The English language used by the Chinese: A new variety of English?

The topic was chosen because of a simple fact that there are more Chinese studying English in China than U.S. Americans who speak English. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the unique linguistic features that make the Chinese use English in a particular style. First, it shows the development of the English language used by the Chinese: Chinese Pidgin English, Chinglish, Chinese English and China English. Second, it takes a deeper look into certain linguistic features regarding the English language used by the Chinese: lexical features morphosyntactic features and pragmatic features

Anti-nuclear testing demonstration at the Chinese Museum in New York

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Calcite saturation and dissolution index of core-top sediment samples from the Ontong Java Plateau, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Caribbean and the Ceara Rise, the Indian Ocean, the Ninety-East Ridge and from the east of Madagascar

X-ray computed tomography (CT) provides an insight into the progression of dissolution in the tests of planktonic foraminifera. Four species of foraminifera (G. ruber [white], G. sacculifer, N. dutertrei and P. obliquiloculata) from Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean core-top samples were examined by CT and SEM. Inner chamber walls began to dissolve at Delta[CO3**2-] values of 12-14 µmol/kg. Close to the calcite saturation horizon, dissolution and precipitation of calcite may occur simultaneously. Inner calcite of G. sacculifer, N. dutertrei and P. obliquiloculata from such sites appeared altered or replaced, whereas outer crust calcite was dense with no pores. Unlike the other species, there was no distinction between inner and outer calcite in CT scans of G. ruber. Empty calcite crusts of N. dutertrei and P. obliquiloculata were most resistant to dissolution and were present in samples where Delta[CO3**2-] ~ -20 µmol/kg. Five stages of preservation were identified in CT scans, and an empirical dissolution index, XDX, was established. XDX appears to be insensitive to initial test mass. Mass loss in response to dissolution was similar between species and sites at ~ 0.4 µg/µmol/kg. We provide calibrations to estimate Delta[CO3**2-] and initial test mass from XDX.

The Impact on Canada of the Rise of the Chinese Economy: Good, Bad or Indifferent? (Working Paper 50)

From humble beginnings less than twenty years ago, the economic relationship between Canada and the Chinese has flourished so that China is now Canada’s second most important trading partner after the United States. The Chinese demand for Canada’s exports, in particular in the natural resource sectors, has been a clear win for Canada, especially during the recent Great Recession where demand from other countries dropped sharply. But other aspects of the relationship have led to suggestions of costs. Canada’s large trade deficit with China at least looks superficially as a drag on the Canadian economy. It has been suggested the greater exposure to a low cost producer has displaced Canadian production and jobs and lowered wages. We find that each argument for costs to the relationship ignores important factors. On balance we conclude the relationship has been good for Canada, and it could be even better in the future.

Energy efficiency in the Chinese provinces: a fixed effects stochastic frontier spatial Durbin error panel analysis

Energy efficiency improvement has been a key objective of China’s long-term energy policy. In this paper, we derive single-factor technical energy efficiency (abbreviated as energy efficiency) in China from multi-factor efficiency estimated by means of a translog production function and a stochastic frontier model on the basis of panel data on 29 Chinese provinces over the period 2003–2011. We find that average energy efficiency has been increasing over the research period and that the provinces with the highest energy efficiency are at the east coast and the ones with the lowest in the west, with an intermediate corridor in between. In the analysis of the determinants of energy efficiency by means of a spatial Durbin error model both factors in the own province and in first-order neighboring provinces are considered. Per capita income in the own province has a positive effect. Furthermore, foreign direct investment and population density in the own province and in neighboring provinces have positive effects, whereas the share of state-owned enterprises in Gross Provincial Product in the own province and in neighboring provinces has negative effects. From the analysis it follows that inflow of foreign direct investment and reform of state-owned enterprises are important policy handles.

Opportunities and constraints of transhumant small ruminant production in the Chinese Altay Mountains

This PhD thesis focuses on current livelihoods of agro-pastoral livestock keepers, their animal nutrition, herd and rangeland management strategies. It thereby aims to contribute to sustainable rangeland management, livestock production and household income in Qinghe county of the Chinese Altay Mountain region, located in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, PR China. In its first part the study characterizes the socio-economic situation and agricultural practices of agro-pastoralists through structured household interviews. The second part provides insights into the grazing behaviour and feed intake of small ruminants on seasonal pastures in this region, and into the quantitative and qualitative biomass offer on natural rangelands. The third part analyses the reproductive performance and annual growth of the local sheep and goat herds, and, by modelling improved feeding and culling strategies, tests herd management options that potentially improve the monetary output per female herd animal without increasing the pressure onto natural rangelands. Taken together, the results of the study suggest that, despite an increase and intensification of cropping and vegetable gardening in the region of Qinghe, livestock rearing is still the major livelihood strategy both in terms of prevalence and relative importance. However, livestock keeping is challenged by low biomass production on rangelands, due to the combined impact of high climate variability and highly localized grazing pressure on the seasonal pastures. Though government regulations try to tackle the latter aspect, their implementation is sometimes difficult. Alternatives to strict regulation of grazing periods and animal numbers on seasonal pastures are, in the case of goats, more rigorous culling strategies and, in the case of sheep and goats, strategic supplementation of the animals in the winter and spring season. However, for the latter strategy to become economically viable, an improvement of live animal and meat marketing options and an investment in local meat processing facilities that add value to the carcasses is needed. As the regional cities grow rapidly, the potential market to absorb diverse and good quality meat products is there, along with the road network connecting Qinghe county to the regional capital. Such governmental measures will not only create new job opportunities in the region but also benefit the cash income of pastoralists in this westernmost region of China.

Rethinking the Eclectic Paradigm: Explaining MNE E-Commerce Corporations' Activity in the Chinese Digital Sector

We use the eclectic paradigm as an analytical framework to explain the MNE e-commerce company’s activities in China. Grounded in the rich data, we argue that the dynamic interplay between the ownership advantage and local institutional context that have emerged—particularly in the information age—plays a significant role in explaining the trajectory of MNE e-commerce companies in China. We propose On, Ln and In by embedding network-based advantages within the OLI paradigm. With the acceleration of technological change and non-ergodic uncertainty, such a network-embedded eclectic paradigm will lead to MNE e-commerce companies’ sustainable development in the emerging economy.

The Araucaria dendrochronological network: growth patterns and climatic signals of paraná-pine on the Southern Brazilian plateau.

2016

Spatio-temporal patterns of herbage availability and livestock movements: A cross-border analysis in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay

Due to increasing population and the recent implementation of policies to intensify the use of land and water resources, the transhumant pastoral systems in the Chinese-Mongolian Altay-Dzungarian region are rapidly changing, leading to modifications of herd size, herd composition and spatial distribution of livestock grazing. This may have major consequences for the supply and quality of rangeland biomass. Despite similar topographic settings, the socio-political framework for Chinese and Mongolian pastoralists differs significantly, leading to differences in rangeland utilization. To substantiate these claims, the long-distance transhumance routes, frequency of pasture changes, daily grazing itineraries and size of pastures were recorded by means of GPS tracking of cattle and goats on 1,535 (China) and 1,396 (Mongolia) observation days. The status quo of the main seasonal pastures was captured by measuring the herbage offer and its nutritive value in 869 sampling spots. In the Altay-Dzungarian region, small ruminant herds covered up to 412 km (Mongolia) and grazed on up to nine pastures per year (China). In Mongolia, the herds’ average duration of stay at an individual pasture was longer than in China, particularly in spring and autumn. Herbage allowance at the onset of a grazing period (kg dry matter per sheep unit and day) ranged from 34/17 to 91/95 (China/Mongolia). Comparing crude protein and phosphorous concentrations of herbage, in China, the highest concentrations were measured for spring and summer pastures, whereas in Mongolia, the highest concentrations were determined for autumn and winter pastures. Based on our data, we conclude that regulation of animal numbers and access to pastures seemingly maintained pasture productivity in China, especially at high altitudes. However, this policy may prohibit flexible adaptation to sudden environmental constraints. In contrast, high stocking densities and grazing of pastures before flowering of herbaceous plants negatively affected rangeland productivity in Mongolia, especially for spring and summer pastures.

Investigating interpreter-mediated interaction in the Chinese bilingual courtroom: Analysis based on a multimodal corpus

This research project is based on the Multimodal Corpus of Chinese Court Interpreting (MUCCCI [mutʃɪ]), a small-scale multimodal corpus on the basis of eight authentic court hearings with Chinese-English interpreting in Mainland China. The corpus has approximately 92,500 word tokens in total. Besides the transcription of linguistic and para-linguistic features, utilizing the facial expression classification rules suggested by Black and Yacoob (1995), MUCCCI also includes approximately 1,200 annotations of facial expressions linked to the six basic types of human emotions, namely, anger, disgust, happiness, surprise, sadness, and fear (Black & Yacoob, 1995). This thesis is an example of conducting qualitative analysis on interpreter-mediated courtroom interactions through a multimodal corpus. In particular, miscommunication events (MEs) and the reasons behind them were investigated in detail. During the analysis, although queries were conducted based on non-verbal annotations when searching for MEs, both verbal and non-verbal features were considered indispensable parts contributing to the entire context. This thesis also includes a detailed description of the compilation process of MUCCCI utilizing ELAN, from data collection to transcription, POS tagging and non-verbal annotation. The research aims at assessing the possibility and feasibility of conducting qualitative analysis through a multimodal corpus of court interpreting. The concept of integrating both verbal and non-verbal features to contribute to the entire context is emphasized. The qualitative analysis focusing on MEs can provide an inspiration for improving court interpreters’ performances. All the constraints and difficulties presented can be regarded as a reference for similar research in the future.

Time stability of soil water storage measured by neutron probe and the effects of calibration procedures in a small watershed

The knowledge of soil water storage (SWS) of soil profiles is crucial for the adoption of vegetation restoration practices. With the aim of identifying representative sites to obtain the mean SWS of a watershed, a time stability analysis of neutron probe evaluations of SWS was performed by the means of relative differences and Spearman rank correlation coefficients. At the same time, the effects of different neutron probe calibration procedures were explored on time stability analysis. mean SWS estimation. and preservation of the spatial variability of SWS. The selected watershed, with deep gullies and undulating slopes which cover an area of 20 ha, is characterized by an Ust-Sandiic Entisol and an Aeolian sandy soil. The dominant vegetation species are bunge needlegrass (Stipa bungeana Trim) and korshinsk peashrub (Carugano Korshinskii kom.). From June 11, 2007 to July 23,2008, SWS of the top1 m soil layer was evaluated for 20 dates, based on neutron probe data of 12 sampling sites. Three calibration procedures were employed: type 1, most complete, with each site having its own linear calibration equation (TrE); type II. with TrE equations extended over the whole field: and type III, with one single linear calibration curve for the whole field (UnE) and also correcting its intercept based on site specific relative difference analysis (RdE) and on linear fitting of data (RcE), both maintaining the same slope. A strong time stability of SWS estimated by TrE equations was identified. Soil particle size and soil organic matter content were recognized as the influencing factors for spatial variability of SWS. Land use influenced neither the spatial variability nor the time stability of SWS. Time stability analysis identified one site to represent the mean SWS of the whole watershed with mean absolute percentage errors of less than 10%, therefore. this site can be used as a predictor for the mean SWS of the watershed. Some equations of type II were found to be unsatisfactory to yield reliable mean SWS values or in preserving the associated soil spatial variability. Hence, it is recommended to be cautious in extending calibration equations to other sites since they might not consider the field variability. For the equations with corrected intercept (type III), which consider the spatial variability of calibration in a different way in relation to TrE, it was found that they can yield satisfactory means and standard deviation of SWS, except for the RdE equations, which largely leveled off the SWS values in the watershed. Correlation analysis showed that the neutron probe calibration was linked to soil bulk density and to organic matter content. Therefore, spatial variability of soil properties should be taken into account during the process of neutron probe calibration. This study provides useful information on the mean SWS observation with a time stable site and on distinct neutron probe calibration procedures, and it should be extended to soil water management studies with neutron probes, e.g., the process of vegetation restoration in wider area and soil types of the Loess Plateau in China. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.