Search results for: English speech

Authors: Andrea Hernandez Hurtado

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Research on social networks (SNs) -- the interactions individuals share with others has shed important light in helping to explain differential use of variable linguistic forms, both in L1s and L2s. Nevertheless, the acquisition of nonstandard L2 Spanish in the Region of Murcia, Spain, and how learners interact with other speakers while sojourning there have received little attention. Murcian Spanish (MuSp) was widely influenced by Panocho, a divergent evolution of Hispanic Latin, and differs from the more standard Peninsular Spanish (StSp) in phonology, morphology, and lexicon. For instance, speakers from this area will most likely palatalize diminutive endings, producing animalico [̩a.ni.ma.ˈli.ko] instead of animalito [̩a.ni.ma.ˈli.to] ‘little animal’. Because L1 speakers of the area produce and prefer salient regional lexicon and morphology (particularly the palatalized diminutive -ico) in their speech, the current research focuses on how international residents in the Region of Murcia use Spanish: (1) whether or not they acquire (perceptively and/or productively) any of the salient regional features of MuSp, and (2) how their SNs explain such acquisition. This study triangulates across three tasks -recognition, production, and preference- addressing both lexicon and morphology, with each task specifically created for the investigation of MuSp features. Among other variables, the effects of L1, residence, and identity are considered. As an ongoing dissertation research, data are currently being gathered through an online questionnaire. So far, 7 participants from multiple nationalities have completed the survey, although a minimum of 25 are expected to be included in the coming months. Preliminary results revealed that MuSp lexicon and morphology were successfully recognized by participants (p<.001). In terms of regional lexicon production (10.0%) and preference (47.5%), although participants showed higher percentages of StSp, results showed that international residents become aware of stigmatized lexicon and may incorporate it into their language use. Similarly, palatalized diminutives (production 14.2%, preference 19.0%) were present in their responses. The Social Network Analysis provided information about participants’ relationships with their interactants, as well as among them. Results indicated that, generally, when residents were more immersed in the culture (i.e., had more Murcian alters) they produced and preferred more regional features. This project contributes to the knowledge of language variation acquisition in L2 speakers, focusing on a stigmatized Spanish dialect and exploring how stigmatized varieties may affect L2 development. Results will show how L2 Spanish speakers’ language is affected by their stay in Murcia. This, in turn, will shed light on the role of SNs in language acquisition, the acquisition of understudied and marginalized varieties, and the role of immersion on language acquisition. As the first systematic account on the acquisition of L2 Spanish lexicon and morphology in the Region of Murcia, it lays important groundwork for further research on the connection between SNs and the acquisition of regional variants, applicable to Murcia and beyond.

Keywords: international residents, L2 Spanish, lexicon, morphology, nonstandard language acquisition, social networks

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Authors: Renu Pattanshetty

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The aim of this narrative review is to highlight the impact of menopause on osteoporosis and weight gain. The review also aims to summarize physiotherapeutic strategies to combat the same.A thorough literature search was conducted using electronic databases like MEDline, PUBmed, Highwire Press, PUBmed Central for English language studies that included search terms like menopause, osteoporosis, obesity, weight gain, exercises, physical activity, physiotherapy strategies from the year 2000 till date. Out of 157 studies that included metanalyses, critical reviews and randomized clinical trials, a total of 84 were selected that met the inclusion criteria. Prevalence of obesity is increasing world - wide and is reaching epidemic proportions even in the menopausal women. Prevalence of abdominal obesity is almost double than that general obesity with rates in the US with 65.5% in women ages 40-59 years and 73.8 in women aged 60 years or more. Physical activities and exercises play a vital role in prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and weight gain related to menopause that aim to boost the general well-being and any symptoms brought about by natural body changes. Endurance exercises lasting about 30 minutes /day for 5 days/ week has shown to decrease weight and prevent weight gain. In addition, strength training with at least 8 exercises of 8-12 repetitions working for whole body and for large muscle groups has shown to result positive outcomes. Hot flashes can be combatted through yogic breathing and relaxation exercises. Prevention of fall strategies and resistance training are key to treat diagnosed cases of osteoporosis related to menopause. One to three sets with five to eight repetitions of four to six weight bearing exercises have shown positive results. Menopause marks an important time for women to evaluate their risk of obesity and osteoporosis. It is known fact that bone benefit from exercises are lost when training is stopped, hence, practicing bone smart habits and strict adherence to recommended physical activity programs are recommended which are enjoyable, safe and effective.

Keywords: menopause, osteoporosis, obesity, weight gain, exercises, physical activity, physiotherapy strategies

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Authors: Marius Zemp

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Evidentials indicate how the speaker obtained the information conveyed in a statement. Detailed diachronic-functional accounts of evidential contrasts found in the Greater Himalayan Region (GHR) reveal that contrasting evidentials are not only defined against each other but also that most of them once had different aspecto-temporal (TA) values which must have aligned when their contrast was conventionalized. Based on these accounts, the present paper sheds light on hitherto unidentified mechanisms of grammatical change. The main insights of the present study were facilitated by ‘functional reconstruction’, which (i) revolves around morphemes which appear to be used in divergent ways within a language and/or across different related languages, (ii) persistently devises hypotheses as to how these functional divergences may have developed, and (iii) retains those hypotheses which most plausibly and economically account for the data. Based on the dense and detailed grammatical literature on the Tibetic language family, the author of this study is able to reconstruct the initial steps by which its evidentiality systems developed: By the time Proto-Tibetan started to be spread across much of Central Asia in the 7th century CE, verbal concatenations with and without a connective -s had become common. As typical for resultative constructions around the globe, Proto-Tibetan *V-s-’dug ‘was there, having undergone V’ (employing the simple past of ’dug ‘stay, be there’) allowed both for a perfect reading (‘the state resulting from V holds at the moment of speech’) and an inferential reading (‘(I infer from its result that) V has taken place’). In Western Tibetic, *V-s-’dug grammaticalized in its perfect meaning as it became contrasted with perfect *V-s-yod ‘is there, having undergone V’ (employing the existential copula yod); that is, *V-s-’dug came to mean that the speaker directly witnessed the profiled result of V, whereas *V-s-yod came to mean that the speaker does not depend on direct evidence of the result, as s/he simply knows that it holds. In Eastern Tibetic, on the other hand, V-s-’dug grammaticalized in its inferential past meaning as it became contrasted with past *V-thal ‘went past V-ing’ (employing the simple past of thal ‘go past’); that is, *V-s-’dug came to mean that the profiled past event was inferred from its result, while *V-thal came to mean that it was directly witnessed. Hence, depending on whether it became contrasted with a perfect or a past construction, resultative V-s-’dug grammaticalized either its direct evidential perfect or its inferential past function. This means that in both cases, evidential readings of constructions with distinct but overlapping TA-values became contrasted, and in order for their contrasting meanings to grammaticalize, the constructions had to agree on their tertium comparationis, which was their shared TA-value. By showing that other types of evidential contrasts in the GHR are also TA-aligned, while no single markers (or privative contrasts) are found to have grammaticalized evidential functions, the present study suggests that, at least in this region of the world, evidential meanings grammaticalize only in equipollent contrasts, which always end up TA-aligned.

Keywords: evidential contrasts, functional-diachronic accounts, grammatical change, himalayan languages, tense/aspect-alignment

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Authors: Jacques Lamarche, Juhani Dickinson

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This paper introduces a computational model of a Grammar as Logic of Labeling (GLL), where the lexical primitives of morphosyntax are phonological matrixes, the form of words, understood as labels that apply to realities (or targets) assumed to be outside of grammar altogether. The hypothesis is that even though a lexical label relates to its target arbitrarily, this label in a complex (constituent) label is part of a labeling pattern which, depending on its value (i.e., N, V, Adj, etc.), imposes language-specific restrictions on what it targets outside of grammar (in the world/semantics or in cognitive knowledge). Lexical forms categorized as nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc., are effectively targets of labeling patterns in use. The paper illustrates GLL through a computer model of basic patterns in English NPs. A constituent label is a binary object that encodes: i) alignment of input forms so that labels occurring at different points in time are understood as applying at once; ii) endocentric structuring - every grammatical constituent has a head label that determines the target of the constituent, and a limiter label (the non-head) that restricts this target. The N or A values are restricted to limiter label, the two differing in terms of alignment with a head. Consider the head initial DP ‘the dog’: the label ‘dog’ gets an N value because it is a limiter that is evenly aligned with the head ‘the’, restricting application of the DP. Adapting a traditional analysis of ‘the’ to GLL – apply label to something familiar – the DP targets and identifies one reality familiar to participants by applying to it the label ‘dog’ (singular). Consider next the DP ‘the large dog’: ‘large dog’ is nominal by even alignment with ‘the’, as before, and since ‘dog’ is the head of (head final) ‘large dog’, it is also nominal. The label ‘large’, however, is adjectival by narrow alignment with the head ‘dog’: it doesn’t target the head but targets a property of what dog applies to (a property or value of attribute). In other words, the internal composition of constituents determines that a form targets a property or a reality: ‘large’ and ‘dog’ happen to be valid targets to realize this constituent. In the presentation, the computer model of the analysis derives the 8 possible sequences of grammatical values with three labels after the determiner (the x y z): 1- D [ N [ N N ]]; 2- D [ A [ N N ] ]; 3- D [ N [ A N ] ]; 4- D [ A [ A N ] ]; 5- D [ [ N N ] N ]; 5- D [ [ A N ] N ]; 6- D [ [ N A ] N ] 7- [ [ N A ] N ] 8- D [ [ Adv A ] N ]. This approach that suggests that a computer model of these grammatical patterns could be used to construct ontologies/knowledge using speakers’ judgments about the validity of lexical meaning in grammatical patterns.

Keywords: syntactic theory, computational linguistics, logic and grammar, semantics, knowledge and grammar

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Authors: Yasmeen Coaxum

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The year 2020 became synonymous with the words “Emergency Remote Teaching,” which was imposed upon educators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, teachers were compelled to find new and engaging ways to educate their students outside of the face-to-face classroom setting. Now online instruction has become more of the norm rather than a way to manage educational expectations during a crisis. Therefore, implementing a strategic way to create online environments for students to thrive, create, and fully engage in their learning process is essential. The Synchronous Online Flipped Learning Approach or SOFLA® is a distance learning model that most closely replicates actual classroom teaching. SOFLA® includes structured, interactive, multimodal activities in an eight-step learning cycle with both asynchronous and synchronous components that foster autonomous and interactive learning among today’s online learners. The results of a pilot study in an Intensive English Program at a university, using SOFLA® methodology to facilitate podcasting in an online learning environment will be shared. Previous findings on student-produced podcasting projects have shown that students felt they improved their pronunciation, vocabulary, and speaking skills. However, few if any studies have been conducted on using a structured online flipped learning approach to facilitate such projects. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the effect of using the SOFLA® framework to enhance optimum engagement in the online environment while using podcasts as the primary tool of instruction. Through data from interviews, questionnaires, and the results of formative and summative assessments, this study also investigates the affective and academic impact this flipped learning method combined with podcasting has on the students in terms of speaking confidence and vocabulary retention, and production. The steps of SOFLA will be illustrated, a video demonstration of the Anchor podcasting app will be shown, and final student projects and questionnaire responses will be shared. The specific context is a 14-week advanced level conversation and listening class. Participants vary in age but are all adult language learners representing a diverse array of countries.

Keywords: mall online flipped learning, podcasting, productive vocabulary

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Authors: Jiexuan Lin, Huiyi Chen

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The development of L2 pronunciation competence remains understudied in the literature and it is not clear what may influence learners’ development of L2 pronunciation. The present study was an attempt to find out which of the two common factors in L2 acquisition, i.e., foreign language anxiety or self-perceived L2 proficiency, can better predict Chinese EFL learners’ pronunciation performance. 78 first-year English majors, who had received a three-month pronunciation training course, were asked to 1) fill out a questionnaire on foreign language classroom anxiety, 2) self-report their L2 proficiency in general, in speaking and in pronunciation, and 3) complete an oral and a written test on their L2 pronunciation (the score of the oral part indicates participants’ pronunciation proficiency in oral production, and the score of the written part indexes participants’ ability in applying pronunciation knowledge in comprehension.) Results showed that the pronunciation scores were negatively correlated with the anxiety scores, and were positively correlated with the self-perceived pronunciation proficiency. But only the written scores in the L2 pronunciation test, not the oral scores, were positively correlated with the L2 self-perceived general proficiency. Neither the oral nor the written scores in the L2 pronunciation test had a significant correlation with the self-perceived speaking proficiency. Given the fairly strong correlations, the anxiety scores and the self-perceived pronunciation proficiency were put in regression models to predict L2 pronunciation performance. The anxiety factor alone accounted for 13.9% of the variance and the self-perceived pronunciation proficiency alone explained 12.1% of the variance. But when both anxiety scores and self-perceived pronunciation proficiency were put in a stepwise regression model, only the anxiety scores had a significant and unique contribution to the L2 pronunciation performance (4.8%). Taken together, the results suggested that the learners’ anxiety level could better predict their L2 pronunciation performance, compared with the self-perceived proficiency levels. The obtained data have the following pedagogical implications. 1) Given the fairly strong correlation between anxiety and L2 pronunciation performance, the instructors who are interested in predicting learners’ L2 pronunciation proficiency may measure their anxiety level, instead of their proficiency, as the predicting variable. 2) The correlation of oral scores (in the pronunciation test) with pronunciation proficiency, rather than with speaking proficiency, indicates that a) learners after receiving some amounts of training are to some extent able to evaluate their own pronunciation ability, implying the feasibility of incorporating self-evaluation and peer comments in course instruction; b) the ‘proficiency’ measure used to predict pronunciation performance should be used with caution. The proficiency of specific skills seemingly highly related to pronunciation (i.e., speaking in this case) may not be taken for granted as an effective predictor for pronunciation performance. 3) The correlation between the written scores with general L2 proficiency is interesting.

Keywords: anxiety, Chinese EFL learners, L2 pronunciation, self-perceived L2 proficiency

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Authors: Elvis Munyoka

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While the number of African refugees settling in Australia has significantly increased since the mid-1990s, the marginalisation and exclusion of young people from refugee backgrounds in employment remain a critical challenge. Unemployment or underemployment can negatively impact refugees in multiple areas, such as income, housing, life satisfaction, and social status. Higher rates of unemployment among refugees are linked in part to the intersection of pre-migration and daily challenges like trauma, racism, gender identity, and English language competency, all of which generate multiple employability disadvantages. However, the intersection of gender, race, social class, and age in impacting African refugee youth’s access to employment has received less attention. Using a qualitative case study approach, the presentation will explore how gender, race, social class, and age influence African refugee youth graduates’ access to employment in South Australia. The intersectionality theory and capability approach to social justice is used to explore intersecting factors impacting African refugee youth’s access to employment in South Australia. Participants were 16 African refugee graduates aged 18-30 living in South Australia who took part in the study for one year. Based on the trends in the data, the results suggest that long-term unemployment and underemployment, coupled with ongoing racism and marginalisation, have the potential to make refugees more vulnerable to several mental disorders such as depression, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. The analysis also reveals that resettlement challenges may limit refugees’ ability to recover from pre-migration trauma. The impact of resettlement challenges on refugee mental health highlights the need for comprehensive policy interventions to address the barriers refugees face in finding employment in resettlement communities. With African refugees constituting such an important part of Australian society, they should have equal access to meaningful employment, as decent work promotes good mental health, successful resettlement, hope, and self-sufficiency.

Keywords: African refugees, employment, mental health, Australia, underemployment

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Authors: Zayd Khayi

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This paper deals with the construction and analysis of the Tamazight text corpus. The grammatical structure of the Tamazight remains poorly understood, and a lack of comparative grammar leads to linguistic issues. In order to fill this gap, even though it is small, by constructed the diachronic corpus of the Tamazight language, and elaborated the program tool. In addition, this work is devoted to constructing that tool to analyze the different aspects of the Tamazight, with its different dialects used in the north of Africa, specifically in Morocco. It also focused on three Moroccan dialects: Tamazight, Tarifiyt, and Tachlhit. The Latin version was good choice because of the many sources it has. The corpus is based on the grammatical parameters and features of that language. The text collection contains more than 500 texts that cover a long historical period. It is free, and it will be useful for further investigations. The texts were transformed into an XML-format standardization goal. The corpus counts more than 200,000 words. Based on the linguistic rules and statistical methods, the original user interface and software prototype were developed by combining the technologies of web design and Python. The corpus presents more details and features about how this corpus provides users with the ability to distinguish easily between feminine/masculine nouns and verbs. The interface used has three languages: TMZ, FR, and EN. Selected texts were not initially categorized. This work was done in a manual way. Within corpus linguistics, there is currently no commonly accepted approach to the classification of texts. Texts are distinguished into ten categories. To describe and represent the texts in the corpus, we elaborated the XML structure according to the TEI recommendations. Using the search function may provide us with the types of words we would search for, like feminine/masculine nouns and verbs. Nouns are divided into two parts. The gender in the corpus has two forms. The neutral form of the word corresponds to masculine, while feminine is indicated by a double t-t affix (the prefix t- and the suffix -t), ex: Tarbat (girl), Tamtut (woman), Taxamt (tent), and Tislit (bride). However, there are some words whose feminine form contains only the prefix t- and the suffix –a, ex: Tasa (liver), tawja (family), and tarwa (progenitors). Generally, Tamazight masculine words have prefixes that distinguish them from other words. For instance, 'a', 'u', 'i', ex: Asklu (tree), udi (cheese), ighef (head). Verbs in the corpus are for the first person singular and plural that have suffixes 'agh','ex', 'egh', ex: 'ghrex' (I study), 'fegh' (I go out), 'nadagh' (I call). The program tool permits the following characteristics of this corpus: list of all tokens; list of unique words; lexical diversity; realize different grammatical requests. To conclude, this corpus has only focused on a small group of parts of speech in Tamazight language verbs, nouns. Work is still on the adjectives, prounouns, adverbs and others.

Keywords: Tamazight (Berber) language, corpus linguistic, grammar rules, statistical methods

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Authors: Elvis Munyoka

Abstract:

While the number of African refugees settling in Australia has significantly increased since the mid-1990s, the marginalisation and exclusion of young people from refugee backgrounds in employment remain a critical challenge. Unemployment or underemployment can negatively impact refugees in multiple areas, such as income, housing, life satisfaction, and social status. Higher rates of unemployment among refugees are linked in part to the intersection of pre-migration and daily challenges like trauma, racism, gender identity, and English language competency, all of which generate multiple employability disadvantages. However, the intersection of gender, race, social class, and age in impacting African refugee youth’s access to employment has received less attention. Using a qualitative case study approach, the paper will explore how gender, race, social class, and age influence African refugee youth graduates’ access to employment in South Australia. The intersectionality theory and capability approach to social justice is used to explore intersecting factors impacting African refugee youth’s access to employment in South Australia. Participants were 16 African refugee graduates aged 18-30 living in South Australia who took part in the study for one year. Based on the trends in the data, the results suggest that long-term unemployment and underemployment, coupled with ongoing racism and marginalisation, have the potential to make refugees more vulnerable to several mental disorders such as depression, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. The analysis also reveals that resettlement challenges may limit refugees’ ability to recover from pre-migration trauma. The impact of resettlement challenges on refugee mental health highlights the need for comprehensive policy interventions to address the barriers refugees face in finding employment in resettlement communities. With African refugees constituting such an important part of Australian society, they should have equal access to meaningful employment, as decent work promotes good mental health, successful resettlement, hope, and self-sufficiency.

Keywords: African refugee youth, mental health, employment, resettlement, racism

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Authors: Erin Micali, Katerina Tolstikova, Cheryl Maykel, Elizabeth Harwood

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Female ASD is seldomly studied separately from males. Further, females with ASD are disproportionately underrepresented in the research at a rate of 3:1 (male to female). As such, much of the current understanding about female rigid repetitive behaviors (RRBs) stems from research’s understanding of male RRBs. This can be detrimental to understanding female ASD because this understanding of female RRBs largely discounts female camouflaging and the possibility that females present their autistic symptoms differently. Current literature suggests that females with ASD engage in fewer RRBs than males with ASD and when females do engage in RRBs, they are likely to engage in more subtle, less overt obsessions and repetitive behaviors than males. Method: The current study utilized a mixed methods research design to identify the type and frequency of RRBs that females with ASD engaged in by using a cross-sectional design. The researcher recruited only females to be part of the present study with the criteria they be at least age six and not have co-occurring cognitive impairment. Results: The researcher collected previous testing data (Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), Child or Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile-2, Autism/ Empathy Quotient, Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Checklist, Rigid Repetitive Behavior Checklist (evaluator created list), and demographic questionnaire) from 25 total participants. The participants ages ranged from six to 52. The participants were 96% Caucasion and 4% Latin American. Qualitative analysis found the current participant pool engaged in six RRB themes including repetitive behaviors, socially restrictive behaviors, repetitive speech, difficulty with transition, obsessive behaviors, and restricted interests. The current dataset engaged in socially restrictive behaviors and restrictive interests most frequently. Within the main themes 40 subthemes were isolated, defined, and analyzed. Further, preliminary quantitative analysis was run to determine if age impacted camouflaging behaviors and overall presentation of RRBs. Within this dataset this was not founded. Further qualitative data will be run to determine if this dataset engaged in more overt or subtle RRBs to confirm or rebuff previous research. The researcher intends to run SPSS analysis to determine if there was statistical difference between each RRB theme and overall presentation. Secondly, each participant will be analyzed for presentation of RRB, age, and previous diagnoses. Conclusion: The present study aimed to assist in diagnostic clarity. This was achieved by collecting data from a female only participant pool across the lifespan. Current data aided in clarity of the type of RRBs engage in. A limited sample size was a barrier in this study.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, camouflaging, rigid repetitive behaviors, gender disparity

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Authors: Fabio Marson, Revital Naor-Ziv, Patrizio Paoletti, Joseph Glicksohn, Filippo Carducci, Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan

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According to embodied cognition theories, higher-order cognitive functions and complex behaviors seems to be affected by bodily states. For example, the polyvagal theory suggests that the human autonomic nervous system evolved to support social interactions. Accordingly, integration and perception of information related to the physiological state arising from the peripherical nervous system (i.e., interoception) play a role in the regulation of social interaction by modulating emotional responses and prosocial behaviors. Moreover, recent studies showed that interoception is involved in the representations of conceptual knowledge, suggesting that the bodily information carried by the interoceptive system provides a perceptual basis for the embodiment of abstract concepts, especially those related to social and emotional domains. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies explored the relationship between interoception, prosocial behaviors, and conceptual representations. Considering the privileged position of interoception in mediating higher-order cognition and social interaction, we designed a cross-cultural study to explore the relationship between interoception, the sensitivity of bodily functions, and empathy. We recruited Italian, English, and Hebrew participants, and we asked them to fill in a questionnaire about empathy (Empathy Quotient), a questionnaire about bodily perception (Body Perception Questionnaire), and to rate different concrete and abstract concepts for the extent such concepts can be experienced through vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and interoception. We observed that in all languages, interoception ratings for abstract concepts were greater than for concrete concepts. Importantly, interoception ratings for abstract concepts were positively correlated with empathy and sensitivity of bodily functions. Our results suggest that participants with higher empathy and sensitivity of bodily functions show also a greater embodiment of abstract concepts in interoception, providing further evidence for the importance of the interoceptive system in regulating prosocial behaviors and integrating conceptual representations.

Keywords: conceptual representations, embodiment, empathy, empathy quotient, interoception, prosocial behaviors

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Authors: Sopio Totibadze

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Although the legal framework of Georgia reflects the main principles of gender equality and is in line with the international situation, Georgia remains a male-dominated society. This means that men prevail in many areas of social, economic, and political life, which frequently gives women a subordinate status in society and the family. According to the latest studies, “violence against women and girls in Georgia is also recognized as a public problem, and it is necessary to focus on it”. Moreover, the Public Defender's report (2019) reveals that “in the last five years, 151 women were killed in Georgia due to gender and family violence”. Unfortunately, there are frequent cases of crimes based on gender-based oppression in Georgia, which pose a threat not only to women but also to people of any gender whose desires and aspirations do not correspond to the gender norms and roles prevailing in society. It is well-known that language is often used as a tool for gender oppression. Therefore, feminist and gender studies in linguistics ultimately serve to represent the problem, reflect on it, and propose ways to solve it. Together with technical advancement in communication, a new form of discrimination has arisen- hate language against women in electronic media discourse. Due to the nature of social media and the internet, messages containing hate language can spread in seconds and reach millions of people. However, only a few know about the detrimental effects they may have on the addressee and society. This paper aims to analyse the hateful comments directed at women on various media platforms to determine the linguistic strategies used while attacking women and the reasons why women may fall victim to this type of hate language. The data have been collected over six months, and overall, 500 comments will be examined for the paper. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was chosen for the methodology of the study. The comments posted on various media platforms have been selected manually due to several reasons, the most important being the problem of identifying hate speech as it can disguise itself in different ways- humour, memes, etc. The comments on the articles, posts, pictures, and videos selected for sociolinguistic analysis depict a woman, a taboo topic, or a scandalous event centred on a woman that triggered hate language towards the person to whom the post/article was dedicated. The study has revealed that a woman can become a victim of hatred directed at them if they do something considered to be a deviation from a societal norm, namely, get a divorce, be sexually active, be vocal about feministic values, and talk about taboos. Interestingly, people who utilize hate language are not only men trying to “normalize” the prejudiced patriarchal values but also women who are equally active in bringing down a "strong" woman. The paper also aims to raise awareness about the hate language directed at women, as being knowledgeable about the issue at hand is the first step to tackling it.

Keywords: femicide, hate language, media discourse, sociolinguistics

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Authors: Hamdan Hamood Aldumaini, Amjad Hussein Meqdam, Shamsaldeen kassim Ali, Hamed Mohammed Al-Yousefi, Haron Ahmed Al-Badawi

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Background: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental challenge characterized by significant impairments in social interaction, communication, and behavioral patterns. Diagnosing ASD is challenging due to the lack of definitive medical tests, making early identification crucial. Therefore, increasing people's awareness about autism leads to early diagnosis and better prognosis. Objective: Our study aims to identify the initial symptoms prompting families to seek medical advice, determine the timeline between symptom onset and formal diagnosis, and explore methods for assessing the severity of ASD. Subjects and Methods: The study design employed was a descriptive cross-sectional design, which was suitable for the nature of the research. The data collection took place from March 5, 2022, to April 5, 2022, in Autism Rehabilitation Centers in Sana'a, Yemen. The study population consisted of all children who were diagnosed with autism and visited Autism rehabilitation centers in Sana'a city. The sample size was determined using Epi info version 7, and a total population of 587 autistic children attending the treatment was calculated, but only 250 children were included in this study (176 were male vs. 74 female). Result: In terms of sociability problems, it was found that a significant proportion of Yemeni children with autism experienced difficulties in this area. Specifically, 39.6% were classified as having severe sociability problems, while 28.4% were classified as having moderate issues. Sensory-cognitive awareness problems were also prevalent among the respondents, with 29.6% exhibiting severe difficulties in this domain. Health and physical problems were identified as significant concerns for Yemeni children with autism. The results indicated that 38.4% of the participants experienced severe health and physical issues. Identifying the first symptoms of autism is crucial for early detection and intervention. According to the study, speech delay was the most commonly observed first abnormality, reported by 71.3% of parents. Communication difficulties with others were the second most noticed abnormality, reported by 54.9% of parents. Repetitive movements were the third most commonly observed abnormality, reported by 18% of parents. Regarding the awareness among parents of ASD, our study showed that a significant portion (62%) of parents lack awareness about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its causes. Surprisingly, a majority of these parents (over 80%) believe that autism is a curable condition. Additionally, more than half (51.2%) of the parents surveyed reported insufficient knowledge about medication options available to support therapy and rehabilitation for their autistic children.

Keywords: autism characteristics, rehabilitation centres, yemen, children

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Authors: Mariam Shalaby, Kayla Krause, Raisha Ismail, Daniel George

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Introduction: The Pennsylvania State College of Medicine Refugee Initiative is a student-run organization that works with eleven Syrian and Congolese refugee families. Since 2016, it has used grant funding to make weekly produce purchases at a local market, provide tutoring services, and develop trusting relationships. This case study explains how the Refugee Initiative shifted focus to face new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methodology: When refugees who had previously attained stability found themselves unable to pay the bills, the organization shifted focus from food security to direct assistance such as applying for unemployment compensation since many had recently lost jobs. When refugee families additionally struggled to access hygiene supplies, funding was redirected to purchase them. Funds were also raised from the community to provide financial relief from unpaid rent and bills. Findings: Systemic challenges were encountered in navigating federal/state unemployment and social welfare systems, and there was a conspicuous absence of affordable, language-accessible assistance that could help refugees. Finally, as struggling public schools failed to maintain adequate English as a Second Language (ESL) education, the group’s tutoring services were hindered by social distancing and inconsistent access to distance-learning platforms. Conclusion: Ultimately, the pandemic highlighted that a charity-based arrangement is helpful but not sustainable, and challenges persist for refugee families. Based on the Refugee Initiative's experiences over the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, several needs must be addressed to aid refugee families at this time, including: increased access to affordable and language-accessible social services, educational resources, and simpler options for grant-based financial assistance. Interventions to increase these resources will aid refugee families in need in Central Pennsylvania and internationally

Keywords: COVID-19, health, pandemic, refugees

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Authors: Munawar Malik, Muntaha Ahmad, Khalil Ullah Khan

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Linguistic abilities in students with hearing impairment yet remain a concern for educationists. The emerging technological support and provisions in recent era vows to have addressed the situation and claims significant contribution in terms of linguistic repertoire. Being a descriptive and quantitative paradigm of study, the purpose of this research set forth was to assess linguistic competencies of students with hearing impairment in English language. The goals were further broken down to identify level of reading abilities in the subject population. The population involved students with HI studying at higher secondary level in Lahore. Simple random sampling technique was used to choose a sample of fifty students. A purposive curriculum-based assessment was designed in line with accelerated learning program by Punjab Government, to assess Linguistic competence among the sample. Further to it, an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) corresponding to reading levels was also developed by researchers duly validated and piloted before the final use. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to reach to the findings. Spearman’s correlation was used to find out relationship between degree of hearing loss, grade level, gender and type of amplification device. Independent sample t-test was used to compare means among groups. Major findings of the study revealed that students with hearing impairment exhibit significant deviation from the mean scores when compared in terms of grades, severity and amplification device. The study divulged that respective students with HI have yet failed to qualify an independent level of reading according to their grades as majority falls at frustration level of word recognition and passage comprehension. The poorer performance can be attributed to lower linguistic competence as it shows in the frustration levels of reading, writing and comprehension. The correlation analysis did reflect an improved performance grade wise, however scores could only correspond to frustration level and independent levels was never achieved. Reported achievements at instructional level of subject population may further to linguistic skills if practiced purposively.

Keywords: linguistic competence, hearing impairment, reading levels, educationist

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Authors: Natalia Zhabo, Sergey Nikitin, Marina Avdonina, Mariya Nikitina

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The analysis of the activities of one of the events of the international educational and entertainment project Velonotte is provided: an evening bicycle tour with children around Florence. The aim of the project is to develop methods and techniques for increasing the sensitivity of the cycling participants and listeners of the radio broadcasts to the treasures of the national heritage, in this case, to the historical layers of the city and the ecology of the Renaissance epoch. The block of educational tasks is considered, and the issues of preserving the identity of the city are discussed. Methods. The Florentine event was prepared during more than a year. First of all the creative team selected such events of the history of the city which seem to be important for revealing the specifics of the city, its spirit - from antiquity to our days – including the forums of Internet with broad public opinion. Then a route (seven kilometers) was developed, which was proposed to the authorities and organizations of the city. The selection of speakers was conducted according to several criteria: they should be authors of books, famous scientists, connoisseurs in a certain sphere (toponymy, history of urban gardens, art history), capable and willing to talk with participants directly at the points of stops, in order to make a dialogue and so that performances could be organized with their participation. The music was chosen for each part of the itinerary to prepare the audience emotionally. Cards for coloring with images of the main content of each stop were created for children. A site was done to inform the participants and to keep photos, videos and the audio files with speakers’ speech afterward. Results: Held in April 2017, the event was dedicated to the 640th Anniversary of the Filippo Brunelleschi, Florentine architect, and to the 190th anniversary of the publication of Florence guide by Stendhal. It was supported by City of Florence and Florence Bike Festival. Florence was explored to transfer traditional elements of culture, sometimes unfairly forgotten from ancient times to Brunelleschi and Michelangelo and Tschaikovsky and David Bowie with lectures by professors of Universities. Memorable art boards were installed in public spaces. Elements of the cultural code are deeply internalized in the minds of the townspeople, the perception of the city in everyday life and human communication is comparable to such fundamental concepts of the self-awareness of the townspeople as mental comfort and the level of happiness. The format of a fun and playful walk with the ICT support gives new opportunities for enriching the city's cultural code of each citizen with new components, associations, connotations.

Keywords: edutainment, cultural code, cycling, sensitization Florence

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Authors: Ponghyung Lee

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This study seeks to investigate the variations occurring to Korean consonantal variations center around laryngeal features of the concerned sounds, to the exclusion of others. Our fundamental premise is that the weak contrast associated with concerned segments might be held accountable for the oscillation of the status quo of the concerned consonants. What is more, we assume that an array of notions as a measure of communicative efficiency of linguistic units would be significantly influential on triggering those variations. To this end, we have tried to compute the surprisal, entropic contribution, and relative contrastiveness associated with Korean obstruent consonants. What we found therein is that the Information-theoretic perspective is compelling enough to lend support our approach to a considerable extent. That is, the variant realizations, chronologically and stylistically, prove to be profoundly affected by a set of Information-theoretic factors enumerated above. When it comes to the biblical proper names, we use Georgetown University CQP Web-Bible corpora. From the 8 texts (4 from Old Testament and 4 from New Testament) among the total 64 texts, we extracted 199 samples. We address the issue of laryngeal feature variations associated with Korean obstruent consonants under the presumption that the variations stem from the weak contrast among the triad manifestations of laryngeal features. The variants emerge from diverse sources in chronological and stylistic senses: Christianity biblical texts, ordinary casual speech, the shift of loanword adaptation over time, and ideophones. For the purpose of discussing what they are really like from the perspective of Information Theory, it is necessary to closely look at the data. Among them, the massive changes occurring to loanword adaptation of proper nouns during the centennial history of Korean Christianity draw our special attention. We searched 199 types of initially capitalized words among 45,528-word tokens, which account for around 5% of total 901,701-word tokens (12,786-word types) from Georgetown University CQP Web-Bible corpora. We focus on the shift of the laryngeal features incorporated into word-initial consonants, which are available through the two distinct versions of Korean Bible: one came out in the 1960s for the Protestants, and the other was published in the 1990s for the Catholic Church. Of these proper names, we have closely traced the adaptation of plain obstruents, e. g. /b, d, g, s, ʤ/ in the sources. The results show that as much as 41% of the extracted proper names show variations; 37% in terms of aspiration, and 4% in terms of tensing. This study set out in an effort to shed light on the question: to what extent can we attribute the variations occurring to the laryngeal features associated with Korean obstruent consonants to the communicative aspects of linguistic activities? In this vein, the concerted effects of the triad, of surprisal, entropic contribution, and relative contrastiveness can be credited with the ups and downs in the feature specification, despite being contentiousness on the role of surprisal to some extent.

Keywords: entropic contribution, laryngeal feature variation, relative contrastiveness, surprisal

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Authors: Josée Charette

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The academic and educational success of immigrant students is a current issue in education, especially in western societies such in the province of Quebec, in Canada. For people who immigrate with school-age children, the success of the family’s migratory project is often measured by the benefits drawn by children from the educational institutions of their host society. In order to support the academic achievement of their children, immigrant parents try to develop practices that derive from their representations of school and related challenges inspired by the socio-cultural context of their country of origin. These findings lead us to the following question: How does strategies implemented by immigrant parents to manage the representational distance between school of their country of origin and school of the host society support or not the academic and educational success of their child? In the context of a qualitative exploratory approach, we have made interviews in the French-, English- and Spanish-languages with 32 newly immigrated parents and 10 of their children. Parents were invited to complete a network of free associations about «School in Quebec» as a premise for the interview. The objective of this communication is to present strategies implemented by immigrant parents to manage the distance between their representations of schools in their country of origin and in the host society, and to explore the influence of this management on their child’s academic and educational trajectories. Data analysis led us to develop various types of strategies, such as continuity, adaptation, resources mobilization, compensation and "return to basics" strategies. These strategies seem to be part of a continuum from oppositional-conflict scenario, in which parental strategies act as a risk factor, to conciliator-integrator scenario, in which parental strategies act as a protective factor for immigrant students’ academic and educational success. In conclusion, we believe that our research helps in providing a more efficient support to immigrant parents and contributes to develop a wider portrait of immigrant students’ academic achievement. In addition, we think that by improving the experience of immigrant families in Quebec schools, a greater number of migratory projects will be effective.

Keywords: immigrant students, family’s migratory project, school of origin and school of host society, immigrants parental strategies

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Authors: Sima Modirkhamene, Arezoo Khezri

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The purpose of the present investigation was to probe the main motivational strategies Iranian school vs. institute teachers use in virtual and in-person classes to motivate students in learning the English language. Yet another purpose was to understand teachers’ perceptions about any modifications in their use of motivational strategies before and during/after the pandemic. For the purpose of this investigation, a total of 63 EFL teachers (35 female, 28 male) were conveniently sampled from schools and institutes in the cities of Mahabad and Sardasht. Moreover, for the interview phase of the study, 20 percent (n=16) of the sample was selected conveniently. The required data was gathered through a modified questionnaire (Cheng & Dornyei, 2007) consisting of 42 items and a set of semi-structured interviews. The outcomes of a set of non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests demonstrated that presenting tasks properly in online classes and familiarizing learners with L2- related values in in-person classes came out as the most influential source of motivational strategies practiced by EFL school teachers. Additionally, it was found that proper teacher behavior(showing enthusiasm) in both in-person and virtual classes and presenting tasks properly in in-person classes were overwhelmingly endorsed by EFL institute teachers. The study also portrayed no statistically significant mean difference between school and institute EFL teachers’ overall use of motivational strategies in virtual and in-person classes. The interview results indicated that the strategies of designing tasks through technological aids, provision of videos, gamification techniques, assigning projects, and delivering formative online feedback were held in high regard during/after the pandemic due to the high reliance of teaching on the Internet connection. Meanwhile, the research has indicated that the spread of COVID-19 was the main reason for teachers’ modifications in motivational strategies, in response to the crisis of the pandemic, all educational contexts at all levels resorted to online education as a result their strategies were adapted to the new situation. The findings brought to light through this investigation provided initial evidence of the unintended consequences of the pandemic on teachers’ strategic choices. Therefore, to deliver a better education for the future, the study suggests more concentration on the quality of teaching as well as reframing the status quo of teaching .

Keywords: virtual teaching, motivational teaching strategies, teaching context, online education

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Authors: S. Vaibhav Kant Sahu, Surabhi Bipin Seth

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Human well-being has multiple constituents including the basic material for a good life, freedom and choice, health, good social relations, and security. Poverty is also multidimensional and has been defined as the pronounced deprivation of well-being. Dhurwa tribe of Bastar (India) have symbiotic relation with nature, it provisions ecosystem service such as food, fuel and fiber; regulating services such as climate regulation and non-material benefits such as spiritual or aesthetic benefits and they are managing their forest from ages. The demand for ecosystem services is now so great that trade-off among services become rule. Aim of study to explore evidences for linkages between ecosystem services and well-being of indigenous community, how much it helps them in poverty reduction and interaction between them. Objective of study was to find drivers of change and evidence concerning link between ecosystem, human development and sustainability, evidence in decision making does it opt for multi sectoral objectives. Which means human well-being as the central focus for assessment, while recognizing that biodiversity and ecosystems also have intrinsic value. Ecosystem changes that may have little impact on human well-being over days or weeks may have pronounced impacts over years or decades; so assessments needed to be conducted at spatial and temporal scales under social, political, economic scales to have high-resolution data. Researcher used framework developed by Millennium ecosystem assessment; since human action now directly or unknowingly virtually alter ecosystem. Researcher used ethnography study to get primary qualitative data, secondary data collected from panchayat office. The responses were transcribed and translated into English, as interview held in Hindi and local indigenous language. Focus group discussion were held with group of 10 women at Tiriya village. Researcher concluded with well-being is not just gap between ecosystem service supply but also increases vulnerability. Decision can have consequences external to the decision framework these consequences are called externalities because they are not part of the decision-making calculus.

Keywords: Bastar, Dhurwa tribe, ecosystem services, millennium ecosystem assessment, sustainability

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Authors: Min Koo Choi

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The paper will examine Im Sun-dŭk’s two short stories, 'Iryoil' (Sunday, 1937) and 'Nazuoya' (A Godmother, 1942), which illuminate the subjects of Korean intellectuals going through the later period of a harsh and oppressive Japanese colonial rule. When Japan went to war against China in 1937, Korea, a colony of Japan since 1910, became an outpost for Japanese expansionism into China, and the Korean people were mobilized into the war effort. Nationalist movements and radical ideas that posed a threat and opposition to Japanese colonial rule in Korea and its colonial expansionism were ruthlessly suppressed, and Koreans were forcibly assimilated into becoming Japanese citizens without political rights. Racial discrimination between Koreans and Japanese was prevalent. Im Sun-dŭk, who participated in the Socialist movement in the 1930s, had his debut as a literary writer and a critic in the late 1930s, when Korean literary society was reincorporated in order to collaborate with the Japanese war effort through writing and public speech. Sun-duk's writing illuminates the unique internal landscape of a female subject who strives to live on while preserving her commitment and dignity under the circumstances that force Korean intellectuals either to collaborate with or acquiesce to Japanese colonial rule. 'Iryoil' (Sunday, 1937) foregrounds an educated intellectual, Hyeyŏng, who supplies her fiancé in prison for political involvement in resistance against Japan. On Sundays, she turns down her friends’ suggestion for enjoying holidays outside, due to her indebtedness to her fiancé. Her fiancé's imprisonment indicates the social conscience that still remains, and she seeks to share the commitment and suffering with her fiancé. The short story 'Nazuoya' (A Godmother, 1942), written in Japanese due to the suppression of Korean language publications at the time, also problematizes Japanese policy that forces Koreans to change their names into Japanese. Through the narrator I, who struggles to find a meaningful name for her cousin brother’s baby, she highlights how meaningful one’s name is for one’s life and identity. What makes her two stories unique is that her writing draws other people’s confessions into its own narrative through fragmentary forms, such as part of letter or reflection. The voices of others are intersected with the main character in 'Iryoil' (Sunday, 1937) and a narrator in 'Nazuoya' (A Godmother, 1942). In many ways, the narrator and main character provide the confessional voices who display the characters' gloomy interiorities. Even though these confessional voices do not share the commitment and values, both the main character and I in the stories reveal a more open set of viewpoints to them. In this way, they seek to form bonds and encouragement and acquire a more resilient sensibility that embraces those who strive to survive and endure in the gloomy days of the later period of Japanese colonial rule.

Keywords: Im Sun-dŭk, Japanese colonial rule, Korean literature, socialist movement

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Authors: Nidhi Malshe

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Background: Currently, there are approximately 1.3 billion individuals worldwide living with significant disabilities, which accounts for 16% of the global population—about 1 in 6 people. As the global population continues to grow, so does the number of people experiencing disabilities. Traffic accidents alone contribute to millions of injuries and disabilities each year, particularly among young people. Additionally, as life expectancy rises, more individuals are likely to experience disabilities in their later years. 27.0% of Canadians aged 15 and over, or 8 million people, had at least one disability in 2022. This represents an increase of 4.7 percentage points from 2017. A person with a disability earns 21.4% less on average as compared to a person without a disability. Using innovative and inclusive methods for accommodations, disability management, and employment, we can progress towards inclusive workplaces and potential income parity for this equity-seeking population. Objective: This study embraces innovative and inclusive approaches to disability management, thereby unlocking the advantages associated with a) fostering equal opportunities for all individuals, b) facilitating streamlined accommodations and making it easier for companies to accommodate people with disabilities, c) harnessing diverse perspectives to drive innovation and enhance overall productivity. Methodology: Literature review, assessments of specific needs and requirements in the workplace. a) Encourage the ability to think out of the box for potential workplace accommodations based on the specific needs of individuals. e.g., propose prolonged integration post disability. b) Perform a cost-benefit analysis of early interventions of return to work vs. duration on disability. c) Expand the scope of vocational assessment/retraining – e.g., retraining a person with permanent physical impairment to become a video game coder. d) Leverage the use of technology while planning to return to work e.g., speech-to-text software for persons with voice impairments. Hypothesized Results: Prolonged progression of return to work increases the potential for sustainable and productive employment. Co-developing a person-centric accommodation plan based on reported functional abilities and applying pioneering methods for extending accommodations to prevent secondary disabilities. Facilitate a sense of belonging by providing employees with benefits and initiatives that honor their unique contributions. Engage individuals with disabilities as active members of the planning committee to ensure the development of innovative and inclusive accommodations that address the needs of all. Conclusion: The global pandemic underscored the need for creativity in our daily routine. It is imperative to integrate the lessons learned from the pandemic, enhance them within employment, and return to work processes. These learnings can also be used to develop creative, distinct methods to ensure equal opportunities for everyone.

Keywords: disbaility management, diversity, inclusion, innovation

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Authors: J. Banski

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Regardless of residence place, the type of business and the social system, an individual or groups of people use the accumulated knowledge and continuously deepen and expand its scope. Knowledge is needed by human beings to carry out certain tasks, achieve desired goals or make decisions. Knowledge is an attribute of the people of a region and is identified with the total experience and information that its residents and institutions possess, including the ability to use it. It is subject to constant development, which is the result of both the deepening and exchange of knowledge among the residents of a particular area, as well as the influx of knowledge with newly arriving residents. A good example of the aforementioned processes is in rural areas, where we are dealing with two basic groups of people between whom knowledge transfer takes place. The first group is made up of people who have lived in the village for a long time, while the second group is made up of people who migrate temporarily or permanently to the countryside. The English-language literature uses the terms oldtimers and newcomers for these groups, respectively. Newcomers, usually possessing different life experiences, cultural patterns and competencies, can be rich sources of knowledge for villagers. At the same time, the latter, with different knowledge and experience, along with knowledge of local conditions and customs, can also be an important source of knowledge for incomers to the countryside. The countryside is a particularly interesting environment for studying social interactions and the accompanying transfer of knowledge. This is because it is characterized by a high intensity of neighborly contact and a high level of trust in the private sphere. As a result of the migratory influx of new residents, the social and cultural image of the countryside is changing due to the interpenetration of urban and rural life patterns. Research on rural-urban knowledge transfer is both an opportunity to halt negative trends in the social and economic development of rural areas and support the establishment of a basis for rural renewal. This paper discusses the results of research on urban-rural knowledge transfer based on case studies carried out in a dozen villages from different regions of Poland. Their purpose was to answer three basic research questions: 1) what types of knowledge are transferred between urban and rural residents? 2) what are the main directions and intensity in knowledge transfer? And 3) what are the consequences of knowledge transfer between urban and rural residents?

Keywords: rural areas, villages, newcomers, knowledge transfer, Poland

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Authors: Denise Levy, Anna Lucia C. H. Villavicencio

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In a rapid-changing world, science teachers face considerable challenges. In addition to the basic curriculum, there must be included several transversal themes, which demand creative and innovative strategies to be arranged and integrated to traditional disciplines. In Brazil, nuclear science is still a controversial theme, and teachers themselves seem to be unaware of the issue, most often perpetuating prejudice, errors and misconceptions. This article presents the authors’ experience in the development of an interdisciplinary pedagogical proposal to include nuclear science in the basic curriculum, in a transversal and integrating way. The methodology applied was based on the analysis of several normative documents that define the requirements of essential learning, competences and skills of basic education for all schools in Brazil. The didactic materials and resources were developed according to the best practices to improve learning processes privileging constructivist educational techniques, with emphasis on active learning process, collaborative learning and learning through research. The material consists of an illustrated book for students, a book for teachers and a manual with activities that can articulate nuclear science to different disciplines: Portuguese, mathematics, science, art, English, history and geography. The content counts on high scientific rigor and articulate nuclear technology with topics of interest to society in the most diverse spheres, such as food supply, public health, food safety and foreign trade. Moreover, this pedagogical proposal takes advantage of the potential value of digital technologies, implementing QR codes that excite and challenge students of all ages, improving interaction and engagement. The expected results include the education of the educators for nuclear science communication in a transversal and integrating way, demystifying nuclear technology in a contextualized and significant approach. It is expected that the interdisciplinary pedagogical proposal contributes to improving attitudes towards knowledge construction, privileging reconstructive questioning, fostering a culture of systematic curiosity and encouraging critical thinking skills.

Keywords: science education, interdisciplinary learning, nuclear science, scientific literacy

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Authors: Chung-Yuan Wang, Kai-Chun Lee, Min-Hung Wang, Yu-Ren Chen, Hung-Sheng Lin, Sen-Shan Fan

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Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) was launched in 1995. It is an important social welfare policy in Taiwan. Regardless of the diversified social and economic status, universal coverage of NHI was assured. In order to regain better self-care performance, stroke people received in-patient and out-patient rehabilitation. Though NHI limited the rehabilitation frequency to one per day, the cost of rehabilitation still increased rapidly. Through the intensive rehabilitation during the post-stroke rehabilitation golden period, stroke patients might decrease their disability and shorten the rehabilitation period. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intensive post-acute stroke rehabilitation in hospital under per diem payment. This study was started from 2014/03/01. The stroke patients who were admitted to our hospital or medical center were indicated to the study. The neurologists would check his modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Only patients with their mRS score between 2 and 4 were included to the study. Patients with unclear consciousness, unstable medical condition, unclear stroke onset date and no willing for 3 weeks in-patient intensive rehabilitation were excluded. After the physiatrist’s systemic evaluation, the subjects received intensive rehabilitation programs. The frequency of rehabilitation was thrice per day. Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech/swallowing therapy were included in the programs for the needs of the stroke patients. Activity daily life performance (Barthel Index) and functional balance ability (Berg Balance Scale) were used to measure the training effect. During 3/1 to 5/31, thirteen subjects (five male and eight female) were included. Seven subjects were aged below 60. Three subjects were aged over 70. Most of the subjects (seven subjects) received intensive post-stroke rehabilitation for three weeks. Three subjects drop out from the programs and went back home respectively after receiving only 7, 10, and 13 days rehabilitation. Among these 13 subjects, nine of them got improvement in activity daily life performance (Barthel Index score). Ten of them got improvement in functional balance ability (Berg Balance Scale). The intensive post-acute stroke rehabilitation did help stroke patients promote their health in our study. Not only their functional performance improved, but also their self-confidence improved. Furthermore, their family also got better health status. Stroke rehabilitation under per diem payment was noted in long-term care institution in developed countries. Over 95% populations in Taiwan were supported under the Taiwan's National Health Insurance system, but there was no national long-term care insurance system. Most of the stroke patients in Taiwan live with his family and continue their rehabilitation programs from out-patient department. This pilot study revealed the effect of intensive post-acute stroke rehabilitation in hospital under per diem payment. The number of the subjects and the study period were limited. Thus, further study will be needed.

Keywords: rehabilitation, post-acute stroke, per diem payment, NHI

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Authors: Bela Lebedeva

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Characteristics of the Web as a channel of information dissemination - accessibility and openness, interactivity and multimedia news - become wider and cover the audience quickly, positively affecting the perception of content, but blur out the understanding of the journalistic work. As a result audience and advertisers continue migrating to the Internet. Moreover, online targeting allows monetizing not only the audience (as customarily given to traditional media) but also the content and traffic more accurately. While the users identify themselves with the qualitative characteristics of the new market, its actors are formed. Conflict of interests is laid in the base of the economy of their relations, the problem of traffic tax as an example. Meanwhile, content monetization actualizes fiscal interest of the state too. The balance of supply and demand is often violated due to the political risks, particularly in terms of state capitalism, populism and authoritarian methods of governance such social institutions as the media. A unique example of access to journalistic material, limited by monetization of content is a television channel Dozhd' (Rain) in Russian web space. Its liberal-minded audience has a better possibility for discussion. However, the channel could have been much more successful in terms of unlimited free speech. Avoiding state pressure and censorship its management has decided to save at least online performance and monetizing all of the content for the core audience. The study Methodology was primarily based on the analysis of journalistic content, on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the audience. Reconstructing main events and relationships of actors on the market for the last six years researcher has reached some conclusions. First, under the condition of content monetization the capitalization of its quality will always strive to quality characteristics of user, thereby identifying him. Vice versa, the user's demand generates high-quality journalism. The second conclusion follows the previous one. The growth of technology, information noise, new political challenges, the economy volatility and the cultural paradigm change – all these factors form the content paying model for an individual user. This model defines him as a beneficiary of specific knowledge and indicates the constant balance of supply and demand other conditions being equal. As a result, a new economic quality of information is created. This feature is an indicator of the market as a self-regulated system. Monetized information quality is less popular than that of the Public Broadcasting Service, but this audience is able to make decisions. These very users keep the niche sectors which have more potential of technology development, including the content monetization ways. The third point of the study allows develop it in the discourse of media space liberalization. This cultural phenomenon may open opportunities for the development of social and economic relations architecture both locally and regionally.

Keywords: content monetization, state capitalism, media liberalization, media economy, information quality

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Authors: Visvaganthie Moodley

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While rhetoric goes back as far as Aristotle who focalised its meaning as the “art of persuasion”, most scholars have focused on elocutio and dispositio canons, neglecting the rhetorical impact of multimodal texts, such as documentaries. Film documentaries are being increasingly rhetoric, often used by wildlife conservationists for influencing people to become more mindful about humanity’s connection with nature. This paper examines the award-winning film documentary, “My Octopus Teacher”, which depicts naturalist, Craig Foster’s unique discovery and relationship with a female octopus in the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Storms in South Africa. It is anchored in Leech and Short’s (2007) framework of linguistic and stylistic categories – comprising lexical items, grammatical features, figures of speech and other rhetoric features, and cohesiveness – with particular foci on diction, anthropomorphic language, metaphors and symbolism. It also draws on Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) multimodal analysis to show how verbal cues (the narrator’s commentary), visual images in motion, visual images as metaphors and symbolism, and aural sensory images such as music and sound synergise for rhetoric effect. In addition, the analysis of “My Octopus Teacher” is guided by Nichol’s (2010) narrative theory; features of a documentary which foregrounds the credibility of the narrative as a text that represents real events with real people; and its modes of construction, viz., the poetic mode, the expository mode, observational mode and participatory mode, and their integration – forging documentaries as multimodal texts. This paper presents a multimodal rhetoric discussion on the sequence of salient episodes captured in the slow moving one-and-a-half-hour documentary. These are: (i) The prologue: on the brink of something extraordinary; (ii) The day it all started; (iii) The narrator’s turmoil: getting back into the ocean; (iv) The incredible encounter with the octopus; (v) Establishing a relationship; (vi) Outwitting the predatory pyjama shark; (vii) The cycle of life; and (viii) The conclusion: lessons from an octopus. The paper argues that wildlife documentaries, characterized by plausibility and which provide researchers the lens to examine the ideologies about animals and humans, offer an assimilation of the various senses – vocal, visual and audial – for engaging viewers in stylized compelling way; they have the ability to persuade people to think and act in particular ways. As multimodal texts, with its use of lexical items; diction; anthropomorphic language; linguistic, visual and aural metaphors and symbolism; and depictions of anthropocentrism, wildlife documentaries are powerful resources for promoting wildlife conservation and conscientizing people of the need for establishing a harmonious relationship with nature and humans alike.

Keywords: documentaries, multimodality, rhetoric, style, wildlife, conservation

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Authors: Igor A. Bessmertny, Bidru C. Enkomaryam

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Active involving patients and communities in health decisions can improve both people’s health and the healthcare system. Adopting artificial intelligence can lead to more accurate and complete patient record management. This review aims to identify the current state of researches conducted using artificial intelligence techniques to improve patient engagement and wellbeing, medical domains used in patient engagement context, and lastly, to assess opportunities and challenges for patient engagement in the wellness process. A search of peer-reviewed publications, reviews, conceptual analyses, white papers, author’s manuscripts and theses was undertaken. English language literature published in 2013– 2022 period and publications, report and guidelines of World Health Organization (WHO) were also assessed. About 281 papers were retrieved. Duplicate papers in the databases were removed. After application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 41 papers were included to the analysis. Patient counseling in preventing adverse drug events, in doctor-patient risk communication, surgical, drug development, mental healthcare, hypertension & diabetes, metabolic syndrome and non-communicable chronic diseases are implementation areas in healthcare where patient engagement can be implemented using artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning and deep learning techniques and tools. The five groups of factors that potentially affecting patient engagement in safety are related to: patient, health conditions, health care professionals, tasks and health care setting. Active involvement of patients and families can help accelerate the implementation of healthcare safety initiatives. In sub-Saharan Africa, using digital technologies like artificial intelligence in patient engagement context is low due to poor level of technological development and deployment. The opportunities and challenges available to implement patient engagement strategies vary greatly from country to country and from region to region. Thus, further investigation will be focused on methods and tools using the potential of artificial intelligence to support more simplified care that might be improve communication with patients and train health care professionals.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, patient engagement, machine learning, patient involvement

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Authors: Tiera Tanksley, Amanda M. McLeroy

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The advent of technology and social media has ushered in a new era of communication, providing platforms for news dissemination and cause advocacy. However, this digital landscape has also exposed a distressing phenomenon termed "Black death," or trauma porn. This paper delves into the profound effects of repeated exposure to traumatic content on Black youth via social media, exploring the psychological impacts and potential reinforcing of stereotypes. Employing Critical Race Technology Theory (CRTT), the study sheds light on algorithmic anti-blackness and its influence on Black youth's lives and educational experiences. Through ethnographic content analysis, the research investigates common manifestations of Black death encountered online by Black adolescents. Findings unveil distressing viral videos, traumatic images, racial slurs, and hate speech, perpetuating stereotypes. However, amidst the distress, the study identifies narratives of activism and social justice on social media platforms, empowering Black youth to engage in positive change. Coping mechanisms and community support emerge as significant factors in navigating the digital landscape. The study underscores the need for comprehensive interventions and policies informed by evidence-based research. By addressing algorithmic anti-blackness and promoting digital resilience, the paper advocates for a more empathetic and inclusive online environment. Understanding coping mechanisms and community support becomes imperative for fostering mental well-being among Black adolescents navigating social media. In education, the implications are substantial. Acknowledging the impact of Black death content, educators play a pivotal role in promoting media literacy and digital resilience. Creating inclusive and safe online spaces, educators can mitigate negative effects and encourage open discussions about traumatic content. The application of CRTT in educational technology emphasizes dismantling systemic biases and promoting equity. In conclusion, this study calls for educators to be cognizant of the impact of Black death content on social media. By prioritizing media literacy, fostering digital resilience, and advocating for unbiased technologies, educators contribute to an inclusive and just educational environment for all students, irrespective of their race or background. Addressing challenges related to Black death content proactively ensures the well-being and mental health of Black adolescents, fostering an empathetic and inclusive digital space.

Keywords: algorithmic anti-Blackness, digital resilience, media literacy, traumatic content

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Authors: Abdullah Alassiri

Abstract:

Prompted by the widespread saturation of Facebook usage in Saudi Arabia, among university students to socialize with online members, this study investigated the usage, self-presentation, psychological and sociological consequences of the Facebook social networking site among undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia. The problem statement of this study was addressed by answering the following questions: 1) What motivation do undergraduate students have for joining Facebook? 2) How do undergraduate students consume Facebook? 3) In what condition do undergraduate students need Facebook? 4) How do undergraduate students manage their self-presentation via Facebook? 5) What are the experiences obtained by the undergraduate students from Facebook psychologically? 6) What are the experiences obtained by the undergraduate students from Facebook sociologically? 7) How have Facebook activities affected the lifestyle of the undergraduate students?. These questions were answered by analyzing in-depth interview data collected from twenty male undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 24 years selected from King Saud University (KSU) and King Khalid University (KKU) Saudi Arabia. Using thematic analysis, informants data were coded ‘R1 to R20’, validated and was transcribed to minimize error from translating into the study items from Arabic back to the English Language. Using purposive sampling method, informant perspective within the research context were explored. Data collection was confined to students’ motivations for engaging in online activities, self-presentation, psychological and sociological consequences to their everyday life was investigated based on the theoretical and philosophical perspective underpinnings media and gratification paradigm and social influence theory. The findings contributed to the development of important study themes that supported the development of a new research framework. Based on the analysis, all the study questions were answered. The findings of this study showed that the students use Facebook for the purpose of interacting with others, getting information and as knowledge sources. In terms of self-presentation, this study revealed that the students portray themselves in the real and not fake image while socializing with others. Psychological and sociological consequences from the usage of Facebook are recorded ranging from cheerful to stress and from loneliness to having many friends. As a conclusion, this study conclusively drew that Facebook is a very persuasive medium of communication among the University students in Saudi Arabia that bridges across socio-cultural boundaries and unite students to interact as a community.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Facebook, undergraduate students, social network

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