Technical and Scale Efficiency of the Brazilian Municipalities’ Water and Sanitation Services: A Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis

Seeking to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” is an admirable Sustainable Development Goal and an honourable commitment of the United Nations and its Member States regarding the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation services (WSSs). However, the majority of countries are not on target to achieve this by 2030, with several of them moving away from the best practices. Brazil is one of these cases, given, for example, the existing asymmetries in the access to water supply and sanitation service networks. For this reason, we propose a benchmarking exercise using a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the technical and scale efficiency of the Brazilian municipalities’ WSSs, noting their contextual environment. Our results point towards low mean efficiency scores, motivated by the existence of significant scale inefficiencies (the vast majority of municipalities are operating at a larger than optimal scale). Furthermore, the Water source was found to be a statistically significant efficiency predictor, with statistically significant differences found in terms of Ownership and Geography. Ultimately, we suggest policy-making and regulatory possibilities based on debureaucratization, the implementation of stricter expenditure control policies, and investment in the expansion of WSSs.

СЕМАНТИКО-КОМУНІКАТИВНА ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА ЛЕКСИКИ ПОЗИТИВНОЇ ОЦІНКИ В СУЧАСНІЙ АНГЛІЙСЬКІЙ МОВІ

The article deals with the content space of positive assessment in modern English, which is formed under the infl uence of the type of assessment (moral and ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, social, emotional as well as the assessment of physical and empirical characteristics of the evaluation object), the obje ct of evaluation (person / non-person), and the nominative plane of subjects, actions and qualities that can potentially be positively assessed. The units used to positively assess moral, ethical, and emotional characteristics of the evaluation object correlate with the object of the “person” assessment, and units that correlate with a positive assessment of empirical features correlate with the object of the “non-person” assessment. The study reported in the article was conducted at the lexical and semantic levels. Semantics of the content plane of positive assessment is mainly laid down by three main verb ideas of “love”, “appreciate”, “improve”. Common for all parts of nominative thematic spheres are “love”, “friendship”, “pleasure”, “intelligence”, “harmonicity”, “respect” and others. The largest number of thematic planes can be noticed in adjectives and adverbs. Analysis at the lexemic level proved that multivalued words, in which all values would be evaluated, are rather few. In most cases, the evaluative value appears in the vocabulary of positive evaluation as the main one. Only in a small number of lexemes, semantic variants are formed in the process of development of semantic structure of lexemes. Within the semantic structure, lexemes are sometimes combined by semantic variants, which have an opposite score. All this indicates that the assessment in a number of cases is secondary: it is formed as an indication of the secondary characteristcs of the sign. If the score is at the “top” of a lexeme’s semantics, it can usually be applied to a large number of disparity characteristics of various objects. The assessment depends greatly on the situation in which it is used, that is, on the contextual environment and the nature of the speech act. Sociolinguistic aspects of communication as well as expressive stylistic color of the speech act play a special role in the variability of speech assessments. Adjectives that express the assessment and indicate any sign of the subject more often than other parts of the language are independently used to form the evaluative context. However, a signifi cant number of estimated nouns and verbs rarely appear in the context of isolation. These words require the explication of the estimated signs of the reference, which creates the possibility of sharing the evaluated words of diff erent parts of the language in the same context. Key words: vocabulary of positive semantics, register, semantic space, “plus-score”, melioration, derogativeness.

EVALUATION COMPONENT OF THE SEMANTIC FIELD “BINGE DRINKING”

Введение. Рассматриваются особенности семантики и употребления оценочных глаголов со значением «регулярное употребление алкоголя в больших количествах», которые образуют одно из микрополей, входящих в состав семантического поля «пьянство». Цель – анализ оценочной семантики глаголов выбранного для исследования микрополя. Материал и методы. В исследовании использованы материалы Национального корпуса русского языка и различных толковых словарей, методы сплошной выборки, контекстуального, компонентного и дефиниционного анализа. Результаты и обсуждение. Ядерной лексемой микрополя является глагол «пить» (диапазон потенциальных оценочных значений этого глагола очень широк, хотя сам по себе глагол является безоценочным). Остальные глаголы микрополя детализируют семантику ядерной лексемы. В зависимости от дополнительных компонентов в лексическом значении глаголов варьируется эмоциональная оценка, которую они выражают (у глагола «употреблять» эта оценка отсутствует вовсе). Рациональная оценка (негативная) остается неизменной у всех глаголов. Например, глаголы «испивать» и выражение «глушить водкой» обладают отрицательной рациональной оценкой и противоречивой эмоциональной оценкой (ее можно охарактеризовать как «сочувствие»). Внутри выбранного микрополя выделяется группа просторечно-арготических глаголов, которые характеризуются общей семой «чрезмерность», одинаковой стилистической принадлежностью и похожим контекстуальным окружением. Сема «чрезмерность» усиливает негативную эмоциональную оценку, выражаемую этими глаголами. Другую небольшую группу формируют глаголы, обладающие общими потенциальными семами «как животное» и «потеря человеческого облика», которые часто актуализируются с помощью окружающего контекста. Наличие этих семантических компонентов значительно усиливает негативную эмоциональную оценку. Заключение. Лексическое значение глаголов выбранного микрополя может содержать различные оценочные компоненты. Большинство глаголов выражают как рациональную, так и эмоциональную оценку, которая широко варьируется в зависимости от многих факторов. Внутри микрополя формируются новые парадигматические связи, некоторые глаголы приобретают новые грамматические характеристики. В целом оценку, которую выражают глаголы выбранного микрополя, нельзя охарактеризовать как однозначную. Introduction. This paper discusses the features of the use and semantics evaluation of verbs from the microfield “regular consumption of alcohol in large quantities” (one of the microfields that make up the semantic field “binge drinking”). The goal is to analyze the evaluation value of the verbs of the selected microfield. Material and methods. The article is written on the material of the National Corpus of the Russian Language and various explanatory dictionaries. The methods of continuous sampling, contextual and definitional analysis were used. Results and discussion. The evaluative component of the verb «пить» ‘drink’ (the core lexeme of the microfield) can be reconstructed only from the surrounding context, the range of evaluative values of this verb is very wide. The verb “употреблять” ‘use’ and“злоупотреблять” ‘abuse’ have a negative rational assessment (as a rule, these verbs do not have an emotional assessment). The verbs “пить” ‘drink’ and the expression “глушить водку” ‘to hit vodka hard’ have a negative rational and a conflicting emotional assessment (sympathy). Within the selected microfield, a group of verbs of argot origin is distinguished: they are characterized by a common seme ‘excessiveness’ and a similar contextual environment. Another separate group is composed by verbs with the common potential semes ‘animal’ and ‘loss of human appearance’. These semes are often actualized with the surrounding context. Conclusion. The lexical meaning of the verbs of the selected microfield can contain various evaluative components. Some verbs express both rational and emotional judgment. New paradigmatic connections are formed within the microfield and some verbs acquire interesting syntactic features.

Reinterpreting Chinese Cultural Imperatives Within the Contemporary Urban Context Through the Integration of Natural Elements

<p>As Chinese contemporary architecture is entering into a new era along with rapid economic development, this is an opportunity for young Chinese designers to start to translate their own Chinese cultural perspectives into contemporary architecture. This thesis uses an iconic Chinese architectural symbol, the ‘Chinese Garden’, as a vehicle to explore this opportunity to re-interpret the traditional Chinese garden in relation to contemporary Chinese urban culture. The challenge is to investigate how a contemporary garden could be inspired by the philosophy and principles of traditional Chinese gardens within a contemporary Western contextual environment. This thesis explores four major Chinese garden types and their architectural characteristics, how their imperative cultural reflections of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Fengshui Principles, Chinese landscape Painting and legend of ‘Round Heaven and Square Earth’ influence the traditional Chinese garden making. This thesis analyzes the qualities of the existing site, Frank Kitts Park, and it discusses the important ‘positives’ and potential ‘negatives’ that exists on the site. This design thesis will take the ‘negatives’ and translate them into positives through Chinese garden making theories and philosophies. While the Dunedin Chinese garden decided to hide the western urban context with a surrounding wall, this design thesis seeks to embrace the surrounding western urban context and incorporate it into the garden as a means of demonstrating how traditional gardens can flourish within contemporary times. This thesis challenges how a contemporary and western context can be incorporated with the principles of a traditional Chinese garden and how existing urban elements can be interpreted as landscape elements by translating traditionally soft plant elements into architectural elements. Just as solid walls are used to enclose the perimeter of traditional style gardens (both imperial gardens and private gardens), the contemporary garden should also consider the application of physical walls in order to divide space (both exterior and interior) and thus create multiple discreet spaces which may be considered as an inner and outer world with a garden boundary at ground level; a spiritual inner world is found within the garden and a literal outer world remains outside of the garden walls.</p>

Reinterpreting Chinese Cultural Imperatives Within the Contemporary Urban Context Through the Integration of Natural Elements

<p>As Chinese contemporary architecture is entering into a new era along with rapid economic development, this is an opportunity for young Chinese designers to start to translate their own Chinese cultural perspectives into contemporary architecture. This thesis uses an iconic Chinese architectural symbol, the ‘Chinese Garden’, as a vehicle to explore this opportunity to re-interpret the traditional Chinese garden in relation to contemporary Chinese urban culture. The challenge is to investigate how a contemporary garden could be inspired by the philosophy and principles of traditional Chinese gardens within a contemporary Western contextual environment. This thesis explores four major Chinese garden types and their architectural characteristics, how their imperative cultural reflections of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Fengshui Principles, Chinese landscape Painting and legend of ‘Round Heaven and Square Earth’ influence the traditional Chinese garden making. This thesis analyzes the qualities of the existing site, Frank Kitts Park, and it discusses the important ‘positives’ and potential ‘negatives’ that exists on the site. This design thesis will take the ‘negatives’ and translate them into positives through Chinese garden making theories and philosophies. While the Dunedin Chinese garden decided to hide the western urban context with a surrounding wall, this design thesis seeks to embrace the surrounding western urban context and incorporate it into the garden as a means of demonstrating how traditional gardens can flourish within contemporary times. This thesis challenges how a contemporary and western context can be incorporated with the principles of a traditional Chinese garden and how existing urban elements can be interpreted as landscape elements by translating traditionally soft plant elements into architectural elements. Just as solid walls are used to enclose the perimeter of traditional style gardens (both imperial gardens and private gardens), the contemporary garden should also consider the application of physical walls in order to divide space (both exterior and interior) and thus create multiple discreet spaces which may be considered as an inner and outer world with a garden boundary at ground level; a spiritual inner world is found within the garden and a literal outer world remains outside of the garden walls.</p>

THE CONFLICTOGENIC PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS WITH THE COMPONENTS БОГ (ГОСПОДЬ) / БІС (ЧОРТ)

The purpose of the article is to characterize the conflictogenic phraseological units with the components БОГ (ГОСПОДЬ) / БІС (ЧОРТ). The object of study is Ukrainian-language phraseological units with the components БОГ (ГОСПОДЬ) / БІС (ЧОРТ) to denote conflict communication. The subject of research is the quantitative and qualitative classification of the conflictogenic phraseological units with the components БОГ (ГОСПОДЬ) / БІС (ЧОРТ). Among the applied research methods: descriptive (for selection, classification and characteristics of the studied phraseology), linguo-cultural (to determine the cultural content of the lexical components БОГ (ГОСПОДЬ) / БІС (ЧОРТ)), contextual analysis (to characterize the contextual environment of the studied phraseology), distributive analysis (for segmentation of conflict communication texts and identification of relevant phraseological units within them). Conflictogenic phraseological units with the components БОГ (ГОСПОДЬ) / БІС (ЧОРТ) – stable figurative expressions with evaluative connotations, used in various situations of conflict communication. It can be stated that the dichotomy ‘good / evil’ between these ethnoculturally significant tokens is erased, leveled – all the phraseological units that contain them in their component composition appear mostly negative. The largest group among the recorded phraseology with the component БОГ is formed focused on the expression of various negative feelings towards someone or something (dissatisfaction in particular); "middle" groups form phraseological units that express: warnings in the process of conflict; characteristics of a mentally handicapped person who is unable to act as an adequate subject of a conflict situation; a sense of agreement in a conflict situation; with the help of one phraseological unit several different feelings at the same time, mostly of a negative plan; threat; cruelty of behavior; singly used phraseological units with a component БОГ express: meaningless communication; categorical objection during communication; ridicule in the process of communication; feelings of despair in a conflict situation; feelings of affect in a conflict situation; harassment; an appeal to shame after a conflict situation. The largest share among the recorded phraseology with the component БІС is formed by focusing on the expression of various negative feelings towards someone or something; the middle position is occupied by phraseology, which expresses: a sharp reluctance to interact with someone (something), to communicate; complete denial in the process of conflict; indifference, reconciliation with the conflict situation; single phraseological units with the component БІС are used as a curse and as a sign of inexpediency, nonsense. In the future – a multifaceted, comprehensive analysis of other groups of the conflictogenic phraseological units of the Ukrainian language.

Acting in the context of feature films

Acting is an ancient art form that has existed since time immemorial. Acting as a creative activity is one of several types of performing arts, and they all have three common phases of development; training/preparation, rehearsal/practice and performance. In addition, any study of the performing arts must take into account the reality that a performer is always embedded in the contextual environment and participates in one or more of the three phases of development. Acting in modern cinema remains an activity that involves instantaneous interaction with others, while maintaining the ability to draw from personal past experiences and imaginations about oneself, others and/or the environment. The purpose of this study was to identify the features of acting in cinema and to identify the difference with the work in the theatrical environment. The main methods of this study were analysis and comparison. Although theatrical and cinematographic traditions represent stylistic and aesthetic differences, the actor's training and the concepts of the play are more similar than contradictory. What crosses time, culture and the environment is the need to train the actor.

PRECEDENT PHENOMENA OF THE SOVIET ERA IN CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC DISCOURSE (THE STUDY OF NATIONAL CORPUS OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE)

Введение. Рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с осмыслением знаков советской культуры в современном публицистическом дискурсе. Анализируются особенности функционирования прецедентных идеологем и прецедентных лозунгов советского времени в контекстах Национального корпуса русского языка. Идеологемы, введенные в современные публицистические контексты, выступают как прецедентные феномены, обладающие воспроизводимостью, сверхличностным характером, аксиологичностью, образностью. Цель – анализ специфики функционирования прецедентных феноменов советской эпохи в современном публицистическом дискурсе. Материал и методы. Исследование осуществлено на основе материалов газетного корпуса Национального корпуса русского языка. Рассмотрено около 260 контекстов, содержащих прецедентные идеологемы советский народ и рабочий класс, около 50 контекстов, включающих прецедентные лозунги советской эпохи. С учетом коммуникативно-деятельностного подхода проанализированы коннотативный и сигнификативный компоненты значения прецедентных феноменов советской эпохи. На основе текстовых ассоциаций, входящих в ассоциативное поле прецедентных феноменов, выявлены особенности их функционирования в современном публицистическом дискурсе; рассмотрены понятийный, оценочный, образный слои их концептуального содержания. В работе применялись контекстологический, компонентный, семантико-стилистический методы анализа. Результаты и обсуждение. Проведенный анализ показал, что в современном публицистическом дискурсе широко используются прецедентные феномены советской эпохи – идеологемы и лозунги. В публицистических контекстах происходит переосмысление значения прецедентных идеологем за счет актуализации оценочного и образного слоев их концептуального содержания. Выявлены характеристики прецедентных идеологем советский народ и рабочий класс, относящиеся как к ядерной, так и периферийной части их ассоциативных полей. Коннотативные семы в значении рассмотренных прецедентных идеологем, формирующиеся контекстом, способствуют переосмыслению их концептуального содержания. В современной публицистике происходит трансформация семантики советских лозунгов за счет: 1) актуализации переносного значения; 2) смыслового опустошения; 3) изменения целевой установки. Заключение. Прецедентные феномены советской эпохи используются в современных публицистических текстах как в прямом, так и в переносном значении, с учетом переосмысления их семантики за счет контекстного окружения, создающего коннотацию. Коннотация формируется на основе введения прецедентного феномена в контекст, который не только способствует изменению экспрессивно-оценочной окраски, но и влияет на сигнификативный компонент значения прецедентной единицы. При этом происходит семантическая трансформация прецедентных феноменов, аккумулирующих культурологическую информацию, актуализация оценочного и образного слоев их концептуального содержания. В целом прецедентные феномены советской эпохи способствуют сохранению стилистики советской журналистики в современной прессе и остаются значимым фактором влияния на адресата, внедрения в его сознание политико-идеологических установок. Introduction. The article deals with issues related to the understanding of the signs of Soviet culture in modern journalistic discourse. The features of the functioning of precedent ideologemes and precedent slogans of the Soviet era in the contexts of the National Corpus of the Russian language are analyzed. Ideologemes, introduced into modern journalistic contexts, act as precedent phenomena with reproducibility, super-personal character, axiology, and imagery. The goal is to analyze the specifics of the functioning of precedent phenomena of the Soviet era in modern publicistic discourse. Material and methods. The research is carried out on the basis of the material from the newspaper corpus of the Russian National Corpus. It considers about 260 contexts containing precedent ideologemes of the Soviet people and the working class, about 50 contexts including precedent slogans of the Soviet era. Taking into account the communicative-activity approach, the author analyzes the connotative and significative components of the meaning of precedent phenomena of the Soviet era. On the basis of textual associations included in the associative field of precedent phenomena, the features of their functioning in modern journalistic discourse are revealed, the conceptual, evaluative, figurative layers of their conceptual content are considered. The work used contextlogic, component, semantic and stylistic methods of analysis. Results and discussion. The analysis showed that the precedent phenomena of the Soviet era – ideologemes and slogans – are widely used in modern journalistic discourse. In journalistic contexts, the meaning of precedent ideologemes is being rethought due to the actualization of the evaluative and imaginative layers of their conceptual content. The article reveals the characteristics of the precedent ideologemes of the Soviet people and the working class, referring to both the nuclear and peripheral parts of their associative fields. Connotative semes in the meaning of the considered precedent ideologemes, formed by the context, contribute to the rethinking of their conceptual content. In modern journalism, the semantics of Soviet slogans is being transformed as a consequence of: 1) the actualization of the figurative meaning; 2) semantic devastation; 3) changing the target setting. Conclusion. The precedent phenomena of the Soviet era are used in modern journalistic texts both in a literal sense and in a figurative one, taking into account the rethinking of their semantics as conditioned by the contextual environment that creates connotation. The connotation is formed on the basis of the introduction of the precedent phenomenon into the context, which not only contributes to a change in the expressive-evaluative coloration, but also affects the significative component of the meaning of the precedent unit. At the same time, there is a semantic transformation of precedent phenomena that accumulate culturological information, the actualization of the evaluative and figurative layers of their conceptual content. In general, the precedent phenomena of the Soviet era contribute to the preservation of the style of Soviet journalism in the modern press and remain a significant factor in influencing the addressee, introducing political and ideological attitudes into their consciousness.

Maneuvering Uncertainty: Scenario Planning in Belize

The IDB has been experimenting with the Scenario Planning methodology since 2019 in order to challenge and innovate its approach to strategic planning, as well as to enhance the agility with which it anticipates and adapts for the delivery of its mission. Belize was identified as a prime candidate that would benefit from testing and deployment of the Strategic Planning Exercise. This methodology will complement the preparation cycle work of the Country Strategy of the IDB with Belize for the period 2022-2026. It is also expected to challenge the traditional process by exploring uncertainty in the contextual environment, but more specifically, by considering those factors which may influence the IDBs work, but which are out of IDBs control. This paper presents two Scenarios for Belize's future towards 2030, as well as the process involved in developing these scenarios. The scenarios are dissected to identify their most salient themes and are followed by a discussion of potential implications, should the scenarios materialize. Also considered are steps the country may introduce presently in order to be better prepared for potential challenges and how the IDB, through the Country Office, may support building Belize's resilience for such scenarios.

BMI and dissatisfaction with life: contextual factors and socioemotional costs of obesity

Purpose In this study, we investigate whether individuals’ BMI categories are associated with being dissatisfied with one’s life, how this association is affected by the social comparison that individuals make, and what the role of the overall BMI levels in this process is. Methods We use data for 21,577 men and 27,415 women, collected in 2016 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, from 34 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. To understand the moderating effect of contextual environment, we use multilevel mixed effect logistic regression models and data for national, regional, and cohort-specific BMI levels. Result We find that the association of BMI and dissatisfaction with life differs by gender, with overweight men being less likely to be dissatisfied with life than men with normal weight and obese women being more likely to be dissatisfied with life compared to women with normal weight. For contextual effects, we find that obese women in regions with low BMI levels are more likely to be dissatisfied with life. The effect of obesity on female life dissatisfaction is not observed in regions with high BMI levels. As for men, regional BMI levels affect the levels of life dissatisfaction but only for underweight men. Conclusions Our study adds additional nuance to the quality-of-life research by showing that the association between BMI and decreased life satisfaction is, at least partially, moderated by the contextual environment, and that the character of these effects differs by gender.