Ethnobotanical study on plants used to dye traditional costumes by the Baiku Yao nationality of China

Background The Baiku Yao is a branch of the Yao nationality in China. The unique dying process of traditional clothing employed by these people has distinct national characteristics, a profound impact on the production and life of local people, and important research value. For this reason, it is important to investigate and document the dyeing plants and the traditional knowledge involved in the dyeing of Baku Yao traditional clothing. Methodology Information on dyeing plants was obtained using the free-list method and interviews with 61 Baiku Yao informants in Guangxi and Guizhou from January 2020 to August 2021. Based on the free-list method, we evaluated and screened out important plants by calculating the cognitive salience value of each plant. Results The results showed that the people of Baiku Yao have accumulated rich traditional knowledge of dyeing plants and long-term dyeing and other processes. We collected 23 species and recorded the related traditional knowledge, such as the Baiku Yao name, life form, habitat, part(s) used, application type, usage, and area used. The utilization of dyeing plants has a strong relationship with ethnic culture. The Baiku Yao uses unique anti-dyeing material (Ailanthus vilmoriniana) in the cotton dyeing process, they call it “the mother tree”. As well as, the results also showed that 15 plants (65.2%) have medicinal value and can be used to treat 18 aliments, and wild plants play a very important role in the life of the Baiku Yao. Conclusion These plants not only meet the color needs of the Baiku Yao people but also have health care effects, aligning with the trends toward green dyeing and the health contentiousness of modern people. This study provides a reference for the inheritance and development of Baiku Yao traditional clothing dyeing culture, will aid the identification of new natural, safe and healthy textile dyes, and is of positive significance in promoting regional economic development, national cultural inheritance, and biodiversity protection.

“Who to Cultivate?”: A Study on the Changes in Primary School Language Education Goals in the Curriculum Documents

What kind of person is the root of education? What kind of person embodies the essence of education and the direction of education? The goal of education cannot be solved without specific courses and disciplines. This study is carried out to characterize the Chinese curriculum standards (syllabus), review the founding of New China over 70 years of primary school Chinese curriculum, and outline an education picture from the “curriculum” itself to “individual students,” from “single” to “compound,” and from “present” to “future.” It has been concluded that the pursuit of national characteristics, the exploration of a wholesome personality, and the prospect of new people of the times are the internal evolution logics of primary school Chinese education.

РОДИНА-PATRIA in Russian and Spanish Verbal Associative Networks

The specific national characteristics of stimulus Homeland in Russian and Spanish verbal associative network are described in this article. The contrastive analysis of one of the basic word-model-points, inherent to the Russian and Spanish native speakers, is being investigated for the first time. The qualitative indicators of the performed analysis constitute a kind of thesaurus of the associative norms of the Russian and Spanish languages and, together with the quantitative ones, can be the subject of linguo-psychological comparative analysis and provide additional information about the associative norms, structure, linguistic ability and national character of the speakers of the given language and culture.The theme may be interesting for specialists not only in philology, but also in psychology, sociology, culturology, mass media, commercial advertizing and other spheres connected with human activity.

Wasta as Social Capital and Legitimate Conservative Order

The article examines the relationship between the traditional group relations (intrafamily, clan, etc.) in the Arab society, which provide access to the political rent, and the processes of socio-political modernization and the building of civil institutions. The Arab governments usually explain the inefficiency or “deviations” in the work of such institutions by national characteristics, adherence to the idea of nation-building, etc., but never by the desire to preserve power and assets of the traditional elites that are based on group loyalty. One of the most common ways of accessing power in order to acquire and redistribute tangible and intangible benefits in the Arab world is Wasta, or a system of connections, based on group loyalty and client-patronage relationships. Loyalty to one’s group that almost everyone belongs to by birth or due to certain life circumstances ensures the interests of the individual in the broadest sense. Wasta’s network and group ties, based on the principles that are at odds with those that the civil society is built upon, impede the development and modernization of social and political institutions. While researchers have studied Wasta relations as such rather structurally, both at the micro-level (from the social network point of view) and at the macro-level (from the institutional point of view), the attempts to build a holistic model that considers Wasta simultaneously from both viewpoints have not yet been crowned with success. The article proposes the conceptualization of Wasta as social capital, which makes it possible to represent this type of relationship as one actor’s “investment” and the other actor’s “loan”. One can also use this holistic model in the analysis of other informal ties inherent in other cultures but also based on group loyalty and client-patronage relationships and provide fertile soil for maintaining conservative order.

Instruments and Perspectives of Coping with Pandemic COVID-19 in the Assessments of Medical Workers of the Kharkiv Region

Groups with special qualities in the eyes of the public can help to overcome barriers to vaccination and other anti-pandemic measures. Such groups can be opinion leaders to advance the pandemic response. One of these groups is specialized doctors. A research question: how ready are they today to act as a group opinion leader in promoting vaccinations and other responses to the pandemic? We present original data that allow us to draw the local (national) characteristics of attitudes towards measures to coping the pandemic of medical workers in Ukraine, and about their potential as an agent for informational promotion of vaccination. We used a questionnaire survey of medical workers (797 medical workers were interviewed in March-September 2021) in the Kharkiv region to collect empirical material. We focused on their assessment of the readiness to vaccinate their environment – as an indirect indicator of assessing the prospects for mass vaccination and their own ability to act as agents of promoting mass vaccination. According to the results of the survey, the social group potential of medical workers in promoting vaccination is relatively high. About half of doctors with higher education, who are included in the pandemic topics of the information space and are confident in the need for mass vaccination, can be the agent core of the information promotion of anti-pandemic tools, particularly vaccination.

Determinants and Cross-National Moderators of Wearable Health Tracker Adoption: A Meta-Analysis

Wearable health trackers improve people’s health management and thus are beneficial for social sustainability. Many prior studies have contributed to the knowledge on the determinants of wearable health tracker adoption. However, these studies vary remarkably in focal determinants and countries of data collection, leading to a call for a structured and quantitative review on what determinants are generally important, and whether and how their effects on adoption vary across countries. Therefore, this study performed the first meta-analysis on the determinants and cross-national moderators of wearable health tracker adoption. This meta-analysis accumulated 319 correlations between nine determinants and adoption from 59 prior studies in 18 countries/areas. The meta-analytic average effects of the determinants revealed the generalized effect and the relative importance of each determinant. For example, technological characteristics generally had stronger positive correlations with adoption than consumer characteristics, except for privacy risk. Second, drawing on institutional theory, it was observed that cross-national characteristics regarding socioeconomic status, regulative systems, and cultures could moderate the effects of the determinants on adoption. For instance, the growth rate of gross domestic product decreased the effect of innovativeness on adoption, while regulatory quality and control of corruption could increase this effect.

WORLDVIEW OF MEDICINE FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF SPECIAL VERBS

Введение. Терминология является средством, позволяющим представить картину мира, поскольку каждая лексическая единица закрепляет опыт отдельной нации и всего человечества, а результат их взаимодействия проявляется в целостном восприятии и представлении окружающего мира. Глагольная лексика, обозначающая специальные понятия, является вербальной репрезентацией прагматически переработанного научного знания, отражающего менталитет, основы мыслительной деятельности, профессиональный опыт и лингвокультурную компетенцию специалистов. Цель – изучить глагольную лексику, обозначающую специальные понятия медицины, и представить ее как универсальное средство репрезентации картины мира данной отрасли знания, как средство выявления направления развития и функционирования научной мысли. Материал и методы. Материалом исследования служат однословные и многословные глагольные единицы, репрезентирующие различные действия и процессы, имеющие большое значение в различных отраслях медицины. Глагольные единицы исследуются посредством анализа этимологии, словообразования и дефиниции. Результаты и обсуждение. Универсальность, свойственная картине мира медицины, отражается в употреблении греко-латинских терминоэлементов в структуре глагольной единицы. Национальные черты проявляются в использовании соответствующих морфологических элементов и лексико-семантических способах словообразования. Историческое развитие понятий и терминов отражается в явлениях терминологизации и детерминологизации, которым подвергаются и глаголы, функционирующие в языке медицины. История развития специальной медицинской глагольной лексики демонстрирует активное взаимодействие обыденной и научной картин мира, что подтверждается этимологическим анализом глаголов, а также существованием внутриотраслевой и межотраслевой полисемии глаголов. Лексические единицы, обозначающие различные медицинские процессы, являются пропозициональными структурами, способными представлять обозначаемый процесс как когнитивный сценарий, имплицитно репрезентируя упорядоченную последовательность действий, метонимически представляя весь процесс, обозначенный глагольной единицей. Заключение. Таким образом, глагол представляет собой средство, позволяющее интерпретировать картину мира той или иной отрасли знания. В сфере медицины глагол позволяет выявить закономерность развития семантического объема лексической единицы, проследить развитие и становление медицины как научной отрасли знания в синхронии и дахронии. Introduction. Terminology contributes to the representation of the world picture because each lexical unit fixes the experience of both a separate nation and the whole mankind. The result of their interaction can be found in the perceptual unity and uniform representation of the world. Verbs, designating special notions, are the verbal representation of pragmatically revised scholary insight, which reflect the pattern of thoughtway, bases of mental activity, professional background, cultural and linguistic competence of specialists. Aim and objectives. The aim of the article is to study verbs, which designate special medical notions, and to show that they are a universal means to represent the world picture of medicine, and as a means which help to reveal the tramline and functioning of scientific thought. Material and methods. The material of the investigation includes one- and multiword verbs and verb phrases which represent various medical processes. Etymological, word-building and definitional analyses are used. Results and discussion. Universality which is characteristic of the world picture of medicine is reflected in the use of Greek and Latin terminological elements in the structure of a verb. National characteristics appear in the use of morphological elements and lexical and semantic principles of word-building. The world pictures of sciences also reflect historical evolution of notions and terms which can be revealed in the processes of terminologization and determinologization of verbs which are used in the language of medicine. The history of the development of special medical verbs demonstrates the interaction of the everyday and scientific world pictures. It is proved by etymology of verbs and polysemy of verbs within the medical discourse and with the verbs functioning in other branches of science. Lexical units which represent various medical processes are a kind of propositional structures which show a definite area of the world picture in its entirety. Thus, they can demonstrate the process as a cognitive script, which demonstrates implicitly the array of actions. It is a kind of metonymical representation of the process which is put into verbs. Conclusion. A verb can be considered as a means to interpret the world picture of this or that field of science. In regards to language of medicine the verbs allow to reveal the pattern and volume of semantic development of a word, to trace the scientific history of medicine in synchrony and diachrony.

Lucidarius in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and Czechia: Types of Reception in the mid-16th to the First Quarter of the 20th Century

The article is focused on the problems of historical typology of the Slavic reception of the translated Lucidarius (Lucidář) in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and Czechia throughout its existence. For the first time, a general overview of Slavic evidences is presented in a generalized way, reflecting various types of perception (positive, negative, and neutral) of the specific literary text and indicating the chronology of each of them. Based on these evidences, their historical interpretation is presented, which consists in identifying two qualitatively different stages in the reception of the text under consideration: emotionally engaged (it can equally manifest itself in a positive or negative attitude) and neutral. The change of these historical stages took place in different Slavic countries within half a century (from the 1850s/60s to the 1920s). This process did not depend on the national characteristics of the functioning of Lucidaria, for example, the number of translations performed or their manuscript copies made, as well as the presence or the absence of a local Slavic printed tradition of this particular text, which significantly influenced the degree of its dissemination and, consequently, the level of acquaintance with it in the reading public.

Implementation of International Environmental Law

International environmental law is a key governance instrument for the protection of the environment. Countries take on a range of obligations when they join multilateral environmental agreements. This chapter presents a comparative assessment of the implementation of international environmental law in 13 countries for four agreements dealing with pollution and conservation. It offers an empirical assessment based on the Environmental Conventions Index (ECI) developed at the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and compares performance across four key categories: regulation, management, information, and technical measures. The analysis establishes a baseline for assessing the implementation of international environmental law and explaining the impact of national characteristics, policies, and actions on the fulfillment and effectiveness of international environmental agreements.

Ghevond Alishan's Literary Activity Through the Light of Russian

The history of Russian-Armenian literary relationships is one of the brightest and most significant events of the time. It undoubtedly enhanced the mutual cultural heritage and left a profound mark on the worldview, moral and aesthetic values of Armenian and Russian writers, translators, and literary critics. Since the beginning of the 20th-century Armenian culture, mainly Armenian literature, aroused great interest among such outstanding classics, as M. Gorky, V. Bryusov, A. Blok, O. Mandelstam, A. Bely, A. Akhmatova and others who not only appreciated its aesthetic and stylistic texture but also embarked on the laborious work of translating its best achievements into Russian. In this sense, the anthology "The Poetry of Armenia from Ancient Times to the Present" in 1916 can be considered a significant cultural event. It was edited by Valery Bryusov, who also wrote the introductory part of the work. The publication was carried out with M. Gorky's direct assistance and support. It should be noted that many Russian translations done by V. Bryusov and A. Blok are still brilliant samples of the artistic heritage of translation. The present work focuses on the evaluations and interpretations of Russian critics (V. Bryusov, Y. Veselovsky) of the creative heritage of Gh. Alishan, his poetic individuality and the influence on the development of the literary process of that time. It also reveals the role of Russian poets, translators and literary critics in promoting the publication and popularization of Bryusov's anthology as a significant cultural event of the time. The section of the anthology "Poetry of Western Armenians" includes the most famous poems of Gh. Alishan, M. Peshiktashlyan, P. Duryan, Sipil, L. Shant, and others are parallelly illustrated by the excellent translations of V. Bryusov, S. Shervinsky, V. Khodasevich, K. Balmont, S. Bobrov and others. The scientific research has shown that among Russian poets and translators, Bryusov was one of the first interested in Gh. Alishan's literary works and his bright poetic individuality. It can be explained by the fact that Alishan was a well-known representative of Western Armenian poetry and a comprehensive creator of his time, a man with encyclopedic knowledge. In addition, he was a historian, philosopher, translator, philosopher, geographer who devoted his whole life to science and enlightenment. Bryusov was also a gifted man. He had a poetic talent; he contributed to improving the Russian dialect, elevating it to a new, higher level. Consequently, there are many common features between Bryusov and Alishan. These are the breadth of the intellectual range, brilliant knowledge of languages and world literature, devotion to scientific activities, profound love for their Motherland, its cultural values and the highest level of humanism. Undoubtedly, they were outstanding figures of their era who made a significant contribution to the development of culture, science and literature. This article is an attempt at a comprehensive study of the principles of the Russian translation theory used in the translation of Armenian literature, with particular reference to the poem "Hrazdan", an extract from Gh. Alishan's patriotic lyrics. The proficiency of Russian translators and the revelation of Armenian linguistic and national characteristics helped them interpret the linguo-stylistic peculiarities of the original and recreate their equivalent counterparts.