Parity-Violating Electron-Deuteron Scattering with a Twist

We show that Parity-Violating Deep Inelastic Scattering (PVDIS) of longitudinally polarized electrons from deuterium can in principle be a relatively clean probe of higher twist quark-quark correlations beyond the parton model. As first observed by Bjorken and Wolfenstein, the dominant contribution to the electron polarization asymmetry, proportional to the axial vector electron coupling, receives corrections at twist-four from the matrix element of a single four-quark operator. We reformulate the Bjorken/Wolfenstein argument in a matter suitable for the interpretation of experiments planned at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). In particular, we observe that because the contribution of the relevant twist four operator satisfies the Callan-Gross relation, the ratio of parity-violating longitudinal and transverse cross sections, R_{\gamma Z}, is identical to that for purely electromagnetic scattering, R_{\gamma}, up to perturbative and power suppressed contributions. This result simplifies the interpretation of the asymmetry in terms of other possible novel hadronic and electroweak contributions. We use the results of MIT Bag Model calculations to estimate contributions of the relevant twist four operator to the leading term in the asymmetry as a function of Bjorken x and Q2 . We compare these estimates with possible leading twist corrections due to violation of charge symmetry in the parton distribution functions.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, typos fixed, version accepted for publication in Physical Review

Challenging the Myth of English as a Lingua Franca in International Business

The proposed paper features a case study that monitored and assessed workplace language use within a U.S. multinational company where English is the official language of business. The case study examined language use by Hispanic immigrant workers employed at a rice mill in a rural northwestern U.S. community. In the week-long needs assessment, the author interviewed 26 nonnative English speaking coworkers, 2 native English speaking coworkers, and 10 mid- and senior-level managers. The author also observed daily operations in all departments of the rice mill, participated in the safety training and testing, and shared his findings with senior officials at the company’s world headquarters in the U.S. Although English is the lingua franca at this U.S. agribusiness giant, Hispanic mill workers (a majority in most mills in the U.S.) worked almost exclusively in Spanish. Hispanic mill workers used Spanish in everyday work situations from daily team meetings to report writing. Communication with senior mill managers required the use of a translator. Nearly all reports were written in Spanish, requiring an English translation as mandated by OSHA. Senior officials are keenly concerned about (1) addressing safety issues when two languages are intertwined during daily operations in their mills nationwide and (2) finding an effective solution to enforce the use of English as a lingua franca of business

A Case Study of Backward Design in a Customized Business English Course for Global Supply Chain Vendors in Francophone Africa

The present article describes a case study in which the author used domain analysis to create a backward-designed remedial listening comprehension course for global supply chain vendors employed with logistics-focused multinational corporations operating in Francophone Africa. The course is designed to address weaknesses in listening comprehension skills as exhibited by global supply chain vendors in Francophone Africa who work daily with South Asian customers. The weaknesses emanate, in large part, from the existence of World Englishes due to the rise of English as a lingua franca by multinational corporations. World Englishes refers to the existence of “emerging localized or indigenized varieties of English” worldwide (Oxford English Dictionary, 2023). In this case study, the author describes the struggles between two groups of nonnative speakers of English (NNSEs): supply chain vendors from Francophone Africa and their customers from Asian countries such as China and India. Both groups struggle with heavily accented utterances and indigenized syntactic structures while attempting to complete business transactions. To enhance comprehension or “intelligibility” (Nelson, 2011), the author will describe a customized course designed to acclimate Francophone African supply chain vendors to the World English spoken by their Asian customers. The course will feature 25 subtitled YouTube videos involving global supply chain presentations offered by accented English- speaking Asian experts. The YouTube presentations will be accompanied by comprehension checks, language-building activities, and phonetic tutorials with their American instructor. Keywords: International and cross-cultural business communication and negotiations, Language and business communicatio

Multilingual Franca: Workplace Language Use Within Multinational Corporations In French West Africa

The proposed paper features the results of a survey and follow-up interviews that assessed workplace language use within 20 multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in French West Africa. Participating corporations, headquartered in nine different countries, operate in over 100 countries and represent 13 major industries. Sixty-six managers and executives identified (1) their corporation’s official workplace language, (2) the percentage of time employees speak English versus French, (3) the weaknesses in nonnative employees’ English skills, and (4) recommendations for ESL instruction at French West African universities. The present study confirms that English is the official language of nearly every MNCs operating in French West Africa; however, employees in none of these MNCs work exclusively in English as both English and French are intertwined during daily operations. The results support Janssens & Steyaert (2014) call for a multilingual franca, where mixed language use is tolerated. The results also confirm Sacco’s (2017) findings that the exclusive use of English as the lingua franca of international business within multinational corporations is unrealistic

The use of aerial- and close-range photogrammetry for the mapping of the Lavini di Marco tracksite (Hettangian, Southern Alps, NE Italy)

(EXCERPT FROM ABSTRACT) Close-range photogrammetry was executed following the procedure proposed by Mallison & Wings (2014). More than seventy 3D models were obtained and interpreted by means of color-coded and contour line images, which allow to improve the ichno- logical knowledge of the tracksite. The 3D models of the best-preserved tracks were used for the osteological reconstruction of the trackmakers’ autopodia, supposing the arthral position of the phalangeal pads. Three indirect methods were used to correlate tracks and their trackmakers: (i) synapomorphy-based approach; (ii) phenetic correlation; (iii) coincidence correlation (see Carrano & Wilson, 2001) The final map was produced with different level of knowledge due to the distribution of tracks and current state of site preservation. Furthermore, it represents a complete documentation that will be used for future work of enhancement, preservation and valorization of the tracksite. The ichnotaxonomical review of the quadrupedal trackways led us to emend the diagnosis of Lavinipes cheminii Avanzini et al. (2003) and to assign several other sparse tracks and trackways to L. chemini. The skeletal reconstruction of fore and hind limbs points towards Gongxianosaurus sp. as the most suitable trackmaker of L. cheminii. The herein supposed Laurasian affinity of the Lavini di Marco dinosaur assemblage clashes with the previous hypotheses that always link the Southern Alps sector with the Gondwana mainland

Chromium recovery by membranes for process reuse in the tannery industry

Leather tanning is a wide common industry all over the world. In leather processing, water is one of the most important medium, almost 40-45 L water kg-1 raw-hide or skin is used by tanneries for processing finished leathers. The composition of tannery wastewater presents considerable dissimilarities in the concentration range of pollutants both of inorganic (chlorides, with concentration ranging from several hundred to over 10,000 mg L-1 Cl–; sulphate (VI), ammonium ions and sulphide ions, exhibiting concentration that ranges from tens to several hundred mg L-1) and organic (the COD value is usually several thousand mg L-1 O2). Throughout the years, many conventional processes have been carried out to treat wastewater from tannery industry: unfortunately, in this case, biological treatment methods give rise to an excessive production of sludge, whereas physical and chemical methods are too expensive in terms of energy and reagent costs. In this work, a membrane process based on NF membrane modules was adopted to treat the tannery feedstock after primary conventional treatment. In a first step, the determination of all boundary flux parameters, in order to inhibit severe fouling formation during operation, were performed. After this, experimental work was carried out to validate the approach. The target of water purification was reached, that is the legal discharge to municipal sewer system in Italy of 90% of the initial wastewater stream volume. This allows having an immediate cost saving of 21%. Moreover, the developed process leads to a second benefit, that is the production of 5% of the initial volume as a highly chromium-rich concentrate at no cost suitable to tannery process recycle and reuse. In this case, cost saving rates exceeds 40%. At the end, scale-up of the investigated process will be discussed from technical and economic point of view

Challenges and strategies in precision medicine for non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer- related death worldwide, causing over 1.2 million deaths each year. Non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) consists of a group of malignancies that are pathologically and molecularly diverse but that are all characterised by a poor prognosis. Survival rates for lung cancer patients have improved very slowly and only to a modest degree owing partly to poor funding for research into this malignancy and stigma associated with smoking, as well as relative chemo-resistance. However, in recent years, NSCLC has become an exemplar for precision medicine, mainly following development of drugs targeting the receptors of epidermal growth factor and anaplastic lymphoma kinase. While epidermal growth factor receptor and anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitors are only applicable to a minority of patients and benefits are almost invariably short-lived, current studies indicate that at least 50% of patients with NSCLC have a targetable mutation. With a growing armamentarium of inhibitors against these targets in development, there is a hope that a greater proportion of patients will benefit from precision medicine and that such benefits will be sustained. However, there remain significant challenges in the development of precision medicine in NSCLC. These include: identification and validation of new targets; ensuring biopsies are fit for purpose; tumour heterogeneity; requirements for serial tumour assessments; and not least cost. In this review, we will discuss the current status of precision medicine in NSCLC as well as how basic and translational research are paving the way towards overcoming the above challenges. In addition, we will pay attention to clinical strategies in respect to liquid biopsies and the potential use of extracellular vesicles such as exosomes in cancer therapeutics