Fill in the Blanks 3

FOREIGN STUDENT' ENGLISH STANDARDS

Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop says she has seen no evidence that foreign students are graduating from Australian universities with poor English skills.

Research by Monash University academic Bob Birrell has found a third of foreign students are graduating without a competent level of English. But Ms. Bishop says Australian universities only enroll foreign students once they have achieved international standards of language proficiency. "This has been an extraordinary attack by Professor Birrell on our universities," she said. "International students must meet international benchmarks in English language in order to get a place at a university in Australia and they can't get into university without reaching that international standard."

University of Canberra vice chancellor Roger Dean also says international students are required to sit an English test before being admitted to nearly all Australian universities. "There are, of course, intercultural difficulties as well as language difficulties," he said. "There are, of course, also many Australian students who don't speak such fantastically good English either. So we're trying to push the standard even higher than present but it's a very useful one already."

Ms Bishop says Australia's university system has high standards. "I've seen no evidence to suggest that students are not able to complete their courses because they're failing in English yet they're being passed by the universities," she said. "I've not seen any evidence to back that up. International education is one of our largest exports, it's our fourth largest export and it's in the interest of our universities to maintain very high standards because their reputation is at stake."

VEGETARIAN MARKET

Mintel Consumer Intelligence estimates the 2002 market for vegetarian foods, those that directly replace meat or other animal products, to be $1.5 billion. Note that this excludes traditional vegetarian foods such as produce, pasta, and rice. Mintel forecasts the market to nearly double by 2006 to $2.8 billion, with the highest growth coming from soymilk, especially refrigerated brands.

The Food and Drug Administration's 1999 decision to allow manufacturers to include heart-healthy claims on foods that deliver at least 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving and are also low in saturated fat and cholesterol has spurred tremendous interest in soymilk and other soy foods. A representative of manufacturer Food Tech International (Veggie Patch brand) reported that from 1998 to 1999, the percentage of consumers willing to try soy products jumped from 32% to 67%. Beliefs about soy's effectiveness in reducing the symptoms of menopause also attracted new consumers. A 2000 survey conducted by the United Soybean Board showed that the number of people eating soy products once a week or more was up to 27%. Forty-five percent of respondents had tried tofu, 41% had sampled veggie burgers, and 25% had experience with soymilk (Soyfoods USA e-mail newsletter). Mintel estimates 2001 sales of frozen and refrigerated meat alternatives in food stores at nearly $300 million, with soymilk sales nearing $250 million.
>

WALTZED IN FROM THE RUMBLING

Plants & Animals are a Montreal-based indie rock trio that began playing together as kids. Touring arduously for about five years after their proper full-length debut in 2008, they pretty much made their records on the go until 2013. So the band’s decision to be slow, deliberate, and thorough on their latest offering, Waltzed In From The Rumbling, represents a major change of pace. Finally sleeping in their in own beds while recording, the band assembled the album over the course of nine seasons. It’s a return to their origins, but it also pushes audaciously forward.

The aesthetic varies wildly and wonderfully from track to track, each song having its own hermetic seal but somehow still melding cohesively as a body of work. Jangling guitars, drums leaning toward the off-kilter swing of J Dilla, found sounds, a hint of shoegaze, and unorthodox instrumentation come together to keep the ear constantly engaged with a feeling of constant evolution. They found an antique guiro next to a broken VCR and recorded both. They made an empty fridge sound like a timpani drum. They recorded gossip on a city bus. They brought in classical string flourishes. They sometimes left mistakes if they felt they were perfectly imperfect. It’s truly DIY, but with a feel of big production value that makes the album soar. 

Contemplative lyrics anchor the album through all the exploratory wandering. The words are delivered melodically, belying their potency, but listening beyond the pretty aesthetic reveals piercing observations and an undeniable translation of feeling. The simplicity of the penetrating refrain on the three-part mini opus “Je Voulais Te Dire” is a paragon of how the lyrics effortlessly cut through the instumentation. Guitarist/vocalist Warren Spicer sings “It’s only love, but you want it bad,” encompassing how we try to avoid and downplay our desire for love and affection, but ultimately search and long for it anyway.

ADVERTISING A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Drive down any highway, and you'll see a proliferation of chain restaurants—most likely, if you travel long and far enough, you'll see McDonald's golden arches as well as signs for Burger King, Hardee's, and Wendy's, the "big four" of burgers. Despite its name, though, Burger King has fallen short of claiming the burger crown, unable to surpass market leader McDonald's No. 1 sales status. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Burger King remains No. 2. 

Worse yet, Burger King has experienced a six-year 22 percent decline in customer traffic, with its overall quality rating dropping while ratings for the other three contenders have increased.1 The decline has been attributed to inconsistent product quality and poor customer service. Although the chain tends to throw advertising dollars at the problem, an understanding of Integrated Marketing Communication theory would suggest that internal management problems (nineteen CEOs in fifty years) need to be rectified before a unified, long-term strategy can be put in place. 

The importance of consistency in brand image and messages, at all levels of communication, has become a basic tenet of IMC theory and practice. The person who takes the customer's order must communicate the same message as Burger King's famous tagline, "Have it your way," or the customer will just buzz up the highway to a chain restaurant that seems more consistent and, therefore, more reliable.

BLACK DIAMONDS

An exotic type of diamond may have come to Earth from outer space, scientists say. Called carbonado or "black" diamonds, the mysterious stones are found in Brazil and the Central African Republic.They are unusual for being the color of charcoal and full of frothy bubbles. The diamonds, which can weigh in at more than 3,600 carats, can also have a face that looks like melted glass.

Because of their odd appearance, the diamonds are unsuitable as gemstones. But they do have industrial applications and were used in the drill bits that helped dig the Panama Canal. Now a team led by Stephen Haggerty of Florida International University in Miami has presented a new study suggesting that the odd stones were brought to Earth by an asteroid billions of years ago. The findings were published online in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters on December 20.

The scientists exposed polished pieces of carbonado to extremely intense infrared light. The test revealed the presence of many hydrogen-carbon bonds, indicating that the diamonds probably formed in a hydrogen-rich environment—such as that found in space.

The diamonds also showed strong similarities to tiny nanodiamonds, which are frequently found in meteorites. "They're not identical," Haggerty said, "but they're very similar." Astrophysicists, he added, have developed theories predicting that nanodiamonds form easily in the titanic stellar explosions called supernovas, which scatter debris through interstellar space.

The deposits in the Central African Republic and Brazil, he said, probably come from the impact of a diamond-rich asteroid billions of years ago, when South America and Africa were joined.