No trade-offs between news and entertainment: Evidence from online engagement data

In today’s high-choice media environment, some scholars are concerned that people selectively consume media content based on personal interests and avoid others, which might lead to audience fragmentation across different content genres. Individually, there might be trade-offs between those genres, especially entertainment versus news. This study analyzed a large user engagement dataset (~40,000 users’ comments) collected from the Chinese information application Toutiao, one of the most popular information distribution platforms in China. The results showed that (1) the commenters were not fragmented between content genres, and (2) the users’ news engagement was positively associated with their entertainment engagement. The findings indicate that the availability of high media choices will not reduce the news engagement of those who have strong interest in entertainment. Instead, news engagement might increase alongside the augmentation of the sum of information engagement. Finally, we discussed the differences between relative news engagement and absolute news engagement.

Modern Intentions in Lesia Ukrainka’s Drama Cassandra

In her drama Cassandra (1903–1907) Lesia Ukrainka pays considerable attention to language and demonstrates its two defi ning forms and functional paradigms. One of them is language that appeals to the essential components of being. It is language that refl ects human existence in all its acuity and fullness of appearance. This language is complex and diffi cult to understand, but is the only real language of the age of modernism. Another language is superfi cial, appealing not to the depths of life and universal categories, but to temporary human needs and aspirations. Its task is to identify the ways and means of achieving a desired goal. Such language is manipulative, because its speakers tend to hide their personal interests under claims of the common good. Also, in the drama, Lesia Ukrainka innovatively raises a number of questions related to the internal laws of world development, the processes of human cognition, the functioning of language, and the understanding and interpretation of the word. The formulation and presentation of these issues demonstrate the clear modern attitude that the writer professed and embodied in her drama.

Аgricultural cooperation from a historical perspective

The purpose of the article is to show that cooperation conducted in a «voluntary-compulsory» manner only discredits the idea of cooperation in rural areas and leads to food crises in society. The research uses the method of historical analogies. The article examines the processes of agricultural concentration, including in the form of cooperation, from a historical perspective; an assessment of current trends is given by comparing them with similar processes that took place in the Soviet era in the conditions of the administrative economy. Statistical materials from official sources, party-Soviet documents were used for the analysis. The content of V.I. Lenin's article «On Cooperation», to which the former and current ideologists of the cooperation of the peasantry refer, allows for a very twofold interpretation of the ideas of the leader of the revolution. On the one hand, Lenin's position presupposes a link between the city and the countryside on the basis of a new economic policy. On the other hand, his remark that «the system of civilized cooperators with public ownership of the means of production... – this is the system of socialism,» clearly indicates that Lenin considered the collective farm form as the highest form of peasant cooperation. This form of cooperation objectively leads to the use of the state coercive apparatus with all the ensuing consequences. This form of cooperation objectively leads to the use of the state coercive apparatus with all the ensuing consequences. It is shown that the basis of failures in the development of cooperation in modern agriculture of Kazakhstan is the prevalence of administrative and bureaucratic methods of solving the problem. Author summarizes that only reliance on the initiative of the peasants themselves, their personal interests and motivation are the main condition for the successful promotion of ideas of cooperation in rural areas.

Autism interest intensity in early childhood associates with executive functioning but not reward sensitivity or anxiety symptoms

Several theories have been proposed to explain the presentation of intense interests in autism, including theories based on altered executive functioning, imbalanced reward sensitivity, and mitigating anxiety. These theories have yet to be examined in early childhood, yet knowledge of how intense interests emerge could provide insight into how best to manage intensity and support the many benefits of personal interests. Parents of 33 autistic and 42 non-autistic comparison children aged 3–6 years completed questionnaires to assess attention shifting and inhibitory control, responsiveness to rewards, and anxiety symptoms. Each behavior domain was examined for associations with parent-reported interest intensity. In autistic and comparison children, attention shifting was associated with interest intensity, where children with more difficulties showed more intense interests. In autistic children only, inhibitory control of attention also associated with interest intensity, where children with greater difficulties showed more intense interests. Reward and anxiety symptoms did not associate with interest intensity in either group, or across the sample. These findings suggest that, in early childhood, the presentation of intense interests is related to executive functioning regardless of diagnostic group. Helping children develop executive functioning skills may therefore be useful to assist with managing interest intensity in early childhood. Lay abstract Personal interests in autism are a source of joy, pride, and assist with the formation of social relationships. However, highly intense engagement can also interfere with other activities including activities of daily living. Theories have suggested that intense interests relate to executive functioning, reward sensitivity, and anxiety symptoms; but none of these theories have been tested in early childhood. Understanding which behavioral traits relate to intense interests in early childhood could help understand how intense interests may emerge, while also providing clues for how to manage interest intensity and best promote the many benefits of personal interests. We recruited families with autistic and non-autistic children aged 3–6 years. Parents completed questionnaires to assess children’s interest diversity and intensity, executive functioning, reward sensitivity, and anxiety symptoms. We found that for autistic and non-autistic children, greater difficulty shifting attention between activities related to more intense interests. In autistic children only, difficulty with inhibitory control of attention also related to more intense interests. However, reward sensitivity and anxiety symptoms did not relate to interest intensity. Based on these observations, assisting young children with developing executive functioning skills could help with mediating the interference of interests in daily life to ultimately promote the many benefits of personal interests.

Impoliteness Manoeuvres and Its Motives in Indonesia Lawyers Club Talk Show

The use of impolite language is often found in various areas of conversation, both formal and informal conversations. Being polite is different from speaking rudely. Impoliteness is often expressed with harsh words. Impoliteness can be expressed even with a sentence of praise. The Indonesia Lawyers Club talk show is a television program that presents formal discussions on political and government issues in Indonesia. This study focuses on the reasons for using impoliteness that occurs in the dialogue on the Indonesia Lawyers Club talk show. This research is a qualitative descriptive study using a pragmatic approach. The data in this study are in the form of dialogues that contain impoliteness. The source of this research data is taken from the talk show Indonesia Lawyers Club. The data analyzed in this study are in the form of natural oral data. The data analysis method used is the referential equivalent method. The presentation of data analysis used is informal presentation techniques. The results of this study indicate the discovery of 4 impoliteness strategies and 3 reasons for using impoliteness. The 4 strategies are bald on record, positive impoliteness, negative impoliteness, and mock politeness. The reasons for using impoliteness in the Indonesia Lawyers Club talk show include the feeling that their opinion is the most correct, wanting to embarrass the speech partner and the speaker's personal interests.

The Value Picture of the World of Modern Russian Society Through the Prism of Language and Experimental Data

The article discusses current linguistic facts (the oral nature of written statements, the abundance of expression and occasionalisms, the growth of evaluative vocabulary, the activation of pronominal units), demonstrating changes that affect the value picture of the world of modern Russian society: an increase in the importance of personal, personal interests and preferences. These changes are stimulated by the continuing strengthening of the culture of consumption and increasing digitalization, also consonant with the ideals of the consumer society. The planned axiological transformations are supported by experimental results - information obtained during the survey, the purpose of which is to form an idea of the understanding by young people – future philologists of the current state of the axiosphere of modern Russian society.

Finnish Military Officer Identities and Micro-Political Resistance

Drawing on the concept of micro-political resistance, this article presents an empirical analysis of how officers of the Finnish Defence Forces challenge, resist, and reinforce the collective military identities constructed within the prevailing organizational discourses. There is a need for identity work to meet the norms and ideals of the military, but individuals can also work as change agents. Micro-political resistance derives from feelings of otherness as well as conflict between the dominant organizational identities and individuals’ personal interests. This study presents a thematic discourse analysis based on texts written by 108 officers and 12 interviews on the theme of “the ideal soldier.” Three main discourses of micro-political resistance were identified: perceiving the profession of a military officer as a job like any other rather than a sacred calling, putting family first, and being oneself instead of embodying the traditional masculine ideal soldier.

Learn, Engage, and Act to Advance Age Inclusivity in Higher Education

Shifting age demographics are reshaping our social structures with far-reaching implications for higher education. Aging populations mean more older adults are looking to higher education to meet their professional needs and personal interests, and the longevity economy is calling for a trained workforce to provide services to support the health and functioning of individuals as they age. As well, there is a need to improve students’ aging literacy, along with developing synergistic age-friendly campus-community partnerships to address aging issues. How can institutions explore, create, develop, and sustain more age-friendly programs, practices, and partnerships? This presentation will introduce the toolkit specially designed by the GSA-AGHE Workgroup for use by faculty, students, administrators, and other campus leaders, and will provide an overview of the Age-Friendly University (AFU) initiative and its 10 guiding principles for creating more age-inclusive campuses.

Content Filtering of Social Media Sites Using Machine Learning Techniques

To build a social network or social relations between people, we use social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, apps, etc. Using this media, users can share their views and opinions about a particular thing. Many people use their media for personal interests, entertainment, the market stocks, or business purposes. Nowadays, user security is the major concern for social networking sites. Online social networks give a little bit of support regarding content filtering. In this article, we proposed a system that provides security regarding malicious content that is posted on their social networking sites. To filter the content that might be unwanted messages, labeled images, or vulgar images, we proposed three level architecture. The user can use the auto-blocking facility as well.

A Decision Support System for Undecided and Exploratory Students

Choosing a major can be a difficult choice for undeclared students, depending on personal interests, job markets, program costs, and the complexity of graduation requirements. The current procedure for exploring possible majors/minors involves a tedious and time-consuming exploration of static data presented in a convoluted format. This work considers the complexity of degree requirements and presents the design and implementation of an efficient decision support system (DSS) for exploring majors and/or minors. The DSS presents a tool that enables college students to map their already completed courses to degree requirements and then view the majors/minors that yield the shortest path for graduation. Secondly, the DSS system provides data visualization tools to assist students in selecting courses that satisfy the remaining requirements of a selected major/minor.