Sociogeographic correlates of typological variation in northwestern Bantu gender systems

This paper investigates the sociolinguistic factors that impact the typology and evolution of grammatical gender systems in northwestern Bantu, the most diverse area of the Bantu-speaking world. We base our analyses on a typological classification of 179 northwestern Bantu languages, focusing on various instances of semantic agreement and their role in the erosion of gender marking. In addition, we conduct in-depth analyses of the sociolinguistics and population history of the 17 languages of the sample with the most eroded gender systems. The sociohistorical factors identified to explain these highly eroded systems are then translated into a set of explanatory variables, which we use to conduct extensive quantitative analyses on the 179 language sample. These variables are population size, longitude, latitude, relationship with the Central African rainforest, and border with Ubangi/Central Sudanic languages. All these measures are relevant, with population size and bordering with Ubangi/Central Sudanic being the most robust factors in accounting for the distribution of gender restructuring. We conclude that fine-tuned variable design tailored to language and area-specific ecologies is crucial to the advancement of quantitative sociolinguistic typology.

Studying and Addressing Listening Levels of Children in a Rural Poverty-Stricken Area

This chapter reports the work of a teacher educator/researcher as she supported teacher candidates to assess and tutor struggling readers in a public school in a rural, economically depressed, yet diverse, area. Alerted by the scores for listening comprehension the candidates were finding over several semesters that indicated little reading potential for the students being assessed, she worked with the school's principal to reassess one group of students at the end of the year to determine growth, and therefore potential success, of the school's new intervention program in raising listening levels. No significant results were found, yet school personnel made no change in their program to address it. The teacher educator/researcher subsequently followed the implications of the research to provide instruction in listening skills to students in two other schools. The chapter closes with a discussion of what may truly make a difference in developing listening skills for the children in this community beyond a commercial program.

ASEAN as an Optimal/Nonoptimal Currency Area

Economists have been arguing to this day about the benefits and risks of introducing a community currency. It is very difficult to clearly determine which side is right. Most often, scientists refer to the example of the so-called Eurozone, but it is still far from reaching an agreement between supporters and opponents of such a solution. This paper presents the issues of monetary integration in ASEAN+3 (i.e. ASEAN member countries, China, South Korea, and Japan) in terms of the optimal currency area and other necessary conditions for the creation of a sustainable development region. The researchers argue about whether ASEAN+3 should introduce a single currency. Some suggest that the group meets several OCA theory criteria, i.e. labour mobility and economic openness. According to the results of the study, ASEAN+3 is an economically diverse area and there is a lack of institutions enabling effective monetary integration in the short term. Optimization assumptions included in the analysis determine the real chances of development and survival within the currency area. The author's analysis has indicated that ASEAN+3 should not introduce a single currency for three reasons: failure to meet the optimization criteria, diversification of socio-economic development, lack of an institutional framework and inconsistency in the perception of monetary integration. On the other hand, it should be noted that a single currency could contribute to increasing the monetary security of the entire South-East Asian region, which means that the ​​monetary integration may be a long-term idea.

Biogeographic analysis of ferns and lycophytes in Oaxaca: A Mexican beta-diverse area

Background: Spatial patterns related to richness and endemism of Mexican ferns and lycophytes are not well known, particularly in highly biodiverse areas; among these, Oaxaca is considered a highly biodiverse Mexican state. Questions: Where are located the centers of richness and endemism of lycophytes and ferns in Oaxaca? Both groups of plants support the idea of beta-diverse state condition for Oaxaca? Study site and research period: The study includes all territory of Oaxaca, between 2015 and 2019. Methods: We analyzed the species distribution using grid cells of 20’ × 20’ of latitude and longitude as study units. For this, we applied species richness, endemism indexes (weighted endemism and corrected weighted endemism), and components of biodiversity (a, b and g), associated with a complementarity index. The distributional data of the species were mainly obtained from herbarium specimens. Results: The richness areas are concentrated in the Sierra Norte and Istmo regions. Three important areas in richness and endemic species are suggested from the endemism indexes. Most of the grid-cell combinations resulted in high values from the complementarity analysis suggesting a high species turnover. Conclusions: The diversity analyses suggested that Oaxaca is a beta-diverse state. The NOM-059 needs a serious, urgent, and critical revision for ferns and different biological groups. The Areas Voluntarily Designated for Conservation in Oaxaca play a major role in relation to Natural Protected Areas for conservation of ferns and lycophytes.

Inventorying Retrogressive Thaw Slumps along the Qinghai-Tibet Engineering Corridor using a deep-learning-aided semi-automatic method

<p>Permafrost in the Tibetan plateau is undergoing warming and degradation due to thermal and anthropogenic disturbance. As visible indicators of permafrost degradation, retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) are slope failures resulting from thawing of ice-rich permafrost, which can retreat and expand in thawing seasons, and may destroy infrastructure, change ecosystems and release carbon preserved in permafrost. However, the distribution of RTSs over Tibet is seldom investigated and poorly understood.</p><p>In this study, we used optical images collected by the Planet CubeSat constellation in 2019 to identify RTSs over a vast area of ~45000 km<sup>2</sup> along the Qinghai-Tibet Engineering Corridor, where the main highways and railways across the plateau are running through and a new highway is under planning. We planned to use the deep learning model DeepLabv3+, which can classify every pixel in the entire study area. However, with limited training data (300 RTSs) centered in a relatively small subregion (Beiluhe Region), it is infeasible to delineate all RTSs accurately in such a large and diverse area by using deep learning alone. Therefore, we proposed an iteratively semi-automatic method. In each iteration, we used DeepLabv3+ to automatically identify and delineate all possible RTSs, then manually checked them and selected newly-found RTSs based on their geomorphic features and temporal changes. To minimize the chance that DeepLabv3+ may miss some RTSs in each iteration, we added newly-found RTSs into the positive training dataset for the next iteration. We stopped iteratively mapping until no new RTSs could be identified.</p><p>Eventually, our method identified and delineated 877 RTSs which affect a total area of 17 km<sup>2</sup>. They tend to spread out across the region, while Beiluhe is characterized as a cluster. Among these, 57 RTSs are within 500 m from major roads and the railway and potentially threaten their safety. This study demonstrates the applicability of using our deep-learning-aided method to obtain a comprehensive inventory of RTSs in large areas such as the engineering corridor, give us an overall understanding of RTS distribution, and provide an important benchmark dataset and knowledge for further quantifying temporal changes of RTSs.</p>

Community transmission of a virus: a global pandemic overview

The word ‘pandemic’ was originally a derivative from two Greek words “pan” referring “all” and “demos” “people”. “An epidemic arising over a very diverse area, crossing the global margins, and typically affecting a huge number of people” is defined as a pandemic. Therefore pandemics are recognized by their topographical scale instead of severity of ailments. Even though the term “pandemic” has not been clearly defined, wide geographic extension, disease movement, novelty, severity, high attack rates and explosiveness, minimal population immunity, infectiousness and contagiousness can be considered as some of the key features of this term. Till today, globe has encountered several notable pandemics caused by virus such as Spanish flu, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), smallpox, SARS, Ebola and Nipah disease whose causative organisms are H1N1, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Variola virus, DEN-1/DEN2/DEN3/DEN4, coronavirus, Ebola virus (Zaire/Sudan/Tai/Cote D’ivoire), and Nipah virus (NiV) respectively. This review includes detailed data regarding various viral pandemics. Analyzing the history, clinical manifestation, pathogenesis, management and precautions of several viral pandemics which will promote and spread the awareness among the public as well as the healthcare system.

Language use and preference in the multilingual context of Davao City, Philippines

This paper is a pioneering study on the language use and preference of the Davaoeños from generations X (born in the years 1965 to 1979) and Z (born in the years 1995 to 2015) towards the Cebuano, Filipino, and English languages. Being a linguistically diverse area, Davao is home to the emerging contact language Davao Filipino which is currently spoken by the various ethnolinguistic groups currently inhabiting the city. This study utilized mixed methods research, particularly a survey questionnaire and focus group discussions, to explore the perspectives of the respondents on the said languages. Two generations were investigated in this study, particularly those belonging to Generations X and Z. Data presented show that both generations consider themselves fluent in the languages of interest in this study. They primarily use Cebuano for everyday communication and both generations primarily use English in formal communication. However, a language shift was seen from the common use of Cebuano by the older generation to the use of Filipino by the younger generation. This shift was also reflected in the language preferences of the respondents on everyday communication. Lastly, both generations would like to maintain Filipino as the Philippine national language as it is the language that they usually use when talking to Filipinos from other provinces who also speak different Philippine languages.

The development of a digital intervention to increase influenza vaccination amongst pregnant women

Objective Pregnant women and unborn babies are at increased risk of complications from influenza, including pneumonia, yet in the UK, uptake of flu vaccination amongst this population remains <50%. Pregnant women hold beliefs about risks of flu and efficacy of vaccination that consistently predict them to decline vaccination. This study aimed to develop a theory and evidence-based intervention addressing these beliefs to promote flu vaccine uptake. Methods The intervention was developed by behavioural scientists, pregnant women, midwives, clinicians and Public Health professionals, informed by Intervention Mapping. Six predefined steps were performed in line with Intervention Mapping. Results The intervention is an animation addressing beliefs about risks of flu and efficacy of vaccination. Preliminary testing using qualitative methodology indicates the information within the animation is appropriate, and the animation is acceptable to pregnant women. Conclusions This is the first known intervention for pregnant women, aiming to increase flu vaccination through addressing risk and efficacy appraisals. It has been implemented within seasonal flu vaccination campaigns during 2018/19 and 2019/20 within one geographically and ethnically diverse area of the UK.

Kenal saja tidak cukup: Eksplorasi Motif dan Bentuk Pertemanan Urban

Friendship is a form of social interaction which elicits positive affect, happiness, and promote mental health. Commonly, friendship is based on homophily. However, similarity often less seen in a diverse context, specifically urban area. Numerous interactions between migrants and nonmigrants will create a distinctive pattern with non-diverse area. The aim of this study is to frame friendship as perceived by urban youth in Yogyakarta with following questions: 1) what makes urban youth befriend each other, and 2) what kind of friendship they have. Indigenous qualitative study is used as a methodological approach. Author interviewed eight urban youth as participants. The findings suggest that urban youth in Yogyakarta befriend each other based on similarity in communication style, the relationship elicit supportive climate, proximity, and needs fulfillment. These reasons changing overtime, proofed by the consideration on cost-benefit relationship. Urban youth in Yogyakarta have several types of friends, categorized by intimacy. Intimate friendships consist of ‘sharing’ friend and close friend, while acquaintances are friends, functional friend, friends bound by space, and demographic friends. Implications are discussed further on recommendation on migrant friendship.

Urban Soundscapes

The word “soundscape” is associated with composer and music scholar R. Murray Schafer and his World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Schafer describes the soundscape as “any acoustic field of study.” He argues that, “We may speak of a musical composition as a soundscape, or a radio program as a soundscape or an acoustic environment as a soundscape.” Despite this wide potential, the term has come to be used mostly in relation to the last of these categories, prompted by Schafer’s own explanation of the soundscape as the auditory equivalent of landscape. Schafer argued that modern industrial environments were increasingly polluted by noise, causing harm to human health, culture, and communication. He wanted more thoughtful planning of sound environments as well as the preservation of traditional and natural soundscapes, aims which crystallized in the “acoustic ecology” movement. Schafer provided categories for analyzing and planning soundscapes: “keynote” sounds, “the anchor or fundamental tone” in the background of a soundscape which we may not always notice; foreground “signals” which we listen to consciously; and “soundmarks” which, like landmarks, lend uniqueness to a soundscape. In an urban context, motor traffic might form the keynote (though according to Schafer, an unhealthy one), with sirens, alarms, and religious sounds functioning as signals. What counts as a soundmark is more varied, depending on the cultural listening practices of a community. A church or town hall bell might be a signal, but if it comes to take on special meaning to a community, as in the case of London’s Big Ben clock chimes, it becomes a soundmark and “deserves to be protected, for soundmarks make the acoustic life of the community unique.” Schafer’s way of thinking about sound as both a physical environment and a culture of listening has been influential, inspiring sound recordists, composers, and artists as much as acousticians, architects, and urban planners. It has also underpinned strands of thinking in the interdisciplinary field of sound studies as it has grown since 2000. Contributions to the study of urban soundscapes come from all these directions and more, making it a highly diverse area in disciplinary and methodological terms. Publications on urban sound inspired by these developments may make little reference to Schafer or even to the term soundscape, but are included here because they nevertheless contribute to what may be understood as the field of urban soundscape studies in its broadest sense.