Investigating Second Language Reading Components: Reading for Different Types of Meaning

The nature of second language (L2) reading ability is extremely complex and its components are yet to be agreed upon. The current study hypothesized that L2 reading ability consists of (1) reading for literal meaning (LIT), (2) reading for implied meaning with endophoric reference (IMP-EN), and (3) reading for implied meaning with exophoric reference (IMP-EX). In addition, different reading passages were assumed to affect test performance in varying degrees. Participants were 298 incoming students to an adult English as a second language (ESL) program. They took a reading placement test consisting of four reading passages and 30 items. Participants’ reading scores were analyzed using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach in structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings suggest that L2 reading ability consists of the three constructs of LIT, IMP-EN, and IMP-EX. Moreover, the three reading constructs are on a continuum with LIT having the most direct relationship between the text and the response, while IMP-EX having the most indirect relationship. However, reading passages did not have a significant influence on test performance

The Effects of Interaction Process Characteristics between the Supplier and the Buyer on Relationship Value and Firm Performance

The thesis contributes to enhance current understanding of the interaction process characteristics between the supplier and the buyer creating relationship value and leading to the overall performance of the firm in interorganisational relationships under a variety of environmental characteristics of the firm and competitive strategies adopted by the firm. This study defines interaction process characteristics between the supplier and the buyer as structural characteristics, functional characteristics and climate characteristics. Structural characteristics consist of centralisation and formalisation, functional characteristics consist of joint action and information exchange, and climate characteristics consist of trust and commitment. It addresses the following research questions: (1) How are interaction process characteristics defined? (2) Do environment characteristics of the firm affect the interaction process characteristics of the firm and its partner? (3) Does competitive strategy of the firm affect the interaction process characteristics of the firm and its partner? (4) Is relationship value defined as the sum of sub-dimensions of value in the relationships between firms? (5) Do interaction process characteristics affect relationship value? (6) Does relationship value affect the overall performance of the firm? This research was designed and conducted on the basis of quantitative methods. Data have been collected with the drop-and-collect survey method by means of a questionnaire based on a survey of the buyer or the supplier in the factory automation system, the IT and the automotive manufacturing industries in South Korea. Sample size is 409 (response rate: 44.95%). Analysis results show that the effects of complexity and dynamism on interaction process characteristics are not significant, while munificence has a positive effect on interaction process characteristics. The effects of iv business strategy on interaction process characteristics are significant. In terms of the relationships between interaction process characteristics and their consequences, climate characteristics such as trust and commitment have considerably significant effects on relationship value and overall performance of the firm. In conclusion, this research adds to the body of knowledge about the integrated framework of interaction process characteristics in supplier-buyer relationships. First of all, in the IT and automotive industries, munificence, that is the availability of critical resources which a firm needs to compete, is the key environmental characteristic that the firm should consider to achieve overall performance. Secondly, regarding business strategy, differentiation and cost leadership strategies have positive effects on interaction process characteristics in structural, functional and climate dimensions. Thridly, this study contributes to the identification of the dimensions of relationship value and the development of its measurements. Relationship value consists of several subdimensions such as economic, operational, strategic and behavioural value and the integrated framework including subdimensions of relationship value is examined with the measurements developed in this study. The effect of relationship value on the performance of the firm is considerably significant

Comparison of Movement of the Upper Dentition According to Anchorage Method: Orthodontic Mini-Implant versus Conventional Anchorage Reinforcement in Class I Malocclusion

Objective. To compare the amounts of anchorage loss in the upper first molar (U6) and of retraction of the upper central incisor (U1) in cases with Class I malocclusion between orthodontic mini-implants (OMIs) and conventional anchorage reinforcements (CARs). Methods. The subjects were 40 female adult patients with Class I malocclusion who were treated with extraction of the first premolars and sliding mechanics. The subjects were divided into Groups 1 (N = 20, CAR) and 2 (N = 20, OMI) according to anchorage method. Lateral cephalograms were taken before (T0) and after treatment (T1). Seven skeletal and dental variables and ten anchorage variables were measured. Mann-Whitney test was used for statistical analysis. Results. Group 2 showed significantly larger retraction of U1 (U1E-sag, 9.5 mm : 7.1 mm, P < .05) and less anchorage loss of U6 (U6M-sag, 0.2 mm : 2.2 mm, P < .05; U6A-sag, 0.3 mm versus 2.4 mm, P < .01) than Group 1. There was opposite vertical movement in U1 and U6 between Groups 1 and 2 (U1E-ver, 0.9 mm intrusion : 0.7 mm extrusion; U6F-ver, 1.0 mm intrusion : 0.9 mm extrusion, P < .05). Conclusion. Although OMI could not reduce the treatment duration, it could provide better maximum anchorage of U6, greater retraction of U1, intrusion of U1 and U6 than CAR

How do relationship characteristics create relationship value? Evidence from high-tech SMEs

Relationship value in the business market and its positive impacts on firm performance have discussed in industrial marketing (Tzokas & Saren, 1999; Ulaga & Eggert, 2006; Wilson & Jantrania, 1994). Furthermore, many scholars such as Wilson & Jantrania (1994) have urged for more research to elucidate the characteristics of relationship value, by extension, the sub-dimensional relationship value. However, there is still lack of empirical studies about different dimensions of relationship value and discussion of their mediator roles between relationship characteristics and firm relationship performance. We can assume that firms can have insights into a variety of dimensions of relationship value created through the different dimensions of relationship characteristics with partners and each dimension of relationship value can have associated with the overall performance of the firm. In particular, since SMEs in the high tech industries face on a shorter span of product life cycle, higher uncertainties or limited resources, SMEs need to build alliance partnerships with their suppliers or buyers to reduce risks and to have competitive advantages. Therefore, understanding of how high-tech SMEs have built interactional relationships with alliance partners and how different relational characteristics create different types of relationship value is critical in SMEs context. In addressing the above mentioned assumption, the study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, by investigating the influences of different types of relationship characteristics on the creation of different dimensions of relationship value among high-tech SMEs, this study stresses the importance of dimensions of relationship value which prior theoretical literature has indicated but they were not spelt out with good size of empirical evidence yet. The results of the analysis provide high-tech SMEs with practical implications by suggesting how they can create each dimension of relationship value by choosing and developing each dimension of relationship characteristics with alliance partners. Second, with theoretical implications, the study contributes to a knowledge body of literature on relationship value based on a resource-based theory by developing the measurement items for four types of relationship value and adding empirical evidence from technology-intensive SMEs. Finally, this study fills an important gap in relationship marketing literature by providing an in-depth investigation of how SMEs can achieve overall performance

How do relationship characteristics create relationship value? Evidence from high-tech SMEs

Relationship value in the business market and its positive impacts on firm performance have discussed in industrial marketing (Tzokas & Saren, 1999; Ulaga & Eggert, 2006; Wilson & Jantrania, 1994). Furthermore, many scholars such as Wilson & Jantrania (1994) have urged for more research to elucidate the characteristics of relationship value, by extension, the sub-dimensional relationship value. However, there is still lack of empirical studies about different dimensions of relationship value and discussion of their mediator roles between relationship characteristics and firm relationship performance. We can assume that firms can have insights into a variety of dimensions of relationship value created through the different dimensions of relationship characteristics with partners and each dimension of relationship value can have associated with the overall performance of the firm. In particular, since SMEs in the high tech industries face on a shorter span of product life cycle, higher uncertainties or limited resources, SMEs need to build alliance partnerships with their suppliers or buyers to reduce risks and to have competitive advantages. Therefore, understanding of how high-tech SMEs have built interactional relationships with alliance partners and how different relational characteristics create different types of relationship value is critical in SMEs context. In addressing the above mentioned assumption, the study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, by investigating the influences of different types of relationship characteristics on the creation of different dimensions of relationship value among high-tech SMEs, this study stresses the importance of dimensions of relationship value which prior theoretical literature has indicated but they were not spelt out with good size of empirical evidence yet. The results of the analysis provide high-tech SMEs with practical implications by suggesting how they can create each dimension of relationship value by choosing and developing each dimension of relationship characteristics with alliance partners. Second, with theoretical implications, the study contributes to a knowledge body of literature on relationship value based on a resource-based theory by developing the measurement items for four types of relationship value and adding empirical evidence from technology-intensive SMEs. Finally, this study fills an important gap in relationship marketing literature by providing an in-depth investigation of how SMEs can achieve overall performance

Investigating Second Language Reading Components:Reading for Different Types of Meaning

The nature of second language (L2) reading ability is extremely complex and its components are yet to be agreed upon. The current study hypothesized that L2 reading ability consists of (1) reading for literal meaning (LIT), (2) reading for implied meaning with endophoric reference (IMP-EN), and (3) reading for implied meaning with exophoric reference (IMP-EX). In addition, different reading passages were assumed to affect test performance in varying degrees. Participants were 298 incoming students to an adult English as a second language (ESL) program. They took a reading placement test consisting of four reading passages and 30 items. Participants’ reading scores were analyzed using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach in structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings suggest that L2 reading ability consists of the three constructs of LIT, IMP-EN, and IMP-EX. Moreover, the three reading constructs are on a continuum with LIT having the most direct relationship between the text and the response, while IMP-EX having the most indirect relationship. However, reading passages did not have a significant influence on test performance

“Whose Memory You Are Asking”: Yamashita’s Narrative Voice of Human, Material, and Memory

This paper considers the strange first-person, supposedly omniscient narrator of Karen Tei Yamashita’s Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, through the varied and sometimes contradictory aspects of its humanlike voice, distinctly non-human materiality, and role as a narrative “satellite” that mediates human and non-human histories. The plastic “ball” that is attached to Kazumasa Ishimaru’s head narrates the en tirety of the novel, claiming a clairvoyance over events happening across different times and localities that exceed the bounds of a human being. Yet this same narrator, in its close attachment to Kazumasa, comes to bear not only a physical but emotional relationship with the man, to the point that it affects a distinctly humanlike persona within its supposedly inhuman narration. This entanglement of human and material, local and global, has been interpreted in terms of Yamashita’s expansion of “Asian American” literature towards a broader view at the global relations that compose an individual narrative. At the same time, the ball is distinctly made of plastic, and more specifically, the Matacão plastic that becomes the focus of each character’s journey to the region. From a more ecological, materialist perspective, Through the Arc’s plastic narrator points to a personification of the plastic and petroleum industry itself, revealing the impact of industrialization and waste upon both human and non-human environment. Taking both sides into consideration, this paper finally takes note of the narrator as a “satellite”—not only mediating the global and local, human and plastic sides of the story, but also embodying the very communication technology that frames the narrative. Likened to a TV satellite transmitting the telenovela surrounding Matacão, the ball’s materiality shows how a seeming progress in industry and technology is rather a reversal, arcing back to converge with a prehistoric time of the rainforest. The narrator’s particular position as a “memory,” an already dead entity brought back to retell its narrative, reveals a “thick time” that compresses the history it tells to emphasize a continuity between the past and the present

Development Study of Evaluation Indexes for Internet Business Models

Under the prerequisite that virtual markets need a unit of analysis other than traditional markets, business model is set as the unit of analysis of this research. In this research, in order to help choose Internet business model that creates the most value, evaluation indexes for valuecreation potential of Internet business models are developed. As research methods, deductive method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are used. As the first stage of deduction process, the improved profits and the reduced costs, which factors are classified and quantitative and qualitative evaluation indexes of two dimensions are extracted by related studies. Then, evaluation indexes are corrected, complemented and verified through the expert interview, and analytic hierarchy is documented. As the result, the improved profits dimension outweighed the reduced costs dimension, and each qualitative effect outweighed each quantitative effect. The overall consistency index showed to be 2%, which means that all the experts are determined to have rational consistency

Transduction of Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase mediated by an HIV-1 Tat protein basic domain into human chondrocytes

This study was performed to investigate the transduction of a full-length superoxide dismutase (SOD) protein fused to transactivator of transcription (Tat) into human chondrocytes, and to determine the regulatory function of transduced Tat-SOD in the inflammatory cytokine induced catabolic pathway. The pTat-SOD expression vector was constructed to express the basic domain of HIV-1 Tat as a fusion protein with Cu, Zn-SOD. We also purified histidine-tagged SOD without an HIV-1 Tat and Tat-GFP as control proteins. Cartilage samples were obtained from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and chondrocytes were cultured in both a monolayer and an explant. For the transduction of fusion proteins, cells/explants were treated with a variety of concentrations of fusion proteins. The transduced protein was detected by fluorescein labeling, western blotting and SOD activity assay. Effects of transduced Tat-SOD on the regulation of IL-1 induced nitric oxide (NO) production and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression was assessed by the Griess reaction and reverse transcriptase PCR, respectively. Tat-SOD was successfully delivered into both the monolayer and explant cultured chondrocytes, whereas the control SOD was not. The intracellular transduction of Tat-SOD into cultured chondrocytes was detected after 1 hours, and the amount of transduced protein did not change significantly after further incubation. SOD enzyme activity increased in a dose-dependent manner. NO production and iNOS mRNA expression, in response to IL-1 stimulation, was significantly down-regulated by pretreatment with Tat-SOD fusion proteins. This study shows that protein delivery employing the Tat-protein transduction domain is feasible as a therapeutic modality to regulate catabolic processes in cartilage. Construction of additional Tat-fusion proteins that can regulate cartilage metabolism favorably and application of this technology in in vivo models of arthritis are the subjects of future studies