What’s Wrong With This Slide? Helping students develop their presentation graphics skills from the inside out

As a means of enhancing students’ aesthetic awareness and skill in the creation of presentation visuals, this activity uses a small group, problem solving approach to deconstruct and then reconstruct slide show content. By grounding design choices in principles of color and visual theory and using samples of actual ineffective slides and/or of raw content from written sources, each team analyzes and devises a brief but “well-constructed” slide show by coordinating key factors (e.g. enhancement to message, adaptation to audience’s sensibilities, effective aesthetic design). Ultimately, each team reveals its creation and explains the structural, aesthetic, and software choices. This activity, which can be adjusted to a wide variety of class sizes and session-lengths, accomplishes several additional pedagogical objectives, including: collaborative learning, critical analysis, and the opportunity for practice in presenting with visual aids

Create-A-Culture: An Experiential Approach To Cross Cultural Communication Dynamics

This small group activity uses a pseudo-simulation approach to explore dynamics of enculturation, acculturation, third culture, and diaspora and the resulting influences upon cross-cultural communication competence. All human communication contexts are influenced by perceptual patterns which, in turn, are shaped by culture-based norms and views. Furthermore, as asserted by E.T. Hall, significant linkages exist between a group’s cultural influences and its communication practices. This guided, collaborative learning exercise also draws on the inherent diversity within the students’ personal cultural backgrounds and previous culture-based studies as they work together to create new (hypothetical) co-cultural groups. Through this multi-step exercise, students “experience” the long term processes by which a group develops its culture—as manifested in its observable elements, values, and contextual sensibilities. Students are encouraged to use their imaginations as informed by their historical, geographical, and anthropological knowledge in order to consider beyond their own personal cultural realities. This activity, which can be adjusted to a wide variety of class sizes and session-lengths, accomplishes several additional pedagogical objectives, including: collaborative learning, exploration of culture-based principles, and the application of systems theory to human communication practices (input-throughput-output)

The metabolism of levulose: a consideration of analytical methods and normal tolerance

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston Universit

The ASEAN Economic Community and the European Experience

In November 2002, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed itself to the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), in which goods, services, capital, and skilled labor would flow freely by the year 2020, or possibly even 2015. Hence, the AEC will guide the ASEAN integration agenda for at least the medium-term. The object of this paper is to analyze the lessons (both positive and negative) for the AEC that might be gleaned from the European Union (EU)Â economic integration experience. The paper notes that while there is much that the EU experience can teach ASEAN, the region should not underestimate the substantive differences between the two regions or their differing historical contexts . Based on this analysis, the paper also suggests various approaches to the creation of the AEC that ASEAN might consider as it concretizes the AEC program.ASEAN economic integration; ASEAN Economic Community; EU integration and developing countries

The Post-Crisis Sequencing of Economic Integration in Asia: Trade as a Complement to a Monetary Future

Bilateral and regional cooperation initiatives in Asia have been growing in importance over the last five years. These accords span the real and financial sectors; rather than following the more typical pattern of Òtrade first, money laterÓ, recent policy initiatives involve the simultaneous implementation of trade and monetary/financial accords. Given this sequence, is there a case for monetary union in East Asia? Is there a case for expanded free-trade areas (FTAs) in the region? This paper attempts to answer these questions using a variety of empirical techniques, including a Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) model, to evaluate the economics of monetary/financial integration and various configurations of FTAs in Asia. We conclude that, at present, the post-sequencing of economic integration in Asia is developing such that trade agreements will ultimately complement the movement toward financial and monetary integration. While the political constraint on monetary union is real, it is argued that FTAs should help relax this constraint, adding a political complement to the trade complement.

Toward Win-Win Regionalism in Asia: Issues and Challenges in Forming Efficient Trade Agreements

Many economists tend to be skeptical of the merits of Free-Trade Areas (FTAs) due to their second-best nature, while others support them under certain conditions, particularly as they allow for a more comprehensive treatment of trade- and investment-related issues than is currently possible under the 149-member WTO. This paper endeavors to bridge this analytical chasm by developing a blueprint for âÂÂfirst-bestâ regionalism based on âÂÂbest practices.â It then applies the associated set of rules to existing FTAs in Asia (both intra- and extra-regional) to guage the degree to which they approach best practices. In summary, we find that most accords receive high marks in most areas, with the exception of âÂÂrules of originâ and certain service sectors.Asian integration; free trade agreement; best practices; Asian development

Municipal public relations.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University Includes bibliographical references (leaf 62)

FDI Effects of ASEAN Integration

For the past two decades, ASEAN Member States have pursued intra-regional market liberalization in order to provide more flexibility to multinationals and therefore promote the region as a competitive production platform. Attracting FDI has been a key objective of this regional project. This paper describes and analyzes recent trends in FDI to and among ASEAN countries, mainly comparing FDI patterns before and after the Asian Crisis, to characterize and assess the region‟s strategies to liberalize and facilitate investment. We find that FDI flows to ASEAN countries suffered after the Asian Crisis but have picked up since 2005. Moreover, ASEAN FDI is dominated by Singapore. In addition, the sectoral distribution of FDI has changed in some members of ASEAN (i.e., Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand) but not in others. We also perform an econometric analysis of the determinants of FDI to check for ASEAN-specific changes in FDI in the post-Crisis period. Our results, after controlling for a host of factors, indicate that ASEAN countries suffered a fall in total FDI but experienced an increase in intra-regional FDI after 1998. Moreover, we do not find any significant impact of FDI in China on ASEAN FDI.Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN); Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); Economic Integration; Knowledge Capital Model

Using Lexis Objects for Multi-State Models in R

The Lexis class in the R package Epi provides tools for creation, manipulation and display of data from multi-state models. Transitions between states are described by rates (intensities); Lexis objects represent this kind of data and provide tools to show states and transitions annotated by relevant summary numbers. Data can be transformed to a form that allows modelling of several transition rates with common parameters.