Search results for: free indirect discourse

Authors: Hanwei Cheng, Chengbei Xu, Yijie Wang

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More and more college students are accustomed to surfing the Internet everyday. As community members, college students have ability to express opinions and participate in social affairs, they not only accept information passively, but also voice their concerns on the Internet. We interpret the online discourses featured with anonymization, so it helps us more effectively and conveniently understand the behaviors and thoughts of college students, and educators can thus grasp the scales and directions in guiding online language. We analyzed online comments in both content and form aspects in one student forum (named Dandan, the BNU’s campus forum), and through methods of literature review and interview, we found that in term of content, college students pay attention to practical information online, emphasize on personal development and pursue hot issues; in term of form, college students' online language displays cross-border quality sometimes under the general feature of normative, and they often explore a certain topic in the form of question or discussion, and they like to show feelings in ironic and stream-of-consciousness ways. It is argued that college students intend to establish a community to facilitate personal development and meet emotional needs through the student forum, and by making comments at the forum they are also able to get involved in public affairs. We should pay attention to problems of college students' online discourse, such as boundary issues (like informal advertisement and information authenticity), emotional issues and the spread of gossip. Some possible solutions to solving online discourse problems can be applied, like we can improve access systems of student forum, clarify principles of Internet langue use, change oversimplified management approaches and use some other tactics, in order to form a mechanism of student self-regulation, also deepen the trust and cooperation between school administrators and students.

Keywords: online language, youth discourse, content and form, implication and strategy

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Authors: Hussain Hameed Mayuuf

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The study is an attempt to investigate the conceptual metonymies is used in political discourse about COVID-19. Thus, this study tries to analyze and investigate how the conceptual metonymies in Johnson's speech about coronavirus are constructed. This study aims at: Identifying how are metonymies relevant to understand the messages in Boris Johnson speeches and to find out how can conceptual blending theory help people to understand the messages in the political speech about COVID-19. Lastly, it tries to Point out the kinds of integration networks are common in political speech. The study is based on the hypotheses that conceptual blending theory is a powerful tool for investigating the intended messages in Johnson's speech and there are different processes of blending networks and conceptual mapping that enable the listeners to identify the messages in political speech. This study presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of four speeches about COVID-19; they are said by Boris Johnson. The selected data have been tackled from the cognitive-semantic perspective by adopting Conceptual Blending Theory as a model for the analysis. It concludes that CBT is applicable to the analysis of metonymies in political discourse. Its mechanisms enable listeners to analyze and understand these speeches. Also the listener can identify and understand the hidden messages in Biden and Johnson's discourse about COVID-19 by using different conceptual networks. Finally, it is concluded that the double scope networks are the most common types of blending of metonymies in the political speech.

Keywords: cognitive, semantics, conceptual, metonymical, Covid-19

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Authors: Theresa Zagers, Rita Guerra

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Most research investigating how receiving communities perceive, and experience migration has overlooked the potential role of subjective social class and social class identity in positive intergroup relations and social cohesion of migrants and host societies. The present study aimed to provide insights to understand this relationship and focused on three important features: prosocial behaviour, attitudes and emotions towards Muslim immigrants in Flanders, Belgium. Building on relative deprivation-gratification theory we examined the indirect relationships of subjective social class on prosocial behaviour/intentions, attitudes and emotions via relative deprivation (RD), as well as the moderator role of the importance of social class identity. 431 Belgian participants participated in an online survey study. Overall, our results supported the predicted indirect effect of subjective social class: the lower the subjective social class, the higher the perceptions of relative deprivation, which in turn is related to less prosocial behaviour intentions, and more negative attitudes and emotions towards immigrants. This indirect effect was, however, not moderated by the importance of social class identity. Interestingly, the direct effects of subjective social class showed a different pattern: when bypassing deprivation our results showed higher subjective social class was detrimental for intergroup relations (more negative attitudes and emotions), and that lower subjective social class was positively related to prosocial intentions for those identifying highly with their class identity. Overall, we gained valuable insights in the relationship of subjective social class and the three features of intergroup relations.

Keywords: social class, relative deprivation-gratification, prosocial behavior, attitudes, emotions, Muslim immigrants

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Authors: Muhammed Shahriar Haque

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As an offshoot of journalistic discourse, the documentary should be objective in nature without harbouring any preconceived notion to foster ulterior motifs. When it comes to a social issue like rape in South Asian countries, as media in recent times is inundated with this violent act in India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, how does one document it in terms of objectivity and subjectivity? The objective of this study is twofold: to document the history of documentaries, and to critically analyze South Asian rape/flesh trade-documentaries. The overall goal is to trace the (re/de)construction of objectivity-subjectivity in documentaries. This paper adopts a qualitative approach to documentarist discourse through the lens of critical discourse analysis (CDA). Data was gathered for 10 documentaries on the theme of rape and/or flesh trade from eight South Asian countries, predominantly the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region. The documentaries were primarily categorised by using three frameworks based on six modes, six subgenres, and four basic approaches of documentary. Subsequently, the findings were critiqued from CDA perspective. The outcome suggests that there a two schools of thoughts regarding documentaries. According to journalistic ethics, news and/or documentaries should be objective in orientation and focus on informing the audience and/common people. The empirical findings tend to challenge ethical parameters of objectivity. At times, it seems that journalistic discourse is discursively (re)constructed to give an augmented simulation of objectivity. Based on the findings it may be recommended that if documentaries steer away from empirical facts and indulge in poetic naivety, their credibility could be questioned. A research of this nature is significant as it raises questions with regard to ethical and moral conscience of documentary filmmakers. Furthermore, it looks at whether they uphold journalistic integrity or succumb to their bias, and thereby depict subjective views, which could be tainted with political and/or propagandist ulterior motifs.

Keywords: discursive (re/de)construction, documentaries, journalistic integrity, rape/flesh trade

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Authors: Ji Chan Kim, Seok Hong Min, Tae Kwon Ha

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The effect of Yttrium addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Sn-Zn eutectic alloy, which has been attracting intensive focus as a Pb-free solder material, was investigated in this study. Phase equilibrium has been calculated by using FactSage® to evaluate the composition and fraction of equilibrium intermetallic compounds and construct a phase diagram. In the case of Sn-8.8 Zn eutectic alloy, the as-cast microstructure was typical lamellar. With addition of 0.25 wt. %Y, a large amount of pro-eutectic phases have been observed and various YZnx intermetallic compounds were expected to successively form during cooling. Hardness of Sn-8.8 Zn alloy was not affected by Y-addition and both alloys could be rolled by 90% at room temperature.

Keywords: lead-free solder, zn-al-sn alloy, phase equilibrium, rolling, microstructure, hardness

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Authors: Emmanuel Chinaguh, Kehinde Adeosun

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Nigerians die untimely, with 55.75 years of life expectancy, which is 17.45 below the world average of 73.2 (Worldometer, 2020). This is due, among other factors, to the country's limited access to high-quality healthcare. To increase access to good and affordable healthcare services, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Bill 2022 – which repealed the National Health Insurance Scheme Act 2004 – was passed into law. Applying Jacob Mey’s (2001) pragmatics act (pract) theory, this study explores how NHIA seeks to actualise these healthcare goals by characterising the general situational prototype or pragmemes and pragmatic acts in institutional communications. Data was sourced from the NHIA operational guidelines, which has 147 pages and four sections, and shared posters on NHIA Nigeria Twitter Handle with 14,200 followers. Digital humanities tools, like AntConc and Voyant, were engaged in the data analysis for text encoding and data visualisation. This study identifies these discourse tokens in the data: advertisement and programmes, standards and accreditation, records and information, and offences and penalties. Advertisement and programmes pract facilitating, propagating, prospecting, advising and informing; standards and accreditation, and records and information pract stating, informing and instructing; and offences and penalties pract stating and sanctioning. These practs combined to advance the goals of affordable care and universal accessibility to quality healthcare services. The pragmatic acts were marked by these pragmatic tools: shared situational knowledge (SSK), relevance (REL), reference (REF) and inference (INF). This paper adds to the understanding of health insurance discourse in Nigeria as a mediated social practice that promotes the health of Nigerians.

Keywords: affordable care, NHIA, Nigeria’s health insurance discourse, pragmatic acts.

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Authors: Samuel Alaba Akinwotu

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Over the years, Nigeria’s educational system has greatly suffered from the menace of industrial conflict. The smooth running of the nation’s public educational institutions has been hampered by incessant strikes embarked upon by workers of these institutions. Even though industrial conflicts in Nigeria have enjoyed wide reportage in the media, there has been a dearth of critical examination of the language use that index the conflict’s discourse in the media. This study which is driven by a combination of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Conceptual Metaphor (CM) examines the discursive and ideological features of language indexing the industrial conflict between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in 2013. It aims to identify and assess the conceptual and cognitive motivations of the stances expressed by the parties and the public and the role of the media in the management and resolution of the conflict. For data, media reports and readers’ comments were purposively sampled from six print and online news sources (The Punch, This Day, Vanguard, The Nation, Osun Defender and AITonline) published between July and December 2013. The study provides further insight into industrial conflict and proves to be useful for the management and resolution of industrial conflicts especially in our public educational institutions.

Keywords: industrial conflict, critical discourse analysis, conceptual metaphor, federal government of Nigeria, academic staff union of universities

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Authors: Sanda-Maria Ardeleanu, Ana Crăciunescu

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This paper is sustained by our previous research on discursive strategies, whichdemonstrated that tourismhas developed and employed apromotional languageper se. We have studied this concept within the framework of audio-visual advertising by analyzing its discursive structures at the level of three main strategies (textual, visual, and both textual and visual) and confirmed the applicability of the promotional language per se within the field. Tourism, at large, represents a largely potential interdisplinary field, which allowed us to use qualitative methods of research such as Discourse Analysis (DA). Due to further research which showed that in the third phase of qualitative research methodologies, scholars in tourism recognized semiotics and DA as potential paths to follow, but which were insufficiently explored at the time, we soon realized that the natural next step to take is to bring together common qualitative methodologies for both fields, such as the method of observation, the triangulation, Discourse Analysis, etc. Therefore and in the light of fast transformations of the medium that intermediates the message, in this paper, we are going to focus on the manifestations of the promotional language in social media texts, which advertise for the urban industry of accommodation in Romania. We shall constitute a corpus of study as the basis for our research methodology and, through the empirical method of observation and DA, we propose to recognize or discover new patterns developed at textual (mainly) and visual level or the mix of the two, known as strategies of the promotional language of tourism.

Keywords: discourse analysis, promotional language of tourism, social media, urban accommodation industry, tourism

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Authors: Dania Aljouhi

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September 26th, 2017, is a historic date for all women in Saudi Arabia. On that day, Saudi Arabia announced the decree on allowing Saudi women to drive. With the advent of vision 2030 and its goal to empower women and increase their participation in Saudi society, we see how Saudis’ Twitter users deliberate the 2017 decree from different social, cultural, religious, economic and political factors. This topic bridges social media 'Twitter,' gender and social-cultural studies to offer insights into how Saudis’ tweets reflect a broader discourse on Saudi women in the age of social media. The present study aims to explore the meanings and themes that emerge by Saudis’ Twitter users in response to the 2017 royal decree on women driving. The sample used in the current study involves (n= 1000) tweets that were collected from Sep 2017 to March 2019 to account for the Saudis’ tweets before and after implementing the decree. The paper uses semantic and thematic network analysis methods to examine the Saudis’ Twitter discourse on the women driving issue. The paper argues that Twitter as a platform has mediated the discourse of women driving among the Saudi community and facilitated social changes. Finally, framing theory (Goffman, 1974) and Networked framing (Meraz & Papacharissi 2013) are both used to explain the tweets on the decree of allowing Saudi women to drive based on # Saudi women-driving-cars.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, women, Twitter, semantic network analysis, framing

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Authors: Jiang-Bei Qin, Rui-Xia Miao, Wei Ren

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In this study, high crystalline gallium oxide microstructures (wires, belts, and sheets) were synthesized by catalyst-free thermal oxidation. Structural studies such as X-ray diffraction, Raman and transmission electron microscope (TEM) investigations on the microstructures showed monoclinic phase of gallium oxide and single crystalline structure. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed that a huge super microsheet even grows up to 450 µm in length and 206 µm in width. Gallium oxide microstructures exhibit high crystallinity along (002) and (401), respectively. The PL spectrum of these microstructures excites a blue light band centered at 441 and 489nm. The growth mechanism of gallium oxide microstructures is discussed. These gallium oxide microstructures have great potential in functional devices.

Keywords: catalyst-free, gallium oxide, microstructures, thermal oxide

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Authors: Sally Heyeon Hwang

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Within decision theory, there are normative principles that dictate how one should act in addition to empirical theories of actual behavior. As a normative guide to one’s actual behavior, evidential or causal decision-theoretic equations allow one to identify outcomes with maximal utility values. The choice that each person makes, however, will, of course, differ according to varying assignments of weight and probability values. Regarding these different choices, it remains a subject of considerable philosophical controversy whether individual subjects have the capacity to exercise free will with respect to the assignment of probabilities, or whether instead the assignment is in some way constrained. A version of this question is given a precise form in Richard Jeffrey’s assumption that free will is necessary for Newcomb’s paradox to count as a decision problem. This paper will argue, against Jeffrey, that decision theory does not require the assumption of libertarian freedom. One of the hallmarks of decision-making is its application across a wide variety of contexts; the implications of a background assumption of free will is similarly varied. One constant across the contexts of decision is that there are always at least two levels of choice for a given agent, depending on the degree of prior constraint. Within the context of Newcomb’s problem, when the predictor is attempting to guess the choice the agent will make, he or she is analyzing the determined aspects of the agent such as past characteristics, experiences, and knowledge. On the other hand, as David Lewis’ backtracking argument concerning the relationship between past and present events brings to light, there are similarly varied ways in which the past can actually be dependent on the present. One implication of this argument is that even in deterministic settings, an agent can have more free will than it may seem. This paper will thus argue against the view that a stable background assumption of free will or determinism in decision theory is necessary, arguing instead for a compatibilist decision theory yielding a novel treatment of Newcomb’s problem.

Keywords: decision theory, compatibilism, free will, Newcomb’s problem

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Authors: Christine Ivy A. Nogot

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Under the colony of Spain for more than three centuries, the Philippines has a deep-rooted structure of Western ideologies and colonialism. The late 19th century, the period of Enlightenment, created a significant impact on our history when a group of middle-class Filipino men were sent to Europe to study. They were called Ilustrados, a Spanish word for erudite. They were the enlightened; the well-educated, intellectual scholars. Their writings provide intellectual grounds for the awakening of national consciousness that eventually prompted national movements and revolutions. They helped to establish a postcolonial society. In the modern era, Miguel Syjuco, a Filipino expatriate, wrote a novel and titled it Ilustrado. It is a representation of the liberal mind of the diasporic author in contemporary discourse. It provides a critical examination of the ilustrado in transition through the character of Miguel, who is also an expatriate writer. Using Syjuco’s award-winning novel as the primary text and anchored on Said’s concept of Orientalism, this paper examines how the depiction of features of the Eastern world is presented in the literary discourse. This paper looks into Said’s concept of orientalism as a hegemonic discursive structure and shows how Western superiority influences the Eastern culture in literary discourse. It explores Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony to explore Said’s argument that Western powers conquer the orient through culture and ideology. This paper presents how dominant ideologies and the social context redefine the ilustrado in the contemporary era.

Keywords: cultural hegemony, ilustrado, orientalism, postcolonial

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Authors: Tran Ich Thinh, Nguyen Manh Cuong

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Free vibrations of partial fluid-filled composite truncated conical shells are investigated using the Dynamic Stiffness Method (DSM) or Continuous Element Method (CEM) based on the First Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT) and non-viscous incompressible fluid equations. Numerical examples are given for analyzing natural frequencies and harmonic responses of clamped-free conical shells partially and completely filled with fluid. To compare with the theoretical results, detailed experimental results have been obtained on the free vibration of a clamped-free conical shells partially filled with water by using a multi-vibration measuring machine (DEWEBOOK-DASYLab 5.61.10). Three glass fiber/polyester composite truncated cones with the radius of the larger end 285 mm, thickness 2 mm, and the cone lengths along the generators are 285 mm, 427.5 mm and 570 mm with the semi-vertex angles 27, 14 and 9 degrees respectively were used, and the filling ratio of the contained water was 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0. The results calculated by proposed computational model for studied composite conical shells are in good agreement with experiments. Obtained results indicate that the fluid filling can reduce significantly the natural frequencies of composite conical shells. Parametric studies including circumferential wave number, fluid depth and cone angles are carried out.

Keywords: dynamic stiffness method, experimental study, free vibration, fluid-shell interaction, glass fiber/polyester composite conical shell

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Authors: Ben D. Atkins

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This study will examine the impact of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the organizational development of American federal law enforcement through focusing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Content analysis of discourse in a federal law enforcement practitioner publication along with official FBI statements will be used to gain a better understanding of FBI organizational changes that have taken place since the events of September 11, 2001. Analysis of content trends in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin and public discourse of FBI officials from 1999 to 2005 indicate that, in addition to structural changes, the bureau has also undergone a variety of cultural changes. The results offer some support for the institutional theoretical perspective, suggesting that post-9/11 organizational changes such as new mission priorities and the establishment of new branches were partially initiated due to a variety external pressures, which lends support for coercive isomorphism. Furthermore, structural changes are discussed in relation to the attainment and maintenance of organizational legitimacy.

Keywords: institutional theory, organizational theory, law enforcement, public administration

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Authors: S. Shahrooi, A. Talavari

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Numeral study on the crack and discontinuity using element-free methods has been widely spread in recent years. In this study, for stress intensity factor calculation of the cracked axis under torsional loading has been used from a new element-free method as MLPG method. Region range is discretized by some dispersed nodal points. From method of moving least square (MLS) utilized to create the functions using these nodal points. Then, results of meshless method and finite element method (FEM) were compared. The results is shown which the element-free method was of good accuracy.

Keywords: stress intensity factor, crack, torsional loading, meshless method

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Authors: Gertraud Koch, Teresa Stumpf, Alejandra Tijerina García

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Discourse analysis research approaches belong to the central research strategies applied throughout the humanities; they focus on the countless forms and ways digital texts and images shape present-day notions of the world. Despite the constantly growing number of relevant digital, multimodal discourse resources, digital humanities (DH) methods are thus far not systematically developed and accessible for discourse analysis approaches. Specifically, the significance of multimodality and meaning plurality modelling are yet to be sufficiently addressed. In order to address this research gap, the D-WISE project aims to develop a prototypical working environment as digital support for the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse analysis and new IT-analysis approaches for the use of context-oriented embedding representations. Playing an essential role throughout our research endeavor is the constant optimization of hermeneutical methodology in the use of (semi)automated processes and their corresponding epistemological reflection. Among the discourse analyses, the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse analysis is characterised by the reconstructive and accompanying research into the formation of knowledge systems in social negotiation processes. The approach analyses how dominant understandings of a phenomenon develop, i.e., the way they are expressed and consolidated by various actors in specific arenas of discourse until a specific understanding of the phenomenon and its socially accepted structure are established. This article presents insights and initial findings from D-WISE, a joint research project running since 2021 between the Institute of Anthropological Studies in Culture and History and the Language Technology Group of the Department of Informatics at the University of Hamburg. As an interdisciplinary team, we develop central innovations with regard to the availability of relevant DH applications by building up a uniform working environment, which supports the procedure of the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse analysis within open corpora and heterogeneous, multimodal data sources for researchers in the humanities. We are hereby expanding the existing range of DH methods by developing contextualized embeddings for improved modelling of the plurality of meaning and the integrated processing of multimodal data. The alignment of this methodological and technical innovation is based on the epistemological working methods according to grounded theory as a hermeneutic methodology. In order to systematically relate, compare, and reflect the approaches of structural-IT and hermeneutic-interpretative analysis, the discourse analysis is carried out both manually and digitally. Using the example of current discourses on digitization in the healthcare sector and the associated issues regarding data protection, we have manually built an initial data corpus of which the relevant actors and discourse positions are analysed in conventional qualitative discourse analysis. At the same time, we are building an extensive digital corpus on the same topic based on the use and further development of entity-centered research tools such as topic crawlers and automated newsreaders. In addition to the text material, this consists of multimodal sources such as images, video sequences, and apps. In a blended reading process, the data material is filtered, annotated, and finally coded with the help of NLP tools such as dependency parsing, named entity recognition, co-reference resolution, entity linking, sentiment analysis, and other project-specific tools that are being adapted and developed. The coding process is carried out (semi-)automated by programs that propose coding paradigms based on the calculated entities and their relationships. Simultaneously, these can be specifically trained by manual coding in a closed reading process and specified according to the content issues. Overall, this approach enables purely qualitative, fully automated, and semi-automated analyses to be compared and reflected upon.

Keywords: entanglement of structural IT and hermeneutic-interpretative analysis, multimodality, plurality of meaning, sociology of knowledge approach to discourse analysis

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Authors: Alexander A. Tokmakov

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Cell-free protein synthesis is widely used to synthesize recombinant proteins. It allows genome-scale expression of various polypeptides under strictly controlled uniform conditions. However, only a minor fraction of all proteins can be successfully expressed in the systems of protein synthesis that are currently used. The factors determining expression success are poorly understood. At present, the vast volume of data is accumulated in cell-free expression databases. It makes possible comprehensive bioinformatics analysis and identification of multiple features associated with successful cell-free expression. Here, we describe an approach aimed at identification of multiple physicochemical and structural properties of amino acid sequences associated with protein solubility and aggregation and highlight major correlations obtained using this approach. The developed method includes: categorical assessment of the protein expression data, calculation and prediction of multiple properties of expressed amino acid sequences, correlation of the individual properties with the expression scores, and evaluation of statistical significance of the observed correlations. Using this approach, we revealed a number of statistically significant correlations between calculated and predicted features of protein sequences and their amenability to cell-free expression. It was found that some of the features, such as protein pI, hydrophobicity, presence of signal sequences, etc., are mostly related to protein solubility, whereas the others, such as protein length, number of disulfide bonds, content of secondary structure, etc., affect mainly the expression propensity. We also demonstrated that amenability of polypeptide sequences to cell-free expression correlates with the presence of multiple sites of post-translational modifications. The correlations revealed in this study provide a plethora of important insights into protein folding and rationalization of protein production. The developed bioinformatics approach can be of practical use for predicting expression success and optimizing cell-free protein synthesis.

Keywords: bioinformatics analysis, cell-free protein synthesis, expression success, optimization, recombinant proteins

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Authors: Benghezel Hichem

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Thyroid dysfunction in hemodialysis subjects is represented mainly by hypothyroidism. The objective of our work is to determine the thyroid profile of our hemodialysis patients and to highlight the prevalence of different thyroid disorders. Methods: This is a retrospective study performed on a mono centric 2 months (February and March 2013) on 42 hemodialysis patients (11 male and 31 female). We made the dosage of thyroid hormones Thyrotropin (TSH) ((free thyroxin ) FT4 and free Triodothyronin ) FT3) by chemiluminescence immunoassay method on cobas 6000 Roche Diagnostics. The results: The prevalence of biological hypothyroidism was 18% (7% with a high TSH isolated and a mean +/- SD 9.44 +/- 6.29, 5% with high TSH, and with low FT4 a mean +/- SD is 8.18 +/- 0.53 for TSH and 9.69 +/- 0.22 for FT4, One patient with a high TSH, and low FT4, FT3. 4% of patients with a low T3 syndrome with a mean +/- SD of 3.93 +/- 0,3 for FT3), we notice that 5% of patients with hyperthyroidism TSH collapsed and mean +/- SD of TSH is 0.017 +/- 0,001. Conclusion: The biological Hypothyroidism is a common endocrine disorder in chronic hemodialysis.

Keywords: hypothyroidism, hemodialysis, thyréostimulin, free thyroxin, triodothyronin

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Authors: Craig Wight

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Tourism visits to sites associated to varying degrees with death and dying have for some time inspired academic debate and research into what has come to be popularly described as ‘dark tourism’. Research to date has been based on the mobilisation of various social scientific methodologies to understand issues such as the motivations of visitors to consume dark tourism experiences and visitor interpretations of the various narratives that are part of the consumption experience. This thesis offers an alternative conceptual perspective for carrying out research into dark tourism by presenting a discourse analysis of Lithuanian occupation-themed museums using Foucault’s concept of ‘discursive formation’ from ‘Archaeology of Knowledge’. A constructivist methodology is therefore applied to locate the rhetorical representations of Lithuanian and Jewish subject positions and to identify the objects of discourse that are produced in five museums that interpret a historical era defined by occupation, the persecution of people and genocide. The discourses and consequent cultural function of these museums are examined, and the key finding of the research proposes that they authorise a particular Lithuanian individualism which marginalises the Jewish subject position and its related objects of discourse into abstraction. The thesis suggests that these museums create the possibility to undermine the ontological stability of Holocaust and the Jewish-Lithuanian subject which is produced as an anomalous, ‘non-Lithuanian’ cultural reference point. As with any Foucauldian archaeological research, it cannot be offered as something that is ‘complete’ since it captures only a partial field, or snapshot of knowledge, bound to a specific temporal and spatial context. The discourses that have been identified are perhaps part of a more elusive ‘positivity’ which is salient across a number of cultural and political surfaces which are ripe for a similar analytical approach in future. It is hoped that the study will motivate others to follow a discourse-analytical approach to research in order to further understand the critical role of museums in public culture when it comes to shaping knowledge about ‘inconvenient’ pasts.

Keywords: genocide heritage, foucault, Lithuanian tourism, discursive formatoin

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Authors: Ivana Hrebickova, Maria Sevcikova, Romana Slamberova

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The present study was aimed at evaluation of cognitive changes following scheduled neonatal methamphetamine exposure in combination with long-term exposure in adulthood of female Wistar rats. Pregnant mothers were divided into two groups: group with indirect exposure (methamphetamine in dose 5 mg/ml/kg, saline in dose 1 ml/kg) during early lactation period (postnatal day 1–11) - progeny of these mothers were exposed to the effects of methamphetamine or saline indirectly via the breast milk; and the second group with direct exposure – all mothers were left intact for the entire lactation period, while progeny was treated with methamphetamine (5 mg/ml/kg) by injection or the control group, which was received needle pick (shame, not saline) at the same time each day of period of application (postnatal day 1–11). Learning ability and memory consolidation were tested in the Morris Water Maze, which consisted of three types of tests: ‘Place Navigation Test ‘; ‘Probe Test ‘; and ‘Memory Recall Test ‘. Adult female progeny were injected daily, after completion last trial with saline or methamphetamine (1 mg/ml/kg). We compared the effects of indirect/direct neonatal methamphetamine exposure and adult methamphetamine treatment on cognitive function of female rats. Statistical analyses showed that neonatal methamphetamine exposure worsened spatial learning and ability to remember the position of the platform. The present study demonstrated that direct methamphetamine exposure has more significant impact on process of learning and memory than indirect exposure. Analyses of search strategies (thigmotaxis, scanning) used by females during the Place Navigation Test and Memory Recall Test confirm all these results.

Keywords: methamphetamine, Morris water maze, neonatal exposure, strategies, Wistar rats

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Authors: Mohammad R. Jalali

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Movement of liquid with a free surface in a container is known as slosh. For instance, slosh occurs when water in a closed tank is set in motion by a free surface displacement, or when liquid natural gas in a container is vibrated by an external driving force, such as an earthquake or movement induced by transport. Slosh is also derived from resonant switching of a natural basin. During sloshing, different types of motion are produced by energy exchange between the liquid and its container. In present study, a numerical model is developed to simulate the nonlinear even harmonic oscillations of free surface sloshing of an initial disturbance to the free surface of a liquid in a closed square basin. The response of the liquid free surface is affected by amplitude and motion frequencies of its container; therefore, sloshing involves complex fluid-structure interactions. In the present study, nonlinear interaction of free surface sloshing of an initial Gaussian hump with its uneven container is predicted numerically. For this purpose, Green-Naghdi (GN) equations are applied as governing equation of fluid field to produce nonlinear second-order and higher-order wave interactions. These equations reduce the dimensions from three to two, yielding equations that can be solved efficiently. The GN approach assumes a particular flow kinematic structure in the vertical direction for shallow and deep-water problems. The fluid velocity profile is finite sum of coefficients depending on space and time multiplied by a weighting function. It should be noted that in GN theory, the flow is rotational. In this study, GN numerical simulations of initial Gaussian hump are compared with Fourier series semi-analytical solutions of the linearized shallow water equations. The comparison reveals that satisfactory agreement exists between the numerical simulation and the analytical solution of the overall free surface sloshing patterns. The resonant free surface motions driven by an initial Gaussian disturbance are obtained by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the free surface elevation time history components. Numerically predicted velocity vectors and magnitude contours for the free surface patterns indicate that interaction of Gaussian hump with its container has localized effect. The result of this sloshing is applicable to the design of stable liquefied oil containers in tankers and offshore platforms.

Keywords: fluid-structure interactions, free surface sloshing, Gaussian hump, Green-Naghdi equations, numerical predictions

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Authors: Y. Landkocz, P. Gosset, A. Héliot, C. Corbière, C. Vendeville, V. Keravec, S. Billet, A. Verdin, C. Monteil, D. Préterre, J-P. Morin, F. Sichel, T. Douki, P. J. Martin

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Air Pollution produced by automobile traffic is one of the main sources of pollutants in urban atmosphere and is largely due to exhausts of the diesel engine powered vehicles. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified in 2012 diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer. Amongst the strategies aimed at limiting exhausts in order to take into consideration the health impact of automobile pollution, filtration of the emissions and use of biofuels are developed, but their toxicological impact is largely unknown. Diesel exhausts are indeed complex mixtures of toxic substances difficult to study from a toxicological point of view, due to both the necessary characterization of the pollutants, sampling difficulties, potential synergy between the compounds and the wide variety of biological effects. Here, we studied the potential indirect genotoxicity of emission of Diesel engines through on-line exposure of rats in inhalation chambers to a subchronic high but realistic dose. Following exposure to standard gasoil +/- rapeseed methyl ester either upstream or downstream of a particle filter or control treatment, rats have been sacrificed and their lungs collected. The following indirect genotoxic parameters have been measured: (i) telomerase activity and telomeres length associated with rTERT and rTERC gene expression by RT-qPCR on frozen lungs, (ii) γH2AX quantification, representing double-strand DNA breaks, by immunohistochemistry on formalin fixed-paraffin embedded (FFPE) lung samples. These preliminary results will be then associated with global cellular response analyzed by pan-genomic microarrays, monitoring of oxidative stress and the quantification of primary DNA lesions in order to identify biological markers associated with a potential pro-carcinogenic response of diesel or biodiesel, with or without filters, in a relevant system of in vivo exposition.

Keywords: diesel exhaust exposed rats, γH2AX, indirect genotoxicity, lung carcinogenicity, telomerase activity, telomeres length

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Authors: Masoud Hassanzade Novin, Bahloul Salmani

Abstract:

Translation cannot be considered as a simple linguistic act. Through the rise of descriptive approach in the late 1970s and 1980s, translation process managed to meet the requirements of social aspects as well as linguistic approaches. To have the translation considered as the cross-cultural communication through which various cultures communicate in ideological and cultural constraints, the contrastive analysis was conducted in this paper to reveal the distortions imposed in the translated texts. The corpus of the study involved the novel 1984 written by George Orwell and its Persian translated texts which were analyzed through the qualitative type of the research based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Toury's norms as well as Lefever's concepts of ideology. Results of the study revealed the point that ideology and the cultural constraints were considered as an important stimulus which can control the process of the translation.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, ideology, norms, translated texts

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Authors: Prajwal Eachempati, Laurent Muzellec, Ashish Kumar Jha

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We use Facebook as a case study to investigate the complex relationship between the firm’s public discourse (and actions) surrounding data privacy and the performance of a business model based on monetizing user’s data. We do so by looking at the evolution of public discourse over time (2004–2021) and relate topics to revenue and stock market evolution Drawing from archival sources like Zuckerberg We use LDA topic modelling algorithm to reveal 19 topics regrouped in 6 major themes. We first show how, by using persuasive and convincing language that promises better protection of consumer data usage, but also emphasizes greater user control over their own data, the privacy issue is being reframed as one of greater user control and responsibility. Second, we aim to understand and put a value on the extent to which privacy disclosures have a potential impact on the financial performance of social media firms. There we found significant relationship between the topics pertaining to privacy and social media/technology, sentiment score and stock market prices. Revenue is found to be impacted by topics pertaining to politics and new product and service innovations while number of active users is not impacted by the topics unless moderated by external control variables like Return on Assets and Brand Equity.

Keywords: public discourses, data protection, social media, privacy, topic modeling, business models, financial performance

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Authors: Samuel Richard Marcourt

Abstract:

The economic impact of community sports facilities can be examined through various dimensions, such as job creation, tourism, local business development, and property values. The aim of the study is to evaluate the economic impacts of community sports facilities on residents who lived within 500m radii of 4 Astro Turf soccer facilities in Ghana. The results of the study were based on the responses from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 purposively selected participants aged between 25 and 55 years. Participants’ responses revealed that community sports facilities create direct and indirect benefits for residents. Further, the direct benefits include job creation and employment among residents in the locality. Again, the promotion of local entrepreneurship and small business development, as well promotion of tourism, were indirect benefits. Consequently, the study provides useful data for stakeholders, including The Ministry of Sports, Ghana Football Association (GFA), and Government and non-governmental organizations, to construct more community sports facilities to assist in reducing the level of unemployment in Ghanaian communities.

Keywords: economic impact, community sports facilities, Astro turf, residents

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Authors: M. Bouhadef, K. Bouzelha-Hammoum, T. Guendouzen-Dabouz, A. Younsi, T. Zitoun

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The aim of this paper is to report the different experimental studies, conducted in the laboratory, dealing with the flow in the presence of an obstacle lying in a rectangular hydraulic channel. Both subcritical and supercritical regimes are considered. Generally, when considering the theoretical problem of the free-surface flow, in a fluid domain of finite depth, due to the presence of an obstacle, we suppose that the water is an inviscid fluid, which means that there is no sheared velocity profile, but constant upstream. In a hydraulic channel, it is impossible to satisfy this condition. Indeed, water is a viscous fluid and its velocity is null at the bottom. The two configurations are presented, i.e. a flow over an obstacle and a towed obstacle in a resting fluid.

Keywords: experiments, free-surface flow, hydraulic channel, subcritical regime, supercritical flow

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Authors: Andrea Vasquez, Pedro Maldonado-Alvarado

Abstract:

In general, 'gluten-free' foods like breadmaking products provide functional or nutraceutical benefits for the consumer's health and increased their demand on the market. In Ecuador, there is an overproduction of superfoods, and the food by-products are undervalued. For the first time, to the author's best knowledge, gluten-free bread mixtures from quinoa and banana flour, cassava starch, lupine flour (LF), or whey protein (WP) with hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and transglutaminase (TG) were evaluated on their functional and sensory properties. Free amino groups and thiols, rheology, and electrophoresis SDS PAGE were performed to analyze the crosslinking of TG at different concentrations with HC or PL proteins. Dough characterization, pasting properties were evaluated, respectively, by a MIXOLAB and a rheometer with a pasting cell. The texture, porosity, and loaf volume were characterized using a texturometer, ImageJ software, and breadmaking ability, respectively. Finally, a breadmaking aptitude and sensorial bread acceptability were performed. A significant decrease in the content of free amino groups (0.16 to 0.11 and 0.46 to 0.36 mM/mg of protein) and free thiol groups (0.37 to 0.21 and 1.79 to 1.32 mM/mg protein) was observed when 1.0% and 0.5% TG were added to LF and WP, respectively. In apparent viscosity analysis, the action of TG on HC proteins changes their viscosity, while the viscosity of LF is not modified by TG. Results of electrophoresis in PL showed bands of higher molecular weight of different fragments of proteins with 1% TG. Formulation with 59.8, 39.9, 160.8, 6.0, 1.0, and 1.5% of, respectively, QF, BF, CS, LF or WP, TG, and HPMC had the best properties in dough parameters, pasting parameters (lower pasting temperature and higher peak viscosity), best crumb structure, lower crumb hardness and higher loaf volume (2.24 and 2.28 mL/g). All the loaves of bread were acceptable in baking aptitude and general acceptability.

Keywords: breadmaking, gluten-free, superfoods, by-products, Ecuador

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Authors: Nina Ponikvar, Katja Zajc Kejžar

Abstract:

While the positive impacts of heritage on a broad societal spectrum have long been recognized and measured, the economic effects of the heritage sector are often less visible and frequently underestimated. At macro level, economic effects are usually studied based on one of the two mainstream approach, i.e. either the multiplier approach or the value chain approach. Consequently, there is limited comparability of the empirical results due to the use of different methodological approach in the literature. Furthermore, it is also not clear on which criteria the used approach was selected. Our aim is to bring the attention to the difference in the scope of effects that are encompassed by the two most frequent methodological approaches to valuation of economic effects of cultural heritage on macroeconomic level, i.e. the multiplier approach and the value chain approach. We show that while the multiplier approach provides a systematic, theory-based view of economic impacts but requires more data and analysis, the value chain approach has less solid theoretical foundations and depends on the availability of appropriate data to identify the contribution of cultural heritage to other sectors. We conclude that the multiplier approach underestimates the economic impact of cultural heritage, mainly due to the narrow definition of cultural heritage in the statistical classification and the inability to identify part of the contribution of cultural heritage that is hidden in other sectors. Yet it is not possible to clearly determine whether the value chain method overestimates or underestimates the actual economic impact of cultural heritage since there is a risk that the direct effects are overestimated and double counted, but not all indirect and induced effects are considered. Accordingly, these two approaches are not substitutes but rather complementary. Consequently, a direct comparison of the estimated impacts is not possible and should not be done due to the different scope. To illustrate the difference of the impact assessment of the cultural heritage, we apply both approaches to the case of Slovenia in the 2015-2022 period and measure the economic impact of cultural heritage sector in terms of turnover, gross value added and employment. The empirical results clearly show that the estimation of the economic impact of a sector using the multiplier approach is more conservative, while the estimates based on value added capture a much broader range of impacts. According to the multiplier approach, each euro in cultural heritage sector generates an additional 0.14 euros in indirect effects and an additional 0.44 euros in induced effects. Based on the value-added approach, the indirect economic effect of the “narrow” heritage sectors is amplified by the impact of cultural heritage activities on other sectors. Accordingly, every euro of sales and every euro of gross value added in the cultural heritage sector generates approximately 6 euros of sales and 4 to 5 euros of value added in other sectors. In addition, each employee in the cultural heritage sector is linked to 4 to 5 jobs in other sectors.

Keywords: economic value of cultural heritage, multiplier approach, value chain approach, indirect effects, slovenia

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Authors: Shanko Chura Aredo, Hailu Jeldie Wodajo, Muktar Jeylan, Kedir Ilka, Abdulnasir Husein

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Toll-free numbers are calling numbers that have unique three or four digit numbers and that don’t require payment from phone lines in order to be called. With the help of these numbers, callers can connect with nearby organizations and/or people without incurring far-reaching fees. Calls to assistance centers are especially popular from toll-free phones. In the past, toll-free services have offered prospective clients and other parties a simple and cost-free means of getting in touch with enterprises. Nevertheless, unless they have an ”unlimited calling” plan, wireless subscribers will be billed for the airtime minutes used during a toll-free call. In Adama, the second largest city in Ethiopia, a call center has been installed as part of smart security system and serving since January 2023 for collection of complaints from different community levels. The call center is situated at the mayor office and has 11 active workers, 4 of these working the night time and the remaining during day time. The information reported in the form of complaints from individuals and groups are illegal constructions, illegal trade, income concealment or hiding, giving and receiving bribe, informing new faces of suspected enemies and exposing individual or group conflicts. This technology has been found to bring a significant outcome in minimizing illegal acts, public safety threats and service delivery problems.

Keywords: smart, safety, crime, call center, security

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Authors: Craig Wight

Abstract:

This presentation will identify the key findings from a recent netnographic discourse analysis of social media content generated in response to visits to three iconic European Holocaust Heritage sites: Ann Frank’s House in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the Auschwutz-Birkenau Memorial Museum and Memorial in Poland, and the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany. Four major discourses are identified under the headings of Holocaust heritage as social memory, reactions to Holocaust heritage, obligation and ritual, and transgressive visitor behaviour. Together, these discourses frame the values, existential anxieties, emotions, priorities, and expectations of visitors. The findings will interest those involved in the planning and management of Holocaust heritage for tourism purposes since they provide unique access to an archive of unmediated visitor feedback on European Holocaust heritage experiences.

Keywords: foucault, european holocaust heritage, discourse analysis, netnography, social media, dark tourism

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