Distinctive Interpretations Research Articles

Corporate reporting by cooperatives: Mapping the landscape and identifying determinants

Cooperatives conform to a model that is different to what is normally understood to be an enterprise, with distinctive interpretations of property rights, governance, and values. A unique characteristic of cooperatives’ corporate reporting is it essentially addresses member-owners, and not shareholders. Despite this, most research has been performed from the perspective of investor-owned firms. The aim of this study is to obtain an understanding of the nature and extent of the adoption of corporate reporting conventions, and to identify the determinants of such adoptions by cooperatives, by means of ordinal regression and binary logistic models on a sample drawn from the Global Top 300 cooperatives. Despite the expectations implicit in the differences in the users of financial reports (cooperative members), there was a lack of cooperative-specific reporting in that the most common categories of published corporate reports are still annual reports and annual financial statements. Approximately half of the cooperatives publish environmental and social reports, governance reports and/or management reports, while only a miniscule number publish integrated reports. Results also suggest the stakeholder, legitimacy, institutional, transaction cost and agency theories help to explain the determinants for the of adoption of corporate reporting. We have identified common determinants (market, country and institutional factors) for the adoption of cooperative reporting, as well as idiosyncratic determinants that are unique to cooperative entities. We found that cooperatives with external shareholders are more likely to adopt environmental and social, management and governance reporting. Idiosyncratic determinants indicated that cooperatives who more assertively draw their attention to their identity are more likely to adopt annual reporting. Cooperatives who limit the distribution of profits to members only are also more likely to adopt management reporting.

NATIONAL COLOURING IN ROMANTICISM ON THE EXAMPLE OF LITERARY-CRITICAL STUDIES BY K. ZHUSSIP

Nowadays, the study of Romanticism as a significant phenomenon in literary studies is mainly focused on the investigation of its development under the influence of national characteristics. This research aims to identify the distinctive interpretations of romantic motifs in the works of Kazakh Romanticism poets. Specifically, the article provides an analysis of the development of romantic ideas using Kazakh romantic poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries as a case study, addressing the manifestation of Kazakh national characteristics rooted in Kazakh culture. By analysing the romantic works of Kazakh poets, the conceptual imagery of Romanticism is elucidated. Various research methods, including content analysis and semantic analysis of poetic texts, were used to demonstrate that Romanticism, as an emotional perception of the world and reality, transcends national boundaries. The study concludes that literary creativity is multifaceted, and linguistic analysis helps authors to effectively advocate Romanticism as a means of expressing national characteristics in literature, thereby contributing to the globalisation of cultural understanding. In addition, the study of the emergence of a new hero in romantic works, particularly in religious discourse, as exemplified by the literary-critical contributions of K. Zhussip, is identified as a promising avenue for future research. Keywords: Romanticism, national colouring, romantic hero, literary critical studies, images.

Independence and Interdependence: A Comparative Case Study of Individuals From Two Institutions in Mainland China and Hong Kong

<p style="text-align:justify">There has been a clear shift in higher education to prepare and empower the current students for a future quite different and more complex than that faced by previous generations. In particular, it is expected that they will possess comprehensive abilities to deal with challenges arising from new employment demands and beyond. While liberal arts education has a long history in the West, it has been increasingly implemented more recently in East Asia as one response to the need for educational reform. The research reported here is an empirical study of how liberal arts education has affected individuals from two institutions with distinctive interpretations of “liberal arts education” - University N, the first Sino-foreign joint university in mainland China, and University L, the only public liberal arts university in Hong Kong. Drawing on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, this study illustrates the interplay and balance among students’ practical concerns, their sense of social obligation fostered through liberal arts education elements and the wider social structure. Semi-structured interviews with senior students, fresh graduates, and educators were conducted to gather in-depth primary data. These reveal that, by providing interdisciplinary knowledge and transferable skill sets, a liberal arts education experience does enhance individuals’ personal agency and intellectual competencies in a professional context - they are trained to become independent thinkers and learners. Moreover, the “humanistic” aspect of liberal arts is also relevant: having engaged in various activities and programs, students in both universities are encouraged to care, cooperate, and make positive differences in their increasingly interconnected communities.</p>

Super Pragmatics of (linguistic-)pictorial discourse

AbstractRecent advances in the Super Linguistics of pictures have laid the Super Semantic foundation for modelling the phenomena of narrative sequencing and co-reference in pictorial and mixed linguistic-pictorial discourses. We take up the question of how one arrives at the pragmatic interpretations of such discourses. In particular, we offer an analysis of: (i) the discourse composition problem: how to represent the joint meaning of a multi-picture discourse, (ii) observed differences in narrative sequencing in prima facie equivalent linguistic vs pictorial discourses, and (iii) the phenomenon of co-referencing across pictures. We extend Segmented Discourse Representation Theory to spell out a formal Super Pragmatics that applies to linguistic, pictorial and mixed discourses, while respecting the particular ‘genius’ of either medium and computing their distinctive pragmatic interpretations.

YARATILIŞ HİKAYESİNİN FARKLI BIR OKUMASI: FEMİNİST PERSPEKTİFTEN GELENEKSEL ANLATILARDA ADEM, HAVVA VE YILAN

This paper observes the different interpretations of the story of Adam and Eve from the main religious accounts, The Qur’an and The Bible, and the traditional understanding based on them to the challenging contemporary criticism. The study reveals that the misogyny and biased view towards women derive from the depiction of Eve as wicked due to her influence over the first sin of eating from the forbidden tree. The study illustrates that The Bible involves direct accusations towards Eve for following the serpent and tempting Adam to the sin as well while The Qur’an does not make such a distinction but refers to Adam and humankind in a more forgiving way. The misogyny in the traditional texts towards women are observed to base their arguments mostly on The Biblical accounts with the purpose of dominating women in male-oriented cultures. This study involves distinctive interpretations of the story of Adam and Eve from feminist to eco-feminist perspectives. The analysis highlights the constructivist interpretations of the serpent and the woman as being wise rather than evil. This vision challenges the story of falling from the paradise and coming to Earth as a punishment by claiming that it was just the part of the plan for the beginning of human life on Earth. The study concludes that the feminist analysis on the story of Adam and Eve acknowledges that woman has no wickedness as in the patriarchal interpretations, but she has wisdom, individual curiosity and courage indeed.

Exploring Teachers’ Level of Use of Critical Thinking in Moroccan High Schools

Critical thinking is one of many learning skills necessary to prepare learners for post-secondary education and eventually the workplace. Every individual needs critical thinking skills to be successful in finding solutions to problems in everyday life. Examining the issue of critical thinking seems to be very essential not only for EFL learners but also for language teachers and syllabus designers. The main objective of this research is to investigate teachers’ level of use of critical thinking in the classroom. The population for this study is composed of Moroccan English language high school teachers. The population consisted of both males and females. A survey questionnaire was used to gather data. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics of means and percentages. The results indicated that the level of teachers’ use of critical thinking is (M=2,63). The average to poor results obtained by the participants concerning their level of use of critical thinking may have several distinctive interpretations. Therefore, further research is required to examine the relationship between teachers’ level of use of critical thinking and their attitudes.

Saving Sex for Marriage: An Analysis of Lay Attitudes Towards Virginity and its Perceived Benefit for Marriage

How do young people interpret virginity loss, and does saving sex for marriage have any socially constructed benefit for marriage? This study answers this question using data obtained from a peer-led Facebook group with more than 175,000 participants, mostly in African countries, particularly Nigeria. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze 100 public wall posts and 3860 comments posted on the group between June 2018 and May 2019. Four distinctive interpretations of virginity loss comprising the gift, precondition, stigma, and process emerged from the data. These interpretations were also gendered, such that a woman’s virginity was interpreted as a gift but a stigma for men. The wall posts and comments further suggest that saving sex for marriage may have some culturally sensitive benefits, including trust, and marital sexual satisfaction. Altogether the findings expand the current understanding of the diverse perceived benefits of virginity that move beyond honour and respect to more complex benefits like trust in a union, sexual satisfaction and ultimate satisfaction in marriage.

ANCIENT GREEK SCULPTURE IN THE 20TH CENTURY WESTERN ART

Ancient Greek art and culture had served as a significant guide for Western civilisation for centuries. Greek philosophy, literature and mythology as well as art and architecture had a major impact on artists especially in the periods of Renaissance and Neoclassicism. It is interesting to see that Ancient Greek sculpture has still been inspiring for the 20th century western painters, sculptors and performance artists. This article will focus on the visual representations of four statues -Apollo Belvedere, Venus of Milo, Nike of Samothrace and Sleeping Ariadne- in the imagination of artists working in various styles. Depictions of aforenamed statues and their novel and distinctive interpretations had been the subject of this descriptive research. 20th century creations have been scanned for traces of Ancient Greek sculpture. These timeless paragons of Classical and Hellenistic periods acquired a fresh life thanks to the 20th century art world’s admiration and respect for the Ancient Greek sculpture. It can be concluded that by juxtaposing classical and contemporary imagery, artists created memorable and engrossing works. Keywords: Ancient Greek Sculpture, 20th century, Western Art

AN ANALYSIS ON WILLIAM KENTRIDGE’S PRINTS IN TERMS OF THE CONCEPT OF MEMORY

This research aims to review the prints by South African artist William Kentridge created with reference to historical events resulting from the destructive impacts of colonialism and totalitarianism in terms of the concept of memory. Kentridge shows the social dynamics of the era by blending various disciplines from drawings and opera to films and printmaking together in his production process. As transforming the geography and the era in which he lived into creativity through his inherent perspective, Kentridge also offers the viewer an aspect on the recent history. In the research, it will be analyzed the distinctive interpretations that Kentridge brings to printmaking techniques, as well as his characteristic nature and the social and personal touches left by the era he lived in. In this context, many events recorded or not recorded by the history will be interpreted with an artistic perspective in the artworks that the artist created on the basis of the concept of memory. Keywords: Printmaking, memory, film, William Kentridge

Jane Addams, Mohandas Gandhi, and the Promise of Soul Force

Jane Addams (1860–1935) and Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) are rightly regarded as two of the 20th century’s great leaders advancing social justice and peace and through nonviolent means. Although they never met in person, they engaged similar ideas and social issues spanning nearly fifty years. In the decade and a half following World War I, they addressed one another’s work and briefly corresponded. This essay newly examines the admiration and deliberative engagement that developed between Addams and Gandhi, while highlighting their distinctive interpretations of “soul force.” I argue that each rhetorically engaged the others’ ideas and practices in ways that advanced their own approaches to nonviolent social transformation and the challenges of political consent: for Addams, moral suasion and pragmatic consensus‐building, and for Gandhi, absolute nonviolence and physical self‐suffering through acts of noncooperation and civil disobedience. This study acknowledges their shared commitment to the principle of moral goodwill toward opponents, in international and anticolonial contexts, while highlighting ways in which culture, religion, and temperament shaped their divergent nonviolent methods. Addams and Gandhi leave distinctive legacies that offer inspiration and critique for new generations addressing power and injustice.

Reflexive Predicates and Reflexivity -The Case of Inalienable Possession Constructions-

Languages like Korean show that certain predicates with a body part noun function as reflexive predicates. Thus, an analysis employing null SE with complex predicate formation was proposed. However, this null SE analysis turns out to be unsatisfactory and an alternative analysis is proposed in this paper. Observing that the possessor of body part noun requires a c-commanding antecedent in the binding domain. Assuming that PRO occupies the specifier position of body part nouns, the presence of the two distinctive possessor interpretations is accounted for, since PRO is ambiguous between anaphoric and pronominal. This paper further demonstrates that predicates with a body part noun denoting self-action undergo the revised lexical reflexivization operation which turns PRO into an unsaturated argument, and thus become inherently reflexive predicates.

The ‘Emperor of Persia’

From the late eleventh century onwards, the crusades brought Latin Christianity into direct contact with Muslim powers in the Near East. For the chroniclers of these events, the task of coping with the diversity of different Muslim actors the Christians faced was extremely challenging. Basically, they had two options to describe their respective political order: they could either use the rulers’ titles in the version supplied by the original language (i.e., sultan or caliph) or they could refer to them by using Latin terms (i.e., rex or imperator). An analysis of the way in which different crusade chroniclers described the political landscape of Islam in the Near East reveals interesting insights: ethnic denominations such as ‘Turks’ or ‘Saracens’ alternated with classical terms such as ‘Babylonians’ and ‘Persians’ thereby evoking ancient empires that were part of the medieval theory of translatio imperii. The Seljuk Sultan, for example, was frequently presented as the ‘emperor of Persia’. Thus, the Muslim states of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were at least to some extent presented as being part of the historical process of evolving and declining empires. The present article asks first how different chroniclers coped with the difficulty of naming and defining foreign political orders and thus developed distinctive interpretations of the history of these empires. Second, the article traces the way in which these models could be adopted by ‘non-crusade’ historiography: the example of William of Malmesbury shows that the English chronicler used the account by Fulcher of Chartres, but developed a remarkably distinctive version. Underlying his accounts is an overall theory of a continuing presence of eastern empires against the changing nature of politics in Christian Europe.

Matching the Statistical Model to the Research Question for Dental Caries Indices with Many Zero Counts

Marginalized zero-inflated count regression models have recently been introduced for the statistical analysis of dental caries indices and other zero-inflated count data as alternatives to traditional zero-inflated and hurdle models. Unlike the standard approaches, the marginalized models directly estimate overall exposure or treatment effects by relating covariates to the marginal mean count. This article discusses model interpretation and model class choice according to the research question being addressed in caries research. Two data sets, one consisting of fictional dmft counts in 2 groups and the other on DMFS among schoolchildren from a randomized clinical trial comparing 3 toothpaste formulations to prevent incident dental caries, are analyzed with negative binomial hurdle, zero-inflated negative binomial, and marginalized zero-inflated negative binomial models. In the first example, estimates of treatment effects vary according to the type of incidence rate ratio (IRR) estimated by the model. Estimates of IRRs in the analysis of the randomized clinical trial were similar despite their distinctive interpretations. The choice of statistical model class should match the study's purpose, while accounting for the broad decline in children's caries experience, such that dmft and DMFS indices more frequently generate zero counts. Marginalized (marginal mean) models for zero-inflated count data should be considered for direct assessment of exposure effects on the marginal mean dental caries count in the presence of high frequencies of zero counts.

Distinctive Drug-resistant Mutation Profiles and Interpretations of HIV-1 Proviral DNA Revealed by Deep Sequencing in Reverse Transcriptase

ObjectiveTo investigate distinctive features in drug-resistant mutations (DRMs) and interpretations for reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) between proviral DNA and paired viral RNA in HIV-1-infected patients. MethodsForty-three HIV-1-infected individuals receiving first-line antiretroviral therapy were recruited to participate in a multicenter AIDS Cohort Study in Anhui and Henan Provinces in China in 2004. Drug resistance genotyping was performed by bulk sequencing and deep sequencing on the plasma and whole blood of 77 samples, respectively. Drug-resistance interpretation was compared between viral RNA and paired proviral DNA. ResultsCompared with bulk sequencing, deep sequencing could detect more DRMs and samples with DRMs in both viral RNA and proviral DNA. The mutations M184I and M230I were more prevalent in proviral DNA than in viral RNA (Fisher's exact test, P<0.05). Considering ‘majority resistant variants’, 15 samples (19.48%) showed differences in drug resistance interpretation between viral RNA and proviral DNA, and 5 of these samples with different DRMs between proviral DNA and paired viral RNA showed a higher level of drug resistance to the first-line drugs. Considering ‘minority resistant variants’, 22 samples (28.57%) were associated with a higher level of drug resistance to the tested RTIs for proviral DNA when compared with paired viral RNA. ConclusionCompared with viral RNA, the distinctive information of DRMs and drug resistance interpretations for proviral DNA could be obtained by deep sequencing, which could provide more detailed and precise information for drug resistance monitoring and the rational design of optimal antiretroviral therapy regimens.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as an Anti-Feminist Text: Historical, Psychoanalytical and Postcolonial Perspectives

This article is an attempt to engage with the question ‘Is Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a feminist book?’ Arguments from historical, psychoanalytical and postcolonial perspectives are presented and discussed. By summarizing and engaging with both sides of the debate, this article detects the source of the unresolved conflicts surrounding whether Carroll’s novel is a feminist text to be the different sides’ distinctive interpretations of Alice’s social identification. The pro-Alice-as-feminist-icon camp simply identifies her as an active and potentially subversive female role model for women, and thus subsumes Alice under the general category of women by assumption, whereas the iconoclastic camp, including the author of this article, reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as an anti-feminist text, purports to differentiate the role of little girls and the role of adult women in the Victorian period. It argues that Alice’s supposedly unconventionally unfeminine characteristics do not necessarily imply Carroll’s enthusiasm for women’s liberation from marginality and domesticity, and instead they reveal his misogynistic fear of adult women and his pessimistic and nostalgic mourning for the loss of girlhood innocence and the inevitable corruption that ensues. The fictional character’s conformist ideologies are also detected in her participation in the oppressive system and mindset of British imperialism, which paradoxically further confines her in the oppressed domain of female inferiority and domesticity.

DURKHEİMCİ BİR SOSYOLOG: İSMAYIL HAKKI B

The subject of this paper is the view of Ord. Prof. Dr. Ismayil Hakki Baltacioglu on religion and society, who has a significant place in Turkish Sociology and whose ideas were shaped under the effect of Durkheim and sociology of Gokalp. Baltacioglu, who witnessed many phases of the Republic and who had a multifaceted personality, is a philosopher and sociologist on whom several discussions are made. Baltacioglu’s educator aspect is in the oreground,however; he has taken place in the term discussions on religion-society with distinctive remarks and interpretations about subjects such as worship in Turkish, tradition, morality,societal improvement and faith. Ziya Gokalp, who is the most important follower of Durkheim in Turkish sociology and related to his effect, intense signs of Durkheimian and Weberian sociology leap out on Baltacioglu. Baltacioglu pays special attention to religion for societal improvement, at the same time; emphasizes that the religion needs to be reformed via making Turkish. With the entrance of sociology to our country in order to find solutions for social problems, there were different poiltical and ideological breakups and interpretations showed up, concordantly; Turkish sociology has taken form in the political and social breakups of the term. Durkheimian sociology had effects on Turkish intellectuals when it was also effective in western Sociology. In this context, new social structure manifested after the Ottoman period and seek of identity has shaped the perspective of Turkish sociologists on religion.

The interpretation of lives or life as interpretation: Cohabiting with spirits in the Malagasy world

ABSTRACTWhat happens when we shift from the interpretation of cultures to the interpretation of lives and from interpreting action to understanding action as itself a form of interpretation? I describe interpretations by three Malagasy‐speaking spirit mediums of the life of a single powerful ancestral figure who cohabits with each of them and how their respective interpretations constitute, in effect, their lives. What we read over their shoulders is not (only) the common symbol or text but their distinctive interpretations, people making sense of their lives in the course of living them—and, hence, that culturally mediated human action is itself a form of interpretation.

Discourse and Reflection Competencies Developed by Student Teachers through Repeated Children’s Book Read Alouds: A Multiple Case Study

This paper describes the development of discourse and reflection competencies by three early-age student teachers through repeated children’s book reading (RCBR) in small, heterogeneous groups. The students were enrolled in a four-track, early-education preparation program at Levinsky College of Education in Israel. Research based on a multiple-case-study methodology, focused on an analysis of the students’ interpretation of and reflections on the transcripts of the discourse throughout the three years of their fieldwork. Findings indicate that, over the three years, all three students relaxed their control of the discourse, allowing for more continuous literary discourse among the children. Differences in the developmental trajectories of the three students were manifested in the extent to which literary understanding and distinctive interpretations by the children were emphasized. Over the three years, all three students also developed a genuine concern for the children’s well-being and participation in the group. Analysis of the students’ protocols yielded a tentative formulation of milestones in the development of discourse and reflection competencies through teaching preparation studies.

Corporate governance reform: A cri de coeur for two decades

Corporate governance reform has been a cri de coeur for two decades now. Starting with the advocacy of the liberal market model, proponents of reform have changed, sometimes radically so, their beliefs. Three recent books that examine this history arrive at distinctive interpretations why countries did not converge on the liberal market model. For Culpepper, this means the back rooms, where lobbyists and legislators hammer out future regulations. For Cioffi, the rooms are less sinister, but populated by experts who are skilled but hardly naive technicians. Goyer prefers a more oxygenated realm of analysis whereby actors are constrained less by the making of law and regulations than by institutions. The merits of these distinctive contributions are compared through an analysis of the takeover of the German firm Mannesmann by the UK-based Vodafone.

Religion in the Public Square: Interactions Between the Sacred and the Secular in Colonial and Revolutionary America

Religion in the Public Square: Interactions Between the Sacred and the Secular in Colonial and Revolutionary America Frank Lambert (bio) Mark Valeri. Heavenly Merchandize: How Religion Shaped Commerce in Puritan America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. xiii + 337 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. $35.00. Thomas S. Kidd. God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2010. 298 pp. Notes and index. $26.95. Over the past three decades, books on religion in America have often overstated or understated religion’s role in the public square. So-called “evangelical” historians stress religion as one of the most powerful formative agents in shaping American politics and culture. More secular historians sometimes dismiss or ignore religion’s influence outside the private realm. Framing these widely different interpretations is secularization, which directs the narrative toward that of religious declension or religious persistence. The result is a historiographical debate in which one body of work depicts the steady march of secular forces in economics, politics, and culture pushing religion to the margins of American public life. An opposing body of work sees religion as ever-vital in all arenas of American life, including the marketplace and the statehouse, while its vitality has been largely undermined by liberal politicians and ignored by secular historians. One of the most daunting challenges for the historian wishing to explore religious influence in America is to measure that influence. If one gauges influence by rhetoric, then there is a strong case to be made that religion has, from the beginning of the republic, shaped public affairs. Sermons abound that speak to political issues of the day, couching them in biblical and moral language. Political addresses teem with references to divine guidance and providential favor for public undertakings. This is especially the interpretation of evangelicals, who, by their self-understanding, are called to proclaim the gospel to the world. Whether in the mid–eighteenth-century Great Awakening or in today’s culture wars, evangelicals make bold proclamations. They present [End Page 594] their case with great passion and certainty, and they excel in exploiting all forms of media to reach a mass audience. But does this rhetoric translate into a changed reality? Liberal and secular academic historians question the change that religion effects in the marketplace and the political arena. They point out that the greater change is that of America shaping religion rather than that of religion shaping America. While arguing that religion has had profound influence on American life, Mark Valeri and Thomas Kidd acknowledge that the influence between religion and American culture is bidirectional. Their arguments focus on interaction between the sacred and secular, and they view these interactions as dynamic. While writing about different eras and focusing on different arenas, Valeri and Kidd share a common approach to their treatments of religion in the public square. Both challenge the idea that secularization has pushed religion to the sidelines. Both refute the notion that religion is strictly private and has no public role in American life. Neither panders to those who wish to rewrite the story of religion in America in search of a usable past. Partisans in today’s culture war will no doubt be disappointed that neither of these books champions their respective positions. Accommodationists who wish to see a cozy relation between church and state from the creation of the republic will be troubled by the powerful influence of secular forces, while separationists who read a strict separation between church and state will fret over the prominence of religious language and symbols during the founding era. Mark Valeri examines the interaction between religion and commerce in Puritan New England. He rejects the secularization interpretation that explains an ever-widening distance between religion and commerce, with religion all but disappearing in the wake of expanding trade that hews only to laws of the marketplace. Instead, he argues that Puritan ministers developed views of commerce that changed over a very long period of time and that Puritan merchants continued to be influenced by new understandings of their place in God’s providential plan. Valeri identifies four distinctive theological interpretations that spanned the period from initial settlement in the early seventeenth...