"Eating alone is painful" : an interdisciplinary and ethnographically inspired sociolinguistic investigation into Vietnamese mealtime ritual invitations : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Invitations are a commonplace part of language ritual at meals in Vietnamese culture. They are verbal and non-verbal signals extended around everyday meals and interpreted as offers or invitations for food and/or company at meals. These invitations form communal and familial bonds and serve as a means to maintain hierarchical order. However, the commonly-held misperceptions of these invitations include them being explicitly verbalised, occurring only at meal-starts, and being specific to regions and people groups. Previous studies discussed the language of invitations from a narrow linguistic perspective which led to limited understandings of their nature and of how contextual and social factors govern their usage. My research examines linguistic and cultural perceptions and usage of Vietnamese mealtime ritual invitations (VMRIs) by about 350 native speakers of Vietnamese in New Zealand and Vietnam. My study draws on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork data, including participant observations, informal talks, diaries, video-recordings, and interviews. This is an interdisciplinary study drawing upon theoretical ideas from Sociolinguistics and Cultural Anthropology to analyse and interpret the data. The main findings are from two perspectives. From a linguistic perspective, VMRIs exhibit several features. Firstly, their linguistic variants are diverse. Secondly, particular linguistic features can express formality, politeness, hierarchical respect, and communicative conventions. Thirdly, key sociocultural variables (age, gender, familiarity, perception, and socio-family status) appear to influence usage. From an anthropological perspective, VMRIs are daily-life ritual practices manifesting the value of food in Vietnamese socio-cultural and historical context of food insecurity, the significance of family meals and meal manners, and the role of women. This study on Vietnamese mealtime ritual invitations expands the conceptual boundaries of invitations as multiplex discourses by showing how context (food and family meals) and other factors (status, familiarity, age, gender, and perception) generate and constrain language use. It also highlights the interrelationship between language and behaviour, the ritual practice of familial bonding during mealtimes, and the role of women in Vietnamese society. The findings emphasise the importance not only of taking account of speakers and hearers’ identities and discursive contexts when interpreting contextual language use but also of identifying those contexts

DNA Rereplication Is Susceptible to Nucleotide-Level Mutagenesis.

The sources of genome instability, a hallmark of cancer, remain incompletely understood. One potential source is DNA rereplication, which arises when the mechanisms that prevent the reinitiation of replication origins within a single cell cycle are compromised. Using the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we previously showed that DNA rereplication is extremely potent at inducing gross chromosomal alterations and that this arises in part because of the susceptibility of rereplication forks to break. Here, we examine the ability of DNA rereplication to induce nucleotide-level mutations. During normal replication these mutations are restricted by three overlapping error-avoidance mechanisms: the nucleotide selectivity of replicative polymerases, their proofreading activity, and mismatch repair. Using lys2InsEA14 , a frameshift reporter that is poorly proofread, we show that rereplication induces up to a 30× higher rate of frameshift mutations and that this mutagenesis is due to passage of the rereplication fork, not secondary to rereplication fork breakage. Rereplication can also induce comparable rates of frameshift and base-substitution mutations in a more general mutagenesis reporter CAN1, when the proofreading activity of DNA polymerase ε is inactivated. Finally, we show that the rereplication-induced mutagenesis of both lys2InsEA14 and CAN1 disappears in the absence of mismatch repair. These results suggest that mismatch repair is attenuated during rereplication, although at most sequences DNA polymerase proofreading provides enough error correction to mitigate the mutagenic consequences. Thus, rereplication can facilitate nucleotide-level mutagenesis in addition to inducing gross chromosomal alterations, broadening its potential role in genome instability

Risk assessment and community management : the relationship between implementation quality and recidivism

Risk assessment and case management are two important aspects of young offender corrections and reintegration. Evaluating the extent to which case management practices are guided by risk assessment is important because the impact of the risk assessment instrument cannot be adequately assessed if the instrument is not being applied as fully intended. Unfortunately, little research has been devoted to examining the use of risk/need instruments in offender case management. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the link between risk assessment and community case management of young offenders in Saskatchewan and whether adherence to the principles of risk, need, and responsivity vis-à-vis the Level of Service Inventory – Saskatchewan Youth Edition (LSI-SK; Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2001) is related to recidivism. Risk assessment and case management data were collected for a total sample of 193 young offenders who were supervised by youth workers from the Saskatoon and Regina probation offices. The sample was followed up for an average of 644 days. The overall recidivism rate was 62.2% with no significant difference in recidivism according to office of supervision, sex, or ethnicity.The LSI-SK total and seven of the subscale scores were significantly, positively correlated with recidivism. Results also indicate that the LSI-SK was being used to guide supervision intensity as well as interventions. Moreover, the present study found that adherence to the need principle was associated with reductions in recidivism. Appropriateness (defined as the presence of interventions for identified needs or absence of interventions for areas that were not identified as needs) correlated significantly with recidivism (r = - .214). Appropriateness was found to be a significant predictor of recidivism after controlling for ethnicity and length of follow up. For every appropriate intervention listed on the case plan, the likelihood of recidivism was reduced by 24%. In terms of inappropriate treatment, under treatment was significantly correlated with recidivism (r = .283) but over treatment was not. Under treatment was a significant predictor of recidivism after controlling for ethnicity and length of follow up. For every identified need that did not have a corresponding intervention, the risk of recidivism increased by 91%. Implications for case management and direction for future research are discussed

Interview with Duyen Tran

Duyen Tran is a 33-year-old Vietnamese American woman who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Tran is a community organizer and aspiring family and marriage therapist. As a Buddhist practitioner, she applies Buddhist principles to her mental health work. Tran is a Sewing Auntie and Care Coordinator for the Auntie Sewing Squad.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/auntiesewing_interviews/1033/thumbnail.jp

A Plan of Trade and Job Analysis for Organizing Printing Instruction in School or Plant Situations

The trade and job analysis approach to managerial and educational problems has been employed effectively in many situations, particularly in vocational instruction in schools and industry. The continuous flow of new methods, techniques and processes, the development of intricate equipment, and the massing of information in the printing trade, require constant upgrading of skills, knowledge, talents and abilities of personnel. Also, the functions and responsibilities of the foremen or shop supervisors, now more highly specialized and better organized, are focused on human relations, production, and training. Without an organized system of presentation, any training course becomes a jumbled mass of incoherent information. Trade and job analysis determines the content and sequence of subject matter, which will provide well-balanced courses of instruction. Possible overlooked details and overlapping in the student’s work may be avoided. Instructional analysis, set up on the basis of the most effective order of learning, will accelerate the training of craftsmen and allow more effective “breaking in” of new men. The quality and effectiveness of programs of trade and industrial education can be no better than the competence of the teachers. A study of Qualifications and Preparation of Trade and Industrial Teachers conducted by the Division of Vocational Education of the United States Office of Education, indicated that educators, supervisors, and teachers were emphatic in selecting Trade Analysis and Course Construction, Methods of Teaching Industrial Subjects, and Development of Instructional materials, as the three courses contributing the most to their teaching success. The analysis technique remains the best method of arriving at subject matter content for all levels of industrial education. Trade and job analyses also contribute to keep teachers, vocational instructors, in-plant training directors and foremen up to date on new developments in the trade and in education. It is hoped that the topics covered in this plan may give a quick working knowledge through an organized body of information on trade and job analysis techniques, and that the suggested analysis procedure may serve as an aid for people engaged in the printing instruction. The basic fundamentals herein would also be useful for the preparation of instructional materials, demonstration of the type of physical facilities required, formulation of methods of presentation, and elimination of obsolete material from courses of instruction

Education in the Republic of Vietnam

This report attempts (1) to present background information on the current status of Vietnamese education, (2) to show the structure, operation, and progress of educational organizations in Vietnam, and (3) to offer source materials useful for further study of the Vietnamese school policies and practices. The study contains both descriptive and statistical information on the marked features of the Vietnamese national school system from kindergarten to university. Every effort has been made to draw together the available up-to-date material and scattered data, and to present these in a uniform and systematic pattern, using the American equivalent terminology for comparative information purpose. Selective information on which this study is based was drawn from sources such as books, pamphlets, bulletins, government publications and official statistics, and personal collected data. The writer realized the broad scope of the subject, because a complete report of this type could be written on several of its subdivisions. This study was limited, therefore, to the presentation of basic material and salient characteristics in the light of enough background information to enable the interested reader to interpret the essential facts concerning the structure and functioning of the national education system in present day Vietnam

USING RUBICS IN ASSESSING LEARNING OUTCOMES OF STUDENTS: SURVEY AT NHA TRANG UNIVERSITY

Assessment in higher education plays an important role, helping lecturers evaluate student learning effectiveness and support training program management. To ensure fairness and reliability, assessment tools need to adhere to criteria of validity, reliability, and discrimination. Rubrics are an appropriate way to do this, especially when assessing students' high standards and soft skills. Other assessment tools often rely on the subjective assessment of the rater, which does not ensure fairness and reliability. This article presents the process of building Rubrics, and provides information about Rubrics writing techniques and instructions on how to use them in assessing students at Nha Trang Universit