Theoria Cum Praxi – Modeling Specialised Communication

Glottotheory ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-172
Author(s):  
Kristina Pelikan ◽  
Thorsten Roelcke

Abstract As researchers from different nationalities and disciplines collaborate in research projects with joint grants, science becomes more and more global. For conducting the research, project members from several different professional and national backgrounds work together on a daily basis using English as lingua franca (ELF). This results in a very heterogenic linguistic setting, influenced by several mother tongues and languages for specific purposes (LSPs). Systematic approaches have been neglected during the last years while LSP research moved more and more towards applied approaches working on concrete case studies. The present study follows an alternative approach. Applied linguistics and further development of systematic approaches shall here be seen as a circular flow. For instance, communication optimisation during a case study benefits from system-thinking and vice versa. How could the project language of a case study be structured and which long established classifications need to be revised based on these data? Is there a need for a new understanding of applied LSP research?

Author(s):  
Andrew Kahn ◽  
Mark Lipovetsky ◽  
Irina Reyfman ◽  
Stephanie Sandler

In the context of Sentimentalism in the 1770s, literary culture opened up to representations of human subjectivity. The chapter considers genres of poetry devoted to the themes of pleasure, death, and posterity. It also considers the spaces of poetry and modes of exchange, whether through the album, the salon, and the verse epistle. Two case studies explore the use of different literary forms in the further development of identity, individual and also authorial. The first looks at Radishchev’s experiment in writing a fictional diary as a psychological exercise. The second examines the tradition of imitation of Horace’s Monument poem in Russian poetry in the eighteenth century as well as by later poets, such as Pushkin and Brodsky. The case study shows how these Russian versions express changing ideas about imitation and originality as well as poets’ concern with posterity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 317-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Mostert

Abstract. Currently the most popular approach in socio hydrology is to develop coupled human–water models. This article proposes an alternative approach, qualitative case study research, involving a systematic review of (1) the human activities affecting the hydrology in the case, (2) the main human actors, and (3) the main factors influencing the actors and their activities. Moreover, this article presents a case study of the Dommel Basin in Belgium and the Netherlands, and compares this with a coupled model of the Kissimmee Basin in Florida. In both basins a pendulum swing from water resources development and control to protection and restoration can be observed. The Dommel case study moreover points to the importance of institutional and financial arrangements, community values, and broader social, economic, and technical developments. These factors are missing from the Kissimmee model. Generally, case studies can result in a more complete understanding of individual cases than coupled models, and if the cases are selected carefully and compared with previous studies, it is possible to generalize on the basis of them. Case studies also offer more levers for management and facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation. Coupled models, on the other hand, can be used to generate possible explanations of past developments and quantitative scenarios for future developments. The article concludes that, given the limited attention they currently get and their potential benefits, case studies deserve more attention in socio-hydrology.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfried Elmenreich ◽  
Philipp Moll ◽  
Sebastian Theuermann ◽  
Mathias Lux

This paper addresses two questions related to reproducibility within the context of research related to computer science. First, requirements on reproducibility are analyzed based on a survey addressed to researchers in the academic and private sector. The survey indicates a strong need for open but also easily accessible results, thus reproducing an experiment should not require too much effort. The results from the survey are then used to formulate general guidelines for making research results reproducible. In addition, this paper explores a number of existing software tools that could bring forward reproducibility in research results. After a general analysis of tools a further investigation is done via three case studies based on actual research projects which are used to evaluate the previously introduced tools. Results indicate that due to conflicting requirements, none of the presented solutions fulfills all intended goals perfectly. However, we present requirements and guidelines for making research reproducible. While the main focus of this paper is on reproducibility in computer science, the results of this paper are still valid for other fields using computation as a tool.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Mostert

Abstract. This paper argues for an alternative approach for socio‒hydrology: detailed case study research. Currently, the dominant approach in socio‒hydrology is developing coupled human‒water models. With very few exceptions, these models treat society as one actor or as a group of individual actors and do not include management structures and processes. Moreover, there is a shortage of data to calibrate and validate the models. Detailed case studies of individual river basins can be of help in these respects. They can result in a more complete understanding of how society interacts with hydrology and can help to identify new data sources. In addition, they can offer more levers for management and facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation. Two questions should be central: which human activities have had a significant impact on the hydrology of the case study area, and which factors can explain these activities? To give an idea of what a socio‒hydrological case study may look like and what its potential benefits are, this paper presents a short case study of the Dommel Basin in the Netherlands and Belgium and compares this with a typical socio‒hydrological model. The paper concludes that there is room for different approaches in socio‒hydrology. However, given the limited attention they currently get, more attention should be paid to developing detailed case studies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 239 ◽  
Author(s):  
John McLeod

<p>Narrative case studies tell the story of therapy from the point of view of the client or therapist. Murase's (2015) case of "Mr. R" provides a powerful example of the potential of this form of case inquiry, as a means of enabling reflection and deeper understanding around the practice and process of therapy. The distinctive contribution of the case of Mr. R is discussed in relation to the personal learning of the author in respect of a series of domains: working with the contextual and cultural meaning of the client&rsquo;s issues, creating corrective everyday life interventions, repairing therapist-induced ruptures in the therapeutic alliance, and developing new understandings of the process of client internalisation of the image of the therapist. Theoretical implications of the case are explored, and some suggestions are offered around the further development of narrative case study methods and the concept of therapist wisdom.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
Daramola Thompson Olapade ◽  
Biodun Olapade ◽  
Bioye Tajudeen Aluko

Purpose This paper aims to explore the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques as a legitimate means of ejection of recalcitrant tenant in property. This is with a view of providing information that will improve property investment and management. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a case study approach using five selected case studies where ADR approach was used to recover premises. Findings The experience from the case studies shows that the use of ADR in premises recovery is effective but has its challenges. In the five case studies, consent judgment, mediation and negotiation were used to recover premises in less than three months compared to an average of 18 months using litigation. Also, the cost in all the cases were lower where they exist at all than when litigation are used. The paper provides useful information to practitioners on the use of the effective alternative approach to recover premises from recalcitrant tenants. Originality/value The paper provides practical ways through which recovery of premises could be achieved through non-adversarial technique in developing property markets, which hitherto was not available in literature.


Author(s):  
Nikolai Greer ◽  
Khaled Ksaibati

Transportation research projects are a vital element for transportation agencies to accumulate new technology and knowledge to improve the efficiency and safety of transportation infrastructure. The purpose of this paper is to develop benefit cost analysis (BCA) tools to assist transportation agencies in evaluating transportation research projects. The BCA tools provide analysis methods for estimating the benefits for changes in the level of service (LOS) of a roadway, reductions in the vehicle travel time, changes in vehicle operating costs and reductions in the number of crashes. Three case studies were investigated to illustrate the usage of the BCA tools. The first case study evaluated the effectiveness of variable speed limit systems implemented along I-80 in southern Wyoming. The BCA tools estimated a benefit cost ratio of 6.64 indicating that the implementation of the project was economically justifiable. The second case study was a recent study investigating and developing mitigation strategies for the effects of truck traffic along the I-80 in southern Wyoming resulting in a benefit cost ratio of a 9.23 indicating that the project had the potential to be economically viable upon implementation. The final case study evaluated the effect of wildlife overpass and underpass crossings on the migrations of pronghorn and mule deer. The benefit cost ratio for the research project was 0.42 indicating that the project was not economically beneficial after the first year of implementation. The case studies indicated that the BCA tools are a beneficial tool for quantifying the economic benefits of a transportation research project.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Pelikan ◽  
Thorsten Roelcke

AbstractIn recent years, numerous proposals have been made with the aim of establishing a systematic hierarchy of relationships for languages for special purposes (LSP), and different approaches have been classified in terms of vertical and horizontal models. Recently, however LSP research has moved more and more towards Applied Linguistics and a segregation has emerged between studies focusing on systematic topics and those based on concrete case studies. While studies in applied LSP research have increased, work on systematic approaches has been neglected. The present study follows a different approach, in that instead of segregating the analysis of concrete case studies from the work on systematic approaches, examples from case studies will be used for testing and revising systematic approaches. In this paper we shall first address the question based on these examples of which long established classifications need to be revised, and consider further whether revising and applying classifications is the way to go in LSP research or whether there is a need for a new typology. In the present paper we shall thus be building on and developing the work on structuring LSP in (Roelcke 2014) and on project-specific terminology (Pelikan & Roelcke 2015).


Author(s):  
Matthew Herder ◽  
Janice E Graham ◽  
Richard Gold

Abstract The discovery and development of the Ebola rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine challenge the common assumption that the research and development for innovative therapeutic products and vaccines is best carried out by the private sector. Using internal government documents obtained through an access to information request, we analyze the development of rVSV-ZEBOV by researchers at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory beyond its patenting and licensing to a biotech company in the United States in 2010. According to government documentation, the company failed to make any progress toward a phase 1 clinical trial until after the WHO Public Health Emergency of International Concern freed substantial donor and public funds for the vaccine’s further development. The development of rVSV-ZEBOV, from sponsoring early stage research through to carrying out clinical trials during the epidemic, was instead the result of the combined efforts of the Canadian government, its researchers, and other publicly funded institutions. This case study of rVSV-ZEBOV underscores the significant public contribution to the R&D of vaccines even under conditions of precarity, and suggests that an alternative approach to generating knowledge and developing interventions, such as open science, is required in order to fully realize the public sector’s contribution to improved global health.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Palousek ◽  
Jiri Rosicky ◽  
Daniel Koutny ◽  
Pavel Stoklásek ◽  
Tomas Navrat

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a manufacturing methodology for a wrist orthosis. The case study aims to offer new approaches in the area of human orthoses. Design/methodology/approach – The article describes the utilization of rapid prototyping (RP), passive stereo photogrammetry and software tools for the orthosis design process. This study shows the key points of the design and manufacturing methodology. The approach uses specific technologies, such as 3D digitizing, reverse engineering and polygonal-surface software, FDM RP and 3D printing. Findings – The results show that the used technologies reflect the patient's requirements and also they could be an alternative solution to the standard method of orthosis design. Research limitations/implications – The methodology provides a good position for further development issues. Practical implications – The methodology could be usable for clinical practice and allows the manufacturing of the perfect orthosis of the upper limb. The usage of this methodology depends on the RP system and type of material. Originality/value – The article describes a particular topical problem and it is following previous publications in the field of human orthoses. The paper presents the methodology of wrist orthosis design and manufacturing. The paper presents an alternative approach applicable in clinical practice.


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