Analysing authorial identity construction in the review article genre in Applied Linguistics

Authorial identity construction is one of many professional rhetorical strategies employed by authors in academic review genres. Authors usually create a persona to represent themselves, their seniority in the field, and the community to which they belong. The author’s visibility is made possible through several rhetorical devices. Perhaps the most remarkable way of such authorial identity construction in the review article genre is self-mentions. The aims of this research are (1) to find out what types of self-mention are frequently used in review articles, (2) to determine the frequency of use and distribution of self-mentions in the review articles, and (3) to investigate the rhetorical function of self-mentions in the different analytical sections of the review articles. The data, drawn from a randomly selected corpus of thirty-two review articles, were analysed using WordSmith Tools Version 6. The findings indicated that first-person plural pronouns were more frequently used than singular pronouns in the whole corpus except in the two review texts. It was also observed that the frequency of occurrence for the exclusive and inclusive pronouns was very close to each other. Most importantly, the inclusive pronouns were used not only as a politeness strategy to appreciate the readers and keep the writers’ claims balanced but also as a persuasive tool to seek the readers’ agreement in the evaluation of research developments. This study revealed that authors construct various professional personas as a rhetorical strategy to carve their authorial identity and credibility in the review article genre. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications in the field of academic writing in applied linguistics as well as other disciplines.

English Learning Strategies of Economics-majored Students at Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City

The purpose of this research paper is to look into the current situation of using learning strategies and the key factors that influence English learning strategies of tertiary students who major in economics at Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City. On the basis of Oxford’s (1990) theory on language learning strategies, the study conducted a questionnaire survey with the participation of 300 students. The results show that economics-majored students use English learning strategies at a relatively high frequency, with the metacognitive strategies group having the highest frequency; the groups of affective strategies and compensation strategies have the lowest frequency of use. It also draws a conlusion that individual factors such as gender, grade level, and major do not appear to have a significant impact on students' use of English learning strategies. There are no significant differences between male and female students, between students of all grades, and between students of different majors in the frequency of using English learning strategies.

E-Cigarettes Use Behaviors in Japan: An Online Survey

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become increasingly widespread throughout the world, including in Japan. However, little is known about how e-cigarettes are used in Japan, a country with heavy restrictions on nicotine-containing e-liquids and/or vaping products. This study examined e-cigarette use (e-cigarette use duration, frequency of use, device type, electrical resistance, nicotine use, favorite e-liquid flavors) among users in Japan, through an online survey using a web-based self-reported questionnaire which included questions about sex, age, combustible cigarette and heated tobacco product (HTP) use behaviors. Of 4689 e-cigarettes users analyzed, 93.5% were men and 52.9% had been using e-cigarettes for 1–3 years. Over 80% used e-cigarettes every day; 62.3% used nicotine liquid, and half of the nicotine liquid users used nicotine salt. The most popular liquid flavor was fruit (prevalence: 68.1%), followed by tobacco (prevalence: 48.4%). While 50.9% were e-cigarette single users, 35.2% were dual users (e-cigarettes and cigarettes or HTPs) and 13.8% were triple user (e-cigarettes, cigarettes and HTPs). This is the first comprehensive survey of Japanese e-cigarette users and our finding suggest more than half use nicotine liquid, although e-cigarettes containing nicotine liquid have been prohibited by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act since 2010 in Japan. The study also showed 49.1% of participants used cigarettes and/or HTPs concurrently (dual or triple users).

Knowledge and Use of Novel Psychoactive Substances in an Italian Sample with Substance Use Disorders

This study aims to determine prevalence and frequency of use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and to identify the factors associated with NPS use in an Italian sample of patients diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). Prevalence and correlates of NPS knowledge and use were assessed in 185 patients with SUD in three addiction services (Padova, Belluno, Feltre) in the Veneto region with an ad-hoc designed survey. Two thirds of the samples reported knowing NPS and one third reported using them. NPS were considered by them less dangerous than “regular” substances of abuse (t = 6.06 mean 0.78, p < 0.001). Factors associated with NPS use were youth (OR = 4.81; p < 0.001), studentship (OR = 4.99; p = 0.004), subsequent mental disorders diagnosis (OR = 2.49; p = 0.027), suicide attempt history (OR = 11.67; p < 0.001), home detention (OR = 2.30; p = 0.040), residential care (OR = 5.66; p = 0.002), and polysubstance abuse (t = 8.99 mean 2.65 p < 0.001). NPS use in patients with SUD is highly prevalent, particularly in the youngest age group, and associated with psychiatric comorbidity and worse prognosis. It is crucial to systematically assess NPS use and inform addiction service users with SUD of the toxic and potentially lethal side effects. Mental healthcare professionals working in addiction services should receive education and training. Cohort and longitudinal studies are needed.

A Scoping Review of Indicators for Sustainable Healthy Diets

Introduction: Diets are currently unsustainable in many countries as evidenced by the growing burden of malnutrition, degradation of natural resources, contributions to climate change, and unaffordability of healthy diets. Agreement on what constitutes a healthy and sustainable diet has been debated. In 2019, FAO and WHO published the Sustainable Healthy Diets Guiding Principles, defining what qualifies as a sustainable healthy diet. While valuable, these principles require measurable indicators to support their operationalization. Our scoping review aims to describe how sustainable healthy diets have been assessed in the literature since 2010.Methods: A search for English-language articles published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted from January 2010 through February 2020 across three databases. Out of the 504 articles initially identified, 103 articles were included. Metadata were extracted from each article on: publication year, country of study, study aims, methods, main data sources, indicators used to assess sustainable healthy diets, reported indicator strengths or limitations, and main study findings. A qualitative content analysis identified major conceptual themes across indicators and their frequency of use.Findings: From the 103 empirical articles included in our review, 57.3% were published after 2017. Most studies were carried out in high-income countries (74%). Approximately 42% of the articles assessed the sustainability of diets using solely health and environmental indicators; &lt;25% assessed the sustainability of diets across health, environmental, and sociocultural aspects of sustainability. We found a substantial number of unique indicators used for assessing health (n = 82), environmental (n = 117), and sociocultural (n = 43) aspects of diets. These indicators covered concepts related to health outcomes, aspects of diet quality, natural resources, climate change, cultural acceptability, and cost of diets. The preponderance of indicators currently used in research likely poses challenges for stakeholders to identify the most appropriate measures.Conclusion: Robust indicators for sustainable healthy diets are critical for understanding trends, setting targets, and monitoring progress across national and sub-national levels. Our review highlights the geographical imbalance, the narrow focus on health and environmental aspects, and the lack of common measures used in research. Measures registries could provide the decision-support needed by stakeholders to aid in the indicator selection process.

Early Word Order Usage in Preschool Mandarin-Speaking Typical Children and Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Influences of Caregiver Input?

This study explores the emergence and productivity of word order usage in Mandarin-speaking typically-developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and examines how this emergence relates to frequency of use in caregiver input. Forty-two caregiver-child dyads participated in video-recorded 30-min semi-structured play sessions. Eleven children with ASD were matched with 10 20-month-old TD children and another 11 children with ASD were matched with 10 26-month-old TD children, on expressive language. We report four major findings: (1) Preschool Mandarin-speaking children with ASD produced word order structures with pervasive ellipsis at similar rates to language-matched TD children, but also displayed differences from TD children in their usage of SVt and VtO frames; (2) Grammatical productivity was observed in both TD children and children with ASD; moreover, children with ASD with higher expressive language produced less stereotyped language; (3) Both TD children and children with ASD heard a range of word orders in their caregivers’ input, with TD children’s input greater in amount and complexity; however, caregivers of both groups also showed no age/language-related changes in word order usage; (4) Few word-order-specific correlations emerged between caregivers and their children; however, strong correlations were observed for mean length of utterances (MLU) for both groups: Caregivers who produced longer/more complex utterances had children who did the same. Taken together, it seems that despite their pragmatic deficits, the early grammatical knowledge of word order in Mandarin-exposed children with ASD is well preserved and in general follows the typical developmental pattern. Moreover, caregiver input is broadly rather than finely tuned to the linguistic development of TD children and children with ASD, and plays a more important role in children’s general syntactic development than in specific word order acquisition. Thus, early word order usage in preschool Mandarin-speaking TD children and children with ASD may be influenced by both caregiver input and child abilities.

THE DIAGNOSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN TINNITUS PATIENTS. A LITERATURE REVIEW

Highlight:1. Assessment of the patient’s quality of life is used to establish the diagnosis of tinnitus.2. The assessment is performed using several types of questionnaires: Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Tinnitus and Hearing Survey (THS), Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) and Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire (TPFQ). 3. THI is the questionnaire that has been translated into Indonesian so that it is easier to use in Indonesia.Background: Tinnitus is a symptom with many different causes that can interfere with daily life. The diagnosis of tinnitus can be carried out, starting by examining the history, physical examination, and audiology, and assessing the quality of life of the patient. Assessment of the patient’s quality of life and the severity of tinnitus was carried out using a questionnaire. Objective: This study aimed to explain the frequency of use of several questionnaires to assess the quality of life of patients with tinnitus, including Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Tinnitus and Hearing Survey (THS), Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) and Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire (TPFQ). Discussion: The use of THI as a research tool has been recommended for assessing the severity of tinnitus functional, emotional, and catastrophic responses. THS is used as a screening instrument to evaluate tinnitus complaints because of a hearing problem and how frequently it happens. TFI was used for identifying the functional impact on tinnitus patients, to evaluate how tinnitus affects a person’s life, while TPFQ was applied as it is a new questionnaire designed specifically for this objective. Conclusion: Many questionnaires can be used as an assessment of the quality of life of patients with tinnitus. Each questionnaire can be used and has its advantages. THI is a questionnaire that has been translated into Indonesian so that it is easier to assess.

Fallacies of Consumerism

The concept of consumerism brings together many of the social transformations that serve as predictors of present and future behaviors and act as vehicles for today's society. Its evolution is diffuse and corresponds to different periods of history that have incorporated the characteristics of desire, superficiality, and exclusivity that drive new needs and potentialities. Its importance underlies the need to analyze 46 theoretical approaches through their categorization in six dimensions and frequency count in Google Scholar. The methodology used a higher-order association, establishing the most significant combinations and weightings. From these results, the concept of consumerism is defined by the economic-social-cultural-ethical categories according to its frequency of use in Google. This shows economic influences as a determining factor, over and above processes that are far from the common good or the general interest.

Analysis of the Concept of Femicide

Femicide is intrinsically part of gender-based violence, and the two are inevitably linked at all levels. Yet, despite having a common origin, there is a need to analyze femicide as a problem that must be recognized, in social and legal terms, as having its own, particular features. To achieve this, an analysis of 102 concepts was carried out through a frequency count in Google Scholar, followed by their categorization, saturating in six dimensions: economic, social, legal, political, ethical, and cultural. The methodology used a higher-order association of hierarchies by establishing a dyad-triad-tetrad model that shows only the most representative combinations extracted from the definitions of greater weight and scope. From this, it emerges that the current concept of femicide is defined on the basis of a dual social-ethical category in view of its frequency of use in Google. This highlights the distance between what, a priori, seems to implicitly allow for any definition of femicide and the existing reality that favors private or institutional interests.