What say you? : A Rhetorical Analysis of the Discourse of Business Leaders

Leadership is a broad topic that can be studied from a vast amount of angles and perspectives. The same fact is true for communication. This study combines these two concepts as it directs attention towards discursive analysis of business leaders. With this focus, the purpose is to describe the essence of rhetoric as an essential part of business communication, analyze how business leaders perform leadership through communication and to contribute to further understanding of this subject, by explaining the communication of business leaders through rhetorical analysis. To reach as far as possible within this research a theoretical framework, that will be the support for the analysis, is established as a basis on which an analysis is possible. This framework reviews the important concepts that are essential for understanding the means of the following rhetorical analysis. To analyze the textual communication of business leaders extracted from real life cases, narratives from situations where leadership is practiced have been selected based on certain criteria. The findings of this study are in unity with the direction in which this research aims. The way business leaders communicate in situations where leadership is practiced have an immense impact on how they are perceived as leaders. Therefore it is argued that business leaders should put more emphasis on increasing their understanding of how they are perceived by others, based on the way they communicate through verbal communication

RADIO-ISOTOPE SCANNING IN THE PAINFUL SHOULDER Downloaded from

SUMMARY Forty-five patients with stiff painful shoulders have been studied using the scanning agents 99m-technetium pertechnetate and 99m-technetium diphosphonate. A significantly increased uptake was found in both the rotator cuff syndrome and in frozen shoulders. LARGELY because of the absence of material for pathological examination the aetiology of the stiff painful shoulder remains unknown. This study is confined to the frozen shoulder and rotator cuff syndromes. It is notable that in both these conditions radiographs and blood tests are usually normal. The purpose of this investigation was to elucidate some of the pathological mechanisms underlying these two conditions and to explore their inter-relationships. PATIENTS AND METHODS The patients studied were selected from those presenting at Westminster and St. Stephen's Hospitals to the Rheumatology and Orthopaedic Clinics. Those with a polyarthritis, referred shoulder pain or acromioclavicular, or sternoclavicular joint lesions were excluded. The remainder were allocated as rotator cuff lesions or frozen shoulder. In the former group there was pain and restriction in one plane of movement at the glenohumeral joint, whereas in the latter there was universal restriction at this site. Forty-five patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were admitted to the study and previous therapy to the joint was noted. Clinical parameters of the intensity of pain were assessed using the Ritchie Index and a visual analogue scale. All patients had a full blood count, ESR, Rose-Waaler, and radiography of the chest and shoulder. Two scanning agents were used: 99m-technetium pertechnetate ( 99m Tc) and 99m-technetium methylene diphosphonate ( 99m Tc MDP). Individual patients were usually studied using 99m Tc or 99m Tc MDP but seldom both agents. Scanning was performed at 15 minutes for the former agent and at 15 minutes and three hours for the latter. The dose in each case was 5mCi. The scans were performed within one week of the clinical assessment and before treatment by local injection or physiotherapy was instituted. Controls were found from patients having routine brain scans or bone scans. The scans obtained from the painful shoulder groups and the controls were assessed quantitatively by a densitometry metho

A Human Factors Analysis of Optical Distortion in Automotive Glazing

The glazing is today a part of the car design. The customer is more or less taking for granted that his or her view from inside the car is a direct mirror of the outside world. With more complex shapes, lower installation angles and thinner glass it is a great challenge to produce even better quality at a lower price. While the windscreen is regulated by law, the lack of well specified requirements for the optics in the backlight (rear window), together with the absence of direct customer complaints, is causing the optical quality of the backlight to decrease. The requirements and measuring methods used today are described in technical terms and do not correspond to the human perception of optical distortion. This report is a first step towards new technical requirements, for the optics of backlights, based on the driver’s perception of optical distortion. The knowledge of how optical transmission distortion occurs, how it should be measured and how it affects the driver, is essential in order to control it. Several databases were searched and contacts with experts were established, in order to gain knowledge. The connection between the technical requirements and the human perception of optical distortion in backlights was investigated by using psychophysical methods. A within factorial design was employed with two independent variables; viewing distance from backlight to tailing object and fixation time (viewing time). The result showed a significant difference in perception of optical distortion between 25 and 75 metres. Moreover, optical distortion is, according to the test, more disturbing during free fixation time than for fixation times of about one second. The requirements often used for backlights today (12 ± 5 millimetres) allow distortions that 68 percent of the test subjects perceived as disturbing. In order to please the test driver from Volvo the requirements need to be as high as 12 ± 2 millimetres, which correspond to the 96th percentile. Furthermore, the result confirms that dynamic measurements are needed to find a connection to human perception of optical distortion. The principles of a new measuring method that measures the deformation and the dynamic distortion were developed to show the possibilities of measuring what the driver perceives. Even if a good measuring method can help controlling the produced glazing it is not enough to optimize the quality of the production. More important is the choice of thickness and curvature of the glass, the installation angle and the manufacturing method. It is important to set about the origin of the problem and develop a good routine of how to work with optical distortions. Optical distortions in backlights, similar to the tested backlight, have a low probability to disturb the driver in such extent that it has an effect on the driving. Nevertheless, it is a source of irritation and discomfort, which do not belong in a premium car.The video files are also clickable from the pdf file pages 29 and 56

Pre-internationalization : - A case study of the decision to internationalize among small and medium sized Swedish enterprises

The process of internationalization has been one of the major areas of interest for researchers for over four decades. The phase that precedes internationalization for firms, known as the pre-internationalization phase, has also been of interest to study. Firms that are in this early stage of becoming international, are characterized by being active only in the domestic market but with intentions to expand. However, within this phase, little is known about the stimuli that affect firms to expand their operations to foreign markets. By combining the traditional theories of the drivers and barriers to internationalize, with the new theories concerning the entrepreneurial influence in small and young firms, this study serves to complement a particular research gap in the pre-internationalization phase. The purpose of this study is to describe the pre-internationalization phase of SMEs, analyze how drivers, barriers and entrepreneurial characteristics of managers affect the decision to internationalize and to contribute to a further understanding of the research gap in the preinternationalization phase. A deductive research approach and a qualitative research method have been chosen for this study. In this way, in-depth answers can provide understanding to a phenomenon that is still partly undiscovered. To increase understanding in a broader environment than within one organization the multiple case study design is used for this study. Therefore, three managers from different firms participated in interviews, which is the basis for the empirical data. When the empirical data is combined with relevant theories it provides a basis for the analysis where the effects of drivers, barriers and international entrepreneurship are evaluated. This analysis provides a foundation for the conclusion that it is a necessity to combine traditional and new theories, with further empirical research, to fully understand why young domestic small and medium-sized enterprises decide to internationalize. When these are put together, it is possible to establish that barriers that are neglected by entrepreneurs are seemingly small impediments, in comparison to the drivers to reach success and the entrepreneurial urge to expand