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Course Description This course examines contemporary Japanese popular culture from historical and theoretical perspectives. The course will examine cultural objects which are as recent as possible in an attempt to survey Japanese culture as it is now. The scope of objects and practices examined will be wide ranging, including architecture, advertising, consumption, cinema, anime, manga, magazines, literature, fashion, music, food and art. The course will stress primary engagement with these cultural forms and the active testing and calibration of cultural theory. Course Requirements & Evaluation Grades for this course will be based on a final presentation, a research paper and class participation. There will be both weekly readings and short primary research each week which will be discussed in depth and for which students should prepare. Because the course examines contemporary culture for which multiple perspectives are critical participation in this discussion will be very important and it is emphasized in the grades. A final research paper and presentation will be based around a single theme of the course for which students will be expected to complete detailed reading and original research. Grades will be distributed as follows:
2012 •
Japanese popular culture, such as anime, manga, and video games, influences Japanese-as-a-Foreign-Language (JFL) students to study Japanese and is a major channel for interacting with Japanese language and culture. This thesis investigates what kind of relationship university JFL students have with Japanese popular culture. The investigation features two parts: a quantitative Student Survey Questionnaire and a qualitative Textbook Evaluation Questionnaire. The Student Survey Questionnaire asks 164 university JFL student participants about Japanese popular culture that they enjoy and how they acquire Japanese language through Japanese popular culture. The Textbook Evaluation Questionnaire has seven participants evaluate four Japanese language textbooks that use Japanese manga comics as the teaching medium. This investigation finds that university JFL students do indeed interact with Japanese popular culture in a significant way. Japanese popular culture influences them to study Japanese, but is not their main reason for studying the language. Also, the majority of participants believe that positive Japanese language acquisition can occur through engaging with Japanese popular culture.
Leprosy Review
The impact of COVID-19 on persons affected by leprosy and leprosy control in the North and Northeast of Brazil2024 •
Introduction & Aim Brazil, ranking second globally in newly detected leprosy (Hansen's disease) patients, has encountered obstacles in advancing leprosy control amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in more vulnerable regions. This study aims to characterize the psychosocial as well as health status and needs of individuals affected by leprosy during the Covid-19 pandemic in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil. Methods This is a descriptive cross-sectional study examining the health status and needs of persons affected by leprosy during the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the years 2019 and 2020. Adults receiving multidrug therapy (MDT) who were registered in the National System of Notifiable Diseases during this period and lived in the North and Northeast regions of Brazil were included. After obtaining consent, data collection involved conducting telephone surveys. Referrals to additional care were provided to study participants in need. Data collected were entered into REDCap, with subsequent data extracted using TabWin® software from the Department of Informatics of the Brazilian Unified Health System. We conducted a descriptive analysis of sociodemographic, clinical-epidemiological, and psychosocial variables using STATA. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results The study included 346 persons affected by leprosy who were receiving leprosy treatment. Interruption of MDT occurred in 31.8%, among these patients, 22.5% reported that the interruption had a relationship with the pandemic. Of the included participants, 35.3% reported that their household contacts were not screened for leprosy, although 14.2% recognized skin lesions with loss of sensitivity in their contacts. When assessing mental wellbeing, sadness was reported by 32.4%, fear by 35.3%, sleep deprivation by 34.7%, and depression by 9.8% of the participants. We observed an association between loss of income and sadness (OR 1.61; 95%CI 1.02–2.54; p-value 0.040) and reported depression (OR 2.35; 95%CI 1.11–4.98; p-value 0.026). Social distancing had an additional financial impact on 32.3% of persons affected by leprosy in this study. Discussion & Conclusion The pandemic had significant economic, social, and health impacts on the lives of persons affected by leprosy, further complicating leprosy control efforts. Medication availability, medical and psychological patient follow-up, as well as contact screening, were hindered during the pandemic, making the control of leprosy even more challenging. Recognizing the weaknesses of the leprosy control program is crucial for enhancing services both presently and in preparation for future crises like pandemics. Brazil could enhance leprosy control services by implementing novel disease control strategies, including additional prevention measures for contacts. In addition to the necessary improvements needed at the clinical health system level, addressing social vulnerability and enhancing individual mental wellbeing are urgent priorities. This could be achieved through initiatives such as offering counseling and establishing peer-support groups.
Finding the Rus: Where did the Slavs go: identity and manipulation
Finding the Rus: where did the Slavs go: identity and manipulation2023 •
The second of my papers on Ukrainian and Russian history looking at Kyivan Rus as the possible root of present day Russia. There were I believe three distinctive economies in the region, and little genuine evidence for Slavic occupation of large parts of Western Russia. I look at the truth of the Ukrainian chronicles, and what they tell us of the role of the Greek Orthodox Church in the construction or re-construction of history.
Slovo : časopis Staroslavenskoga instituta u Zagrebu
Molitva za kneginje: ćirilski rukopis u Gothi s početka 18. st2008 •
Anthropological Linguistics, 197-215. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton
On ritual speech: Epistemologies, history, and the social order2022 •
This chapter investigates the nexus between authority and carefully calibrated and highly patterned actions accomplished through and alongside language. In the anthropological literature, many of these practices are described as belonging to ritual activities, as they instantiate, represent, or memorialize world-changing acts. This exploration focuses on a variety of representative examples drawn from Mesoamerica, Amazonia, the Andes, South Asia, and Africa. Through a survey of historical case studies, ethnographic research, and various theoretical approaches, the chapter outlines five important domains demarcated by ritual speech: language ideologies, epistemologies, and the construction of authoritative ontological models about the cosmos; performances that interdigitate speech and collective identities that actors perceive as customary; the diversity and precariousness of ritual language at the boundaries of intelligibility; ritual performance and the demarcation of social differences; and the relation between ritual speech and non-human forms of agency.
III Escuela Doctoral en Historia Económica de la Edad Media: 'On the demand side. Consumption and consumers in Medieval Europe' (Valencia, 8-10 julio)
Textile goods in Sevillian artisans' families (16th century): trousseaus, wills, and post-mortem inventories2024 •
Journal of Membrane Science
Effect of surfactant hydrophobicity and charge type on membrane distillation performance2019 •
International Affairs and Global Strategy
Blurred Bottom lines of Ethiopian Political Crisis from 20011 to 20202020 •
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
2-Arylbenzoxazoles as novel cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitors: Optimization via array synthesis2008 •
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Quality of Life of Persons With Lower-Limb Amputation During Rehabilitation and at 3-Month Follow-Up2009 •
PsycEXTRA Dataset
The Career History Archival Medical and Personnel System (CHAMPS): An Epidemiological Data Resource for Force Health Protection2004 •
Bangladesh Journal of Plant Taxonomy
An Inventory of Vascular Flora of the Lalmai Hill Area Of Cumilla District, Bangladesh