Purpose Of Communication Research Articles

Augmenting Adherence: Improving Medication Compliance and Patient Education in Anti-Retroviral Therapy through Graphical Representation.

Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) is a fundamental principle in the management of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, significantly improving the quality of life for individuals living with the virus. However, the success of ART crucially depends on patient adherence to complex medication regimens that come with the therapy. Patients must meticulously adhere to their prescribed treatment plans to maintain viral suppression and prevent the progression of HIV. Medication adherence, a multifaceted challenge in healthcare, becomes particularly entangled within the realm of ART. Patients are often prescribed a combination of antiretroviral medications, each with unique dosing schedules and dietary requirements as instructed by the physician. For individuals with varying levels of health literacy, language proficiency, and cultural backgrounds, comprehending and adhering to these regimens can be overwhelming and challenging. Non-adherence to these medications can result in treatment failure, drug resistance, and compromised health outcomes that burden the healthcare systems. In that perspective, the role of pictograms as visual aids emerges as part and parcel of patient education and counseling within healthcare systems. Pictograms are graphical representations of concepts or actions designed to transcend linguistic and literacy barriers. When used in conjunction with ART, they simplify complex medication instructions, empower patients with knowledge, and improve adherence. Generally, the role of pictograms in supporting medication adherence and patient counseling in antiretroviral therapy is a powerful testament that serves a purpose in bridging communication and literacy gaps within the healthcare systems. By simplifying complex medication regimens, empowering patients with knowledge, and fostering adherence, pictograms contribute to better health outcomes and the overall success of ART. As healthcare providers and systems continue to harness the potential of pictograms, patient education and adherence in the management of HIV and other chronic conditions stand to be greatly enhanced.

„What shall I wish you...” Values in Zofia Kossak’s acts of wishing well addressed to children and grandchildren

Wishes, which create an aura of friendliness and closeness, belong to the basic repertoire of polite forms common to various cultures. These acts are a manifestation of the personality of their sender. By creating the wishes, the sender externalises their inner self, and at the same time, construes a certain image of the recipient. The sender wishes for a particular good acknowledged in the axiosphere –or more broadly in (socially) entrenched value systems – shared by them and the recipient. The senderof the wishes may shape them stereotypically, in which case they rely on a register of universalvalues (health, happiness, good fortune). Alternatively, the sender may follow a more idiosyncratictrajectory, taking into account the actual needs of the recipient, which they are familiar with asthey know the recipient and have an insight into the universe of their experience. Zofia Kossak’swishes analysed in this article, targeted at immediate family members, are by and large creativetexts. A characteristic feature of her acts of wishing well to her children and grandchildren is theirsaturation with religious values and their association with acts of blessing. In the hierarchy of values recognised and intentionally conveyed by the mother and grandmother, sacred values (“absolutely sacred” and “humanly sacred”) take first place, while spiritual-moral, perfectionist, then life-related and other ethical values also rank high. On the other hand, hedonistic and utilitarian values receive a low rank. Kossak’s acts of wishing well unveil her personal profiling of axiological notions (e.g. happiness) as well as their (re)definition she found expedient for her communicative purposes.

Sign Speak

The project is to enable people who are not versedin sign language or people from the deaf or hard- of-hearing community to communicate by using a system that translates their American Sign Language (ASL) gestures into text, which could then be converted into speech. Computer vision and machine learning algorithms allow the system to “read” the sign language as accurately as possible, and then translate into a native text. Text is transcribed to speech using Text-to-Speech (TTS) capabilities The proposed calibration can be applied to real-time applications serving purpose for accessible and decent spoken communication among different individuals with hearing loss which applies the natural co-articulation constraints in various social or professional environments.

English Loanword in Rantau Panjang Language

This research is crucial to understand the connection between language and past communities' cultures. This research used a qualitative approach based on descriptive methods. The researcher employed an unstructured interview as the instrument for gathering data. In this interview, the researcher selected key informants who were both native residents and the older generation in the Rantau Panjang area. The interview results indicated that people in Rantau Panjang have been using English loanwords for several years. Historically, English loanwords were utilised for communication and trading purposes.

A Radio Technosignature Search of TRAPPIST-1 with the Allen Telescope Array

Planet–planet occultations (PPOs) occur when one exoplanet occults another exoplanet in the same system, as seen from the Earth’s vantage point. PPOs may provide a unique opportunity to observe radio “spillover” from extraterrestrial intelligences’ radio transmissions or radar being transmitted from the farther exoplanet toward the nearer one for the purposes of communication or scientific exploration. Planetary systems with many tightly packed, low-inclination planets, such as TRAPPIST-1, are predicted to have frequent PPOs. Here, the narrowband technosignature search code turboSETI was used in combination with the newly developed NbeamAnalysis filtering pipeline to analyze 28 hr of beamformed data taken with the Allen Telescope Array during 2022 late October and early November, from 0.9 to 9.3 GHz, targeting TRAPPIST-1. During this observing window, seven possible PPO events were predicted using the NbodyGradient code. The filtering pipeline reduced the original list of 25 million candidate signals down to 6 million by rejecting signals that were not sky-localized and, from these, identified a final list of 11,127 candidate signals above a power-law cutoff designed to segregate signals by their attenuation and morphological similarity between beams. All signals were plotted for visual inspection, 2264 of which were found to occur during PPO windows. We report no detections of signals of nonhuman origin, with upper limits calculated for each PPO event exceeding equivalent isotropic radiated powers of 2.17–13.3 TW for minimally drifting signals and 40.8–421 TW in the maximally drifting case. This work constitutes the longest single-target radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence of TRAPPIST-1 to date.

Circumstantial and tactic augmentation

Abstract The present study attempts to unveil patterns in interactive information structure of clause enhancement that conventionalize the actual representation of circumstantial elements which add information about time, place, manner, means, and reason/cause through circumstantial augmentation, tactic augmentation, or connectives in method sections of research articles (RAs). The dataset consisted of 120 method sections of randomly selected empirical RAs from ISI-indexed Q1-ranked applied linguistic journals published between 2020 and 2022. The results of the study point to a significant distinction in hypotactic augmentation to register circumstantial information in comparison to other choices available to authors. Moreover, the most striking observation to emerge from the data is that a logical information structure of circumstantial meaning is mostly facilitated through hypotactic non-finite enhancement rather than its finite counterpart. This viable preference lies in elliptical, evincing, and expressive functions of hypotactic clauses that make comprehension more attainable to the readers and assist authors in fulfilling the generic conventions and communicative purposes of academic writing and managing interactive information structures. A major theoretical implication of the current research entails the significance of the interactive functions of the options available to authors which can impose priorities on the system of choices within the context of information.

A Comprehensive Review of Sign Language Production

Sign languages are made up of phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic levels of structure that satisfy the same social, cognitive and communicative purposes as other natural languages and represent the most used form of communication between hearing and deaf people. Sign Language Production together with Sign Language Recognition constitute the two parts of this process, as Sign Language Production concerns that part of the communication process that goes from spoken language to its translation into Sign Language, while Sign Language Recognition deals with the recognition of Sign Language. In this article, we want to consider some of the most recent and important studies on Sign Language Production and discuss their limitations, advantages, and future developments.

Analysis of Cultural Differences in Chinese and English Food Advertising Language

Abstract: This research explores the cultural differences in Chinese and English advertising languages, with a particular focus on food advertisements. In the context of globalization, understanding how cultural values shape advertising strategies is crucial for effective cross-cultural communication. Advertisements not only reflect the product being promoted but also embody the cultural norms and consumer expectations of their target audience. The study aims to investigate the linguistic features, cultural values, and persuasive strategies embedded in food advertisements, comparing the differences between Chinese and English contexts. The research employs a content analysis method, examining a total of 100 food advertisements, with 50 from Chinese markets and 50 from English-speaking markets. Both linguistic and semiotic elements, including persuasive language, imagery, and cultural symbols, are analyzed. Functionalist translation theory serves as the main analytical framework, as it emphasizes the role of cultural context in shaping meaning and the communicative purpose of the advertisements. The results reveal significant differences in the use of persuasive language, cultural symbols, and rhetorical devices. For instance, Chinese advertisements often emphasize collective values and tradition, while English advertisements lean towards individualism and innovation. These findings suggest that advertisers and translators need to adopt tailored approaches when targeting different cultural markets. By recognizing and adapting to cultural norms, advertisers can create more resonant and effective campaigns in cross-cultural environments.

Navigating platformized generative AI: Examining early adopters’ experiences through the lens of data reflectivity

Following the widely noticed launch of ChatGPT 3.5 in November 2022, an unprecedented number of users have started to experiment with generative AI for communication purposes. Prior studies have shown how users are commodified by platforms, and the unprecedented development of generative AI raises hence once again questions of platform dynamics vs user agency. In this study, we argue that platformized generative AI (GenAI) actively ‘talks back’ to their users, prompting them to act accordingly. Theoretically, we develop the concept of data reflectivity as a critical lens, showing that users exhibit reflective practices. These allow them to reflect upon their own role in relation to platformized GenAI and thus alter their patterns of action. The empirical case study, carried out in Spring 2023, draws on a survey with 60 early adopters and 14 subsequent semi-structured interviews, collected in an NGO operating in Southeast Asia. The thematic analysis shows that users relate to platformized GenAI in three distinct but related ways: (1) as a happy helper to organize and systematize knowledge and information; (2) as a creative tool to generate ideas; and (3) as a conversation partner for personal and life-related matters. In conclusion, we discuss the findings critically in relation to overall platform dynamics and the notion of systems ‘speaking back’ and further suggest that future research should aim to bring the two research fields of datafication and user studies even closer together.

Impact of Honest Signal, Cues, Prey’s Experience Rate and Environmental Toxicity in a Predator–Prey Interaction Model

Biological signaling plays a crucial role in predator–prey interaction systems, serving both intraspecific and interspecific communication purposes. Prey populations utilize signaling internally, employing honest signals among themselves to enhance their defense capabilities. Conversely, they also use signaling for interspecific communication, emitting cues to predators to increase their own chances of survival. Recently, Al-Salman et al. [Appl. Math. Modell. 89, 1405 (2021)] proposed a two-species interaction model incorporating Holling Type II predation along with honest signals and cues. In this paper, we extend and modify their study by incorporating factors such as prey’s experience rate and environmental toxicity in prey populations. We conduct a comprehensive mathematical and numerical analysis of the model. We investigate the positive invariance and dissipativeness of the model, discuss the existence of equilibrium points and analyze the behavior of the system around all equilibrium points. Particularly, we determine conditions for local stability and Hopf bifurcation of the system. Furthermore, we perform a detailed numerical analysis to study periodic solutions through Hopf bifurcations in the proposed system. We plot two-parameter bifurcation diagrams to examine changes in the system with combined effects, identifying critical values for stability switching. There is no chaotic dynamics seen in our investigation. Numerical results indicate that the system tends to stabilize when the experience rate is high, and the rate of error-prone honest signals regulates system stability. Additionally, we analyze how environmental toxicity affects the stability of the system.

The Efficacy of Open Performance Review and Appraisal System on Teachers’ Work Performance in Tanzania. A Case of Selected schools of Vwawa, Iyula and Msangano Secondary Schools in Mbozi District

This study mainly sought to determine the effectiveness of the Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) on Teachers' work performance in the selected secondary schools of Vwawa, Iyula and Msangano in Mbozi district council. The study was also driven by the following main objective, which includes; how the practice of OPRAS has improved the work performance of secondary school teachers in Mbozi district council. A mixed research approach both qualitative and quantitative approach with 93 respondents was employed. Questionnaires and interviews were used to obtain data. Quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics where inferences were presented in the form of frequencies and percentiles. Qualitative information was also analyzed through thematic and content analysis and presented in the form of concepts and narrations. Although Mbozi district has been effectively implementing OPRAS for the past 15 years, active data show that the district has a stable progression performance rate of 30.1 % since 2018 to date. The key variable that was tested was increased teacher commitment. Considerably, this has been established due to constant growth rates of indicators of performance against the performance of teachers from 2018 to 2023. The study recommended that the government should set and engage a realistic budget for training, and empowerment workshops and highly capacitate the Office of the public communications for the purpose of intensifying communication and feedback in public organizations including secondary schools

Unraveling University EFL Teachers’ Feedback Beliefs in Teaching English Argumentative Writing

ABSTRACTTeachers’ beliefs about feedback can affect both the way they provide feedback and its effectiveness in improving students’ writing proficiency. However, research remains scant on belief–practice relationships. This study attempted to fill the gap by investigating such relationships with a sample of 112 Chinese university EFL teachers in teaching argumentative writing. Data were collected through a writing feedback beliefs and practices questionnaire, an argumentative writing teaching beliefs questionnaire, and semi‐structured interviews. The participants were selected using convenience sampling from six universities in Northern China. Quantitative data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regression, and repeated measures ANOVA to examine the characteristics of these teachers’ writing feedback beliefs and the relationships between the beliefs and relevant practices. Qualitative data from the interviews were analyzed thematically to gain deeper insights into the belief–practice relationships. Results indicated that most teachers believed their feedback was crucial for improving students' argumentative writing, particularly regarding communicative purposes, discourse organization, linguistic expressions, argument construction, and rhetorical techniques. However, a discrepancy was noted between teachers' feedback beliefs and their practices, especially concerning linguistic expressions. These findings highlight the need for targeted support to better align teachers' feedback beliefs with their practices for more effective teaching of EFL writing.

Comparing Australian Message Sticks and Sequentially Marked Objects of the Upper Palaeolithic: Problems and Opportunities.

Engraved portable objects from Upper Palaeolithic and earlier sites are argued to be cognitive tools designed to store information for the purposes of calculation, record-keeping, or communication. This paper reviews the surprisingly long intellectual history of comparisons between these ancient objects and message sticks: marked graphic devices traditionally used for long-distance communication in Indigenous Australia. I argue that, while such comparisons have often been misguided, more cautious applications of ethnographic analogy may yield useful insights. A systematic analysis of historical observations together with more recent fieldwork, indicate that Australian message sticks are primarily tools of social cognition, as opposed to cognition tout court, and rely on orality and other context to become meaningful. Further, the practice of message stick communication may help clarify ongoing problems in the interpretation of Upper Palaeolithic objects including their possible role in aggregation activities, the distinction between decoration and notation, and the interplay between graphic sequences and speech.

Transhuman Communication: Human Augmentation Technologies through Co-Speculation Workshops

The advancement of human-computer integration as a research field promises to introduce transhumanistic ways of communicating through the enhanced abilities of augmented humans. Our work seeks to illuminate this experiential landscape, exploring a diverse set of human augmentation technologies (HATs) for communication purposes. We investigated this topic through four co-speculation workshops focusing on physical, cognitive, sensory and emotional augmentations with 35 participants. Through a reflexive thematic analysis of the workshop data, we outlined eight HAT speculations for transhuman communication, grouped into four overarching augmentation clusters: (1) Bodily Changes in/for Communication, (2) Communication with Transferrable and Collective Beings, (3) Communication through Emotion and Memory, and (4) Communication with Augmented/Altered Perception. By serving as a foundation for discussions on transhumanism and communication in CSCW and beyond, these speculations contribute to a design space highlighting design opportunities and challenges to developing and researching near-future communication technologies.

The supportive nature of Classroom Codeswitching functions in a Mexican EFL higher education language center: Does Codeswitching remain inadequately misunderstood?

Classroom codeswitching continues to be a debatable topic in current education practice as some teachers believe that the alternate codes of two languages in the classroom can conflictive as others view it as positive. Currently, in multilingual societies of the 21st century, codeswitching (CS) is an everyday occurrence where both teachers and learners’ resort to their L1 in order to achieve a specific communicative purpose. From an interactional point of view, this case study deriving from my PhD work, examines how EFL university students are using CS functions for diverse classroom purposes such as equivalence, reiteration, and socializing in a predominantly “only in English” context. Specifically, observation sessions were carried out as these depictions demonstrated what was taking place in the classroom. Field notes are used to triangulate data; therefore, a more in-depth and solid analysis is brought forth as to how these resources are used. Consequently, classroom data was analyzed using an applied CA approach as it yields an explanation of the practices at hand that enable the participants of a conversation to negotiate meaning. Findings support Macaro´s (2014) argument that for CS discourse to be authenticated, it has to be accepted by both parties (teachers and students) in the classroom context. Meaning that CS is utilized for the purpose of learning as well as communication if and only if the participants in the discourse agree that the interaction involving CS is appropriate for the purpose it was intended. This classroom data evidences whether the L1 should be present is a matter, which needs reasoned discussion among policy makers and specifically educators to fully understand the supportive nature of CS in the language classroom. Key words: Code-switching, only in English, code- switching functions, Conversation Analysis Approach, English as a foreign language

THE ROLE OF STYLISTIC DEVICES IN SHAPING POLITICAL DISCOURSE AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Researchers have always noted that there are stylistic features of political texts that would always see them as being effective tools in appealing and manipulating the audience.stic features. All these texts use tropes such as metaphor, reinforcement, parallelism, and appeal to emotion to convey messages with certain communication purposes. Such devices help politicians to work with emotions, to explain some ideas and to link themselves and their opinions with the society, so their information is considered and effective. When focusing on the stylistic and rhetorical features of political speeches we learn more about how language can be used to influence, mobilize and construct the world out there. In this article the necessity and function of such techniques in political discourse will be explained and illustrated.

A joint resource allocation strategy in a radar-communication coexistence network for target tracking and user serving

With the rapid development of commercial communications, the research on Radar-Communication Coexistence (RCC) systems is becoming a hot spot. The resource allocation techniques play a crucial role in the RCC systems. A performance-driven Joint Radar-target and Communication-user Assignment, along with Power and Subchannel Allocation (JRCAPSA) strategy, is proposed for an RCC network. The optimization model aims to minimize the sum of weighted Bayesian Cramér-Rao Lower Bounds (BCRLBs) of target state estimates for radar purpose. This is subject to constraints such as the Communication Data Rate (CDR) for communication purpose, the total power budget in each RCC system, assignment relationships, and the number of available subchannels. Considering that such a problem falls into the realm of Mixed Integer Programming (MIP), a Three-stage Iteratively Augment-based Optimization Method (TIAOM) is developed. The Communication-User Assignment (CUA), Communication Subchannel Allocation (SCA), and Radar-Target Assignment (RTA) feasible solution domains are iteratively expanded based on their importance, leading to the efficient acquisition of a suboptimal solution. Simulation results show the outperformance of the proposed JRCAPSA strategy, compared to the other benchmarks and the OPTI toolbox. The results also imply that the Bayesian Cramér-Rao Lower Bound (BCRLB) is a more stringent optimization metric for the achieved Mean Square Error (MSE), compared to Mutual Information (MI) and Signal-to-Interference-Noise Ratio (SINR).

Influential academic factors in the integration of ICT in higher education after the COVID-19 pandemic

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the need to move educational processes to virtual environments and increase the use of digital tools for different teaching uses. This led to a change in the habits of using information and communication technologies (ICT), especially in higher education. This work analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the frequency of use of different ICT tools in a sample of 950 Latin American university professors while focusing on the area of knowledge of the participating professors. To this end, a validated questionnaire has been used, the responses of which have been statistically analyzed. As a result, it has been proven that participants give high ratings to ICT but show insufficient digital competences for its use. The use of ICT tools has increased in all areas after the pandemic but in a diverse way. Differences have been identified in the areas of knowledge regarding the use of ICT for different uses before the pandemic. In this sense, the results suggest that Humanities professors are the ones who least use ICT for didactic purposes. On the other hand, after the pandemic, the use of ICT for communication purposes has been homogenized among the different knowledge areas.

The relative influence of language backgrounds, communicative text types, and disciplines in undergraduate student writing

Abstract Previous studies of undergraduate writing investigated linguistic variation across (i) assignment types, (ii) disciplines, and (iii) language backgrounds. The combined findings of these studies allowed us to formulate eight hypotheses as to how undergraduate writing is likely to vary across these three variables. Three of the hypotheses are as follows: (a) writing in humanities will have more features of ‘academic involvement’, while writing in sciences will have more features of ‘information density’; (b) assignments such as proposals and procedural recounts will have more features of ‘expression of possibility’; and (c) L1 students will use more features of ‘information density’ than L2 students. In the current study, we test these hypotheses, examining whether the language of undergraduate writing varies in accordance with the expectations from previous research. We use the dimensions identified in Goulart (2024) to examine these hypotheses in a corpus of undergraduate student writing. The results provide support for hypotheses related to disciplines and communicative purposes, but not for those related to language backgrounds.

Identity Construction in Fan Community: An Analysis of Online Discourse among (G)I-DLE Fans in Mainland China on Sina Weibo

Fandom has become a social and cultural phenomenon reflecting practical activities in the fan community. The prevalence of social media and online fan communities has facilitated the transnational industries of Korean popular culture (K-pop) in mainland China. Fans are enthusiastic about creating posts dedicated to their idol(s) or music bands to broaden the influence of the celebrities and establish personal connections with them. The unique interaction patterns in the K-pop fan community reflect the process of fans’ identity identification and construction. This article explores how mainland fans employ discursive strategies to construct their identity and legitimize their behaviors on social media. A total of 80 posts in (G)I-DLE Super Topic made by mainland China netizens have been collected from Sina Weibo. The findings illustrate the construction of both individual and collective identities among fans, which are shaped by various contexts and different communicative purposes. Further analysis explores the potential impact of fans' identities within online communities on the K-pop market in mainland China.