This paper investigates the advantages and disadvantages of the use of e-mail to obtain agreement between two parties with overlapping but also conflicting interests. The literature on Media Richness suggests that e-mail is too lean to facilitate agreement; but all supporting evidence stems from homogenous populations. This paper, however, starts from the hypothesis that in connection with lingua franca interaction, the text format provides advantages for parties that need to think how to phrase an argument. However, the evidence provided from a negotiation task performed by international business students indicates that, while there is a distinct advantage in the feature of reviewability, the text format itself also poses a problem because it allows selective attention. / Series: WU Online Papers in International Business Communication / Series One: Intercultural Communication and Language Learning

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This research seeks to determine the impact of the use of e-mail between lecturers and students at the NMMU. New students at universities, and especially first year undergraduates, can sometimes have difficulties in addressing their concerns, questions and ideas about their courses and are faced with the difficulty of adapting to a new lifestyle and the university environment. Interactivity and feedback are key contributors to providing an effective learning environment for such students. Lecturers provide the main source for university students to discover what is expected of them to identify the key learning goals related to a course, from a lecturer (Braxton, Milem & Sullivan, 2000:569). The increase in student numbers in Higher Education over the last decade has been dramatic, placing greater pressures on academic staff in terms of contacting students. As computer technology becomes both more prevalent and more intrusive, its use and misuse are increasingly falling under the critical scrutiny of academic researchers. If traditional educational methods are supported, such support must be flexible enough to accommodate technology, but as a means, not an end. The research of e-mail impact between students and lecturers is still very new and is open for additional study (Braxton, et al. 2000:590).

Komunikace je v dnešní době základním klíčem k úspěchu. Rychlost, dostupnost a kvalita předávaných informací je schopna ovlivnit nejen budoucnost firem, ale také jedinců. Cílem práce je poskytnout ucelený přehled o dostupných IT a SW prostředcích pro firemní komunikaci. E-mail, hlasová komunikace, videokonference, portály, ale také virtuální prostředí jsou postaveny proti klasickým formám komunikace jako je meeting a korespondence. V práci je vytvořena metodika umožňující srovnání jednotlivých forem komunikace z pohledu jejich vlastností, vhodností jejich použití pro různé modelové typy komunikace a možnosti jejich nasazení v interní a externí firemní komunikaci. Poslední kapitola práce demonstruje možnost aplikace zjištěných závěrů a získaných poznatků na středně velkou stavební firmu.

This study examined the current marketing and advertising practices used in university continuing nursing education. The focus of this study was on evaluation of the effectiveness of direct-mail advertising pieces used by this adult education institution. Direct-mail pieces provided by survey respondents were assessed by independent raters using the Evaluation Tool for Print-Related Advertising which was developed specifically for use in this study. Direct-mail advertising was found to be moderately effective as it was currently used in divisions of university continuing nursing education in Canada and the United States. This result indicated that there is significant room for improvement in the area of planning and developing direct-mail advertising pieces for university continuing nursing education. Institutional advertising has not been used by these divisions to inform the target population about the philosophy, aims, purposes and ideas of continuing nursing education, nor has institutional advertising been used to inform the general public or potential sources of funding about the benefits to be derived by the public from supporting continuing education activities in this profession which would include improved patient care. Little effort has been made to inform the future target market which is comprised of student nurses about the purpose and need to continue education beyond initial graduation in this profession. Variance in scores of effective advertising were found to be influenced by a variety of factors. These factors included the media mix currently used by university continuing nursing education divisions, the media mix which was proposed to be used in the future by the directors of these divisions, the age of the director, the knowledge that the director had about advertising and marketing concepts and practices, the time spent by the director on completing advertising responsibilities on a weekly basis, the financial resources which were allocated for advertising expenditures during the fiscal year 1979-1980 and the financial resources proposed for future advertising expenditures, the educational preparation of the director in the field of nursing, and the attitude of the director towards the use and preparation of advertising for the continuing nursing education division. The Evaluation Tool for Print-Related Advertising was found to be a reliable evaluation tool and a useful evaluation tool because it can be used to identify areas which require improvement in direct-mail advertising pieces while they are in the process of development. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This research explored the stereotypical representations, images, and expectations surrounding the relationships of Filipino women and American men. Within the context of the mail-order bride phenomenon, Filipino women have been largely depicted as victims of racialized and gendered representations of mail-order bride agencies. Similarly, romantic relationships between Filipino women and American men are reduced to mere business at which romantic love and desire is absent. However, such depictions fail to acknowledge other factors at play with Filipino women’s intention to seek relationship with Western men. Within the Filipino society, Western men are constructed as better marriage partners in contrast to that of Filipino men. Findings revealed that the desire to seek relationships with one another is driven by their desire based on the preconceptions they perceive one another to possess.

PostIB tillhandahåller en produkt som skall kunna lämna en notifikation när brev eller paket anlänt till mottagarens brevlåda. Dessa notifikationer skall presenteras hemma för användaren. Då produkten inte finns på svenska marknaden, sattes projektplanen upp tillsammans i projektgruppen, där mål och krav definierades.   Arbetsprocessen inleddes med en marknadsanalys samt en kundundersökning, för att ta reda på samtliga möjliga lösningar för denna produkt. Genom kundundersökningen kunde man ta reda på vad potentiella kunder skulle vilja ha för funktioner i produkten. Den slutgiltiga rapporten i marknadsanalysen visade att befintliga produkter finns, men saknade en del av vad projektgruppen söker.   PostIB plattform konstruerades samt utvecklades på ett sådant sätt där möjlighet för vidareutveckling finns. Då produkten inte är likt marknads konkurrenter, är denna innovation mer anpassad för den digitaliserade marknaden.   Projektet delades upp i olika faser för att uppnå ett framgångsrikt resultat av produkten. En planering över hur arbetet skulle gå till väga utfördes, där funktioner och algoritmer sattes upp. Den andra delen av arbetet var struktur och konstruktion. Under denna del fick projektgruppen göra en utvärdering av samtliga sensorer samt implementera konstruktionsfasen. I avslutande fas av projektet sammanfogades samtliga delar, där en slutgiltig prototyp presenterades.   Slutresultatet av produkten resulterade en slutgiltig funktionell prototyp som kan skicka en notifikation i form av en signal till en mottagare som i sin tur presenterar signalen grafiskt på ett användargränssnitt.   Prototypen motsvarade projektgruppens förväntningar men hade önskats att utvecklas ännu mer utifrån gruppens preferenser. Dessa önskemål bedömdes slutligen som ett projekt för vidareutveckling. / PostIB provides a product that should be able to provide a notification when a letter or package arrives at the recipient's mailbox. These notifications must be presented to the user at home. As products are not available on the Swedish market, the project plan was put together in the project group, where goals and requirements are defined.     The work process began with a market analysis and a customer survey, to find out all possible solutions for this product. Through the customer survey, it was possible to find out what potential customers would like for features in products. The final report in the market analysis showed that existing products exist but lacked part of what the project group is looking for.     PostIB platform was designed and developed in such a way where there is opportunity for further development. As the product is not like market competitors, this innovation is more adapted to the digitalized market.    The project was divided into different phases to achieve a successful result of the product. A planning of how the work would proceed was carried out, where functions and algorithms were set up. The second part of the work was structure and construction. During this part, the project team had to make an evaluation of all sensors and implement the design phase. In the final phase of the project, all parts were joined together, where a final prototype was presented.    The end result of the product resulted in a final functional prototype that can send a notification in the form of a signal to a receiver which in turn presents the signal graphically on a user interface.    The prototype met the project group's expectations but had wanted to develop even more based on the group's preferences. These wishes were finally assessed as a project for further development.

The study examined (a) which single technique (cover letter sponsorship, personalization, anonymity, or appeal) is most effective in increasing response rates with mail questionnaires, and (b) which combination of these selected techniques is most effective in increasing such response rates. Questionnaires concerning faculty evaluation were sent to a national sample of professors. The present study found that identification of a university as the sponsor of the survey resulted in a significantly higher response rate than that obtained when the survey was sponsored by a private research institute. There was a significant increase in response rates when the cover letter was personalized, as opposed to an unpersonalized form letter. There were no significant differences in response rates attributable to (a) wether respondents were assured anonymity, and (b) the type of appeal used in the cover letter (personal or professional appeal). No significant interactions were found among any of the four techniques investigated. It was concluded from this study that judicious selection of the survey sponsor and use of cover letter personalization can improve the response rates of a mail questionnaire significantly, at least with the type of population and questionnaire significantly, at least with the type of population and questionnaire topic used in this study.

In 2005, following the deaths of several marriage migrants known as "mail-order brides", the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act was created. Designed to regulate the international matchmaking industry and provide women with the information to make informed, safe decisions about their future partnership in an attempt to decrease instances of violence, this law was the result of an increase in awareness, collaboration between interested parties, and incorporation into a broader bill. For years, marriage brokers had operated using stereotypes about submissive foreign women to attract customers, recently bringing business onto the internet and creating websites marketing women as purchases. Five years after the passage of the law, however, the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act fails to address six key vulnerabilities faced by female marriage migrants. For this reason, women immigrating to the United States to marry a spouse after introduction through a marriage broker still face an increased likelihood of domestic violence and even death. The author concludes with a discussion about future improvements in both legislation and operation to address violence against immigrant women. / Master of Arts

The state of Mississippi is undergoing a prescription opioid epidemic that mimics national trends in which prescribing rates are dropping, yet overdoses involving opioids remain high. In response to the state’s crisis, the PReventing Opioid Misuse In the SouthEast (PROMISE) Initiative was created to provide education for preventing the misuse of prescription opioids. A mail survey and post card intervention were distributed in six Appalachian counties in the state to gather the self-reported attitudes, norms, and perceived behavioral control of residents as it related to using a prescription drug take-box. Descriptive and multivariable analyses indicate the intervention did not increase intention to use prescription drug take-back boxes as a method of disposal. Lack of awareness and inconvenience remain common themes among individuals who chose not to use take-back boxes. Thus, researchers recommend future interventions incentivize prescription disposal.