Academic Writing for Publication Purposes and Machine Translation: Is the Symbiosis Possible?

The abstracts in Russian and in English are written according to certain rules. For articles written in Russian, an abstract in English is the only means of informing the world scientific community about the authors’ research results. However, the quality of abstracts written in Russian and then translated into English does not always meet the criteria for readability and comply with the accepted academic and publication conventions. This situation might result from the intensive usage of machine translation (MT) systems by authors who do not take into account the guidelines for the input text quality and the limitations inherent in MT systems. The author analyzed the requirements for the input texts and some typical errors in the target ones. The article describes the stages of training masters, postgraduate students and university staff in the effective use of MT systems. The training is based on a bilingual approach, which implies a constant comparison of vocabulary, grammar and style in the native and English languages. The author comes to the conclusion that the effective use of MT systems for writing an abstract in English is possible if the authors have the command of Russian and English at the level sufficient for a concise and unambiguous expression of their thoughts and ideas. Self-censoring is a prerequisite for creating a text that is “understandable” for MT systems. Students must follow simple rules: write sentences of 15-20 words; express one thought per one sentence; use more active verbs; choose nouns that express a specific concept; exclude unnecessary words. At the post-editing stage, learners can use the tools available on the Internet, which allow not only editing the target text, but also will enable learners to acquire independent editing skills.

The Role of Representations in the Understanding of Mathematical Concepts in Higher Education: The case of Function for Economics Students

the case of higher education most studies were conducted at pedagogical departments for prospective teachers and mathematical departments. The present study concentrates on university students who attend a course on mathematics as part of a program at the Faculty of Economics and Management. It examines students’ affective and cognitive behavior in solving representation tasks concerning their understanding of exponential and logarithmic functions. Results confirmed the existence of a comprehensive model with significant interrelations among general beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs and cognitive behaviour about the use of representations in general and, in the case of the specific concept. Regression analysis indicated the predominant role the self-efficacy beliefs play in the use of representations in defining the concept of function and solving recognition and translation tasks. Implications about the teaching of mathematics in higher education are discussed.

Legal aspects of gender identity in Ukraine

The issue of gender identity in the modern world is becoming increasingly relevant. The place of a person's right to recognise their gender identity in the Ukrainian legal plane is uncertain. The study considers the specific features of regulating the human right to recognise gender identity and gender reassignment in Ukraine. The authors of the study consider personal non-property rights of an individual as a specific concept, and somatic rights – as a generic concept, the main meaning of which is the ability to dispose of one's body. Accordingly, a person's right to recognition of their gender identity is a personal non-property right. In Ukraine, legal regulation of gender change is carried out, but certain regulations come into force only in the event of a legal fact of gender change, although their provisions regulate the direct implementation of such a right. However, gender identity is the third most common cause of discrimination. It is necessary for Ukrainian legislation to update the regulatory framework that governs the procedure for changing gender. It is worth paying attention to the correct use of terminology in these relations.

Different perspectives in defining culture

Society grows and develops rapidly while the theory of culture itself in Indonesia mostly refers to Koentjaraningrat’s paradigm. His theory is basically general and commonly used as a basic examination. The fact concerns me due to its deficiency – less relevant to accommodate currently cultural development. To answer this problem, I pertain to the Ahimsa-Putra’s cultural theory. He proposed his thoughts to a more specific concept of culture. In his article entitled Mendefinisikan Kembali Kebudayaan, Ahimsa-Putra not merely describes definition of culture yet along with its dimensions and elements. This review would like to show whether his theory possibly can stipulate an answer to his criticism towards Koentjaraningrat's theory. Later on, I shall offer my disagreements in some of his views.

Firms versus corporations: a rebuttal of Simon Deakin, David Gindis, and Geoffrey M. Hodgson

I share the view expressed by Simon Deakin, David Gindis, and Geoffrey Hodgson (‘DGH’) that social scientists need to consider the constitutive role of law in their disciplines. This is particularly the case for economists working on the theory of the firm and on institutions more generally. Their analyses are often built on assumptions about the legal system which do not correspond to reality. One major issue is the generalized confusion between the concepts of ‘corporation’ and ‘firm’. In day-to-day parlance, the two words are synonyms. But, when the constitutive role of law is considered, the word corporation corresponds to a specific legal device which should be clearly differentiated from a less-specific concept which can be called a ‘firm’ or an ‘enterprise’. The notion of firm usually corresponds to the economic organization of various resources via contracts to produce goods or services. The corporation is a legal institution with peculiar characteristics, including a potentially eternal legal personality, an asset partitioning effect, and several layers of separations of ownership and control. Corporations are often used to legally structure large firms because they are very efficient legal devices to concentrate capital. But, firms are practically and conceptually different from the corporation(s) used to structure them. DGH consider that the understanding of what a firm is should not go against general, day-to-day understanding. In their view, although not all firms are corporations, all corporations are firms. I disagree. Only by clearly explaining that corporations are not firms can lawyers help social scientists consider the constitutive role of the law of corporations in the structuring of our present-day economy.

The concept of family in Hausa

The paper attempts to define the notion of family in Hausa, an African language which is very distant, both geographically and culturally, from the European context. With reference to the universal features of the notion family, the culture-specific concept of family is discussed, focusing on traditional model of the Hausa family and relations between family members. The main features of the concept are identified through the analysis of the lexicon, phraseology, and structural features. The discussion includes some specific profiles of the concept of family in Hausa, manifested in religious discourse and in the language of popular culture.

Features of the concept “Individualism” in the consciousness of the Chinese and Russians (based on the corpus of the Chinese and Russian languages)

The article presents the results of statistical processing of collocations for the word “individualism” obtained from the corpora of the Chinese and Russian languages. The software sorts the collocations of the selected word by frequency and classifies and compares high-frequency words by parts of speech. The concept of individualism is one of the cultural dimensions of the expression of values used in the socio-psychological and pedagogical fields. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author analyzes the content of “individualism”, its features which are translated into the mass consciousness of the Chinese and Russians with the help of language. National culture influences the value orientations and linguistic consciousness of a particular nation. The current study of lexical units and their content in the minds of speakers of different languages is of great importance for cross- cultural communication. Comparing features of the content of the concept “individualism”, national and cultural specifics are also found with the Chinese and Russians. The examples demonstrate that the content of a specific concept in the minds of members of different cultures becomes more obvious as a result of the comparative study.

Av denna världen?

This article deals with the theological concept "Kingdom of God" in pre-1848 German political thought, more specifically in the texts of three political authors of the era: Wilhelm Weitling, Friedrich Julius Stahl, and Karl Theodor Welcker. The article is located in the nexus between theology and history of political thought, and has three main aims: First, in a gen­eral sense, it discusses and applies Amos Funkenstein's idea of laymen theology and Jan-Werner Müller's notion of in-between figures. Second, using these, it gives an example how theology has been an active language in the formation of modern political thought, more specifically the modern political ideologies of liberalism, socialism, and conservatism. Third, it tries to complement existing studies of temporality and theology in the mod­ern period, most notably the work of Jayne Svenungsson. Methodologically, in focusing and historicizing one specific concept, it connects to the theories of Reinhart Koselleck. The article shows how the Kingdom of God was differently conceived by authors of different political positions, but, more importantly, discusses how it became an active theological concept, used by laymen, in a political context obsessed with questions of historical change, the possibility of societal perfection, and the role of Christianity in the world.

Making Sense of the Unknown: A Narrative Analysis of COVID-19 Stories as Told by WSU Research Students

Storytelling is an important tool through which to make sense of life experiences. Stories can be classified as personal narratives, historical documentaries and those that inform the viewer about a specific concept or practice. These narratives can be used to promote discussion about current issues in the world. Storytelling can thus be seen as an effective learning tool for students by providing a strong foundation in “Twenty First Century Literacy” skills as well as advancing emotional intelligence and social learning. This project used storytelling to gather information regarding people’s encounters with COVID-19 and lockdown, with specific focus on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Employing a content analysis methodology, it attempts to analyze responses to narrative inquiry interviews about the COVID-19 pandemic as conducted by students, as part of their introduction to the methodology of research. These responses were used to generalize findings, as well as to look at individual reactions that could bring light to, and make sense of the human experience of the pandemic within an educational context. Both negative and positive experiences were related by interviewees and students.