CAFIU Working Group Visited the U.S. and Canada

正At the invitation of the University of Mississippi, Friendship Force International and the North America Association for International Exchanges, Mr. Du Kening, Deputy Secretary-General of CAFIU, leading a 3-member working group

AQSIQ Sends Working Groups to Implement the Spirit of National Quality Working Conference

On August 1st, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) convened a conference to transmit the spirit of national quality work and study an important speech regarding standards from Wen Jiabao,Premier of the State Council.……

EPC is Developing-Introduction to China EPC Working Group

The year of 2004 is the first year for EPC (Electronic Product Code) enteringChina. EPC brings the new opportunity for RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Hardware) technologyand boundless imagining space and market chance, and provides an open platform for global logisticsdevelopment. China EPC Working Group organized the first Chinese EPC forum on April 22^(nd), 2004.After June of last year, there were almost 2 or 3 forums on EPC/RFID every month. Over tenministries and commissions, such as Ministry of Information and Industry, Ministry of Science andTechnology, have been paying much attention to the EPC development. International retailers, such asWal-Mart, Metro, Tesco and DOD all support the development of EPC. Especially, Wal-Mart gave themandate to it's first 100 suppliers, and all the goods shipped to Wal-Mart distributor center shouldbe tagged since January 2005.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE HERBAL MEDICINES AND PRACTITIONERS WORKING GROUP IN THE UK: RAISING THE STANDARDS OF MANUFACTURED HERBAL PRODUCTS

The UK government set up a Herbal Medicines and Practitioners Working Group(HMPWG)to assess possibilities of:1.Setting up Statutory Regulation of Herbal Medicine Practitioners;2.Allowing continued public access to valuable herbal medicines.On 26th March 2015 the HMPWG published the key recommendations after over a year of meetings and consultation with experts.

The Effective Approach to Interactive English Classes --- Group Work

A series of study and investigation has been made on the basis of the theory of group work. The purpose is to study the effectiveness of group work in the interaction class, thus to attract more English teachers＇ attention to seek for the new approach to the breakthrough of traditional English class mode.

The Use of Group Work in ESL Classrooms- Discourse Features and Implications

Group work has many advantages from language acquisition point of view. However, some teachers are unwilling to introduce group work in their own classroom because group work is very difficult to manage. The author of this essay explores the discourse features of successful and unsuccessful group work using discourse analysis in the hope that the results of this language classroom research can help language teachers gain some insight into the use of group work and make more informed decisions about group work management.

The Significance of Group Work in Generating Motivation and Reducing Anxiety

This paper discusses group work from affective domain. It points out that group work can make learners feel less anxious because it can provide learners with the sense of security and unity, besides, it can establish good relationship between the teacher and learners. Group work can also be motivating because it can fulfill the human needs for experiencing competence, relatedness and autonomy.

An Investigation into Pair Work and Group Work Using Corpus

This English teaching in language classroom essay is based on an investigation into the use of pair work and group work in middle school China by means of a corpus to throw some light on the interaction patterns of our English teaching

A Framework for Exploring the Dynamics of Autonomous Work Groups in Manufacturing Organizations

Nowadays, new paradigm of enterprise organization i s constantly changing due to the emergence of the global marketplace, the rise of information technology, and the emphasis of the social developments. This re quires a more flexible form of organization that are more adaptable to rapid cha nges in business environment such as autonomous work groups (AWGs) in order to achieve higher productivity and effectiveness. AWGs are work units responsib le for the production of goods and the provision of services. They involve team members in making decisions that are traditionally the responsibility of the sup ervisors and managers (Cohen & Bailey, 1997). Team members of AWGs are allowed t o self-regulate their behavior on jobs such as task assignments, methods for ca rrying out the work, and scheduling of activities etc. (Cohen & Ledford, 1994). For example, Motorola achieved a high organizational performance due to the succ essful implementation of AWGs in quality management (Piczak & Hauser, 1996). Xer ox also reported their operational successes based on the team-oriented work gr oups (Wageman, 1997). In recent years many organizations have replaced the traditional layers of manag ement with autonomous team-based work arrangements. Surveys indicated that the adoption of AWGs has soared in responding to the competitive business challenges . Many enterprises are making a deliberate effort to use AWGs to carry out work and operational processes as an alternative for hierarchical approaches (Lawler et al., 1995). There is a growing body of evidence that AWGs are more effective than traditionally managed groups and they contributes to organizational perform ance, such as improvement in operational performance, productivity, quality, cos t savings, employee attitude and behavior, and employee satisfaction (e.g. Pears on, 1992; Cohen & Ledford, 1994; Seers et al. 1995). Given the complexity and cognitive nature of team-based organizations, the mech anisms that the enterprises use in the development of the increasingly sophistic ated models, which can contribute to the effective functioning of AWGs, are extr emely important. The process of developing effective AWGs enables enterprises to inherent built-in intelligence of the organizations so that they will be more able to accommodate to external pressures and changes. The context of this paper is the construction of a dynamics framework and a stra tegic path for autonomous work groups in the technology-oriented manufacturing organization re-design. The framework is a conceptual one drawn from the litera ture survey. The importance of studying autonomous work groups for today’s manuf acturing organizations is claimed. Based on the General System Theory (GST), the characterization of AWGs is addressed. Three-dimensional domains such as t echnical content, service content, and relationship content are identified. A st rategic path is proposed to guide the organizations how the development of AWGs progresses at different levels of maturity that are associated with organization al effectiveness and performance. The utility of the model for AWGs is expected to provide technology-oriented organizations with a strategic path to achieve h igher organizational performance.

A Study on Group Work in College English Collaborative Teaching

Nowadays, collaborative teaching has become an original and effective teaching strategy, which has been generally accepted in many countries. It is an effective means to cultivate and train students＇ language using ability and their autonomous learning ability. The core of collaborative teaching is making students accomplish a common learning goal via group work. In view of the current situation of college English teaching, this paper has explored issues on the group work in collaborative teaching, including group work designing, group work implementing and group work evaluating. In addition, it has discussed with examples the merits and demerits of group work and come up with concrete measures for improvement so as to further promote college English teaching reforms.

The Collaborative Study in the Form of Group Works

Over the past decades, the rapid development has taken place in the teaching and research of English writing throughout the nation. However, due to the drawbacks in traditional teaching of English writing, especially the lack of effective information input （EII）, it is not an easy task for students to improve their writing level in conventional classes. This paper focuses on the study on group work from the perspective of information input. Unlike previous research, this paper intends to demonstrate the role of group work in obtaining effective information input. It starts with a brief introduction to problems in traditional teaching of English. Then it states the definition of group work and the ZPD theory applied in the paper. In the third part, it proposes a case study to testify how group work may improve the effective information input and terminate the study with the conclusion that group work can help to enhance students＇ effective information input. Based on the results of the study, we may suggest that applying group work in an English writing class will finally help students to elevate their writing level.

Improving Group Member Participation of 4th Year Section A Civil Engineering extension Students in integrated Project Work at Debre Markos University

Group work is a form of voluntary association of members benefiting from cooperative learning,which enhances the total output of the activity.Therefore,group discussion is a way for active participants to explore new ideas.Based on the previously observed practices in 4th year civil engineering students at Debre Markos University,the group member participations was not pleasing.The objective of this study was to identify the core causes of low participation of group members in their project work and to take actions for improving group member participation.The data collection method used questionnaires and interviews and was analyzed using Microsoft Excels.Action research done in civil engineering 4th year Extension courses focused on continuous advising and instruction.These practices have achieved a good understanding of how to increase active participation in their group work activities.Therefore,a main conclusion of this project is that an active learning method helps the students to share skill,knowledge and attitude to each other.

A Critical Analysis of Group Work in Chinese University EFL Classes

In the past few years,group activities have been warmly welcomed by EFL(English as a foreign language)classes in Chi-na,but few studies have discussed it from a critical perspective.Thus,this study explores from students’experiences what and whythe strengths and weaknesses of group work in actual contexts appear.The findings reveal that Chinese learners regard group workas an effective interactive activity for language,personal,and emotional development.However,the possible pitfalls,such as pseu-dogroups,unequal participation,groupthink,L1(first language)influence may prevent learners from obtaining the benefits of CL(collaborative learning).Finally,some suggestions are given,with the purpose of creating a more suitable facilitative EFL classroomenvironment for future Chinese EFL teaching and learning.

How Can Group Work Improve Speaking Skills of Chinese EFL Students?

This paper is to explore the validity of group work in improving Chinese learners’English-speaking skills.It starts with briefly investigating the current situations concerning the teaching of conversational English in Chinese context.Then a literature review about group work is presented.Finally,a great deal of tentative advice on how to implement group work activities in a spo⁃ken class will be recommended to Chinese EFL teachers.

Effects of Introducing Ship Handling Training for Collision Avoidance in Anchoring Training-Effects of Ship Handling Training for Collision Avoidance by Group Work

In shipping,which is one of the drivers of the world’s economy,many marine accidents continue to occur,such as ship collisions and grounding.To reduce marine collision accidents,seafarers’skills must be improved through training.Therefore,the authors propose a ship handling training for collision avoidance(hereinafter referred to as“T for CA”)in which a group of several people discusses the ship handling for collision avoidance,assuming the situation of the collision avoidance.After T for CA implementation,anchoring training was done and the effect of T for CA was verified through comparison with a group where T for CA was not applied.Two instructors evaluated the anchoring training conducted with and without“T for CA”.The anchoring training experiment showed a difference of 27.5%in the achievement rate between the proposed training and previous training.T for CA maximises the effects of group work and resulted in good evaluations in the anchoring training experiments.The training was effective because the students themselves set the scenarios and devised ship handling strategies for collision avoidance.In addition,group work discussions helped deepen students’knowledge and skills.

Assessment of achievements of the Lima Climate Change Conference and perspectives on the future

The Lima call for climate action adopted at the Lima Climate Conference on Climate Change specifies that the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities,shall apply to the new climate agreement to be adopted at the Paris Conference on Climate Change in 2015.Decisions on other heavily debated items,including the intended nationally determined contributions,were also made at the Lima Conference.The significant achievements in Lima and the positive momentum have laid a solid foundation for the adoption of a new climate agreement in the Paris Climate Conference.Four measures are proposed for China to meet great challenges in addressing climate change beyond 2020,including early formulation and issuance of a climate change law,establishment of a greenhouse gas emission trading scheme,promotion of advanced climate technology investments,and further international engagement for climate change.

Applying Communicative Teaching Method in English-teaching Classroom

Communicative language teaching is generally accepted in the field of second language teaching. In this paper, the author introduces a model of communicative language teaching. The authors also mention some practical requirements and methods in the application of this model, such as authentic materials and group work.

Communicating About Translation： Task-based Speaking

This study views pedagogical translation as a means of developing language skills, especially oral communication. Contrary to the claim that translation focuses only on reading and writing, this study presents anecdotal evidence showing that a learner-centered approach to translation can help foreign language students improve their speaking skill through group work, problem-solving, and cooperative learning. To this end, the paper presents practical examples of lexical, structural, textual, and cultural issues that students discussed in their process-oriented Arabic-English-Arabic pedagogical translation courses at the university level. The students were divided into groups of three or four to work together at all stages of the translation process. They spent most of the class time comprehending the source text, translating it, and discussing each other＇s target versions. In the remaining class time, the whole class discussed a target text translated by any one of the groups. The students were instructed to use English in their group and whole-class deliberations. They were also instructed to use the appropriate language functions, structures, and expressions to achieve objectivity in their arguments. The study calls for further empirical research to verify the usefulness of the proposed learner-centered translation-based technique of teaching speaking

Two in One： The Collaboration Between Science Foundation Lecturers in Imparting Academic Skills to Students

Learning challenges are more common in the 21 st century than many people believe; however, there are more efficient and better methods to develop academic learning skills for students. Identifying learning problems can help both students and lecturers to apply specific learning techniques and work together to be more productive in the process of teaching and learning. This study investigates the collaboration of science foundation lecturers in addressing the students＇ academic performance and challenges in their foundation modules at the University of Venda. The study is also aimed at finding out whether students can be able to apply their information technology （IT） skills in other modules and they make use of group work in projects into different foundation modules to enhance performance and develop academic learning skills. In this study, students were given projects in their respective modules （Foundation Biology and Foundation IT） and it was required to them to make use of their IT skills during the research report and also during the presentation of their project. These projects were done in groups wherein students undertook some mini researches. Their findings were then reported in writing and presentations were held. The Foundation English lecturer helped in assessing the use of the academic language used in writing and during oral presentations. The findings from these projects were that students＇ academic performance and skills improved and their specific knowledge in those modules also improved radically. It was found that group work plays a very imperative role in enhancing the students＇ performance and collaboration in various foundation modules.