Specific Identity Research Articles

Identity and quality standards for brazilian stingless bee honey based on physicochemical parameters – a review

Honey from stingless bees has a physicochemical composition that varies according to the nectar source, climate, and bee species. Due to its unique flavor and aroma, stingless bee honey has become popular; however, the lack of regulation for this type of product makes its formal marketing and quality control difficult. Although Brazil does not have federal legislation that defines the physicochemical parameters for stingless bee honey, the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Amazonas, and São Paulo have established specific identity and quality standards. Thus, this study aimed to review the physicochemical parameters of stingless bee honey using data published between 2017 and 2022. The data from 34 studies were compared with existing state regulations for stingless bee honey, and in the absence of this, they were compared with the Brazilian legislation for Apis mellifera honey and with state regulations present in the same region. It was concluded that the physicochemical parameters are not in accordance with Brazilian legislation for Apis mellifera honey. On the other hand, when compared with state regulations, most of the data obtained are in accordance with the laws established for each state, also indicating the need for regulation at the federal level.

Crafting L2 Multimodal Composing Identities

Identity currently features as a prominent theme in digital multimodal composition (DMC), given the significant impact of DMC on identity expression. However, L2 learners’ writer identity development and fluctuation in this type of textual composition needs further exploration in light of the absence of clearly established DMC-specific identity categories and a detailed account of writer identity expansion and restriction processes therein. This study attempts to fill this void by scrutinizing how three 11th graders learning English as a foreign language in Spain crafted their writer identities in English in a 16-week genre-based digital storytelling (DST) intervention that followed the genre-based systemic functional linguistics tradition of L2 writing, and included instruction on attitude (Martin & White, 2005). Qualitative data analysis of multi-source data followed Ivanic’s (1998) writer identity framework, attitude categories, and key notions in multimodality, as well as the DST and identity literature. Results indicate students’ awareness raising of such categories throughout digital story writing, and general preference for appreciation and judgment in writer identity construction, which was contingent upon certain factors. Students’ writer identities and their fluctuation revealed types of specific DMC identity categories, and expansion and restriction processes, which illustrated their multimodal composing identity formation and transformation in digital story creation.

Intraspecific variation of morphological traits backed up with molecular evidence votes for re-appraisal of hitherto distinguished Balaustium species—a case study of Balaustium murorum (Acariformes: Parasitengona, Erythraeidae)

Molecular examination of representatives of Balaustium from several populations in SW Poland, performed using the sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, confirmed their common specific affiliation and identity with Balaustium murorum. The potential presence of distinct species in the studied material, preliminarily inferred from the discovery of clusters as a result of Principal Component Analysis exploring the metric data sets, was rejected due to the finding of only one haplotype, at intra- and inter-population sampling. An insight into meristic traits in larvae, focused on chaetotaxy of legs, revealed wider variation than hitherto recognized for the species. The variation was higher in laboratory-reared larvae compared to field-collected ones. The overall deviations from the mean character values at intra- and interpopulation levels, higher than hitherto observed for the species, vote for the reappraisal of the criteria adopted for discrimination of members of Balaustium with the application of an integrative approach.

Prefrontal circuits encode both general danger and specific threat representations.

Behavioral adaptation to potential threats requires both a global representation of danger to prepare the organism to react in a timely manner but also the identification of specific threatening situations to select the appropriate behavioral responses. The prefrontal cortex is known to control threat-related behaviors, yet it is unknown whether it encodes global defensive states and/or the identity of specific threatening encounters. Using a new behavioral paradigm that exposes mice to different threatening situations, we show that the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) encodes a general representation of danger while simultaneously encoding a specific neuronal representation of each threat. Importantly, the global representation of danger persisted in error trials that instead lacked specific threat identity representations. Consistently, optogenetic prefrontal inhibition impaired overall behavioral performance and discrimination of different threatening situations without any bias toward active or passive behaviors. Together, these data indicate that the prefrontal cortex encodes both a global representation of danger and specific representations of threat identity to control the selection of defensive behaviors.

Being intentional about intersectionality and positionality

ABSTRACT This paper describes how a familiar exercise, known as the ‘Privilege Walk’, or Step Forward or Back line activity, could be used to develop s understanding of the skills and knowledge needed, prior to their first placement. Specifically, the activity puts particular emphasis on the need to apply ethical principles, values and anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive principles into professional practices, as well as applying, and advancing human rights and promoting social justice and economic wellbeing. Encouraging a deeper understanding of students’ motivations to become social workers, particularly exploring Carl Jung’s 1951 ‘wounded healer’. The activity, used in the training of foster carers and adopters, will be described as a teaching technique to provide an opportunity to understand the intricacies of privilege, and to explore how membership of specific social identity groups endows individuals with privilege and power. Social work courses can help students recognize ways that they can use their privileges, both collectively and individually, to work for social justice. The purpose is not to imply culpability, provoke shame or guilt due to being in a position of relative power or privilege. Instead by raising awareness of the obstacles and benefits experienced, students gain an understanding of the significance of identity in order that they become better social work professionals.

Efficient ship noise classification with positive incentive noise and fused features using a simple convolutional network

Ship noise analysis is a critical area of research in hydroacoustic remote sensing due to its practical implications in identifying ship direction, type, and even specific ship identities. However, the limited availability of data poses challenges in developing accurate ship noise classification models. Previous studies have mainly focused on small-sample learning approaches, resulting in complex network structures. Nonetheless, underwater robots often have limited computing power, making it essential to develop simpler recognition networks. In this paper, we address the issue of data scarcity by introducing positive incentive noise. We propose a CNN-based hydroacoustic signal recognition method that achieves comparable or superior performance to previous studies, using a simple network structure as a back-end decision system. We describe the feature extraction process using a dataset with added noise and compare the performance of various features. Additionally, we compare our proposed method with previous studies. Experimental results demonstrate that simple neural networks can achieve high performance and excellent generalizability without the need for complex network structures like adversarial learning models.

Fight and rescue or give up and flee? Behavioural responses of different ant species tending the mutualist walnut aphid Panaphis juglandis to native and exotic lady beetles.

Mutualism between ants and honeydew-producing hemipterans is a highly successful evolutionary innovation that attains the status of ecological keystone across many terrestrial ecosystems, involving a multitude of actors through direct or cascading effects. In these relationships, ants often protect their hemipteran partners against their arthropod natural enemies, sometimes interfering with the biological control of pest species. However, the dynamics of these interactions are highly variable based on the specific identity of all the actors involved, and baseline data remain scarce. We performed a field experiment exposing colonies of the walnut aphid Panaphis juglandis attended by five European ant species (Camponotus piceus, Ca. vagus, Crematogaster scutellaris, Dolichoderus quadripunctatus, Lasius emarginatus) to a native and an exotic lady beetle (Adalia bipunctata and Harmonia axyridis), documenting the behavioural interactions between these insects and the performance of ants in the protection of the aphids. Our results reveal a significant behavioural diversity among the ant species involved, with D. quadripunctatus and L. emarginatus being the most aggressive and having the best performance as aphid defenders, and Ca. piceus being least effective and often fleeing away. Cr. scutellaris displayed a rare rescue behaviour attempting to pull away the aphids that the lady beetles grabbed. On the other hand, behavioural responses to A. bipunctata and H. axyridis were similar. Further investigations are needed to understand the eco-ethological implications of these differences, while a better understanding of ant behavioural diversity may help refine biological control strategies.

Complex Variation in the Construction of a Sociolinguistic Persona: The Case of Vice President Kamala Harris

Over the past few decades, sociolinguists have begun to take greater interest in how public figures, such as politicians, may employ variation at different levels of linguistic structure in the construction of a public persona. These figures are of particular interest because their public and constructed usages may also illuminate wider social usages and indices of specific linguistic variables. This paper presents results from analyses of multiple aspects of ethnolinguistic variation in the speech of Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2019-2020 Democratic Party Primary debates. In particular, it focuses on her use of selected morphosyntactic features associated with African American Language (AAL), vowel systems associated with California and African American identities, and topic-based differences in the use of selected prosodic variables. Together, these results show how VP Harris selectively employs both enregistered and subtle linguistic variables in the establishment of a highly specific sociolinguistic identity that comports with her unique positions politically, socially, and racially. The results of this study expand our knowledge about how the complexities of speaker identity are reflected in sociolinguistic variation, while further illuminating how speakers in the public sphere use variation reflect and construct both who they are and who we want them to be.

Need for (expected) speed: Exploring the indirect influence of trial type consistency on representational momentum

The biases affecting people’s perception of dynamic stimuli are typically robust and strong for specific stimulus configurations. For example, representational momentum describes a systematic perceptual bias in the direction of motion for the final location of a moving stimulus. Under clearly defined stimulus configurations (e.g., specific stimulus identity, size, speed), for example, the frequently used “implied motion” trial sequence, for which a target is subsequently presented in a consistent direction and with a consistent speed, a displacement in motion direction is evidenced. The present study explores the potential influence of expectations regarding directional as well as speed consistencies on representational momentum, elicited by including other, inconsistently moving trial types within the same experimental block. A systematic representational momentum effect was observed when only consistent motion trials were presented. In contrast, when inconsistent target motion trials were mixed within the same block of experimental trials, the representational momentum effect decreased, or was even eliminated (Experiments 1 & 2). Detailed analysis indicated that this reflects a global (proportion of consistent and inconsistent motion trials within a particular experimental block), not local (preceding trial influencing actual trial) effect. Yet, additional follow-up studies (Experiments 3 & 4) support the idea that these changes in perceived location are strongly influenced by the overall stimulus speed statistics in the different experimental blocks. These results are discussed and interpreted in light of recent theoretical developments in the literature on motion perception that highlight the importance of expectations about stimulus speed for motion perception.

Christianity, Identity, and Professional Football

Empirical research on the lives of Christian elite athletes has focused primarily on their appropriation of faith-based behaviours and practices, and the ways in which their value and belief systems impact their performance. While these accounts provide useful insight into personal experience and practical application, they are largely devoid of theological underpinnings. Drawing on the findings of a small-scale qualitative study of the faith journeys of 15 ex-professional footballers, this paper seeks to present a theologically informed understanding of identity formation within elite sport. We begin by problematising the disjuncture between theocentric and anthropocentric approaches to the ways in which the specific identities of Christian elite athletes are often formed. We then explore the key issues that shaped the contours of the respondents’ experiences as they sought to negotiate their faith amidst the harsh realities of professional footballing life. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of appropriate support networks to identity formation in Christian elite athletes.

Does intergenerational educational mobility vary by sexual identity? A comparative analysis of five OECD countries.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people are disadvantaged in terms of health and socio-economic status compared with heterosexual people, yet findings pertaining to educational outcomes vary depending on the specific identity and gender considered. This study delves into these unexplained findings by applying a social-stratification lens, thereby providing an account of how intergenerational educational mobility varies by sexual identity. To accomplish this, we use representative data from five OECD countries and a regression-based empirical specification relying on coarsened exact matching. We find that gay and lesbian people have higher educational attainment than heterosexual people in all five countries and that these higher levels of education stem from greater rates of upward educational mobility among gay/lesbian people. There were, however, few differences between heterosexual and bisexual people. Variation across countries emerged when analyses were stratified by gender, with higher rates of upward mobility observed for gay men in Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom, and the United States and lesbian women in Australia and Germany. Overall, our results align with previous claims that education can be a strategy for gay/lesbian people to avoid actual or anticipated discrimination. However, variation in these patterns across groups suggests that other mechanisms may also be at play.

Sensory identity of wine from the ancient and almost forgotten grape variety Timorasso

Over the last few decades, there has been a gradual decrease in natural biodiversity, which is leading to the standardisation of wine products. Minor grape varieties possess key traits for producing wines with a specific territorial identity and they contribute to increasing biodiversity. Timorasso is an ancient Italian white grape variety native to the province of Alessandria in the Piedmont region. It fell into oblivion for a period of time due to the advent of phylloxera at the end of the 1800s and the abandonment of rural areas, which almost led to the extinction of this grapevine. This study aimed to identify the sensory properties that characterise Timorasso wine from different producers and production areas and to investigate the diversity of the sensory space. Sixteen Timorasso wines from the 2018 vintage and were evaluated for sensory description by a panel of nine semi-trained judges using the RATA method. The Timorasso wine was found to have a complex aromatic profile spanning fruity (citrus, tropical fruits, tree-fruit and dried/baked fruit), floral, vegetative, balsamic, honey and fuel/petroleum. The multiple factor analysis clearly differentiated wines with fruity notes from those with balsamic, vegetative and fuel/petroleum aromas. The hierarchical cluster analysis evidenced three main clusters. Cluster 1 comprised wines with pale-yellow colour and fruity-related aromas, low sourness, body and alcohol sensations. Cluster 2 comprised wines with dark yellow colour, low sourness, and high intensities of raisin and fuel aromas, probably due to specific oenological practices, such as grape maceration. Cluster 3 comprised wines with high sourness and vegetative odour. The results provide for the first time a sensory map of a grapevine that was almost forgotten until a few decades ago, but which is now considered to be among the most promising white wines on the Italian market.

Characterization of prime rings having involution and centralizers

The major goal of this paper is to study the commutativity of prime rings with involution that meet specific identities using left centralizers. The results obtained in this paper are the generalization of many known theorems. Finally, we provide some examples to show that the conditions imposed in the hypothesis of our results are not superfluous.

Cooperative organizational identity: the declaration in the perspective of organizational identity theory

There are specific organizations such as cooperative societies whose particular characteristics mean they need to be studied closely. This study focuses on determining which characteristics of cooperatives societies can be considered part of their identity based on the organizational identity theory. The unit of analysis is the Statement on Cooperative Identity, and the categories which were applied emerged from the Organizational Identity Theory. The main finding is the concept of a specific organizational identity. Theoretically, this study contributes in elaborating a new construct for cooperative theory. On the practical side, cooperative organizations may have a better understanding of the values they need to maintain in order to be considered cooperatives. Therefore, this model can be used by other specific organizations. In the second phase of the study, a survey was issued to 344 employees, and an interview was conducted with 3 managers of three distinct cooperatives in the southern region of Brazil, so as to investigate their perception of the cooperative identity. Data analysis identified that the responses gathered from managers were well aligned with the responses of the employees.

Politik Identitas Agama sebagai Tantangan Pelaksanaan Pesta Demokrasi di Indonesia Tahun 2024: Studi Kasus Pilkada DKI Jakarta 2017 & Pilpres 2019

This article aims to analyze and examine the influence of religious identity on political events within the Democratic Party in Indonesia. Indonesia, a nation that officially recognizes six religions and various belief systems, provides a unique backdrop for this analysis. Employing a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach, the study reveals that politics is intricately intertwined with human existence, particularly in the context of selecting leaders at the national, provincial, and local levels. While politics ideally serves the noble purpose of fostering prosperity, it can deviate when specific identities, such as religious affiliations, are exploited to mobilize voters solely based on their identity. This often leads to divisions within the nation. This article delves into the role of political identity in securing victory for a particular party, shedding light on the challenges and complexities associated with this dynamic.

On generalized homoderivations of prime rings

Let $\mathscr{A}$ be a ring with its center $\mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}).$ An additive mapping $\xi\colon \mathscr{A}\to \mathscr{A}$ is called a homoderivation on $\mathscr{A}$ if
 $\forall\ a,b\in \mathscr{A}\colon\quad \xi(ab)=\xi(a)\xi(b)+\xi(a)b+a\xi(b).$
 An additive map $\psi\colon \mathscr{A}\to \mathscr{A}$ is called a generalized homoderivation with associated homoderivation $\xi$ on $\mathscr{A}$ if
 $\forall\ a,b\in \mathscr{A}\colon\quad\psi(ab)=\psi(a)\psi(b)+\psi(a)b+a\xi(b).$
 This study examines whether a prime ring $\mathscr{A}$ with a generalized homoderivation $\psi$ that fulfils specific algebraic identities is commutative. Precisely, we discuss the following identities:
 $\psi(a)\psi(b)+ab\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),\quad\psi(a)\psi(b)-ab\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),\quad\psi(a)\psi(b)+ab\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),$
 $\psi(a)\psi(b)-ab\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),\quad\psi(ab)+ab\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),\quad\psi(ab)-ab\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),$
 $\psi(ab)+ba\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A}),\quad\psi(ab)-ba\in \mathscr{Z}(\mathscr{A})\quad (\forall\ a, b\in \mathscr{A}).$
 Furthermore, examples are given to prove that the restrictions imposed on the hypothesis of the various theorems were not superfluous.

Ownership Concentration and Audit Actions

This study presents current evidence on the impact of different corporate ownership types on audit quality in Oman and potentially in other developing countries with similar institutional environments, such as GCC countries. While previous research has primarily focused on overall ownership concentration, this study aims to examine the role of specific shareholder identities and their influence on the demand for audit quality. This research sheds light on the relationship between ownership identities and audit quality of Omani financial companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2020. This study employs additional analysis to mitigate potential confounding factors and ensure robust results. Additionally, a GMM test establishes the robustness of our findings, alleviating potential endogeneity concerns. The findings highlight the positive impact and significance of bank, government, and foreign ownership in promoting high audit quality. In contrast, ownership by financial institutions (non-banks) and block holder concentrations negatively and significantly impact audit quality. In addition, this study found that family members on boards play positive moderating roles in the relationship between ownership concentration and audit quality. In addition to contributing to the existing literature, this study provides valuable insights for regulatory bodies to consider the role of ownership types in their decision-making processes. Our findings also assist investors in making informed choices and offer a better understanding of how ownership structures influence audit quality for other stakeholders. The implications of this research extend beyond Oman and can be relevant to countries with similar ownership structures and regulatory frameworks.

A pragmatic and discourse analysis of hate words on social media

Abstract This paper studies some pragmatic and discursive properties of hate words employed in the comment chains of two Italian right-wing politicians’ social media accounts. The analysis focuses on hate speech directed towards two ethnic groups – African migrants and the Chinese – and an individual, the former minister of Agriculture Teresa Bellanova. Hate words are divided into two macrocategories: slurs and insulting epithets. Slurs are expressions that are consistently associated with derogatory attitudes against a group of people based on their origin/descent; insulting epithets are either offensive terms that do not attack specific identity traits or neutral words that, in certain contexts, can be offensive. Data indicate that the use of hate words is guided by pragmatic factors and discursive elements, and it changes according to the individual(s) or the groups being attacked. Hate speech on social media occurs mainly through insulting epithets, thus allowing the authors to avoid moderation and any responsibility for their utterance. The results support the idea that hate speech is a complex speech act that aims not only at derogating or expressing negative emotions but works within the framework of racist discourses as a means of creating and reinforcing political polarisation and in-group values.

The promise of leveraging social identities in interventions to enhance the well‐being and lives of adolescents

AbstractIdentity development is theorized to be a cornerstone of adolescence. An abundance of evidence has documented the significance of specific social identities (e.g., ethnic‐racial or sexual identity) in the adjustment of adolescents. Research has found that youth who have explored their social identities and have more positive views of their social groups are likely to adjust more successfully across many developmental outcomes. Given evidence documenting the importance of social identities, in this article, we argue that identities should be leveraged to promote positive adjustment, particularly among youth experiencing marginalization. We present a theoretically driven rationale for why social identities should be considered assets that provide opportunities for intervention to improve youth's lives. We also describe two interventions that efficaciously targeted social identity development and demonstrated positive effects on adjustment. We close with directions for research and implementation and a call to invest in this important work.

Self-Presentation and Black Male College Athletes at Historically White Institutions

Black male college athletes (BMCAs) are in a unique position within the contexts of historically white institutions and Division I college athletics. Recently, BMCAs have increasingly presented themselves in ways that highlight specific social identities or even in opposition to the college athletic system and higher education environment. However, little has changed as power and privilege remain central forces in white-dominated settings. This constructivist grounded theory study examines how historically white institution and Division I athletic environments influence self-presentation of BMCAs through a Black critical theory lens. The experiences of 16 BMCAs illuminated how self-presentation was influenced by academic and athletic settings, Division I subdivision characteristics, and sport-specific contexts. I conclude with recommendations and directions for future research.