Tenor of Discourse and Modality Examination in Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah

This study has examined the tenor of discourse and modality in two excerpts from Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah. The study aims at decoding the writer’s subtly encoded messages through both the interrelationships established among the participants of the selected excerpts and his use of modality. To attain such objectives, the investigation uses the descriptive quantitative and qualitative methodology. The research has arrived at valuable findings. Among several others presented in the subsection entitled interpretation of findings, the study has unveiled that power among the participants of the excerpts is unequal, contact infrequent, and affective involvement low. The tenor or social role relationship played by such participants as Major Sam, Chris Oriko, and Ikem Osodi is a formal one describing a formal situation. This implies that Achebe’s message in these excerpts is a serious one depictive of the real political unrest and the dominantly unmanageable discontent of Nigerians by the time he wrote these texts. The social role relationship carried out by the salespeople and their potential customers depict an informal tenor highlighting Achebe’s claim for a change in the Nigerians’ mind, and indirectly in the Africans’ ways of life. The overriding use of modalization over modulation in the analyzed excerpts highlights the way the writer creates a less authoritative, more suggestive tenor balancing, by this means, the power inequality inherent in the modulation.

Evaluation of Family functioning among parents of epileptic patients

Epilepsy has aggregate of risk characteristic’s as, age of onset, triggering factors, genetics, natural history, prognosis, and it is not a condition based on single aspect or cause. Due to social problems, family functioning of epileptic patients suffers badly. The basic purpose of the study is to investigate the role of family functioning of the parents who has epileptic patients. Methods: Across-sectional study was conducted at Muzaffargarh Hospital Neurology OPD department. Total 36 parents were enrolled. All parents of children, who have 8 to18 years of age, which are diagnosis of epilepsy, were included in current study Data was collected on a predesign questionnaire and for family functioning the Family Assessment Device (FAD) was used. Statistical analysis was performed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (spss) version 26. The frequencies, proportions were calculated for Qualitative variables and Mean + SD were calculated for quantitative variables. Results: The mean age of parents was 38.58+7.55 and children were 12.31+3.34. Out of 36 participants 12(33.3%) were males whereas 24(66.7%) were females. Majority of parents were holding secondary degree 13(36.1%), were unemployed 24(66.7%), 21(58.3%) were from rural area and dealing with generalized seizure type children 24(66.7%). The average seizures frequency per month was 2.64+1.15. The families of epileptic patients were more dysfunctional, especially in terms of problem solving (2.66+0.43), behavior control (2.68+0.49), affective involvement (2.62+0.64) and also family’s faces difficulties in finding their role (2.48+0.56). Conclusion: The families of epileptic patients have more dysfunctional, especially in terms of problem solving, behavior control, affective involvement and also families faces difficulties in finding their role. Therefore educational programme focusing on the importance of family functioning should be provided so that the aspect of treatments and social life of patients get improved. Keywords: Epilepsy, Family functioning, Social Support, Family support

Ads in gaming apps: experiential value of gamers

PurposeEven though there is a noticeable market value in the mobile gaming apps industry, there has been limited research examining experiential value of gamers with respect to in-game ads in gaming apps. This study fills the void in the literature by examining factors associated with “experiential value of gamers through ads in gaming apps” as well as investigating its antecedents (cognitive and affective involvement) and consequences (positive word of mouth and intention to continue playing the mobile game).Design/methodology/approachA total of 600 valid responses from gamers was used to test the model fit, measurement and structural models, conditional probabilistic queries, and nonlinearity.FindingsThis study found that experiential value of gamers through ads in gaming apps is a second-order factor of four constructs: escapism, enjoyment, social affiliation and entertainment. Most of the structural paths between cognitive/affective involvement and dimensions of experiential value are supported. Surprisingly, only social affiliation and entertainment values predict positive word of mouth and intention to continue playing the mobile game, in a nonlinear way.Originality/valueThis study is the first to introduce “experiential value of gamers through ads in gaming apps”. The findings have important implications for companies to develop brand and communication strategies by leveraging specific advertisement formats and present their ads to the right audience in the right gaming apps and at the right time.

Computational Thinking, Between Papert and Wing

The pervasiveness of Computer Science (CS) in today’s digital society and the extensive use of computational methods in other sciences call for its introduction in the school curriculum. Hence, Computer Science Education is becoming more and more relevant. In CS K-12 education, computational thinking (CT) is one of the abused buzzwords: different stakeholders (media, educators, politicians) give it different meanings, some more oriented to CS, others more linked to its interdisciplinary value. The expression was introduced by two leading researchers, Jeannette Wing (in 2006) and Seymour Papert (much early, in 1980), each of them stressing different aspects of a common theme. This paper will use a historical approach to review, discuss, and put in context these first two educational and epistemological approaches to CT. We will relate them to today’s context and evaluate what aspects are still relevant for CS K-12 education. Of the two, particular interest is devoted to “Papert’s CT,” which is the lesser-known and the lesser-studied. We will conclude that “Wing’s CT” and “Papert’s CT,” when correctly understood, are both relevant to today’s computer science education. From Wing, we should retain computer science’s centrality, CT being the (scientific and cultural) substratum of the technical competencies. Under this interpretation, CT is a lens and a set of categories for understanding the algorithmic fabric of today’s world. From Papert, we should retain the constructionist idea that only a social and affective involvement of students into the technical content will make programming an interdisciplinary tool for learning (also) other disciplines. We will also discuss the often quoted (and often unverified) claim that CT automatically “transfers” to other broad 21st century skills. Our analysis will be relevant for educators and scholars to recognize and avoid misconceptions and build on the two core roots of CT.

Poetics of B. Brecht’s epic theatre in terms of the cubist principle

This article is devoted to an attempt to consider the concept of B. Brechts epic theatre in terms of the cubist principle as a characteristic technique of the avant-garde and postmodernism, based on overcoming traditional mimetic forms when creating an artistic whole and suggesting such a way of organizing an artistic image in which affective involvement based on ready-made forms of perception and recognition, is replaced by the need for the so-called work of understanding. The main objectives of the article include the discovery and description of the mechanisms for the implementation of the cubist principle in the concept of Brechts epic theatre. The goal of the study is to prove the productivity of considering Brechts poetics in terms of the cubist principle. The research is carried out on the basis of an integrated approach that combines systemic-holistic and hermeneutic methods. The block of empirical materials includes Brechts works on the theory of epic theatre, as well as the works of Russian and foreign literary scholars and art theorists, devoted to both highly specialized aspects of Brechts theory of dramaturgy and issues related to the problem of authenticity of artistic expression and features of the structure of a work of art in the context of the collapse of traditional ideas about an artistic object as a result of imitation or expression of the artists inner world. The results obtained make it possible to present the concept of Brechts epic theatre as an experience of problematization of the creative act in a situation of crisis of artistic forms and reveal the expediency of considering Brechts poetics in terms of the cubist principle due to a much broader view of the technical and ideological-content aspects of his concept, in contrast to previously adopted concepts montage and separation of elements.

Internet Addiction among Young Adult University Students: The Complex Interplay between Family Functioning, Impulsivity, Depression, and Anxiety

International research has underlined that both interpersonal, self-regulation, and comorbid variables can lead to a higher risk of developing internet addiction (IA) among young adults. To date, no studies have explored the interplay between young adults’ family functioning, impulsivity, and psychopathological difficulties. In a community sample of 244 young adult university students, this study aims to assess the relationship between young adults’ IA and young adults’ gender, the perception of their family functioning, impulsivity level, and depressive and anxiety symptoms, considering the possible interplay between these variables. The presence and the severity of IA were addressed through the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Moreover, young adults filled out self-reporting questionnaires, assessing their perception of family functioning and their impulsivity levels and psychopathological symptoms. Results showed no significant association between the youth’s gender and IA. However, moderately addicted young adults were more likely to report poorer quality of family affective involvement and higher attentional impulsivity and depressive problems than other groups. Moreover, young adults’ attentional impulsivity mediated the relationship between family affective involvement and IA. This study provides new evidence on the complex interaction between individuals and interpersonal risk factors involved in IA among young adults, with important implications for the planning of intervention treatments.

Revision as Nostalgic Practice: The Imagined Adaptation of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

This article investigates the role of nostalgia vis-à-vis practices of adaptation and revision in the genre of the American Western and specifically in Joel and Ethan Coen’s episodic film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). It proposes a view of the Western as a genre that originates in the revisionist adaptation of American national mythology. As an inherently nostalgic genre, the Western has grappled with its ambivalent relationship with the past throughout the twentieth century. Recent Western productions demonstrate their awareness of the genre’s sentimental falsifications of the past and integrate nostalgic tensions into their aesthetic repertoire. Buster Scruggs taps into both the current success of nostalgic formats on screen and the specific affordances of the Western genre. The close readings in this article explore the visual, structural, and narrative strategies the film employs to, on the one hand, permit and, in fact, encourage nostalgic indulgence while, on the other, engaging in the revision of both the postmodern aversion against affective involvement and its wholesale acceptance in the Western’s early incarnations.

Family Functioning Affected by Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis in China: a Cross-sectional Survey

Backgrounds: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis(AIS) is a common chronic disease in youths, presenting with spinal deformity. Previous studies reported that family functioning of family members will be affected after a child is diagnosed with a chronic health condition. Family functioning would be evaluated in AIS patients and their parents in this study.Methods: 54 AIS patients (age=14.9±1.9 years old; F:M=51:3) who underwent conservative or surgical treatments in our hospital from April 2017 to March 2018, and their parents (age=43.0±4.1 years old; F:M=40:14) were enrolled in this study. Family functioning of both the patients and their parents was evaluated using McMaster family assessment device (FAD). The relationship of family functioning between the patients and their parents was first accessed using paired-samples t-test. Family functioning was defined to be “Unhealthy” if the family FAD scores (the mean scores of the patients and their parents) were above the cut-off. The potential risk factors of the unhealthiest subscales were analyzed using the chi-squared test or the independent t-test. Then, the effects of independent risk factors were analyzed using the logistic regression model if more than two risk factors were identified.Results: There is no significant difference between the AIS patients (1.90±0.42~2.23±0.32) and their parents (1.92±0.35~2.21±0.29) in all seven subscales (p≥0.05). The scores of the parents were moderately/strongly correlated with those of the AIS patients in all seven subscales (𝛄=0.456~0.696, p<0.05). 20.4% to 87.0% of the families experienced unhealthy family functioning, and affective involvement (57.4%), and behavior control (87.0%) were the unhealthiest subscales with the mean scores above the cut-off. Coronal imbalance (p=0.041, Odds ratio [OR]=3.685) was the independent risk factor of unhealthy affective involvement.Conclusions: 20.4%~ 87.0% families reported unhealthy family functioning, especially for affective involvement and behavior control. Coronal imbalance (body image) was an independent risk factor of unhealthy affective involvement. These facts suggest a potential need of the family for assistance with establishing and maintaining near-normal daily routines after a child is diagnosed with AIS. Medical workers should provide some practical suggestions for AIS families to improve their family functioning.

Resilience and vulnerability: Emotional and affective labour in mom blogging

This article investigates the empirical case of commercial mom blogging as indicative of the particular ways in which the digital economy invites and exploits women’s affective and emotional labour. Based on Finnish mom bloggers’ interviews, the article explores the ways in which emotional labour is needed to tackle the mean and degrading comments that most bloggers have to come to terms with, and the ways in which their affective involvement is an inseparable part of their work as mom bloggers. Looking at vulnerability, control and emotional resilience as sites of emotional and affective labour in blogging, the article shows how gendered and embodied burdens are carried on to the digital realm, and how new vulnerabilities and forms of affective labour are formed and normalized.