A cross-cultural analysis of English and Chinese business faxes: a genre perspective

This paper develops a theoretical framework based on genre analysis and crosscultural persuasion for comparing English and Chinese business faxes. Although extensive research has been done in genre analysis and second language writing, scarce literature can be found in cross-cultural genre study of business faxes. Specifically this paper compares faxes used in New Zealand and China. It has been found that English faxes and Chinese faxes are used differently in a number of areas, especially in persuasive orientations. Chinese faxes have a much stronger emphasis on affective aspect useful for building business relationships. This difference is also found in rhetorical structure and linguistic strategies. For example, logos has been identified as a major persuasive orientation in English faxes while both qing or pathos and li or logos were seen as important for Chinese faxes

Understanding sociocognitive space of written discourse: Implications for teaching business writing to Chinese students

Confronted with various issues in teaching business writing to Chinese students in New Zealand, this paper sees the need for bridging the gap between genre-based research and teaching in an intercultural context. Specifically, it develops an intercultural reflective model in the light of Bhatia's sociocognitive genre study as well as cross-cultural persuasion. As an important part of the model, New Zealand and Chinese experts' intracultural and intercultural reflections on business writing are solicited and compared and the theoretical implications for teaching and learning business writing are discussed. It has been found, through a case study of analysing English and Chinese business faxes, this model can offer an in-depth understanding about discursive competence across cultures, and provide a link between genre-based theory, teaching practice and professional expertise

Communicating entrepreneurship and ethnicity in New Zealand

In this paper, we compare entrepreneurship practice of the Maori culture with that of the other five ethnic groups or cultures in New Zealand including European New Zealanders, Europeans, Chinese, Indians and Pacific Islanders. One of the most reported findings in previous GEM reports was that Maori are every bit as entrepreneurial as other ethnicities. Some commentators were surprised by this finding, since Maori collect more than their proportionate share of benefit entitlements. But we have shown that Maori have a history of entrepreneurship and enterprise upon which to draw (Frederick and Henry, 2004). The Maori economy, though small, is &quot;robust and poised for continued expansion&quot;, says a recent report by the Institute of Economic Research (NZIER, 2003).<br /

Building intercultural alliances: a study of moves and strategies in initial business negotiation meetings

This paper proposes a conceptual model to study the discourse of initial negotiation meetings between members of New Zealand and Chinese corporations. It attempts to make two contributions to existing cross-cultural negotiation research, especially to rapport management. Firstly, it develops a conceptual position where negotiation meetings require mutual effort for building intercultural alliances. Secondly, the application and further division of initial moves (initiating moves-relational [IM-R] and initiating move-transactional [IM-T]), responding moves (responding move-cooperative [RM-C] and responding move-uncooperative [RM-UC]), and strategies into politeness strategies (PS) and uncooperative strategies (UC-S) offer an in-depth analysis of the nuances of positioning construction between parties. The findings indicate that a successful negotiation meeting establishes and develops intercultural alliances through appropriate use of moves and strategies. Negotiations, however, derail if inappropriate moves and strategies are used, and potential conflicts and communication breakdowns are not addressed in time. © 2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG

Selection of Peptide Inhibitor to Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 Using Phage Display and Its Effects on Pancreatic Cancer Cell lines PANC-1 and CFPAC-1

Despite tremendous advances in cancer treatment and survival rates, pancreatic cancer remains one of the most deadly afflictions and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in the world. Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) are thought to be involved in cancer progression. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 is known to play a pivotal role in tumor invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis, and validated to be the anticancer target. Inhibition of MMP-2 activity is able to reduce the cancer cell invasion and suppress tumor growth in vivo. Two novel peptides, M204C4 and M205C4, which could specially inhibit MMP-2 activity, were identified by a phage display library screening. We showed that M204C4 and M205C4 inhibited the activity of MMP-2 in a dose dependent manner in vitro. Two peptides reduced MMP-2 mediated invasion of the pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1 and CFPAC-1, but not affected the expression and release of MMP-2. Furthermore, these two peptides could suppress tumor growth in vivo. Our results indicated that two peptides selected by phase display technology may be used as anticancer drugs in the future

Pharmacokinetic, acute toxicity, and pharmacodynamic studies of semen strychni total alkaloid microcapsules

Purpose: To investigate the safety and effectiveness of semen strychni total alkaloid microcapsules (SSTAM), compared with semen strychni total alkaloids (SSTA). Methods: Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was employed to assess pharmacokinetics of brucine and strychnine in rats. Acute toxicity was investigated in pre-test and formal experiments in mice. The pharmacodynamics of SSTAM and SSTA were evaluated by their analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities. Results: With respect to brucine, the half-life of SSTA group (1.6 mg/kg), low-dose SSTAM group (6 mg/kg) and high-dose SSTAM group (10 mg/kg) was 5.723, 9.321 and 9.025 h, respectively. With respect to strychnine, the half-life of SSTA group, low-dose SSTAM group and high-dose SSTAM group was 4.065, 8.819 and 8.654 h, respectively. The LD50 values of SSTAM group and SSTA group were 236.59 and 30.27 mg/kg, respectively. The pain inhibition rates of SSTAM groups (25 and 50 mg/kg) were higher than that of SSTA group (p &lt; 0.05) while the pain threshold values of the SSTAM groups (25 and 50 mg/kg) were higher than that of blank control (p &lt; 0.01) and SSTA groups (p &lt; 0.01) at 60 min and 120 min. The inhibition rates of the SSTAM groups (25 and 50 mg/kg) were higher than that of SSTA group based on ear swelling and cotton ball granulation tests. Compared with blank control and SSTA groups, the absorbance values of SSTAM groups (25 and 50 mg/kg) were lower (p &lt; 0.01). Conclusion: SSTAM increases the dosage of administration but reducea the toxicity of the alkaloids in rats, and is thus a potentially safe and effective drug delivery system