Beyond ‘greeting’ and ‘thanking’: politeness in job interviews

Despite the steps taken by Malaysian institutions of higher learning to equip their graduates with the necessary communication skills, local graduates are still failing to create a positive impression on the employers especially during job interviews. Hence this study explored the face-related concept of politeness proposed by Brown and Levinson (1999) at job interviews. Eight final-year undergraduates taking a communication for employment course volunteered for a mock-interview session with a human resource manager from the banking industry. The interviews were audio- and video-recorded and subsequently transcribed. Then a micro-analysis of the data was carried out using Brown and Levinson’s (1999) framework to identify the politeness strategies that the candidates used. Two positive politeness strategies were identified, the first is noticing and attending to interviewer’s interests, wants, needs or goods, and second is raising/asserting common grounds to establish solidarity. One negative politeness strategy was identified which is requesting for clarification or repetition. The pedagogical implications of these findings will be discussed and recommendations for teaching face-related politeness in communication for employment courses will be offered

An Expected Average Run Length (EARL) Performance Comparison of the SSGR and EWMA Control Charts

The acceleration use of control charts in industrial processes has led to the effectiveness in their evaluation by quality practitioners. This is crucial, as it influences their decisions on the choice of which control charts to employ. This study aims to explore and compare the performance of the side sensitive group runs (SSGR) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts. In general, the average run length (ARL) characteristics were used to evaluate the performance of these control charts. The ARL, which considers the exact shift size in the process, is restricted in the case when the practitioner cannot identify the process shift size (unknown shift size). In this situation, the expected average run length (EARL) is an alternative performance criterion. Upon comparison of the findings obtained, the EWMA chart has superior performance when (δmin, δmax) = (0.1, 0.4). In contrast, the SSGR chart overtakes the EWMA chart when (δmin, δmax) = (0.5, 0.8) and (δmin, δmax) = (0.9, 1.2), except when the sample size n = 3 for (δmin, δmax) = (0.5, 0.8). For this particular combination, the EWMA chart performs slightly better than the SSGR chart. The outcome of this study is expected to contribute to practitioners in identifying suitable control charts in process monitoring and implementation

An Expected Average Run Length (EARL) Performance Comparison of the SSGR and EWMA Control Charts

The acceleration use of control charts in industrial processes has led to the effectiveness in their evaluation by quality practitioners. This is crucial, as it influences their decisions on the choice of which control charts to employ. This study aims to explore and compare the performance of the side sensitive group runs (SSGR) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts. In general, the average run length (ARL) characteristics were used to evaluate the performance of these control charts. The ARL, which considers the exact shift size in the process, is restricted in the case when the practitioner cannot identify the process shift size (unknown shift size). In this situation, the expected average run length (EARL) is an alternative performance criterion. Upon comparison of the findings obtained, the EWMA chart has superior performance when (δmin, δmax) = (0.1, 0.4). In contrast, the SSGR chart overtakes the EWMA chart when (δmin, δmax) = (0.5, 0.8) and (δmin, δmax) = (0.9, 1.2), except when the sample size n = 3 for (δmin, δmax) = (0.5, 0.8). For this particular combination, the EWMA chart performs slightly better than the SSGR chart. The outcome of this study is expected to contribute to practitioners in identifying suitable control charts in process monitoring and implementation

Opinion diversity and community formation in adaptive networks

It is interesting and of significant importance to investigate how network structures co-evolve with opinions. The existing models of such co-evolution typically lead to the final states where network nodes either reach a global consensus or break into separated communities, each of which holding its own community consensus. Such results, however, can hardly explain the richness of real-life observations that opinions are always diversified with no global or even community consensus, and people seldom, if not never, totally cut off themselves from dissenters. In this article, we show that, a simple model integrating consensus formation, link rewiring and opinion change allows complex system dynamics to emerge, driving the system into a dynamic equilibrium with co-existence of diversified opinions. Specifically, similar opinion holders may form into communities yet with no strict community consensus; and rather than being separated into disconnected communities, different communities remain to be interconnected by non-trivial proportion of inter-community links. More importantly, we show that the complex dynamics may lead to different numbers of communities at steady state with a given tolerance between different opinion holders. We construct a framework for theoretically analyzing the co-evolution process. Theoretical analysis and extensive simulation results reveal some useful insights into the complex co-evolution process, including the formation of dynamic equilibrium, the phase transition between different steady states with different numbers of communities, and the dynamics between opinion distribution and network modularity, etc.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, Journa

Understanding the cost of mental health at work: an integrative framework

Book synopsis: The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Wellbeing is a comprehensive and cutting-edge work providing the latest insights into a range of perspectives on organizational wellbeing, as well as highlighting global wellbeing issues and exploring new contexts. Topics covered include: digital working and social media, LGBTQIA+ identifications and work, suicide at work, refugee workers, and mental health. A multi- and inter-disciplinary work, this handbook embraces ideas and empirical work from a range of fields including psychology, business and management, economics, and science. This handbook draws together current knowledge whilst also outlining emerging issues and directions, making this an invaluable resource for students and researchers spanning a wide array of disciplines

A marking of the cricothyroid membrane with extended neck returns to correct position after neck manipulation and repositioning

Background: Emergency front of neck airway access by anaesthetists carries a high failure rate and it is recommended to identify the cricothyroid membrane before induction of anaesthesia in patients with a predicted difficult airway. We have investigated whether a marking of the cricothyroid membrane done in the extended neck position remains correct after the patient's neck has been manipulated and subsequently repositioned METHODS: The subject was first placed in the extended head and neck position and had the cricothyroid membrane identified and marked with three methods, palpation, 'laryngeal handshake' and ultrasonography and the distance from the suprasternal notch to the cricothyroid membrane was measured. The subject then moved off the table and sat on a chair and subsequently returned to the extended neck position and examinations were repeated. Results: Skin markings of all 11 subjects lay within the boundaries of the cricothyroid membrane when the subject was repositioned back to the extended neck position and the median difference between the two measurements of the distance from the suprasternal notch was 0 mm (range 0-2 mm). Conclusion: The cricothyroid membrane can be identified and marked with the subject in the extended neck position. Then the patient's position can be changed as needed, for example to the 'sniffing' neck position for conventional intubation. If a front of neck airway access is required during subsequent airway management, the patient can be returned expediently to the extended-neck position, and the marking of the centre of the membrane will still be in the correct place

Adult Human Brain Neural Progenitor Cells (NPCs) and Fibroblast-Like Cells Have Similar Properties In Vitro but Only NPCs Differentiate into Neurons

The ability to culture neural progenitor cells from the adult human brain has provided an exciting opportunity to develop and test potential therapies on adult human brain cells. To achieve a reliable and reproducible adult human neural progenitor cell (AhNPC) culture system for this purpose, this study fully characterized the cellular composition of the AhNPC cultures, as well as the possible changes to this in vitro system over prolonged culture periods. We isolated cells from the neurogenic subventricular zone/hippocampus (SVZ/HP) of the adult human brain and found a heterogeneous culture population comprised of several types of post-mitotic brain cells (neurons, astrocytes, and microglia), and more importantly, two distinct mitotic cell populations; the AhNPCs, and the fibroblast-like cells (FbCs). These two populations can easily be mistaken for a single population of AhNPCs, as they both proliferate under AhNPC culture conditions, form spheres and express neural progenitor cell and early neuronal markers, all of which are characteristics of AhNPCs in vitro. However, despite these similarities under proliferating conditions, under neuronal differentiation conditions, only the AhNPCs differentiated into functional neurons and glia. Furthermore, AhNPCs showed limited proliferative capacity that resulted in their depletion from culture by 5–6 passages, while the FbCs, which appear to be from a neurovascular origin, displayed a greater proliferative capacity and dominated the long-term cultures. This gradual change in cellular composition resulted in a progressive decline in neurogenic potential without the apparent loss of self-renewal in our cultures. These results demonstrate that while AhNPCs and FbCs behave similarly under proliferative conditions, they are two different cell populations. This information is vital for the interpretation and reproducibility of AhNPC experiments and suggests an ideal time frame for conducting AhNPC-based experiments

Outpatient-Based Therapy of Oral Fludarabine and Subcutaneous Alemtuzumab for Asian Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Background. Intravenous alemtuzumab and fludarabine are effective in combination for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but require hospital visits for intravenous injection. We performed a pilot study to assess the safety and efficacy of outpatient-based oral fludarabine with subcutaneous alemtuzumab (OFSA) for the treatment of relapsed/refractory CLL. Results. Depending on their response, patients were given two to six 28-day cycles of subcutaneous alemtuzumab 30 mg on days 1,3, and 5 and oral fludarabine 40 mg/m2/day for 5 days. Median patient age was 74. The lymphocyte counts of all five patients fell after the 1st cycle of treatment and reached normal/low levels on completion of 2 to 6 cycles of therapy. Platelet counts and hemoglobin were unaffected. All five patients achieved complete hematological remission, while two attained minimal residual disease negativity on 4-color flow cytometry. Conclusions. Our OFSA regimen was effective in elderly Asian patients with relapsed/refractory CLL, and it should be investigated further

Predictors of allergen sensitization in Singapore children from birth to 3 years

10.1186/s13223-016-0161-xAllergy, asthma, and clinical immunology : official journal of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology121Article number 56GUSTO (Growing up towards Healthy Outcomes

Inhibitory role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma in hepatocarcinogenesis in mice and in vitro

Although peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonist have been shown to inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, the role of PPARγ in hepatocarcinogenesis remains unclear. We investigated the therapeutic efficacy of PPAR