title: Bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis: Sentence initial bundles in Chinese and New Zealand postgraduates' thesis writing

authors: Li, Liang

subjects: computer science

abstract: Metadiscourse and lexical bundles are two closely related concepts and both operate as overlapping functional units in texts. Metadiscourse analysis always takes a top-down approach, in which discourse analysts begin from pre-determined metadiscourse items down to the analysed texts. Lexical bundle analysis usually uses a bottom-up approach, in which the analysis begins with bundles, extracted automatically from texts, up to generate metadiscourse items to reach an understanding of the discourse. The bundle-driven bottom-up approach is likely to lead to the discovery of longer metadiscourse units and create new categories, while at the same time allowing for the verification of existing researchergenerated metadiscourse lists. While many researchers have focused on examining metadiscourse in academic writing, few studies have used a bottom up approach beginning with lexical bundles in this way to explore the use of metadiscourse. Moreover, research on sentence initial bundles is rare. The present study explores the metadiscourse functions of generated four-word sentence initial bundles from the corpora of Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 masters and PhD theses, and compares bundle distributions between L1 and L2 thesis writing. Except for a few propositional bundles, all the other bundles were identified as metadiscourse bundles and two new categories (introduction bundles and condition bundles) were created in to supplement those in Hyland's (2005a, 2005c) metadiscourse model. In contrast to New Zealand thesis writing, both the Chinese masters and PhD corpora were characterised by the heavy use of code gloss bundles (e.g. In other words, the), condition bundles (e.g. In the case of) and booster bundles (e.g. It is obvious that), and a relatively low use of endophoric bundles (e.g. The use of the), introduction bundles (e.g. There are a number), attitude bundles (e.g. It is interesting to), hedge bundles (e.g. It is possible that) and self-mention bundles (e.g. In this chapter, I). These findings indicate how productive bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis is in expanding the scope of current metadiscourse studies. It also suggests that L2 students could benefit from having attention drawn to lexical bundles as metadiscourse devices to support their academic writing.

text: Bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis: Sentence initial bundles in Chinese and New Zealand postgraduates' thesis writing Metadiscourse and lexical bundles are two closely related concepts and both operate as overlapping functional units in texts. Metadiscourse analysis always takes a top-down approach, in which discourse analysts begin from pre-determined metadiscourse items down to the analysed texts. Lexical bundle analysis usually uses a bottom-up approach, in which the analysis begins with bundles, extracted automatically from texts, up to generate metadiscourse items to reach an understanding of the discourse. The bundle-driven bottom-up approach is likely to lead to the discovery of longer metadiscourse units and create new categories, while at the same time allowing for the verification of existing researchergenerated metadiscourse lists. While many researchers have focused on examining metadiscourse in academic writing, few studies have used a bottom up approach beginning with lexical bundles in this way to explore the use of metadiscourse. Moreover, research on sentence initial bundles is rare. The present study explores the metadiscourse functions of generated four-word sentence initial bundles from the corpora of Chinese L2 and New Zealand L1 masters and PhD theses, and compares bundle distributions between L1 and L2 thesis writing. Except for a few propositional bundles, all the other bundles were identified as metadiscourse bundles and two new categories (introduction bundles and condition bundles) were created in to supplement those in Hyland's (2005a, 2005c) metadiscourse model. In contrast to New Zealand thesis writing, both the Chinese masters and PhD corpora were characterised by the heavy use of code gloss bundles (e.g. In other words, the), condition bundles (e.g. In the case of) and booster bundles (e.g. It is obvious that), and a relatively low use of endophoric bundles (e.g. The use of the), introduction bundles (e.g. There are a number), attitude bundles (e.g. It is interesting to), hedge bundles (e.g. It is possible that) and self-mention bundles (e.g. In this chapter, I). These findings indicate how productive bundle-driven metadiscourse analysis is in expanding the scope of current metadiscourse studies. It also suggests that L2 students could benefit from having attention drawn to lexical bundles as metadiscourse devices to support their academic writing.

year: 2017

title: Plasticization of Bloodmeal-based Thermoplastics

authors: Verbeek, Casparus Johan R.

abstract: Water is the most common plasticizer for proteinbased thermoplastics, lowering the softening point to a allow processing without excessive degradation. The biggest drawback of using water a plasticizer is that water easily evaporates from the material during use or storage. This leads to embrittlement and loss of functionality over time. In this study a series of high molecular mass plasticizers were evaluated for their efficiency in plasticizing bloodmeal-based thermoplastics. It was found that propylene glycol, di and tri-ethylene glycol were most efficient in increasing the material’s ductility, as measured by elongation at break. Using 10 parts plasticizer per hundred bloodmeal (pphBM) in combination with 10 pphBM urea gave optimal results in terms of Young’s modulus, tensile strength and processability. The mechanical properties of plasticized samples showed a stronger dependency on moisture content, compared to unplasticized samples and reached higher equilibrium moisture content in a shorter time. Using 10 pphBM TEG as plasticizer in resulted in a plastic material with a Young’s modulus of 869 MPa, tensile strength of 14.7 MPa and an elongation at break of 46%.

text: Plasticization of Bloodmeal-based Thermoplastics Water is the most common plasticizer for proteinbased thermoplastics, lowering the softening point to a allow processing without excessive degradation. The biggest drawback of using water a plasticizer is that water easily evaporates from the material during use or storage. This leads to embrittlement and loss of functionality over time. In this study a series of high molecular mass plasticizers were evaluated for their efficiency in plasticizing bloodmeal-based thermoplastics. It was found that propylene glycol, di and tri-ethylene glycol were most efficient in increasing the material’s ductility, as measured by elongation at break. Using 10 parts plasticizer per hundred bloodmeal (pphBM) in combination with 10 pphBM urea gave optimal results in terms of Young’s modulus, tensile strength and processability. The mechanical properties of plasticized samples showed a stronger dependency on moisture content, compared to unplasticized samples and reached higher equilibrium moisture content in a shorter time. Using 10 pphBM TEG as plasticizer in resulted in a plastic material with a Young’s modulus of 869 MPa, tensile strength of 14.7 MPa and an elongation at break of 46%.

year: 2013

title: Māori and the [potential] demographic dividend

authors: Jackson, Natalie

subjects: demography

abstract: This paper outlines a recently articulated concept in the demographic literature known as the ‘demographic dividend’, and connects it with key features of Māori and non- Māori demography. The dividend arises – or has the potential to arise - as each population passes through a particular point in its demographic transition. During these years, the maximum proportion of the population moves into the key working and income-earning age groups, and the minimum (comprised of youth and the elderly) is notionally dependent. With proactive and timely investment in the youthful base of the population, there is potential to convert the demographic dividend into two economic windfalls, the first arising as fertility decline causes youthful dependency to fall and the last large waves of young adults flood into the working age population, the second as the latter age and move on into the higher income earning age groups. However the window of opportunity to invest in the first dividend is fleeting, while failure to invest in that stage seriously compromises the second. This paper shows that for the Māori population, despite its relative youth, the first opportunity is already coming to an end and with it the potential gains of the second. But it also argues that there is a third window of opportunity which holds particular promise for Māori. This period will also be fleeting, but is arising in both absolute and relative terms as the relatively youthful Māori population co-exists alongside its structurally older counterpart, and together (with other New Zealanders) comprise an ‘economic dividend system’ that produces the potential for a ‘collateral dividend’.

text: Māori and the [potential] demographic dividend This paper outlines a recently articulated concept in the demographic literature known as the ‘demographic dividend’, and connects it with key features of Māori and non- Māori demography. The dividend arises – or has the potential to arise - as each population passes through a particular point in its demographic transition. During these years, the maximum proportion of the population moves into the key working and income-earning age groups, and the minimum (comprised of youth and the elderly) is notionally dependent. With proactive and timely investment in the youthful base of the population, there is potential to convert the demographic dividend into two economic windfalls, the first arising as fertility decline causes youthful dependency to fall and the last large waves of young adults flood into the working age population, the second as the latter age and move on into the higher income earning age groups. However the window of opportunity to invest in the first dividend is fleeting, while failure to invest in that stage seriously compromises the second. This paper shows that for the Māori population, despite its relative youth, the first opportunity is already coming to an end and with it the potential gains of the second. But it also argues that there is a third window of opportunity which holds particular promise for Māori. This period will also be fleeting, but is arising in both absolute and relative terms as the relatively youthful Māori population co-exists alongside its structurally older counterpart, and together (with other New Zealanders) comprise an ‘economic dividend system’ that produces the potential for a ‘collateral dividend’.

year: 2011-06