A Research on the Improvement of Business English Teachers’ Competence in an Internet Plus Era

In an Internet Plus era, the internet technology has brought an unprecedented change to people’s ways and habits of learning, so the traditional BE instructional design cannot meet the talent needs of international business practice. BE teachers’ lack of business knowledge and practical experience forms an obstacle to BE teaching. BE teachers in transition should make more efforts to improve their competence and teaching quality, so as to cultivate comprehensive and practical talents of high quality. This paper aims at discussing how to improve BE teachers’ competence in an Internet Plus era.

The Agenda Setting Process and its Potential Attitudinal Effects

Agenda setting is a well-documented process in the media effects tradition. It has a strong impact on what issues are perceived as important by the audience. However, there are indications that agenda setting may have an indirect effect on the attitudes. The current study tested the Elaboration Likelihood Model (The ELM) as a possible mechanism of attitude change that may be present in the agenda setting process. The experimental results did not confirm the overall impact of the ELM on attitudes, but it demonstrated separate attitudinal effects of ability operationalized as knowledge. Further, it was also argued that the agenda setting process may have an indirect effect on attitudes through the peripheral route of the ELM.

Who is the Ultimate Dream Weaver in John Keats’s The Eve of St. Agnes?

This article aims to interpret dreams in John Keats’s narrative The Eve of St. Agnes from different perspectives: the Beadsman’s, Porphyro’s, Madeline’s and John Keats’s, the poet. We will analyze their functions respectively, and then draw a conclusion of Keats’s purpose in structuring such a way of weaving dreams. After summarizing studies and theories on dream and soul from the perspective of psychoanalysis and scholars’ views on The Eve of St. Agnes, we will continue to illustrate the ways in which John Keats constructs three layers of dreams with the pertinent approaches by Freud, Fromm, Lacan, Rank, Žižek, etc. so as to reveal John Keats’s viewpoints on life and death, dream and reality, and pleasure and pain.

Public Prejudicial Discourse as a Global Socio-Ethnic Phenomenon: Using Digital Media to Limit Detrimental Language Flows

Studies continuously seek answers to how harmful speech delivered by any group or individual to three or more people affects their wellbeing. Specifically, deliverers target specific individuals or groups with their speech often unjustifiably or incorrectly based solely on the individual’s association with a group. Various avenues have been used to disseminate prejudicial data, creating different reactions. Whether verbal antagonism—casual racial slurs or disparaging race-sensitive comments or non-verbal expressions—explicit and implicit images published to denigrate an individual or group, prejudicial narratives have massive socio-economic and cultural consequences. Nevertheless, prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on their membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954); it is common against an unfamiliar cultural group and behaviors associated with prejudice such as discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobia, and ageism are now rife in communities worldwide and digital media networks. This paper analyzes some behavioral theories and uses the matrix of self-awareness and its ability to unlock our understanding of communication between groups and enhance group cultures. Referencing the use of prejudicial language in America and the United Nations Human Rights Commission’s efforts to track prejudicial discourse, it suggests steps to limit anti-other behaviors.

The Self-Reported Roles of Executive Functions, Behavior Experiences and Locus of Control in Adults Who Stutter

Purpose: Myriad studies have endeavored to determine why people stutter. It has been suggested that prior experiences, self-perceptions, specific cognition abilities (i.e., executive functions), and/or whether a person perceives their stuttering to be controlled internally or externally can provide insight into stuttering behaviors. What is not known is whether a relationship exists between these variables has more influence on persons who stutter than another. This preliminary study used the Locus of Control of Behavior scale (LCB; Craig et al., 1984), Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering; (OASES; Yaruss & Quesal, 2006, Yaruss & Quesal, 2008), and the Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory, (CEFI-A-SR; Naglieri & Goldstein, 2013) to better understand what relationships, if any, exist between locus of control of behavior, stuttering experiences, and executive functions in persons with fluency disorders.Method: A total of 116 adults who stutter completed online surveys which included demographic questions, the LCB, OASES, and CEFI-A-SR.Results: Self-monitoring was the lone executive function scale score demonstrating a relationship to LCB and OASES scores.Conclusions: An internal control of behavior and positive outlook on stuttering experiences as well as a sense of effective self-monitoring may be required for a person to manage stuttering behaviors effectively.

Brand Machiavelli

In this paper I analyze the reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli against the criteria of celebrity found in the Cultural Studies literature. Applied to Machiavelli these criteria include the detachment of his name from any substance of his works, life, or thought; trading on the recognition of his name; the appetite for biographies of him; and the integration of his very name into the common parlance in the adjective “Machiavellian” and the noun “Machiavellianism” which are widely used as self-explanatory in the media, press, and You Tube videos, music, and social media. The evidence adduced for these conclusions is mainly in books—print and digital—but incorporates film, plays, music, and commerce. In short, Machiavelli has accumulated sufficient media capital to be internalized into the popular culture and so rendered an immortal celebrity, i.e., that is Brand Machiavelli.

What Has Changed? A Critical Analysis of the Law of Sedition and the Press in Nigeria since 1914

This study is situated within the normative theoretical framework, which focuses on the press in nations where the press is expected to assume the coloration of the political milieu within which it finds itself. The British colonial masters discovered the power of the press in the early 16th century and devised numerous schemes to restrict publication. Such policies were extended to her majesty’s colonies; for instance, the law of sedition in Nigeria. Freedom of the press is a right but it is a right that has been won only through many hard-fought legal battles like the one fought by John Peter Zenger in the seditious trial of 1735. There were several such trials for sedition in the colonies, and despite the acquittal of John Peter Zenger, the British colonial government went ahead to adopt such laws in her colonial territories. This was exemplified in the seditious offence ordinance that was in force in 1909 in Southern Nigeria. This study adopts the historical, legal research and critical paradigm technique to examine how the law of sedition has fared in inhibiting press freedom in Nigeria since 1914. The study provides an understanding of how colonial influence may affect laws regulating how the media function in independent States.

Do Weak Institutions Prolong Crises? [#ENDSARs] in the Light of the Challenges and opportunities beyond COVID-19 Pandemic and the Next Normal in Nigeria

With the close of 2020 unprecedented year, a year like no other, Nigerians is still reeling from the impacts of an emerging, rapidly and evolving COVID-19 pandemic, while the spring continue to unfolded. COVID-19 was considered a “deaths of despair” with an opioid crisis and realizing that humanity is in for a long haul with COVID-19, itself may be a game changer. If we expected COVID-19 to be short lived, we have been remarkably, if not catastrophically, disappointed. As many people were already feeling significantly stressed, and where depression was increasing risks of overdoses and suicide. From time immemorial, humankind have suffered the psychological effects of various catastrophes, such as wars, floods, famines, wildfires, earthquakes, windstorms and last but certainly not least, the possibility of outbreaks of potentially deadly infectious diseases. Hence, these zoonosis diseases, result from pathogens being transmitted from animals to humans. To protect ourselves from zoonoses, there is need for new measures and precautions, for instance ending and preventing deforestation as well as protecting conservation areas and endangered species against such danger. Of course, we are certainly no exception today as people try to figure out how to cope and help others cope with the grief, stress, and anxiety caused by the greatest health challenge of our time: the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With more than 1,129 Nigerian having lost their lives as of October 24, 2020 and more than 61,882 thousand infected since COVID-19 first gripped our nation, although reports suggest that the incidence of COVID-19 has begun to drop, the pandemic has taken a profound psychological and emotional toll on us all. However, social and behavioral scientists have identified some strategies to help us face our fears, as well as even rise to the challenge of supporting others during this fraught time. While awaiting the unprecedented investment in the development of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the simultaneous scale up of vaccine manufacturing which has been taking place, including unprecedented collaboration and resources to develop safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 that can be manufactured and delivered in the scale of billions of doses to people around the globe. Continuing in this unprecedented commitment towards collaboration as well as transparency is essential towards ensuring that effective and reliable access to information will continue to inform policy decisions at all levels to support the development of national roadmaps to accelerate as well as sustain progress towards public health interventions and building trust in communities that will benefit from a safe and effective vaccine as well as making sure we get it to them as quick as possible.

Reforming Sectarian Beliefs in Iraq: Winning the Peace

Sectarian violence continues in Iraq affecting regional and world security. Neuroscience techniques are used to assess the mentalizing process and counter-arguing in response to videos designed to prevent extremist radicalization. Measurement of neural activity in brain Regions of Interest (ROI) assists identification of messages which can promote favorable behavior. Activation of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) is associated with message adoption and behavior change. Public Service Announcements (PSAs) have not been effective in reducing violence in Iraq. This study demonstrates that the four PSAs investigated in this study do not activate the MPFC. The RLPFC is a brain ROI associated with counter-arguing and message resistance. This study demonstrates that reduction in activity in the Right Lateral Prefrontal Cortex (RLPFC) is associated with decreased sectarianism. Engagement was measured and is associated with activity in the frontal pole regions.We introduce Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the neural activity of highly sectarian Iraqis in response to these anti-sectarian messages. Neural activity was measured while viewing three PSAs and a fourth unpublished video. All four videos are intended to reduce sectarianism. A novel sectarianism scale is introduced to measure sectarian beliefs before and after the messages. This sectarian scale has high internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. Measured activation of brain ROIs are correlated with changes in the sectarian scale. Twelve Sunni and twelve Shi’a Iraqis participated in the study. Subjects were shown the four videos in randomized order, while equipped with a fNIRS neural imaging device. All four videos produced significant engagement. None of the videos reduced sectarianism nor caused brain activation of adoption. This is consistent with the widely held Iraqi public perception that the PSAs are ineffective. Only one video, which was un-published, caused reduced sectarian beliefs. This un-published fourth video was associated with decreased counter-arguing. Counter-arguing is associated with message resistance.

Leading by Example: The Work of Minister K. K. Shailaja of Kerala State, India in Combating COVID-19

In recent months, much public attention has been given to the women leaders of developed countries who have done well in containing the coronavirus and ensuring a low rate of infection and death. Such leaders include Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand; Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany; Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway; Katrin Jacobsdottir, Prime Minister of Iceland; Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland; and Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan. In addition to their own expertise, these leaders have been fortunate in being able to rely on the support of well-trained public officials and scientists, adequate financial resources, and well-equipped health facilities. Little has been written, however, about women leaders from developing countries who are trying hard to contain the pandemic. Sadly, in Africa, a continent with 54 states, only Namibia and Togo have women prime ministers, while the only African woman president hails from Ethiopia.This paper briefly examines the work of K.K. Shailaja, Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the state of Kerala in India, and proposes how lessons from her work could be useful for other parts of the developing world, especially in Africa.