Halliday\u27s Functional Grammar: Philosophical Foundation and Epistemology

It is difficult to track the philosophy foundation and epistemology of systemic functional grammar (SFG) formulated by Halliday in the 1980s as this kind of grammar views language as a systemic resource for meaning. Besides, it has had global impacts on linguistics and flourished in contemporary linguistic theory. Anyone who is familiar with Halliday\u27s work realizes that his SFG is an approach designed to analyze English texts. Halliday (1994: xv) explicitly states that “to construct a grammar for purposes of text analysis: one that would make it possible to say sensible and useful things about any text, spoken or written, in modern English.” The aim of this study is not about the applicability of SFG to text analysis as many researchers and scholars do. Our efforts are made to clarify the philosophical foundation of Halliday\u27s SFG. The paper presents on triangle: (i) language, mind and world; (ii) and empiricism in Halliday\u27s SFG

Burden of diarrheal diseases from biogas wastewater exposure among smallholder farmers in Ha Nam province, Vietnam

Livestock production has developed rapidly in Vietnam in recent years, particularly at the small-scale which account for 65% of the total livestock production. Biogas systems are commonly used to treat livestock waste, however, the health risks from biogas wastewater exposure at smallholder farms are not yet well understood. A quantitative microbial risk assessment approach was applied to estimate the burden of diarrheal diseases from biogas wastewater exposure among 451 smallholder farmers using biogas systems in Ha Nam province. A total of 150 biogas wastewater samples were collected and analysed for E. coli, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium. The study showed that farmers faced diarrheal disease risks due to exposure to biogas wastewater at different exposure scenarios. The calculated annual risk of diarrheal disease by E. coli ranked from 0.15 to 0.21; by Giardia ranked from 0.022 to 0.095; and by Cryptosporidium ranked from 0.006 to 0.015. The estimated diarrheal diseases burden from pathogens in all exposure scenarios largely exceeded the reference level of health outcome target of 10-6DALYs loss per person per year recommended by WHO. The results suggest the importance in reducing concentrations of pathogens in biogas wastewater before use in the fields as a means for mitigating public health impacts

STEM education and outcomes in Vietnam: Views from the social gap and gender issues

United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 4 Quality Education has highlighted major challenges for all nations to ensure inclusive and equitable quality access to education, facilities for children, and young adults. The SDG4 is even more important for developing nations as receiving proper education or vocational training, especially in science and technology, means a foundational step in improving other aspects of their citizens’ lives. However, the extant scientific literature about STEM education still lacks focus on developing countries, even more so in the rural area. Using a dataset of 4967 observations of junior high school students from a rural area in a transition economy, the article employs the Bayesian approach to identify the interaction between gender, socioeconomic status, and students’ STEM academic achievements. The results report gender has little association with STEM academic achievements; however, female students (αa_Sex[2] = 2.83) appear to have achieved better results than their male counterparts (αa_Sex[1] = 2.68). Families with better economic status, parents with a high level of education (βb(EduMot) = 0.07), or non-manual jobs (αa_SexPJ[4] = 3.25) are found to be correlated with better study results. On the contrary, students with zero (βb(OnlyChi) = -0.14) or more than two siblings (βb(NumberofChi) = -0.01) are correlated with lower study results compared to those with only one sibling. These results imply the importance of providing women with opportunities for better education. Policymakers should also consider maintaining family size so the parents can provide their resources to each child equally