title: On the foreigner

authors: Arndt, Sonja Kathrina

abstract: Who is ‘the foreigner’? What does it mean, to be a foreigner, and how does foreignness feel, look, or smell? A concrete definition of the foreigner would perhaps belie the very term, so I attempt here to illustrate the notion, calling forth some conceptions, within and around which each of us must continually construct an understanding of foreignness, for ourselves and for those around us. According to the Oxford Dictionary (Oxford Dictionaries, 2015), a foreigner is a person coming from another country, who does not belong to a particular place or group, a stranger, an outsider. Julia Kristeva (1991), in her book Strangers to ourselves, elaborates on these ideas, and says that the foreigner can cause “a choked up rage deep down in my throat”, and be seen as “a black angel clouding transparency” (p. 1). Following this view, the foreigner, stranger, outsider that comes from a very different place, could be seen as someone who causes an unwanted disturbance, or anxiety, in our everyday comfort and routine. While Kristeva’s conception is laden with emotion, both notions identify a foreigner as somebody unfamiliar, unpredictable. The foreigner then, is a stranger, an unknown, an Other.

text: On the foreigner Who is ‘the foreigner’? What does it mean, to be a foreigner, and how does foreignness feel, look, or smell? A concrete definition of the foreigner would perhaps belie the very term, so I attempt here to illustrate the notion, calling forth some conceptions, within and around which each of us must continually construct an understanding of foreignness, for ourselves and for those around us. According to the Oxford Dictionary (Oxford Dictionaries, 2015), a foreigner is a person coming from another country, who does not belong to a particular place or group, a stranger, an outsider. Julia Kristeva (1991), in her book Strangers to ourselves, elaborates on these ideas, and says that the foreigner can cause “a choked up rage deep down in my throat”, and be seen as “a black angel clouding transparency” (p. 1). Following this view, the foreigner, stranger, outsider that comes from a very different place, could be seen as someone who causes an unwanted disturbance, or anxiety, in our everyday comfort and routine. While Kristeva’s conception is laden with emotion, both notions identify a foreigner as somebody unfamiliar, unpredictable. The foreigner then, is a stranger, an unknown, an Other.

year: 2015

title: The Impact of Interventional Change Techniques on an Internet Banking Cross-functional Team.

authors: Siritanachot, Chansit

subjects: internet banking

abstract: This study investigates the team aspects of a process improvement project situated in
an Internet banking system maintenance and modification phase. To investigate how
team processes could be improved in this context, four interventional change
techniques were introduced and implemented during an action research study in
which the researcher was included as one of the team members and participated
during group meetings and discussions.
Internet banking is an important Internet-delivered service which is expected to
provide benefits for both commercial banks and bank customers. Internet banking
allows bank customers to have the freedom to perform their financial activities at their
convenience. Developing, maintaining, and improving Internet banking systems
requires large amounts of investment to maintain high levels of Internet banking
service quality, and the maintenance and modification phase of the overall lifecycle
cost is a considerable part of this investment. Therefore, in order to ensure high levels
of usability, reliability, and quality for these Internet banking services, commercial
banks need to make significant investments in the maintenance and modification
phases of their Internet banking systems' lifecycle.
The four interventional change techniques used in this study were: departmental
participation, equal participation, holistic scenario, and management support. The four
techniques were found to be influential in developing process improvements in the
maintenance and modification phase of Internet banking systems. These techniques
generated several significant improvements which directly affected the way team
members managed their work. The significant contributions of these interventional
change techniques were: the creation of cross-functional multilevel teams,
development of effective departmental participation and communication techniques,
extended scope and knowledge by the team members of Internet banking systems, an
increase in team learning and understanding, techniques to change problem structure,
and an  end to end  problem-solving approach.
ii
These contributions also directly improved the performance of the Internet banking
systems maintenance team, and there was a significant improvement in the outcomes
of the Internet banking systems maintenance and modification phase.

text: The Impact of Interventional Change Techniques on an Internet Banking Cross-functional Team. This study investigates the team aspects of a process improvement project situated in
an Internet banking system maintenance and modification phase. To investigate how
team processes could be improved in this context, four interventional change
techniques were introduced and implemented during an action research study in
which the researcher was included as one of the team members and participated
during group meetings and discussions.
Internet banking is an important Internet-delivered service which is expected to
provide benefits for both commercial banks and bank customers. Internet banking
allows bank customers to have the freedom to perform their financial activities at their
convenience. Developing, maintaining, and improving Internet banking systems
requires large amounts of investment to maintain high levels of Internet banking
service quality, and the maintenance and modification phase of the overall lifecycle
cost is a considerable part of this investment. Therefore, in order to ensure high levels
of usability, reliability, and quality for these Internet banking services, commercial
banks need to make significant investments in the maintenance and modification
phases of their Internet banking systems' lifecycle.
The four interventional change techniques used in this study were: departmental
participation, equal participation, holistic scenario, and management support. The four
techniques were found to be influential in developing process improvements in the
maintenance and modification phase of Internet banking systems. These techniques
generated several significant improvements which directly affected the way team
members managed their work. The significant contributions of these interventional
change techniques were: the creation of cross-functional multilevel teams,
development of effective departmental participation and communication techniques,
extended scope and knowledge by the team members of Internet banking systems, an
increase in team learning and understanding, techniques to change problem structure,
and an  end to end  problem-solving approach.
ii
These contributions also directly improved the performance of the Internet banking
systems maintenance team, and there was a significant improvement in the outcomes
of the Internet banking systems maintenance and modification phase.

year: 2008

title: Microbiological quality of Toroi:  A Māori food delicacy

authors: Dixon, Lorraine Louise

subjects: Maori

abstract: A study was undertaken to determine the food safety of the fermented Māori delicacy, Toroi.  Ten batches of Toroi were prepared by a commonly used traditional method that consisted of boiling the vegetable component, either watercress or puha, and combining it with chopped mussel flesh.  The mixture was cooled and then stored in a refrigerator for up to eight months to allow natural fermentation to take place.  All ingredients were sourced from retail outlets.  The Toroi was examined at intervals over eight months for a range of pathogens (seven in all) that have been related to incidents of food poisoning in ready-to-eat foods in New Zealand.  The survival of a faecal contamination indicator, the laboratory grown strain Escherichia coli NZRM 916, was mapped over eight months.  Two strategies to prevent the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in Toroi were also investigated.  

Only one of the seven pathogens sought was recovered from any sample.  This pathogen was Bacillus cereus, a spore-former known to be associated with vegetables.  All batches contained B. cereus on the day of preparation but after two weeks refrigerated storage there was no further recovery from any sample.  There was a very low incidence of natural E. coli in the Toroi, consistent with levels permitted in mussels sold in retail outlets.  The laboratory grown strain, E. coli declined substantially over two months and was not recovered from any samples at eight months.  
A laboratory grown strain of Listeria monocytogenes, (L70) was added to Toroi and grew well with an increase in concentration of about seven-fold, over 19 days storage in a refrigerator.  A bacteriocin producing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus sake Lb706, was added in combined culture with L. monocytogenes to Toroi.  It was found that at least 5 x108 L. sake cells were required as an inoculum to ensure elimination of L. monocytogenes from the Toroi.  When a purified bacteriocin; nisin, was added, a concentration of 10 mg g-1 in the Toroi was required to eliminate L. monocytogenes.  The inhibition study results suggest that unacceptably high inocula or purified bacteriocin would be required to prevent the growth of L. monocytogenes in Toroi.

The results of this suggest that Toroi be prepared from mussels either purchased from a retail outlet or harvested from sites known to be free from contamination.  Toroi should be safe to eat if prepared carefully, chilled promptly and thoroughly and allowed to ferment for at least two weeks.  In addition, care should be taken to maintain Toroi at refrigerated temperatures until it is eaten.

text: Microbiological quality of Toroi:  A Māori food delicacy A study was undertaken to determine the food safety of the fermented Māori delicacy, Toroi.  Ten batches of Toroi were prepared by a commonly used traditional method that consisted of boiling the vegetable component, either watercress or puha, and combining it with chopped mussel flesh.  The mixture was cooled and then stored in a refrigerator for up to eight months to allow natural fermentation to take place.  All ingredients were sourced from retail outlets.  The Toroi was examined at intervals over eight months for a range of pathogens (seven in all) that have been related to incidents of food poisoning in ready-to-eat foods in New Zealand.  The survival of a faecal contamination indicator, the laboratory grown strain Escherichia coli NZRM 916, was mapped over eight months.  Two strategies to prevent the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in Toroi were also investigated.  

Only one of the seven pathogens sought was recovered from any sample.  This pathogen was Bacillus cereus, a spore-former known to be associated with vegetables.  All batches contained B. cereus on the day of preparation but after two weeks refrigerated storage there was no further recovery from any sample.  There was a very low incidence of natural E. coli in the Toroi, consistent with levels permitted in mussels sold in retail outlets.  The laboratory grown strain, E. coli declined substantially over two months and was not recovered from any samples at eight months.  
A laboratory grown strain of Listeria monocytogenes, (L70) was added to Toroi and grew well with an increase in concentration of about seven-fold, over 19 days storage in a refrigerator.  A bacteriocin producing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus sake Lb706, was added in combined culture with L. monocytogenes to Toroi.  It was found that at least 5 x108 L. sake cells were required as an inoculum to ensure elimination of L. monocytogenes from the Toroi.  When a purified bacteriocin; nisin, was added, a concentration of 10 mg g-1 in the Toroi was required to eliminate L. monocytogenes.  The inhibition study results suggest that unacceptably high inocula or purified bacteriocin would be required to prevent the growth of L. monocytogenes in Toroi.

The results of this suggest that Toroi be prepared from mussels either purchased from a retail outlet or harvested from sites known to be free from contamination.  Toroi should be safe to eat if prepared carefully, chilled promptly and thoroughly and allowed to ferment for at least two weeks.  In addition, care should be taken to maintain Toroi at refrigerated temperatures until it is eaten.

year: 2007