improving students' intercultural communication skills, this article described how the professors at the University of Rhode Island and their counterparts around the world use the Internet as a mechanism for improving a student's intercultural awareness and sensitivity. Using the Internet, students here and abroad debate on timely, relevant topics to become aware of how people of different cultures see things differently. In addition, they write and exchange cross-cultural dialogues and explanatory notes to become interculturally sensitive. In this way, the students meet with their future partners of the global workplace, while honing their computer skills, writing skills, and enhancing their intercultural awareness and sensitivity. However, those in higher education who want to implement this kind of Internet-based teaching technique on a permanent basis must first address several difficult issues, including how to find like-minded professors here and abroad who are willing to participate. If correctly used over time, these techniques (international e-mail debate and cross-cultural dialogues) can improve students' intercultural awareness and sensitivity. Assessment of whether or not this improvement lasts over a period of time presents a quantitative problem. Defining intercultural sensitivity practically and satisfactorily is the first task facing educators interested in following this path toward improved communication. One of the greatest challenges facing the institutions of higher education of the 21st Century is how to improve intercultural communication skills of their students. Accompanied by a yet-to-be-developed instrument for quantitative measurement of long-term outcomes, projects like the international e-mail debate and cross-cultural dialogue may well become the tools for understanding and negotiation in the new global environment. --

Development of a Tuition Center Information System

The purpose of the project is to develop a tuition center information system which is data collecting and data processing system built with Visual Basic 6.0 programming language with Microsoft's Access as a database. The main objective of developing this system is to help administrator in managing the unavoidable administrative tasks such as student registration, and fee collecting. Benefit to public is that they can register on-line, check for timetable and tuition fee. And benefit for existing student, they are able to look for personal timetable and fee payment status

The relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and performance of small and medium enterprises in Malaysia

The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), entrepreneurial values (EV), knowledge creation process (KCP), and the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. This research analyzes these contributing variables to strategic entrepreneurship and their relationships with the performance of SMEs. There are a number of views on strategic entrepreneurship, which most have propensity for opportunity-seeking and advantage seeking behavior that require combined theories in entrepreneurship and strategic management. However, a few scholars argue that it is actually a balance of exploration and exploitation activities which correspond to the firm's capability to explore opportunities internally plus externally, and allow the sustaining of wealth creation. The research employs a quantitative and survey method, and data were collected from owner/managers of SMEs throughout peninsular Malaysia. Out of the 370 responses collected, only 335 were usable in this research. The data were analysed using multiple regressions. The findings reveal that exploration and exploitation depicted in entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial values and knowledge creation process respectively were significant predictors in strategic entrepreneurship and exhibited positive influence to the performance of SMEs in Malaysia. This research contributes theoretically to the enhancement of the understanding as well as the analysis of the strategic entrepreneurship model in SMEs. It provides another empirical supports to the three variables of EO, EV and KCP where EO having the biggest strength and contribution to the firm performance. In managerial contribution aspect, the findings provide opportunities for the SMEs to engage strategic entrepreneurship activities and develop sustaining competitive advantages thereby shoring up their performance

An Annotated Bibliography of Beginning and Intermediate Solo Bassoon Literature

A wind instrumentalist typically begins music study in a school band or orchestra. The instructors for these classes normally use method books, scales, and large ensemble pieces to teach and refine technique and musicianship. Unless the student has a private teacher, it is unlikely that they will study or perform solo music except on rare occasions. The serious study of solo literature typically begins on the college level, when all students have access to a professional teacher and private lessons. Solo literature is critical for the evaluation of a student’s performance level and ability, and it helps the instructor specifically address the student’s needs. It is particularly useful in developing musicianship, making real music out of notes on a page. Thus the study of solo music is central to advancing musical education. A university instructor will likely have a list of repertoire that addresses performance expectations at each level. This repertoire list facilitates advancing technique and is often graded by year or semester of study. A guide such as this is an incredibly helpful resource for planning performances of recitals and juries. No such guide exists for solo music at the middle school and early high school levels. Many times, students are unaware of solo material targeting these levels. Most performance opportunity is found through school. The most systematic way to teach a band or orchestra class, especially if there is only one teacher handling the program, is with the use of a method series, designed to teach everyone at once to meet the needs of the many. For less commonly played instruments such as the bassoon, method books fail to address challenges that are unique to that instrument and may not present the material in the most logical way. In addition, writers of these books often assume a lowest common denominator. Bassoons are usually grouped automatically with all of the other low range instruments, such as trombone and tuba. These instruments almost never have the melody in a large ensemble, but instead provide harmonic support. Thus, the bassoon parts are typically composed of long, slow-moving notes that are not very interesting to play and may cause the student to become frustrated or bored--not an ideal scenario. The addition of well-chosen beginning solo works, along with the method books, may help alleviate these issues. Solo music provides numerous unique educational opportunities for a bassoonist in the early years of study: it is often seen as “real music” and as more interesting than the method books. Comfortable range, appropriate technique, lyrical style, and focus on musicianship are just some of the benefits of performing solo music beyond etudes or large ensemble music. Solo performances might include talent shows, church services, or contests. The problem at hand is that there is no list of solo music for the bassoon for the middle school and early high school years. Their band or orchestra directors, though willing to help, are usually less experienced on the double reed instruments in general, and especially the bassoon. I have analyzed over three hundred beginner and intermediate bassoon solos, found individually and in collections, and have created such an annotated bibliography. This bibliography includes relevant information about the works: key or keys, range, meter, and rhythmic skills, as well as specific teaching points and unexpected details or technical challenges. Such challenges might include the use of enharmonic notes, notes outside the likely known range, new rhythms, complex meters, ornaments, modern skills, and new or difficult key signatures. I have also ranked the chosen solos by difficulty and correlated them with the main method book used by all student bassoonists, The New Weissenborn Method for Bassoon updated and revised by Dr. Douglas E. Spaniol. Additionally, I have included sourcing options for locating these pieces and collections. The end product is an annotated list of suitable solo pieces for bassoon study in the early years of development, organized in ways that are useful to both students and their instructors

A new class of two-channel biorthogonal filter banks and wavelet bases

We propose a novel framework for a new class of two-channel biorthogonal filter banks. The framework covers two useful subclasses: i) causal stable IIR filter banks. ii) linear phase FIR filter banks. There exists a very efficient structurally perfect reconstruction implementation for such a class. Filter banks of high frequency selectivity can be achieved by using the proposed framework with low complexity. The properties of such a class are discussed in detail. The design of the analysis/synthesis systems reduces to the design of a single transfer function. Very simple design methods are given both for FIR and IIR cases. Zeros of arbitrary multiplicity at aliasing frequency can be easily imposed, for the purpose of generating wavelets with regularity property. In the IIR case, two new classes of IIR maximally flat filters different from Butterworth filters are introduced. The filter coefficients are given in closed form. The wavelet bases corresponding to the biorthogonal systems are generated. the authors also provide a novel mapping of the proposed 1-D framework into 2-D. The mapping preserves the following: i) perfect reconstruction; ii) stability in the IIR case; iii) linear phase in the FIR case; iv) zeros at aliasing frequency; v) frequency characteristic of the filters