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Файл:Английский в научных и инженерных целях. Часть 1. Учебное пособие
.pdf
How much R&D is enough?
It doesn’t bother me one bit if a company isn’t spending a certain percentage of its revenues on research and development. All I care is that they
spend enough.
How much is enough? Well that reminds of a quote often attributed to
Abraham Lincoln who observed that your legs really only need to be long
enough to reach the ground. Besides, comparing Apple with Intel is, well,
apples to oranges (pun intended).
Sure Apple is a technology company, but it also runs an online content
business (iTunes). Amazon (AMZN) provides content, too. How much does
AMZN spend on R&D? As it turns out, nothing. The closest line item I could
find was “technology and content” and that seemed to run about 5 to 6 percent of revenue over the last four years.
Apple is also a retail company. How much does a high end retailer like
Williams-Sonoma (WSM) spend on R&D? As it turns out, nothing – or at
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least it’s not a major line item in the earnings statement. I’m sure it spends
something, but it’s probably lumped in with other general and administrative
expenses.
I’m not saying GM, or Intel for that matter, are better or worse than Apple. I actually own all three. They’re just different companies and a comparison that implies that Apple will lose its mojo if it doesn’t spend more on
R&D just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Or to put it another way, how many investors do you think decided to
buy Intel in part because it spends more on R&D than a company like Apple?
Besides, with Apple’s “boodle” (as Martin puts it) of $60 billion in liquidity, the company could easily crank up research and development – and
maybe it will. But what it’s already spent on R&D has seemed to work out
quite well so far.
Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/262877-apple-not-spending-enough-on-r-d
TASK 11. Grammar focus. Essay
WHAT AN ESSAY IS
An essay is an organized type of writing that focuses on a single topic,
general idea or thesis. Thesis develops from all the main ideas or in the supporting paragraphs. Paragraphs that develop the thesis are the body of the essay. Begins with an introduction Ends with a concluding paragraph.
A thesis is what you are writing about and supporting throughout your
essay. It is a generalization and includes all paragraphs in the essay. A thesis
statement is a sentence in the essay that states the essay, usually part of the
introduction. It should provide adequate direction for the essay.
Essay introductory paragraph is the first part of an essay and the reader´s first impression. It should explain why the topic is important and should
conclude with the most important idea of the essay, the thesis statement.
Body paragraphs provide the context of an essay, include facts and opinions and unify the main idea coherently.
Conclusion of an essay leaves the reader with a positive impression, a
sense of completeness, and the inclination to think about the topic. It is short
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and single with no new information. It should follow logically from the body
of the essay.
Types of essays
descriptive essays narrative essays
cause and effect essays comparison and contrast essays
classification essays problem-solution essays
persuasive essays argumentative essays
mixed pattern essays reflective essays
efinition essays division and classification essay
Descriptive essay creates a picture of a person, place or object by using
descriptive language.
Narrative essay relates events, tells a story with a large part of everyday
conversation.
Cause and effect essay determine a scenario, explains the events that
took place and includes only causes and effects.
Comparison and contrast essays choose two things that could go in the
same category and places them together for closer examination.
Classification essay is a type of analysis in which you classify information and organize it into appropriate categories.
Problem-solution essay involves careful analysis, planning and organization of any personal, social, psychological, economic, political or other
type of problem. It includes a goal or objective, some possible solutions and
advantages and disadvantages of each solution.
Persuasive essays conduct effective research, obtains facts and evidence
to support your ideas. It convinces others to share your opinion.
Argumentative essays go further than persuasive essays and require
gathering evidence and present reasonable arguments.
Division and classification essay describes a topic by dividing it into
meaningful and important categories and allows you to argue the place things
have been put.
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Reflective essay is an analytical piece of writing to describe the
event/experience and your feelings at the time. Evaluate the event/experience
(what was good or bad about it). Analyse the event/experience (cause and effect, compare and contrast).
Mixed pattern essays contain a combination of all the types of essays.*
*References.Text and Thought an Integrated Approach to College Reading and Writing.
by Resnick, J.& Lester, L. NY: Longman. Roan State Community College, 2003.
ESSAY STRUCTURE
Most essays have a certain structure which can be clear from the chart:
USAGE PARTS OF THE ESSAY
INTRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT CONCLUSION
First Paragraph Main Body Summary Paragraph
What is it?
Introduces the thesis
Catches the interest
What does it do?
Thesis statement
Background
Mention a study, quo-
tation, giving a reference: Experts have
How to write it?
studied …
Develops the thesis
Points to develop
Paragraph per point
Develop the points
Summarizes the
thesis
Restate strongest
points
Retelling thesis
Personal opinion or
suggestion
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USAGE PARTS OF THE ESSAY
INTRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT CONCLUSION
Through
Via
By
As it said …
It is said …
Linking phrases
To research
To study
To investigate
Verbs
To analyze …
Listing points:
First
Second
Third
Counter:
However
Even though …
Addition:
In addition to
Also
Related to …
Cause and effect:
As a result
Therefore
Any valid verb
Summary:
To sum up …
Summarizing …
To conclude …
Opinion:
I think that …
In my opinion …
Strongly, naturally …
To think
To believe
To care
To agree
To disagree …
Verb Tenses
Five Steps:
1. Thesis + Background
2. Developing points
3. Clear and simple tenses
4. Focus on the main idea
5. Use a dictionary
Present Perfect, Passive Any valid tense Any valid tense
REMEMBER
WRITING ESSAYS
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EDITING ESSAYS
Grammar and Spelling Style and Organization
1. Check grammar and spelling.
2. Read it again.
3. Check subjects, verbs and verb tenses.
1. Thesis statement
(background)
2. Paragraph format
4. Check if it has sense.
Source: www.tuclase.net
MIND THE REFLECTIVE ESSAY STYLE!
“To understand how a contaminant moves through the soil, you have to
understand geology, mineralogy, environmental engineering, and a little bit
of nuclear chemistry. If I did not research the mineralogy of my soil sample, I
would not have understood what was absorbing the cesium and strontium
ions. If I didn’t know some about nuclear chemistry, I would have not understood radioactive liquid tracers that are used to measure distribution coefficients. The engineering work comes in to play in designing and implicating
experiments with the implementation of a solution method after”.
Source: http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/sites/default/files/bdp/docs/Reflection%20Essay
%20Examples.pdf
VIDEO TASK
TASK 12.
Watch a video on “Changes in US research and development”
Match the following words with their definitions.
accompany
1
course
2
trying to prove superiority over others.*
a)
something difficult, or hard to deal with
b)
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complicated
3
line of motion or direction
c)
competitive
4
efficiency
5
bottom line
6
deter
7
doing work with the least waste of time, money and effort
d)
to prevent something or warn someone not to do some-
e)
thing
to go with, or escort
f)
final result or answer
g)
Watch again and follow the outline given below.
to play a match maker research development agreements
growing roster to sign a lease with
venture capitalists to commercialize a window
entrepreneurs to be feasible
clean energy startup to go to bottom line
to raise more capital for a long-term energy policy
create energy efficiency
through retrofitting
to provide striking insight into development
federally-funded facility to press the trigger
dedicated to to chart a course
commercial marketplace to harness
venture capital
to accelerate the research
Self-studies for Session 4:
1. Study active vocabulary list for the Session 4, see Appendix 1.
2. Make a reflective 500 word essay on one of the following topics:
– Companies are downsizing because technology now does a job that
a person once did.
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– University/Industry partnership is vital for technology fostering and
development.
3. Read the text below about Nokia R&D expenditures.
Nokia May Fire 6,000 Workers, Competitors Want to Poach Talent
4/14/2011 by: John Oram
On February 11, Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO, said “We are not announc-
ing how many and in what country. But there will be substantial reductions in
employment in various locations around the world, and that too will affect
Finland.” Nearly two months to the day of his announcement, it is clear to
the Finnish research and development labor force that decisions have been
made and as many as 6,000 Nokia R&D workers may be terminated.
Elop also announced in February that Nokia’s homegrown Symbian and
Nokia/Intel MeeGo systems are going to be replaced by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 and other Microsoft Windows products. MeeGo was collaboration between Nokia and Intel to create a new open-source, Linux operating
system aimed at netbooks, smartphones, and other connected devices. They
announced their cozy relationship at IDF 2010 in Beijing with MeeGo 1.0.
Intel appeared to be caught completely without prior warning, when Nokia’s
Elop announced they were shutting down their work on MeeGo.
Nokia has been known for their large R&D budget for devices, which
include products ranging from basic handsets to smartphones that can edit
documents and show movies. They have been spending about three times
what their peers spent on research and development.
In 2010, Nokia spent $3.9–4.3 billion, which is more than twice Apple’s
entire $1.78 billion R&D budget. You already know the market results of that
vast spending.
Tuesday, Nokia also unveiled two new smartphones in an attempt to
stem its drop in market share as the struggling handset giant transitions to using software from Microsoft. The new phones use an updated version of
Nokia’s Symbian smartphone software.
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Investors reacted to Tuesday’s rumored layoffs with another downgrade
of Nokia, slipping 1.6 percent to $8.93 on Tuesday. Just before the February
announcements, their share value was nearly $12.00. Thursday, investment
bank Morgan Stanley said they see a 10 percent risk to Nokia’s 2011 profit
expectations owing to a lack of high-end product launches, a rise in component costs, and increased sales slowdown in feature phones. The investment
bank cut its price target on Nokia to $8.66 from $9.23. Nokia’s 52 week high
was well above that at $15.47.
The question where all those laid off people will go isn’t as complex as
it seems. Intel publicly announced they want to take the cream of Nokia’s engineering talent by opening up an Intel R&D Lab in Finland and we heard
similar stories from Sony Ericsson (by offering relocation to up to three dozen engineers to Sweden) and a few other “familiar suspects” such as Research In Motion/QNX, STMicroelectronics, Magnetti Marrelli, nVidia and
others. Naturally, all of these numbers are pale in comparison to the overall
number.
Only time will tell.
Source: Bright Side of News. http://www.brightsideofnews.com/
print/2011/4/14/nokia-may-fire-62c000-workers.aspx
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TASK 3. Write out the figures from the text that tell basic information about
Nokia current critical situation. Find recent information about Nokia state.
TASK 4. Find profile of any firm or a company that operates in Russia. Give
its basic statistical data in oral report to the group.
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