Search results for: native american literature

Authors: Colm Barcoe, Garvan Whelan

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This study examines how a destination marketing organisation can use social media channels to engage the interests of the US and Canadian markets in a way that maximises the number of visits (and revisits) to Ireland. The research reveals how the cultural link between Ireland and North America is exploited through the use of social media strategies. The findings are based on quantitative and qualitative empirical data obtained through a survey of North American holidaymakers in the pre, during and post trip phases coupled with in-depth interviews of 20 industry experts who are responsible for the implementation of relationship marketing strategies for this segment. The qualitative data was analysed using Netnography in order to provide insights into the effectiveness of various social media channels in developing cultural links between Ireland and North American tourists. The findings of this investigation will extend an under-researched body of literature pertaining to Ireland and North America. The empirical evidence of this study will be of value to both academics and industry practitioners.

Keywords: Ireland, marketing, North America, relationship, strategies

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Authors: Eileen Y. Wong, Katherine Jin, Anat Talmon

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Background: Help seeking behaviors are highly contingent on socio-cultural factors such as ethnicity. Both Latino and Asian Americans underutilize mental health services compared to their White American counterparts. This difference may be related to the composite of one’s social support system, which includes family cohesion and social networks. Previous studies have found that Latino families are characterized by higher levels of family cohesion and social support, and Asian American families with greater family cohesion exhibit lower levels of help seeking behaviors. While both are broadly considered collectivist communities, within-culture variability is also significant. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between help seeking behaviors in the two cultures with levels of family cohesion and strength of social network. We also consider such relationships in light of previous traumatic events and diagnoses, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to understand whether clinically diagnosed individuals differ in their strength of network and help seeking behaviors. Method: An adult sample (N = 2,990) from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) provided data on participants’ social network, family cohesion, likelihood of seeking professional help, and DSM-IV diagnoses. T-tests compared Latino American (n = 1,576) and Asian American respondents (n = 1,414) in strength of social network, level of family cohesion, and likelihood of seeking professional help. Linear regression models were used to identify the probability of help-seeking behavior based on ethnicity, PTSD diagnosis, and strength of social network. Results: Help-seeking behavior was significantly associated with family cohesion and strength of social network. It was found that higher frequency of expressing one’s feelings with family significantly predicted lower levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [-.072], p = .017), while higher frequency of spending free time with family significantly predicted higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.129], p = .002) in the Asian American sample. Subjective importance of family relations compared to that of one’s peers also significantly predict higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.095], p = .011) in the Asian American sample. Frequency of sharing one’s problems with relatives significantly predicted higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.113], p < .01) in the Latino American sample. A PTSD diagnosis did not have any significant moderating effect. Conclusion: Considering the underutilization of mental health services in Latino and Asian American minority groups, it is crucial to understand ways in which help seeking behavior can be encouraged. Our findings suggest that different dimensions within family cohesion and social networks have differential impacts on help-seeking behavior. Given the multifaceted nature of family cohesion and cultural relevance, the implications of our findings for theory and practice will be discussed.

Keywords: family cohesion, social networks, Asian American, Latino American, help-seeking behavior

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Authors: Atef Mohamed Kamel Ahmed

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House crows (Corvus splendens) have become well-established in Ismailia Governorate, Egypt, where they pose several and serious impacts on native biodiversity, ecosystems and humans health. However, there is a lack of literature on the status and effects of invasive birds in Egypt. Over the past 10 years in Ismailia, House crow have increased at a rate approaching (60000 birds)15% per annum; if this were allowed to continue, the population now 10909 birds and will exceed more by 2013, probably accompanied by an increase in geographical distribution in all Suez canal regions and an exacerbation of the problems caused. Population control is recommended, involving improvements in urban hygiene and the capture of adult crows using stupefying baits. Suitable baits and stupefacient doses were identified and these should be used annually, just before the breeding season. Control should be accompanied by studies of relevant aspects of the biology of house crows in Ismailia Governorate.

Keywords: environmental impact t, non-native invasive species, House crow birds, risk management, Ismailia-Egypt

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Authors: Ngan Nguyen

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The study analyses adjectives collocating with the word ‘education’ in the American language of the Corpus of Global Web-based English using a combination of corpus linguistic and discourse analytical methods to examine not only language patterns but also social political ideologies around the topic. Significant conclusions are deduced: (1) there are a large number of adjectival collocates of the word education which have been identified and classified into four categories representing four different aspects of education: level, quality, forms and types of education; (2) education, as in combination with three first categories, carries the meaning as the act and process of teaching and learning while with the last category having the meaning of a particular kind of teaching or training; (3) higher education is the topic that gains most concerns from the American public; (4) five most significant ideologies are discovered from the corpus: higher education associates with financial affairs, higher education is an industry, monetary policy of the government on higher education, people require greater accessibility to higher education and people value higher education. The study contributes to the field of developing meanings of words through corpus analysis and the field of discourse analysis.

Keywords: adjectival collocation, American context, corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, education

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Authors: Tugce Caliskan

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The gentrification literature in Turkey provided important insights regarding the analysis of the socio-spatial change in İstanbul mostly through the existing gentrification theories which were produced in Anglo-American literature. Yet early researches focused on the classical gentrification while failing to notice other place-specific forms of the phenomena. It was only after the mid-2000s that scholarly attention shifted to the recent discussions in the mainstream such as the neoliberal urban policies, government involvement, and resistance. Although these studies have considerable potential to contribute to the geography of gentrification, it seems that copying the linear timeline of Anglo-American conceptualization limited the space to introduce contextually nuanced way of process in Turkey. More specifically, the gentrification literature in Turkey acknowledged the linear timeline of the process drawing on the mainstream studies, and, made the spontaneous classical gentrification as the starting point in İstanbul at the expense of contextually specific forms of the phenomenon that took place in the same years. This paper is an attempt to understand place-specific forms of gentrification through the abandonment of the linear understanding of time. In this vein, this paper approaches the process as moving both linear and cyclical rather than the waves succeeded each other. Maintaining a dialectical relationship between the cyclical and the linear time, this paper investigates how the components of gentrification have been taken place in the cyclical timeline while becoming bolder in the linear timeline. This paper argues that taking the (re)investment in the secondary circuit of capital and class transformation as the core characteristics of gentrification, and accordingly, searching for these components beyond the linear timeline provide strategic value to decenter the perspectives, not merely for Turkish studies. In this vein, this strategy revealed that Western experience of gentrification did not travel, adopted or copied in Turkey but gentrification -as an abstract and general concept- has emerged as a product of different contextual, historical and temporal forces which must be considered within the framework of state-led urbanization as early as 1980 differing from the Global North trajectories.

Keywords: comparative urbanism, geography of gentrification, linear and cyclical timeline, state-led gentrification

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Authors: Michaela Wang

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Since British established colonial settlements across the East Coast, Native Americans have suffered stark socio economic disparities in comparison to their neighboring communities. This paper employs the 1990, 2000, and 2010 United States Decennial Census to assess whether and to what extent the casino economy helped to close this socioeconomic gap between the Mohegan tribe and its surrounding community. These three Decennial Censuses cover two decades, from six years prior to the erection of Mohegan Sun casino to 14 years afterwards, including the Great Recession 2007-2009. Income, employment, education and housing parameters are selected as socio economic indicators. The profitable advent of the Mohegan Sun in 1996 dramatically improved the socio economic status of the Mohegan Tribe between 1990 and 2000. In fact, for most of these indicators––poverty, median household income, employment, home ownership, and car ownership––disparities shifted; tribal socioeconomic parameters improved from well below the level of New London County in 1990, to the same level or above the county rates in 2000. However, economic downturn in 2007-2009 Great Recession impacted Mohegan people remarkably. By 2010, disparities for household income, employment, home ownership, and car ownership returned. The casino bridged socio economic inequalities, but at the face of economic crises, the mono-product economy grew vulnerable.

Keywords: socio economic, indigenous, native American, disparity

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Authors: Masami Usui

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After 9/11, the American literary scene was confronted with new perspectives that enabled both writers and readers to recognize the hidden aspects of their political, economic, legal, social, and cultural phenomena. There appeared an argument over new and challenging multicultural aspects after 9/11 and this argument is presented by a tension of space related to 9/11. In Amy Waldman’s the Submission (2011), designing both the memorial park and the family network has a significant meaning in establishing the progress of understanding from multiple perspectives. The most intriguing and controversial topic of racism is reflected in the Submission, where one young architect’s blind entry to the competition for the memorial of Ground Zero is nominated, yet he is confronted with strong objections and hostility as soon as he turns out to be a Muslim named Mohammad Khan. This ‘Khan’ issue, immediately enlarged into a social controversial issue on American soil, causes repeated acts of hostility to Muslim women by ignorant citizens all over America. His idea of the park is to design a new concept of tracing the cultural background of the open space. Against his will, his name is identified as the ‘ingredient’ of the networking of the resistant community with his supporters: on the other hand, the post 9/11 hysteria and victimization is presented in such family associations as the Angry Family Members and Grieving Family Members. These rapidly expanding networks, whether political or not, constructed by the internet, embody the contemporary societal connection and representation. The contemporary quest for the significance of human relationships is recognized as a quest for global peace. Designing both the memorial park and the communication networks strengthens a process of facing the shared conflicts and healing the survivors’ trauma. The tension between the idea and networking of the Garden for the memorial site and the collapse of Ground Zero signifies the double mission of the site: to establish the space to ease the wounded and to remember the catastrophe. Reading the design of these icons of 9/11 in the Submission means that decoding the myth of globalization and its representations in this century.

Keywords: American literature, cultural studies, globalization, literature of catastrophe

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Authors: Erkingul Soltanaeva, Omyrkhan Abdimanuly, Alua Temirbolat

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In this article, the public and social functions of literature and art in the Republic of Kazakhstan were analyzed on the basis of formal and informal literary organizations. The external and internal, subjective and objective factors which influenced the modern literary process were determined. The literary forces, their consolidation, types of organization in the art of word were examined. The periods of the literary process as planning, organization, promotion, and evaluation and their leading forces and approaches were analyzed. The right point of view to the language and mentality of the society force will influence to the literary process. The Ministry of Culture, the Writers' Union of RK and various non-governmental organizations are having different events for the promotion of literary process and to glorify literary personalities in the entire territory of Kazakhstan. According to the cultural plan of different state administration, there was a big program in order to publish their literary encyclopedia, to glorify and distribute books of own poets and writers of their region to the country. All of these official measures will increase the reader's interest in the book and will also bring up people to the patriotic education and improve the status of the native language. The professional literary publications such as the newspaper ‘Kazakh literature’, magazine ‘Zhuldyz’, and journal ‘Zhalyn’ materials which were published in the periods 2013-2015 on the basis of statistical analysis of the Kazakh literature topical to the issues and the field of themes are identified and their level of connection with the public situations are defined. The creative freedom, relations between society and the individual, the state of the literature, the problems of advantages and disadvantages were taken into consideration in the same articles. The level of functions was determined through the public role of literature, social feature, personal peculiarities. Now the stages as the literature management planning, organization, motivation, as well as the evaluation are forming and developing in Kazakhstan. But we still need the development of literature management to satisfy the actual requirements of the today’s agenda.

Keywords: literature management, material, literary process, social functions

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Authors: Sulmaz Mozaffari, Zahra Mozaffari, Saman Mozaffari

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Erotic literature is a branch in modern literature which has the key terms of woman and her sexual desire. It has so many supporters and it is growing to be more important everyday and in such a way that it is criticized on social medias. To create their work in that part of literature, the authors take the woman into consideration to explore the cultural, social, and political theories. In this research, the author gives an analysis of the erotic literature in Asia and the role of woman as the main element in it.

Keywords: erotic literature, social media, woman, attract addressee

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Authors: Basmah Arshad

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In the aftermath of the Cambodian genocide, many refugees resettled in America. They carved out a distinctively Cambodian-American space in California with donut shops, establishing a tight-knit community that worked to achieve ‘the American dream’. Urged by traumatic memories of the genocide and American society directly encouraging (if not demanding) cultural assimilation, these refugees and successive generations continuously worked to re-identify themselves as Americans. Artist Phung Huynh grew up in this context of family-owned donut shops and the frantic scramble for stability and security. It is this community that she depicts in her artwork series from the late 2010s, ‘Khmerican: Drawing on Pink Donut Boxes’. Huynh's artwork challenges dominant Western narratives about the Cambodian genocide by pushing forward images of resilience, resistance, and joy, while also allowing for a discussion about issues of assimilation, identity, and nostalgia in the Cambodian-American community. It also provokes deeply relevant questions about how refugees and immigrants deliberately appropriate elements of the Americana (eg, donuts) to assimilate and re-fashion their identity as a tactic for financial stability and social survival.

Keywords: Cambodian diaspora, cultural identity, assimilation, food, artwork

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Authors: Deawan Rakin Ahamed Remal, Sinthia Chowdhury, Sharun Akter Khushbu, Sheak Rashed Haider Noori

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Native Speech to text synthesis has its own leverage for the purpose of mankind. The extensive nature of art to speaking different accents is common but the purpose of communication between two different accent types of people is quite difficult. This problem will be motivated by the extraction of the wrong perception of language meaning. Thus, many existing automatic speech recognition has been placed to detect text. Overall study of this paper mentions a review of NSTTR (Native Speech Text to Text Recognition) synthesis compared with Text to Text recognition. Review has exposed many text to text recognition systems that are at a very early stage to comply with the system by native speech recognition. Many discussions started about the progression of chatbots, linguistic theory another is rule based approach. In the Recent years Deep learning is an overwhelming chapter for text to text learning to detect language nature. To the best of our knowledge, In the sub continent a huge number of people speak in Bangla language but they have different accents in different regions therefore study has been elaborate contradictory discussion achievement of existing works and findings of future needs in Bangla language acoustic accent.

Keywords: TTR, NSTTR, text to text recognition, deep learning, natural language processing

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Authors: Tomasz Raczyński

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Non-native and invasive species negatively transform ecosystems. Non-native fish species can displace native fish species through competition, predation, disrupting spawning, transforming ecosystems, or transmitting parasites. This influence is more and more noticeable in Poland and in the world. From December 2014 to October 2020, did catch of fishes by electrofishing method carried on 416 sites in various parts of Poland. Research was conducted in both running and stagnant freshwaters with the predominance of running waters. Only sites where the presence of fish was found were analysed. The research covered a wide spectrum of waters from small mountain streams, through drainage ditches to the largest Polish river - the Vistula. Single sites covered oxbow lakes, small ponds and lakes. Electrofishing was associated with ichthyofauna inventories and was mainly aimed at detecting protected species of fish and lampreys or included in the annexes to the EU Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora). The results of these catches were analysed for alien and invasive fish species. The analysis of the catch structure shows that in 71 out of 416 research sites was found alien and invasive fish species, belonging to 9 taxa. According to the above, alien species of fish are present in 17% of the study sites. The most frequently observed species was the Prussian carp Carassius gibelio, which was recorded on 43 sites. Stone moroko Pseudorasbora parva was found on 24 sites. Chinese sleeper Perccottus glenii was found on 6 sites, and Bullhead Ameiurus sp. was also found on 6 sites. Western tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris was found at 5 sites and Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss at 3 sites. Monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis, Round goby Neogobius melanostomus and Eurasian carp Cyprinus carpio was recorded on 2 sites.

Keywords: non-native species, invasive species, fish species, invasive fish species, native fish species

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Authors: Raúl Jiménez Vilches

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Native (L1) speakers can mark prosodically one part of an utterance and make it more relevant as opposed to the rest of the constituents. Conversely, non-native (L2) speakers encounter problems when it comes to marking prosodically information structure in English. In fact, the L2 speaker’s choice for the prosodic realization of focus is not so clear and often obscures the intended pragmatic meaning and the communicative value in general. This paper reports some of the findings obtained in an L2 prosodic training course for Spanish learners of English within the context of public speaking. More specifically, it analyses the effects of the course experiment in relation to the non-native production of the tonic syllable to mark focus and compares it with the public speeches delivered by native English speakers. The whole experimental training was executed throughout eighteen input sessions (1,440 minutes total time) and all the sessions took place in the classroom. In particular, the first part of the course provided explicit instruction on the recognition and production of the tonic syllable and how the tonic syllable is used to express focus. The non-native and native oral presentations were acoustically analyzed using Praat software for speech analysis (7,356 words in total). The investigation adopted mixed and embedded methodologies. Quantitative information is needed when measuring acoustically the phonetic realization of focus. Qualitative data such as questionnaires, interviews, and observations were also used to interpret the quantitative data. The embedded experiment design was implemented through the analysis of the public speeches before and after the intervention. Results indicate that, even after the L2 prosodic training course, Spanish learners of English still show some major inconsistencies in marking focus effectively. Although there was occasional improvement regarding the choice for location and word classes, Spanish learners were, in general, far from achieving similar results to the ones obtained by the English native speakers in the two types of focus. The prosodic realization of focus seems to be one of the hardest areas of the English prosodic system to be mastered by Spanish learners. A funded research project is in the process of moving the present classroom-based experiment to an online environment (mobile app) and determining whether there is a more effective focus usage through CAPT (Computer-Assisted Pronunciation) tools.

Keywords: focus, prosody, public speaking, Spanish learners of English

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Authors: Jessie André

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In the past 10 years, more studies have begun exploring the psychological impact of those who have been subjected to and have adopted two different cultures. Currently, there is no existing literature regarding how individuals with a bicultural identity navigate their often-conflicting cultures on topics such as sexual pleasure and sexual scripts. The purpose of this study was to explore how first-generation Afro/Black Caribbean-American women navigate their multiple cultural identities with regards to sexual pleasure and sexual scripts. This study contains an exploration of participants self-described challenges, attitudes, and beliefs associated to how they navigate and experience their sexuality. This research study uses an explanatory, qualitative method design with semi structured interviews to answer the primary and secondary research question. Research findings indicate that the later the age of immigration, the stronger their ties were to the culture from their country of origin, which affected their self-assessments of sexual desirability and sexual self-esteem. Findings also suggest that even though women who immigrated at a younger age had higher rates of difficulty navigating and identifying with their adopted culture’s sexual mores. These women also reported lower ratings of comfort voicing sexual desires and concerns to their partner and had lower self-ratings of feeling connected to their cultural identity. These participants had challenges utilizing the dual and conflicting sexual mores and rules they received from U.S. society and their country of origin, resulting in less pleasurable sexual experiences. Whereas women who immigrated at an older age reported having more pleasurable sexual experiences.

Keywords: bicultural identity, sexual pleasure, first-generation immigrants, afro/black caribbean-American

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Authors: N. Adjlane, N. Haddad

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The American foulbrood is one of the most serious diseases that may affect brood of larvae and pupae stages. The causative organism is a gram positive bacterium Paaenibacillus larvae. American foulbrood infected apiaries suffer from severe economic losses, resulting from significant decreases in honeybee populations and honey production. The aim of this study was to detect Paenibacillus larvae in the remains collected at the bottom of the hive from the suspected hives by direct PCR and culture growth. A total of 56 suspected beehive wax debris samples collected in 40 different apiaries located in the central region of Algeria. MYPGP the culture medium is used during all the identifications of the bacterium. After positive results on samples, biochemical confirmation tests (test of catalase, presence hydrolysis of casein) and microscopic (gram stain) are used in order to verify the accuracy of the initial results. The QIAamp DNA Mini Kit is used to identify the DNA of Paaenibacillus larvae. Paaenibacillus larvae were identified in 14 samples out of 16 by the PCR. A suspected culture-negative sample was found positive through evaluation with PCR. This research is for the bacterium Paaenibacillus larvae in the debris of the colony is an effective method for diagnosis of the pathology of American foulbrood.

Keywords: Paenibacillus larvae, honeybee, PCR, microbiological method

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Authors: J. A. Villarreal, D. S. Ha., A. Smith, J. C. Ha

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Numerous dogs are living in shelters seeking homes. Perceptions of dog personality based on breed type have been shown to influence adoptability. Past research has focused primarily on Caucasian female samples. This study provides a more diverse sample within the US. Of the respondents, 558 identified as White/Caucasian, 395 identified as Black/African American, 123 identified as Hispanic/Latinx, and 46 identified as Asian/Asian American. 29.6% of respondents identified as male and 70.4% identified as female. Initial analyses indicate significant differences in race/ethnicity in the association of the personality terms of “Dangerous”, “Calm”, and “Energetic” with dog breeds. Black/African-American respondents were more likely to associate the term “Dangerous” with almost all breeds assessed in this survey, followed by Hispanic/Latinx, and lastly by White/Caucasian and Asian/Asian American. Higher annual income respondents were less likely to associate the term “Calm” with most breeds and lower-income respondents were less likely to ascribe the term “Dangerous” to Pit Bull Terriers. Further analyses are underway. These findings can help dog adoption programs promote more diversity in potential adopters.

Keywords: breed, diversity, dog, ethnicity, personality

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Authors: Rugang Tian

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In this study, we generated whole-genome sequence (WGS) data from110 native cattle. Together with whole-genome sequences from world-wide cattle populations, we estimated the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of different cattle populations. Our findings revealed clustering of cattle groups in line with their geographic locations. We identified noticeable genetic diversity between indigenous cattle breeds and commercial populations. Among all studied cattle groups, lower genetic diversity measures were found in commercial populations, however, high genetic diversity were detected in some local cattle, particularly in Rashoki and Mongolian breeds. Our search for potential genomic regions under selection in native cattle revealed several candidate genes related with immune response and cold shock protein on multiple chromosomes such as TRPM8, NMUR1, PRKAA2, SMTNL2 and OXR1 that are involved in energy metabolism and metabolic homeostasis.

Keywords: cattle, whole-genome, population structure, adaptation

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Authors: Sigal Barkai

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'Ironic Historiography' is a hybrid notion combining criticism of historical narratives concerning the Israeli state with ironic artistic expression. The paper will deal with questions of identities of native Israeli visual artists who chose to live out of the country, or to move back and forth to and from it. It will examine the ways these wanderings are reflected in their work. The paper discusses the work of 4 contemporary artists who produce artworks in diverse techniques and media, such as video, performance and installation art. Yael Bartana, Erez Israeli and Tamir Zadok are artists who constantly deal with Israeli nationality and history in their artwork, using ironic components. In comparison, the paper will review the works of Mika Rottenberg, who is now a New York based artist. She is concerned with global social issues and neglected specific national identity altogether. All of them use visual irony as a means of reflecting and criticizing society. The analysis was done in awareness of the life stories of the artists, in an attempt to trace the ways they establish their identities through their art. It was pre-supposed that these identities will be shaped in the in-between space of being an Israeli citizen and a citizen of the world. The study asks how ironic expression appears in their work, what kind of irony do they use and in what ways does it serves them. The methodology combined visual analysis, interviews with the artists, and analyzation of secondary discourses in the media. As theoretical background various fields of knowledge were used, such as literature and language studies, Sociology, and Visual Culture studies. The findings point out that visual and artistic irony has many different goals in the use of historiographic fiction. It can bind an artist to his homeland and native society, or it can help her to detach. It helps healing breaches in the in-between space, or it can be used as a means to completely detach from any identification with a native origin.

Keywords: visual art, irony, identities, Israel

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Authors: Tzu-I Chiang

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A central question for finite-nonfinite distinction in Mandarin Chinese is how does Mandarin encode temporal information without the grammatical contrast between past and present tense. Moreover, how do L2 learners of Mandarin whose native language is English and whose L1 system has tense morphology, acquire the temporal encoding system in L2 Mandarin? The current study reports preliminary findings on the relationship between topic prominence and the temporal encoding in L1 and L2 Chinese. Oral narratives data from 30 natives and learners of Mandarin Chinese were collected via a film-retell task. In terms of coding, predicates collected from the narratives were transcribed and then coded based on four major verb types: n-degree Statives (quality-STA), point-scale Statives (status-STA), n-atom EVENT (ACT), and point EVENT (resultative-ACT). How native speakers and non-native speakers started retelling the story was calculated. Results of the study show that native speakers of Chinese tend to express Topic Time (TT) syntactically at the topic position; whereas L2 learners of Chinese across levels rely mainly on the default time encoded in the event types. Moreover, as the proficiency level of the learner increases, learners’ appropriate use of the event predicates increased, which supports the argument that L2 development of temporal encoding is affected by lexical aspect.

Keywords: topic prominence, temporal encoding, lexical aspect, L2 acquisition

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Authors: Azza Taha Zaki

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The position Eugene O’Neill occupies in the history of American drama is undisputable. Critics have agreed that the American theatre was waiting for O’Neill to give it substance, character, and value. The American dramatist continues to be considered as a major influence on the body of dramatic repertoire across the globe. The American theatre before O’Neill knew playwrights who were mostly viewed as entertainers. The serious drama had to wait until O’Neill started his career with expressionistic and social drama. His breakthrough, however, came in 1925 when he published Desire Under the Elms, described as the first important tragedy to be written in America. Mourning Becomes Electra, published in 1931, further reinforced the reputation of Eugene O’Neill and was described as his 'magnum opus'. Aspiring to portray the essence of life and man’s innermost conflicts, O’Neill turned to the classical model, rather than to social realistic drama, to create modern tragedies with the aid of the then-new science of psychology. The present paper aims to undertake an in-depth study of how overtones from classical tragedies by the classical masters Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides resonate through O’Neill’s two plays. The paper shows how leaning on classical themes and concepts interpreted in terms of psychological forces have added depth and tragic substance to a modern milieu and produced masterpieces of dramaturgy.

Keywords: classical, drama, O'Neill, modern, tragic

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Authors: Armijos-Orellana Ana, González-Calle María, Maldonado-Matute Juan, Guerrero-Maxi Pedro

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Nowadays, the digital economy represents a fundamental element to guarantee economic and social development, whose importance increased significantly with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the benefits it offers, it can also be detrimental to those developing countries characterized by a wide digital divide. It is for this reason that the objective of this research was to identify and describe the main characteristics, benefits, and obstacles of the digital economy for Latin American countries. Through a bibliographic review, using the analytical-synthetic method in the period 1995-2021, it was determined that the digital economy could give way to structural changes, reduce inequality, and promote processes of social inclusion, as well as promote the construction and participatory development of organizational structures and institutional capacities in Latin American countries. However, the results showed that the digital economy is still incipient in the region and at least three factors are needed to establish it: joint work between academia, the business sector and the State, greater emphasis on learning and application of digital transformation and the creation of policies that encourage the creation of digital organizations.

Keywords: developing countries, digital divide, digital economy, digital literacy, digital transformation

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Authors: Swathi M. Vanniarajan

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Reading research suggests that online contextual vocabulary comprehension while reading is an interactive and integrative process. One’s success in it depends on a variety of factors including the amount and the nature of available linguistic and nonlinguistic cues, his/her analytical and integrative skills, schema memory (content familiarity), and processing speed characterized along the continuum of controlled to automatic processing. The experiment reported here, conducted with 30 native speakers as one group and 30 nonnative speakers as another group (all graduate students), hypothesized that while working on (24) tasks which required them to comprehend an unfamiliar word in real time without backtracking, due to the differences in the nature of their respective reading processes, the nonnative subjects would be less able to construct the meanings of the unknown words by integrating the multiple but sufficient contextual cues provided in the text but the native subjects would be able to. The results indicated that there were significant inter-group as well as intra-group differences in terms of the quality of definitions given. However, when given additional time, while the nonnative speakers could significantly improve the quality of their definitions, the native speakers in general would not, suggesting that all things being equal, time is a significant factor for success in nonnative vocabulary and reading comprehension processes and that accuracy precedes automaticity in the development of nonnative reading processes also.

Keywords: reading, second language processing, vocabulary comprehension

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Authors: Kaitlyn Deierlein, Janet Lydecker

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Stereotypes surrounding anorexia nervosa are that the illness is commonly perceived as a self-inflicted disorder influenced by controlling parents, vanity, and cultural pressures. According to the authors' best knowledge minimal research has examined interactions with other factors, including gender and racial stereotypes involving this disorder. A common stereotype of this disease is that it mainly only affects Caucasian women and is very rarely seen in any other ethnicity. Previous literature has failed to investigate how visual body image and ethnic stereotypes affect the mental health of different ethnic groups, how various cultures impact the type of anorexia nervosa in the patient, and the different stereotypes associated with their eating disorder. Participants completed a pre-test questionnaire with vignettes, an image exposure portion, and a post-test questionnaire, which will all be evaluated and analyzed by ANOVA t-test and SPSS. Results showed that participants picked Caucasian females as more likely to have anorexia nervosa than those of Asian, Latin American, or African American descent subjects in both picture identification and vignettes. Future research should be conducted to further the results of this study by examining differences between gender stereotypes with anorexia nervosa as well as how sexuality has a role in perception.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa, ethnicity, stereotypes, eating disorders, perception

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Authors: Emma Nemishalyan

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It is believed that learners’ mother tongue (L1 hereafter) has a huge impact on their second language acquisition (L2 hereafter). This hypothesis has been exposed to both positive and negative criticism. Based on research results of a wide range of learners’ corpora (Chinese, Japanese, Spanish among others) the hypothesis has either been proved or disproved. However, no such study has been conducted on the Armenian learners. The aim of this paper is to understand the implication of the hypothesis on the Armenian learners’ corpus in terms of the use of the passive voice. To this end, the method of Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis (hereafter CIA) has been used on native speakers’ corpus (Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS)) and Armenian learners’ corpus which has been compiled by me in compliance with International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) guidelines. CIA compares the interlanguage (the language produced by learners) with the one produced by native speakers. With the help of this method, it is possible not only to highlight the mistakes that learners make, but also to underline the under or overuses. The choice of the grammar issue (passive voice) is conditioned by the fact that typologically Armenian and English are drastically different as they belong to different branches. Moreover, the passive voice is considered to be one of the most problematic grammar topics to be acquired by learners of the English language. Based on this difference, we hypothesized that Armenian learners would either overuse or underuse some types of the passive voice. With the help of Lancsbox software, we have identified the frequency rates of passive voice usage in LOCNESS and Armenian learners’ corpus to understand whether the latter have the same usage pattern of the passive voice as the native speakers. Secondly, we have identified the types of the passive voice used by the Armenian leaners trying to track down the reasons in their mother tongue. The results of the study showed that Armenian learners underused the passive voices in contrast to native speakers. Furthermore, the hypothesis that learners’ L1 has an impact on learners’ L2 acquisition and production was proved.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, applied linguistics, second language acquisition, corpus compilation

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Authors: Puja Sharma, S. R. Dhiman, Bhararti Kashyap, Y. C. Gupta, Shabnam Pangtu

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The experiments were carried out for mass multiplication and domestication of an endangered native tree spp, an orchid and an ornamental shrub having high medicinal value. Floriculture industry is novelty driven, hence the potential of these native ornamentals was assessed for their utilization as a novelty in the industry. For the mass propagation of endangered tree Oroxylum indicum, seed propagation and vegetative propagation techniques were successfully utilized. Highest seed germination was recorded in a medium containing cocopeat and perlite (1:1 v/v). Semi hard wood cuttings treated with IBA 2000 ppm planted in cocopeat+ sand+ perlite medium and maintained at 80% RH has resulted in about 90% rooting. The low growing tree was successfully domestication and has potential to be utilized in landscape industry. In the present study, cutting propagation and division of clump were used as methods for multiplication of Aerides multiflora, a native orchid spp. Soft wood cuttings treated with IBA 500 ppm planted in cocopeat medium was found to be the most suitable vegetative method resulting in 90 % rooting. It was domesticated as pot plant and for making hanging baskets. Propagation through seeds and cuttings was carried out for Pyracantha crenulata, a native ornamental shrub which is a cardiovascular medicine. For vegetative propagation, treatment of basal end of semi- hardwood cuttings of Pyracantha with IBA 3000 ppm (quick dip) and planting in cocopeat under mist chamber maintained at a relative humidity of 70-80% resulted in about 90% rooting out of all applied treatments in the study. For seed propagation, treatment of seeds in boiling water for 20 minutes and planting in cocopeat resulted in 82.55 % germination. The shrub was domesticated for its use as pot plant, protective hedge and for making bonsai.

Keywords: native, endangered, multiplication, domestication, oroxylum, aerides, pyracantha

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Authors: Amanda Julia Binay, Patricia Elise Suarez

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Female representation in media is an important subject in the discussion of gender equality, especially in impactful and influential media like film. As the Filipino film industry continues to grow and evolve, the need for analysis on Filipino female representation on screen is imperative. Additionally, there has been limited research made on female representation in the Philippine film scene. Thus, the paper aims to analyze the presence and evolution of female representation in Philippine cinema and compare the findings with that of American films to see how Filipino filmmakers hold their own against the standards of international movements that call for more and better female representation, especially in Hollywood. The participants selected were Filipino and American films released within the years 1975 to 2020 in five (5) year intervals. Twenty (20) critically acclaimed and highest-grossing Filipino films and twenty (20) critically acclaimed and highest-grossing Hollywood films were then subject to the Bechdel and Peirce tests to obtain statistical measures of their female representation. The findings of the study reveal that the presence of female representation in Philippine film history has been consistent and has continued to grow and evolve throughout the years, with strong female leads with vibrant characteristics and diverse stories. However, analysis of female representation regarding American films has shown an extreme lack thereof with more misogynistic, sexist, and limiting ideals. Thus, the study concludes that the state of female representation in Philippine cinema and film industry holds its own when compared to American cinema and film industry and even outperforms it in many aspects of female representation, such as consistent inclusion and depiction of multi-dimensional female leads and female relationships. Hence, the study implies that women’s consistent presence in Philippine cinema mirrors Filipino women’s prominent role in Philippine society and that American cinema must continue to make efforts to change their portrayals of female characters, leads, and relationships to make them more grounded in reality.

Keywords: female representation, gender studies, feminism, philippine cinema, American cinema, bechdel test, peirce test, comparative analysis

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Authors: Mohamed El-Shikh

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Phaseolus vulgaris L. is the world’s second most important bean after soybeans; used for human food and animal feed. It has generally been linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, obesity, cancer and diseases of digestive tract. The effectiveness of ISSR in achievement of the genetic diversity among 60 common bean accessions; represent various germplasms around the world was investigated. In general, the studied Phaseolus vulgaris accessions were divided into 2 major groups. All of the South-American accessions were separated into the second major group. These accessions may have different genetic features that are distinct from the rest of the accessions clustered in the major group. Asia and Europe accessions (1-20) seem to be more genetically similar (99%) to each other as they clustered in the same sub-group. The American and African varieties showed similarities as well and clustered in the same sub-tree group. In contrast, Asian and American accessions No. 22 and 23 showed a high level of genetic similarities, although these were isolated from different regions. The phylogenetic tree showed that all the Asian accessions (along with Australian No. 59 and 60) were similar except Indian and Yemen accessions No. 9 and 20. Only Netherlands accession No. 3 was different from the rest of European accessions. Morocco accession No. 52 was genetically different from the rest of the African accessions. Canadian accession No. 44 seems to be different from the other North American accessions including Guatemala, Mexico and USA.

Keywords: phylogenetic tree, Phaseolus vulgaris, ISSR technique, genetics

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Authors: Alexandra Cheira

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Cultural appropriation has been theorised as a form of colonialism in which members of a dominant culture reduce cultural elements that are deeply meaningful to a minority culture to the category of the “exotic other” since they do not experience the oppression and discriminations faced by members of the minority culture. Yet, in the particular case of literature, writers such as Lionel Shriver and Bernardine Evaristo have argued that authors from a cultural majority have a right to write in the voice of someone from a cultural minority, hence attacking the idea that this is a form of cultural appropriation. By definition, Shriver and Evaristo claim, writers are supposed to write beyond their own culture, gender, class, and/ or race. In this light, this paper discusses the limits of cultural appropriation vis-à-vis the ethics of narrative empathy by addressing the mixed critical reception of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help (2009) and Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt (2020). In fact, both novels were acclaimed as global eye-openers regarding the struggles of respectively South American migrants and African American maids. At the same time, both novelists have been accused of cultural appropriation by telling a story that is not theirs to tell, given the fact that they are white women telling these stories in what critics have argued is really an American voice telling a story to American readers.These claims will be investigated within the framework of Edward Said’s foundational examination of Orientalism in the field of postcolonial studies as a Western style for authoritatively restructuring the Orient. This means that Orientalist stereotypes regarding Eastern cultures have implicitly validated colonial and imperial pursuits, in the specific context of literary representations of African American and Mexican cultures by white writers. At the same time, the conflicted reception of American Dirt and The Help will be examined within the critical framework of narrative empathy as theorised by Suzanne Keen. Hence, there will be a particular focus on the way a reader’s heated perception that the author’s perspective is purely dishonest can result from a friction between an author’s intention and a reader’s experience of narrative empathy, while a shared sense of empathy between authors and readers can be a rousing momentum to move beyond literary response to social action.Finally, in order to assess that “the key question should not be who can write about whom, but how the writer tells the story”, the recent controversy surrounding Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s decision to resign the translation of American poet Amanda Gorman’s work into Dutch will be duly investigated. In fact, Rijneveld stepped out after journalist and activist Janice Deul criticised Dutch publisher Meulenhoff for choosing a translator who was not also Black, despite the fact that 22-year-old Gorman had selected the 29-year-old Rijneveld herself, as a fellow young writer who had likewise come to fame early on in life. In this light, the critical argument that the controversial reception of The Help reveals as much about US race relations in the early twenty-first century as about the complex literary transactions between individual readers and the novel itself will also be discussed in the extended context of American Dirt and white author Marieke Rijneveld’s withdrawal from the projected translation of Black poet Amanda Gorman.

Keywords: cultural appropriation, cultural stereotypes, narrative empathy, race relations

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Authors: Nicole Banton

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The maternal and infant mortality rate of Blacks is three times that of Whites in the US. Research indicates that breastfeeding lowers both. In this paper, the researcher examines how the ideas that Black/African American mothers had about breastfeeding before, during, and after pregnancy (postpartum) affected whether or not they initiated breastfeeding. The researcher used snowball sampling to recruit thirty African-American mothers from the Orlando area. At the time of her interview, each mother had at least one child who was at least three years old. Through in-depth face-to-face interviews, the researcher investigated how mothers’ healthcare providers affected their decision-making about infant feeding, as well as how the type of birth that she had (e.g., preterm, vaginal, c-section, full term) affected her actual versus idealized infant feeding practice. Through our discussions, we explored how pre-pregnancy perceptions, birth and postpartum experiences, social support, and the discourses surrounding motherhood within an African-American context affected the perceptions and experiences that the mothers in the study had with their infant feeding practice(s). Findings suggest that the pregnancy and birth experiences of the mothers in the study influenced whether or not they breastfed exclusively, combined breastfeeding and infant formula use, or used infant formula exclusively. Specifically, the interplay of invocation of agency (the ability to control their bodies before, during, and after birth), birth outcomes, and the interaction that the mothers in this study had with resources, human and material, had the highest impact on the initiation, duration, and attitude toward breastfeeding.

Keywords: African American mothers, maternal health, breastfeeding, birth, midwives, obstetricians, hospital birth, breast pumps, formula use, infant feeding, lactation consultant, postpartum, vaginal birth, c-section, familial support, social support, work, pregnancy

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Authors: Eva Wagner, Lucely Vargas

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plays an important role in (large-scale) enterprises’ business strategy in developed and emerging countries. This article approaches CSR in international comparison by examining the CSR reporting of 116 leading companies in Austria, Germany, Colombia and Chile from 2006 to 2010. We have used an independently developed scoring model which analyzes reported CSR-activities using seven dimensions to efficiently assess CSR. The study reveals that there are significant differences in CSR-commitment among countries and regions: German companies, as expected, lead most of the investigated CSR dimensions revealing stronger commitment to CSR than their Austrian, Colombian and Chilean counterparts. Even if Latin American companies lag behind their European counterparts, they exhibit high CSR-performance in the social dimension: corporate giving and philanthropic activities are firmly anchored in the tradition of Latin American companies. This indicates that particular CSR-emphases reflect the political and social circumstances of each individual country.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, corporate social performance, international comparison

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