Revisiting the Past to Understand the Present: The Linguistic Ecology of the Singapore Deaf Community and the Historical Evolution of Singapore Sign Language (SgSL)

Singapore, a young nation with a colonial past from 1819, has seen drastic changes in the sociolinguistic landscape, which has left indelible marks on the Singapore society and the Singapore deaf community. The country has experienced many political and social transitions from British colonialism to attaining independence in 1965 and thereafter. Since independence, English-based bilingualism has been vigorously promoted as part of nation-building. While the roles of the multiple languages in use in Singapore feature prominently in the discourse on language planning, historical records show no mention of how these impacts on the deaf community. The first documented deaf person in archival documents is a Chinese deaf immigrant from Shanghai who established the first deaf school in Singapore in 1954 teaching Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL) and Mandarin. Since then, the Singapore deaf community has seen many shifts and transitions in education programming for deaf children, which has also been largely influenced by exogeneous factors such as trends in deaf education in the United States A pivotal change that has far-reaching impact on the deaf community today, is the introduction of Signing Exact English (SEE) in 1976. This was in keeping with the statal English-based bilingual narrative. The subsequent decision to replace SSL with SEE has dramatic consequences for the current members of the deaf community resulting in internal divisions and fractiousness with lasting implications for the cohesion of the community. This publication traces the origins of Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) by giving readers (and future scholars) a road map on key issues and moments in this history. Bi- and multi-lingualism in Singapore as well as external forces will also be discussed from a social and historical perspective, along with the interplay of different forms of language ideologies. All the different sign languages and sign systems as well as the written/spoken languages used in Singapore, interact and compete with as well as influence each other. There will be an exploration of how both internal factors (local language ecology) and external factors (international trends and developments in deaf education), impact on how members of the deaf community negotiate their deaf identities.

Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills: An Integrative Model of the Skills Associated With Success During Adolescence and Across the Life Span

Social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills encompass a wide range of competencies related to how individuals build and maintain relationships, understand and manage emotions, pursue goals, and learn from experience. Despite near-consensus on the importance of SEB skills for success in life, there are numerous frameworks that simultaneously converge and diverge in how they define and measure SEB skills. In this article, we discuss our integrative model encompassing five broad skill domains: Self-Management, Innovation, Social Engagement, Cooperation, and Emotional Resilience Skills (Soto et al., 2021a). Our model defines SEB skills as skills (i.e., what someone is capable of doing) and not traits (i.e., what someone tends to do). Using this definition and model as a foundation, we argue for the importance of investigating SEB skill development during adolescence, a period where SEB skills may be both particularly amenable to change and particularly predictive of life outcomes. In particular, we highlight how SEB skills allow adolescents to take advantage of the new opportunities afforded to them as they make major cognitive and social transitions.

Perceived Partner Responsiveness Attenuate the Link Between Menopausal Symptoms and Depressed Affect

The years around menopause are the time that associates not only with hormonal changes but with psychological and social transitions, and previous studies have consistently revealed the relationship between menopause and depression. The present study examined the moderating effect of perceived partner responsiveness (PPR) on the association between menopausal symptoms (MS) and depressed affect (DA). The sample was middle-aged climacteric women (N = 754, Age=49-60) from the second wave of Midlife in the United States (MIDUSⅡ). Measurement for MS consisted of the frequency of five symptoms in the past 30 days (insomnia, heavy sweating, painful intercourse, hot flashes, and irritability). PPR was assessed using three items matched the core components of responsiveness (understanding, validating, and caring). Results revealed that there were significant interactions between menopausal symptoms and PPR (b = 0.05, p < 0.039). Specifically, the level of elevation of DA in response to MS was smaller in women with higher levels of PPR (b = 2.93, p < 0.001) than in those with lower levels of PPR (b =3.05, p < 0.001). According to the region of significance analysis, the coefficients of MS on DA were significant within the -2SD to +2SD range of PPR, but it decreased as the PPR increased. Findings suggest that partners’ careful responsiveness may mitigate the detrimental effects of MS on DA among climacteric women.

Family vulnerability for sick older adults: An empirical ethics study

Background: In China, the conventional family-based ageing care model is under pressure from social transitions, raising the question of whether and to what extent families are still capable of dealing with the care of the aged. Objective: This article examines the vulnerability and inadequacy of families to bear responsibility for the care of the aged against a backdrop of socioeconomic transformation and diminishing institutional support in rural China. Research design: This article adopts an empirical ethical approach that integrates empirical investigation with ethical inquiry. Participants and research context: The empirical component of this article focuses on the lived experiences of caring for a wife and mother with dementia in one rural Chinese family, collected from a 6-month fieldwork study conducted at one primary hospital. Ethical considerations: Approval was obtained from the university ethics committee. Findings: The empirical study highlights a conflicted family process of managing and negotiating care that indicates the inadequacies and limited ability of families to deal with aged care tasks. In addition, inadequate structures and institutional deficiencies exacerbate the vulnerability of rural families and their inability to offer adequate care. Conclusion: Acknowledging the vulnerability of families as ageing care providers, this article calls for a socially supported family care model for rural older people in China and also proposes policy recommendations.

Role of literary works of Mahmoud Tarzi in improvement of Persian-Dari Contemporary literature in Afghanistan

Literature reflects human feelings and emotions that play a significant role in the process of their lives. The purpose of the study is to clarify the role of Mahmoud Tarzi in the growth and development of contemporary literature in the country in order to motivate others to pay attention to the growth and development of this phenomenon. This study is based on review of the literature. In this review, the author collected articles and books written by prominent authors. The review of the literature revealed that Mahmoud Tarzi played a crucial role in literary, cultural, political, economic, and social transitions to the extent that he considered the founder of contemporary literature in Afghanistan. Moreover, he played a crucial role in transformation and content of classic literature.

Designing for the co-Orchestration of Social Transitions between Individual, Small-Group and Whole-Class Learning in the Classroom

Educational technologies are often developed such that students work on specific social levels (e.g., individual, small group, whole class) at specific times. However, in the reality of the classroom, learning activities are not so cleanly divided, with transitions occurring between social levels for students at different times. To support these social transitions in a way that can promote student learning, we need to lower the teacher’s orchestration load around managing fluid social transitions. Co-orchestration, in which the orchestration decisions are shared between different parties, can help to lower the orchestration load when it is designed according to the teacher’s values and classroom culture. In this paper, we present a taxonomy of social transitions and investigate how the responsibilities of orchestration can be divided between primary school teachers and a co-orchestration system in order to support the extension from rigid social transitions to fluid transitions in technology-enhanced classrooms. Across two studies, we used a design process involving co-design and prototyping with teachers. We uncovered and refined co-orchestration design desires that balance teachers’ orchestration loads while providing them with a sense of control. We present six design desires for maintaining a balance between teacher and system responsibilities regarding the orchestration of social transitions that can be implemented, such as in our mid-fidelity prototype, to support the range of social transitions. The list of desires contributes to co-orchestration research and more broadly technology design for classrooms by highlighting the changing balance of teacher control depending on what is the focus of the orchestration support.

Methodological Dimensions of Delineating Peri-urban Areas: The Case of Kolkata Metropolis

In the past few decades, due to urbanization and spatial expansion of cities beyond their municipal boundaries, complex interactions between the city and its surrounding rural areas have occurred, resulting in the formation of peri-urban spaces or zones of transition. There is a plurality of definitions for these peri-urban spaces, due to their diverse character in terms of land and water use, livelihood shifts, demographic and social transitions. Most peri-urban areas, specifically those around large metropolitan cities, are increasingly assuming complex characters, which call for governance structures beyond rural–urban binaries. For any administrative intervention of a serious nature in peri-urban areas, a standard methodology for demarcation of these spaces is required. This article is an attempt to develop and apply such a methodology beyond the existing ones, using government sources of data, in the case of Kolkata Metropolis. This article uses socio-economic and land-use characteristics to achieve this objective. It finds that peri-urban spaces do not necessarily develop uniformly around the city; instead, they are fragmented and could be located both near or relatively far from urban areas.

Corruption and anti-corruption in China: a case study of high-ranking officials

Purpose With the analysis of the causes of corruption, this study aims to investigate specific anti-corruption measures that can be implemented to reform the political system and the social climate of China. Design/methodology/approach This study examines 97 severe corruption cases of high-ranking officials in China, which occurred between 2012 and 2015. As this insinuates that both institutional and social corruption are major problems in China, the analysis delves into multiple facts of corruption, including different types, four primary underlying causes, and suggestions regarding the implementation of three significant governmental shifts that focus on investigation, prevention tactics and legal regulations. Findings China’s corruption is not only individual-based but also it has developed into institutional corruption and social corruption. Besides human nature and instinct, the causes of corruption can be organised into four categories, namely, social customs, social transitions, institutional designs and institutional operations. For the removed high-ranking officials, the formation of interest chains was an important underlying cause behind their corruption. Originality/value This study makes a significant contribution to the literature because this study provides a well-rounded approach to a complex issue by highlighting the significance of democracy and the rule of law as ways to regulate human behaviour to combat future corruption.