The Future of Business Discourse Teaching

This chapter will:; ; ; Explore ways in which new media and digital technologies are shaping business communication and highlight the importance of digital communicative competence for learners and teachers;; ; ; Discuss ways in which the digital workplace can be brought into the business discourse classroom;; ; ; Discuss the role of Business English and other business languages in international business and what this means for business discourse teaching;; ; ; Consider how the multicultural workplace can inform business discourse teaching;; ; ; Provide a case study that illustrates some of the above developments, together with a set of tasks appropriate for the business discourse classroom, and a set of further readings

Research Methodologies and Business Discourse Teaching

This chapter will:; ; ; Define English for specific purposes and indicate the specific ways in which it has been influential on business discourse teaching;; ; ; Discuss the most relevant approaches to genre analysis that have been used in business discourse teaching;; ; ; Explore the most relevant approaches to critical discourse analysis and organizational rhetoric for business discourse teaching;; ; ; Identify the most relevant aspects of multimodal discourse analysis for business discourse teaching;; ; ; Provide a case study that illustrates the use of one approach to business discourse teaching, showing how practitioners can incorporate it into their classroom- or consultancy-based ideas

Impact of Aetiological Treatment on Conventional and Multiplex Serology in Chronic Chagas Disease

The main criterion for treatment effectiveness in Chagas Disease has been the seronegative conversion of previously reactive serology, generally achieved many years post-treatment. The lack of reliable tests to ensure parasite clearance and to examine the effect of treatment is the main difficulty in evaluating treatment for chronic Chagas disease. Decreases of conventional and non-conventional serological titers can be useful tools to monitor the early impact of treatment. We serially measured changes in antibody levels, including seronegative conversion as well as declines in titers in 53 benznidazole-treated and 89 untreated chronically T. cruzi-infected subjects. Seronegative conversion as well as decreases of titers was significantly higher in treated compared with untreated patients. A strong concordance was found between decreases of titers of conventional and non-conventional serologic tests post-treatment, reaffirming the findings. When seronegative conversion plus decreases of titers were considered altogether, the impact of treatment was higher, in a shorter follow-up period than previously considered. New tools for monitoring the effectiveness of treatment of chronic Chagas disease are necessary, and the results showed in this study is a contribution to researchers and physicians who assist patients suffering from this disease

Sucrose in the concentrated solution or the supercooled “state” : a review of caramelisation reactions and physical behaviour

Sucrose is probably one of the most studied molecules by food scientists, since it plays an important role as an ingredient or preserving agent in many formulations and technological processes. When sucrose is present in a product with a concentration near or greater than the saturation point—i.e. in the supercooled state—it possesses high potentialities for the food industry in areas as different as pastry industry, dairy and frozen desserts or films and coatings production. This paper presents a review on critical issues and research on highly concentrated sucrose solutions—mainly, on sucrose thermal degradation and relaxation behaviour in such solutions. The reviewed works allow identifying several issues with great potential for contributing to significant advances in Food Science and Technology.Authors are grateful for the valuable discussions with Teresa S. Brandao and Rosiane Lopes da Cunha during this research. Author M. A. C. Quintas acknowledges the financial support of her research by FCT grant SFRH/BPD/41715/2007

How non-native English-speaking staff are evaluated in linguistically diverse organizations: A sociolinguistic perspective

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of evaluations of non-native speaking staff?s spoken English in international business settings. We adopt a sociolinguistic perspective on power and inequalities in linguistically diverse organizations in an Anglophone environment. The interpretive qualitative study draws on 54 interviews with non-native English-speaking staff in 19 UK business schools. We analyze, along the dimensions of status, solidarity and dynamism, the ways in which non-native speakers, on the basis of their spoken English, are evaluated by themselves and by listeners. We show how such evaluations refer to issues beyond the speaker?s linguistic fluency, and have consequences for her or his actions. The study contributes to the literature on language and power in international business through offering fine-grained insights into and elucidating how the interconnected evaluative processes impact the formation and perpetuation of organizational power relations and inequalities. It also puts forward implications for managing the officially monolingual, yet linguistically diverse organizations

Sexual transmission of American trypanosomiasis in humans : a new potential pandemic route for Chagas parasites

Background: the Trypanosoma cruzi infection endemic in Latin America has now spread to several countries across four continents; this endemic involves triatomine vector-free protists. We hypothesised that the sexual transmission of T. cruzi contributes to the ongoing spread of Chagas disease. Objectives: a short-term longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate this hypothesis. Methods: the study population comprised 109 subjects from four families, among whom 21 had been diagnosed with acute Chagas disease by direct parasitological analysis. Blood mononuclear cells and serum samples were obtained from each study subject once per year for three consecutive years. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence serological examinations were used to detect specific T. cruzi antibodies. Polymerase chain reaction of T. cruzi DNA revealed 188-nucleotide bands, which hybridised to a specific radiolabelled probe and were confirmed by cloning and sequencing. Results: three independent assessments at different time points revealed T. cruzi nuclear DNA footprints in 76% (83/109) of the study population with active infection. In contrast, the ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence assays detected the T. cruzi antibody in 28.4% (31/109) of the study samples. Moreover, the semen from 82.6% (19/23) of subjects people revealed harboured the 188- bp base pair T. cruzi footprint. Interestingly, the ejaculates of nuclear DNA-positive Chagas patient transmitted the T. cruzi upon peritoneal injection or infusion in the vagina of mice, and amastigotes were detected in the skeletal muscle, myocardium, vas deferens, and uterine tube. Main conclusions: T. cruzi infections can be transmitted from females or males to naïve mates through intercourse, and progeny showed discrepancies between the ratios of nuclear DNA footprints and specific antibody that can be explained by the tolerance attained during early embryo growth. Additional studies are needed to develop drugs to eradicate the infections. Additionally, the importance of a vigorous education, information, and communication program to prevent sexually transmitted Chagas disease in humans cannot be underemphasised

Charakterystyka drożdży (Blastomycetes) wyizolowanych z miodów wyspy Fidżi

A suitable culture medium with a composition of 50% honey and 2% agar was developed. This gave optimum honey yeast and bacterial population growth. An identification of the major Blastomycetic (yeast) populations for seven Fijian honeys appear to have representatives of all the major yeast aspecies observed in foreign honeys, more than normal Brevibacterium and Gluconobacter bacterial population were detected.Przebadano siedem próbek miodu miejscowej produkcji oraz wpływ zawartości miedzi (25%, 50%, 75% i 100%) w pożywce z 2% agarem na wzrost drożdży i bakterii. Najlepsze efekty osiągano stosując pożywki z 50% udziałem miodu (rys. 1 i 2). Zidentyfikowano 10 gatunków drożdży oraz 2 rodzaje bakterii Brevibacterium i Gluconobacter. Spośród drożdży zidentyfikowano: Saccharomyces torulosus, Zygosaccharomyces mellis, Saccharomyces globosus, Torulopsis maggi, Schizosaccharomyces octosporus, Zygosaccharomyces barkeri, Zygosaccharomyces rechteri, Saccharomyces rouxii, Candida reukaufii, Torula mellis, Torulopsis mogii (tab. 1)

Crisis, crunch, and culture: accountability and merit in CEO letters of securities brokerage firms

This presentation examines how recession-related issues and the financial crisis are addressed in the CEO letters accompanying the annual reports of firms in the Securities Brokerage Industry. The dataset consists of CEO letters for fiscal years 2007 and 2008. We give attention to the portrayal of the firm, its performance and what could be termed \u201cindustry excesses.\u201

Focusing on communication : CEO letters of securities brokerage firms in times of financial market distress

This paper presents classroom applications involving the CEO letters accompanying the annual reports of securities brokerage firms for fiscal years 2007-2009, a period characterized not only by the recession but also by the financial crisis. The applications are drawn from the authors\u2019 ongoing study of CEO letters of securities brokerage firms and their teaching activity (finance and business communication). The study investigates (1) whether and how recession-related issues and excesses in the financial services industry are addressed in the letters; (2) which features of the letters contribute to the way the company and its performance are portrayed as relatively affected or unaffected by recession-related issues, processes and events; (3) the way is risk portrayed; and (4) the kind of knowledge about the recession is the reader expected to share. Selected features examined include (a) implicitly and explicitly positive and negative evaluative language; (b) personal pronouns (we, you and I) and references to the firm, the industry, other organizations and individuals. The activities developed and the questions examined by the paper are of interest for students preparing for careers in the financial services industry. The reader of these letters is at times assumed to share knowledge of industry events that are not explicitly described. Moreover, the way implicitly positive and negative language is used highlights why it is important for students to be aware of taking a critical approach to corporate communications concerning financial performance, the industry and the firm\u2019s behavior. Finally, focusing on the letters represents an opportunity to examine leadership communication