Texts written in English and Chinese by expert and novice writers: A genre-based study and its implications for the teaching of writing

This thesis aims to contribute to the design and implementation of genre-based academic writing courses intended for learners of English in Taiwan by (a) examining the ways in which Taiwanese speakers of Chinese as a first language (both experienced and novice writers) typically structure texts, in both Chinese and English, in response to prompts intended to elicit one of four discourse modes (recount, argument, explanation and classification) and (b) comparing the structuring of their texts with (i) prototypes relating to each of the four discourse modes that are based on a sample of published academic articles, and (ii) texts written in English by experienced and novice writers who are speakers of English as a first language. In response to one of four prompts, each intended to elicit a different discourse mode, experienced and novice writers - Taiwanese citizens whose first language is Chinese - were asked to write texts of between 200 and 250 words. They produced 240 texts, of which 120 were written in Chinese and 120 in English. Analysis of these texts indicated that, in terms of both overall rhetorical structure (often referred to as ‘schematic structure’) and internal discourse structure (the occurrence and co-occurrence of particular discourse relations), the texts written in both Chinese and English by the experienced writers were (a) very similar to one another, and (b) also very similar to texts written in English by experienced writers for whom English is a first language. Although the structuring of the texts written by the novice writers was less consistent overall, the texts written in Chinese by these writers were structurally closer than were the texts written in English to (a) the texts written in both English and Chinese by the experienced writers, and (b) texts written in English by experienced writers of English for whom English is a first language. Furthermore, analysis of 60 texts (20 written in Chinese and 20 written in English by expert/ experienced Taiwanese writers and 20 written in English by New Zealand teachers for whom English was a first language) revealed a marked tendency, in all cases, towards simple linear or complex linear textual development, with cyclic development being evident in only one of the 60 texts. There is a widespread belief that experienced writers whose first language is Chinese and experienced writers whose first language is English tend to structure texts in very different ways. So far as the writers involved in this study are concerned, this would appear not to be the case. It may therefore be that the difficulty that learners of English in Taiwan often experience in relation to the structuring of texts in English has less to do with their cultural and linguistic heritage than it has to do with the complexities that are inevitably associated with attempts to structure texts in a language in which one has limited proficiency. If this is the case, it has implications for the ways in which genre-centered writing programs intended for learners of English in Taiwan are organized and implemented

Value-Added Meat: Measuring Past Successes and Predicting Future Winners

Livestock industries are significantly affected by changes in consumer behaviour. In order to add value to meat and livestock production, many firms and farms are supporting the development of new products – these products can differ by credence attribute, by degree of processing and by marketing strategies. The literature suggests that one of the most important determinants of success in product innovation is an understanding of the market the product is introduced into. In this report consumer preferences for meat products, by animal species including minor meats, and by type of processing are examined. Responses to economic variables such as price, advertising and income are identified as are responses to food safety and meat related health issues. Interesting results include the fact that income elasticities of demand for meat products purchased at grocery stores are negative in this study and that own and cross price elasticities for certain meats, across processing levels for example, show strong substitutions. Thus introducing new meat products may not result in increased sales by animal species but may only result in substitution of one meat type product for another product of the same meat type. Successful new product introductions or changes in product quality are shown, in this report, to be accompanied by significant marketing/advertising investment and, either by design or by serendipity, to have credence attributes in line with consumer's changing concerns. An example of this is the response in branded chicken sales, at the time of BSE in Canada, for a brand that could advertise itself as being 100% grain fed. Marketing strategies, such as working with the Health Check™ program of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada are shown to have an impact on firm level sales (as well as on sales at the individual product level), a halo effect, that may be of importance in the firm's development of other value-added products. Significant heterogeneity exists in consumer behaviour and it is important to recognize this heterogeneity in the development of value-added meat products. Added to the consumer heterogeneity, in general, is the heterogeneity in responses by meat type. What works for one sector, such as poultry, could be problematic in other sectors given differences in economic interrelationships reported in this study.meat, consumer behavior, value-added, strategic behaviour, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, D12, Q18,

Effects of Line-tying on Resistive Tearing Instability in Slab Geometry

The effects of line-tying on resistive tearing instability in slab geometry is studied within the framework of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD).\citep{KadomtsevP1974,Strauss1976} It is found that line-tying has a stabilizing effect. The tearing mode is stabilized when the system length $L$ is shorter than a critical length $L_{c}$, which is independent of the resistivity $\eta$. When $L$ is not too much longer than $L_{c}$, the growthrate $\gamma$ is proportional to $\eta$ . When $L$ is sufficiently long, the tearing mode scaling $\gamma\sim\eta^{3/5}$ is recovered. The transition from $\gamma\sim\eta$ to $\gamma\sim\eta^{3/5}$ occurs at a transition length $L_{t}\sim\eta^{-2/5}$.Comment: Correct a typ

Digital popular culture as a way to promote Chinese national identity in the Post-socialist Era : a case study of My People, My Country

The recent Chinese national blockbuster My People, My Country (MPMC hereafter), a movie consisting of 7 stories recounting 7 memorial moments and events since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, has awakened “the shared memories of Chinese people around the world” (China Focus, 2019). According to Maoyan’s website (2019), MPMC is ranked amongst the top ten highest-grossing films in mainland China. Intrigued by why MPMC as a propaganda film is so successful, I focus on addressing two specific questions: a) What strategies are used in promoting nationalism? and b) What are the effects of these discursive strategies? In answering the first question, I adopted a political discourse analysis approach to analyze the audio-visual strategies employed in the film and found that the recurring motives of national flags, household and emotional music and the variety of dialects are used to construct a unified Chinese national identity. It is by means of these strategies, which display shared cultural memories, that MPMC constructs an “imagined community” (Anderson, 1983; Cai, 2016; Wodak, et al., 2009) in PanChinese sphere and promotes nationalism in Chinese diasporas. While propagating political ideologies, MPMC makers also adopt a Hollywoodized movie style and hire celebrities with good reputations to cater to the audience’s taste and maintain an entertaining effect, both of which not only depoliticize the propagandist nature of the movie but also guarantee a profitable cultural product. With regards to the second question, I conducted a small-scale (25 samples) questionnaire survey with open questions among Chinese studying or living in Ghent (Belgium). Feedback suggests that the audience is particularly touched by cultural elements that they share affinity and familiarity with. The survey also revealed that the participants felt dissatisfied with some illogical plots as well as with the overromanticized theme of self-sacrifice. These research findings suggest that in the post-socialist era, Chinese government consciously and strategically draws on popular culture, such as films, to promote a strong national identity by situating itself within a spectrum of two poles—propaganda and entertainment (Wang, 2019). Despite minor dissatisfaction, the incorporation of entertaining elements proves effective in disseminating political ideologies, as evidenced by the laughter and tears among audience

Do Interactions Between Environmental Chemicals and the Human Microbiome Need to Be Considered in Risk Assessments?

One of the most dynamic and fruitful areas of current health‐related research concerns the various roles of the human microbiome in disease. Evidence is accumulating that interactions between substances in the environment and the microbiome can affect risks of disease, in both beneficial and adverse ways. Although most of the research has concerned the roles of diet and certain pharmaceutical agents, there is increasing interest in the possible roles of environmental chemicals. Chemical risk assessment has, to date, not included consideration of the influence of the microbiome. We suggest that failure to consider the possible roles of the microbiome could lead to significant error in risk assessment results. Our purpose in this commentary is to summarize some of the evidence supporting our hypothesis and to urge the risk assessment community to begin considering and influencing how results from microbiome‐related research could be incorporated into chemical risk assessments. An additional emphasis in our commentary concerns the distinct possibility that research on chemical–microbiome interactions will also reduce some of the significant uncertainties that accompany current risk assessments. Of particular interest is evidence suggesting that the microbiome has an influence on variability in disease risk across populations and (of particular interest to chemical risk) in animal and human responses to chemical exposure. The possible explanatory power of the microbiome regarding sources of variability could reduce what might be the most significant source of uncertainty in chemical risk assessment.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151980/1/risa13316_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151980/2/risa13316.pd

Effects of Line-tying on Magnetohydrodynamic Instabilities and Current Sheet Formation

An overview of some recent progress on magnetohydrodynamic stability and current sheet formation in a line-tied system is given. Key results on the linear stability of the ideal internal kink mode and resistive tearing mode are summarized. For nonlinear problems, a counterexample to the recent demonstration of current sheet formation by Low \emph{et al}. [B. C. Low and \AA. M. Janse, Astrophys. J. \textbf{696}, 821 (2009)] is presented, and the governing equations for quasi-static evolution of a boundary driven, line-tied magnetic field are derived. Some open questions and possible strategies to resolve them are discussed.Comment: To appear in Phys. Plasma

Strictly defined familial male breast cancer

The term "familial male breast cancer” is often misleading, because in the breast cancer families reported in the literature, the vast majority of the patients were women and only a few were men. In this report, we present the rare case of a strictly defined familial male breast cancer (MBC) in which exclusively men were diagnosed with breast cancer. Three of four brothers developed the disease between the age of 46 and 64years within a period of 21years whereas all female relatives remained unaffected. The three affected men did not show the typical known clinical and genetic risk factors for MBC. An X-linked recessive inheritance may be possible in these cases. One way to potentially improve the identification of the causes of MBC could be a through a strictly studying families in which the male members were exclusively diagnosed with this malignancy. This approach emphasizes familial MBC as a distinct entity and not only as a variant of female breast cance