Constructing press releases, constructing quotations: A case study

This paper reports on empirical research into how press releases are being constructed. It starts from previous discourse-analytic work which has pointed to the 'preformulated' nature of press releases: in particular, it has been shown that through a number of metapragmatic features press releases can easily be copied by journalists in their own news reporting. In this paper we set out to subject one of these features, viz. pseudo-quotations (or so-called constructed direct speech), to a further empirical study, in which we scrutinize the process of constructing the press releases. We propose a detailed analysis of this process by combining ethnographic fieldwork with some of the methodology of cognitive psychology, including think-aloud protocols and on-line registration of the writing process. On the basis of this case study it is concluded that the design and functions of quotations in press releases are more complex than has been assumed so far. In addition, our preliminary results indicate that the combination of methods that we propose in this paper provides a sound starting point for both quantitative and qualitative analysis, allowing for a detailed analysis and interpretation of how press releases are being constructed.     

略论方以智的太极观--从"一两之辨"看方以智"一在二中"、"舍二则无一"的思维方式

太极观在宋明理学史上占有重要地位。方以智的太极观注重太极范畴的逻辑展开方式 ,以太极为理气统一体 ,从太极和仪象的关系 ,推广到太极和天地万物的关系 ,进而讨论了本体和现象的问题。据此 ,他否认易学中的义理学派的世界观 ,即理作为独立自存的实体 ,脱离象数而存在 ,从而得出离现象别无本体的结论。一方面扬弃了朱熹的理为太极说 ,一方面也发展了张载以来的气为太极说 ,成为宋明哲学中唯物主义本体论的代表之一。     

Measuring Social “Informatization”: A Factor Analytic Approach*

Some scholars have argued that we are witnessing a new social revolution—social “informatization”—that is comparable in scope and impact to that of the Industrial Revolu‐tion of the eighteenth century. Others have argued that it is a much more modest phase in the ongoing development of communication and information‐processing technology. While there are a number of reasons for disagreement about what exactly “informatization” is, and what its impact will be, two are paramount: (1) conceptual imprecision, and (2) issues of measurement. Using factor analysis, this study aims to clarify its conceptualization, and, then, rather than focusing on a single dimension (e.g., technological or economic), it will develop a comprehensive multiple‐indicator measure that captures the economic, technological, and size (stock) dimensions of social informatization. We find that this measure of social informatization strongly correlates with the general level of socioeconomic development. This result implies that social informatization may be a more continuous and cumulative process than a disjunctive or discontinuous “revolution.”     

Why adult children return home

This article examines the question of why more young adults are living with their parents. The expectation of the 1960s and 1970s that grown children establish separate residence, even before marriage, began to erode in the 1980s. We asked a small, convenience sample of parents and coresident adult children to respond to two possible interpretations of the trend: (1) that children return home due to economic hardship, or (2) that children return home because they feel entitled to a particular standard of living. Parents and children concluded that economic factors drive adult children home again, but few of the adult children in this study had come home because of genuine economic hardship.     

Men’s Aggression Toward Women: A 10‐Year Panel Study

The present study examined the longitudinal course of men’s physical and psychological aggression toward a partner across 10 years, using a community sample of young couples (N = 194) from at‐risk backgrounds. Findings indicated that men’s aggression decreased over time and that women’s antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms predicted changes in men’s aggression. This suggests the importance of studying social processes within the dyad to have a better understanding of men’s aggression toward a partner.     

Balanced on the Horns of a Dilemma: Observations on Work with Chronic Depression

There are patients who present in treatment with depression that is chronic and unmoving over many years. This article proposes that this type of patient is attached to and defensively uses the symptom in a way that may be described as narcissistic. The amelioration of the symptom is experienced as a threatened loss that must be defended against, despite the patient's unbearable suffering. This dynamic is illustrated as it appeared in three cases treated at a community-based mental health clinic. In each, modification of the symptom was aggressively resisted, creating an insurmountable impasse in the guise of seeking treatment.     

Momentum and the growth-free segment of a population

In the scenario of a sudden drop in fertility to replacement level. Preston (1986) argued that the population segment under age T, the length of generation, remained growth-free. Here we first present a new relationship for the momentum of any observed population as the ratio of 1) the proportion of the observed population under the mean age at childbearing to 2) the proportion of its life table population under that mean age. We then use that relationship to demonstrate Preston's approximation. Growth factors for other population segments are also presented. When the initial population is stable, momentum can be approximated as a function of the net reproduction rate alone.     

Who is Appointed to What Position? The Politics of Appointment in Quangos of Korea

This study identifies the determinants of appointment of executives in quangos. Using data from 85 quangos in Korea over 15 years between 1993 and 2007, we investigate the degree to which various characteristics of organizational actors affect the choice of executives. Three organizational actors include presidents, sponsoring government departments, and the concerned quangos. Although results vary by executive position, the findings of the empirical analysis with multinomial probit and generalized linear mixed models support the idea that the appointment of quango executives is not the result of presidential choice but that of the interactions among the key organizational actors, with different incentives and resources, on the appointment. Compared to former bureaucrats, presidential allies are more likely to be appointed when presidents have more political support from the National Assembly and it is easier for insiders to be promoted as executives from larger and older quangos with clear legal origins.     

Implementation of JIT purchasing: An integrated approach

This article addresses the necessity of integration between buyer and supplier for effective implementation of the JIT system. An integrated lot-splitting model of facilitating multiple shipments in small lots is developed and compared with the existing approach in a simple JIT environment, single-buyer-single-supplier, under deterministic conditions for a single product. It is shown that the optimal policy adopted by the integrated approach can provide a strong and consistent cost-minimizing effect for both buyer and supplier over the existing approach.     

Pay-What-You-Want – Praxisrelevanz und Konsumentenverhalten

Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) is a participative pricing mechanism which is characterized by the fact that consumers have maximum control over the price they pay. We discuss the business relevance of PWYW and extend the findings of Kim et al. (2009) using latent class regression. Two different classes can be identified and transaction prices are explained by psycho- and socio-demographics. The estimation of the parameters shows that the internal reference price is a good predictor for the prices in class 1, whereas in the 2nd class the level of fairness and satisfaction with the product positively affect the final transaction prices.