The ‘Kelingai Motif’ in Iban’s tattoo motif : a case study of Kampung Gayau Ulu Pantu, Sri Aman Sarawak / Gladys Tagie, Nurul Shima Taharuddin and Noor Aileen Ibrahim

This research is conducted on core problem that had occurred on ‘Kelingai’ motif (cultural form) among new modern young generation. ‘Kelingai’ motif is a symbol of indigenous culture Iban people in Sarawak, but ironically has many motives ‘Kelingai’ intertwined with a modern motif and has been widely used by young people today. This generation seems to take for granted for the beauties of ‘Kelingai’ motifs that they leave behind their original motifs of tattoo founded by their ancient generation before in valuable traditional art. ‘Kelingai’ motif represent its own meaning according to geographical factor and tattoo wearer’s belief. This big question aroused deep interest for the researcher to explore and reveal the secret wold of ‘Kelingai’ motif of tattoo. The research had been conducted among Kampung Gayau’s resident who comes with their tattoo at all age levels. This research basically based on well-known theories, Erwin Panofsky Theory. This theory will reveal the meaning of ‘Kelingai’ history through it pproaches such as in style, type and symbol domains in the theory. These domains help us to know better about the history of ‘Kelingai’ motif in Kampung Gayau, explicity and also to Iban’s society internationally as a group of people who nourishing their ancestors’ life value into their young generation in modernization and globalizatio

Determinants of Sustainability Disclosure of Saudi Listed Companies

The objective of this paper  is to examine the determinants of environmental sustainability disclosure of Saudi listed companies. Two main dimensions of the factors influencing sustainability disclosure were investigated: company characteristics (size, age, profitability, type of industry and leverage) and board of directors’ characteristics (size, independence and annual number of meetings). This  research study utilized the content analysis approach in order to collect data from annual reports of non-financial companies listed in the Saudi stock market between 2015 and 2017. The total number of annual reports that were covered in this research is 357, which pertain to 119 non-financial companies that were listed during the study period. The study focused on disclosure of environmental sustainability, which is one of the three branches of sustainability (social, economic and environmental). The Global Initiative Reports GRI (G4) issued by the United Nations in 2013 was used to examine these annual reports with respect to the disclosure of environmental sustainability. The findings of this paper reveal that the type of industry, company’s profits, company size and company age are important determinants when it comes to the disclosure of environmental sustainability for Saudi non-financial companies listed in the period of 2015–2017. The elements of corporate governance except for board independence are not important factors, which might be due to the voluntary nature of disclosure of sustainability information. These results suggest that factors related to the identity of a group of companies might influence the disclosure for such type of companies, particularly when the disclosure is voluntary in nature. Therefore, the explanation provided by legitimacy theory with regards to voluntary disclosure is more influenced by bounded factors that reflect upon a group of companies. The results of this paper should help in evaluating the overall contribution of Saudi companies toward the achievement of Saudi Vision 2030, which intends to enhance the quality of life in Saudi society. Keywords: Sustainability, Disclosure, Environmental report, Saudi companies, Accounting sustainability. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-2-09 Publication date: January 31st 2020

Literary Acoustics

Bringing together sound studies and intermediality theory, this essay revisits the notion of ‘literary acoustics’ to inquire into the usefulness of intermediality studies for analyzing the relations between literature and sound. The second part of the essay is dedicated to an illustrative analysis of Ben Marcus’s highly experimental, noisy book The Age of Wire and String

Empirical study on intrinsic motivation factors of employees in transition economies

Purpose: This research study aims to unequivocally discuss and explore the intrinsic motivation factors of the employees in transition economies. The purpose of this study is to find which are the main internal factors that motivate employees? Taking in to consideration changes to the economic systems, different factors derived from theories, as well as other research analyzed. Design/Methodology/Approach: To describe the relationship between motivational factors that motivate workers today, we have developed a questionnaire which is distributed and filled by 510 respondents, not taking into account their hierarchy in the organization. Methodologies used in this research are Pearson correlation matrix to test the relationship with independent variables and dependent variable which in our case is intrinsic motivation and as a main econometric model binary logit is used Findings: The research shows that most of the data that we have used in this model are correlated, and have high level of significance, and there is no multicollinearity. Whereas, in Binary Logit model used Cox & Snell R Square is .696 meaning that our model is predicted by around 70 percent from the independent variables. From our research we found that most important intrinsic motivational factors are competence, job satisfaction, job recognition as well as financial rewards. There is no impact on intrinsic motivation that is dependent on finding the job interesting or not. Worthy of note is that the odds of employees to be intrinsically motivated are much higher in public institution than in private businesses. Practical Implications: This study raises awareness of motivational factors in economies that are still in transition. Results of this study can serve as a good guide especially for small businesses and business startups on importance of behaviorist approach for motivation factors as competence and job recognition. Originality/Value: this paper provides original insights of the compound relationship between different factors that have a direct affect in intrinsic motivation of employees’ therefore as an outcome better job performance.peer-reviewe

Cosmology with x-matter

Motivated by the possibility of $H_0t_0 > 1$ where $H_0$ and $t_0$ are the Hubble parameter and the age of the universe, respectively, we investigate the cosmology including x-matter. x-matter is expressed by the equation of state $p_x=w_0\rho_{x0} + c_s^2(\rho_x-\rho_{x0})$, where $p_x$, $\rho_x$ and $\rho_{x0}$ are the pressure, the density of x-matter and the density at present, respectively. $w_0$ and $c_s^2$ are functions of $\rho_x$ in general. x-matter has the most general form of the equation of state which is characterized by 1)violation of strong energy condition at present for $w_0 < -1/3$ ; 2) locally stable (i.e. $c_s^2\geq 0$); 3)causality is guaranteed ($c_s\leq 1$). Considering the case that $w_0$ and $c_s^2$ are constants, we find that there is a large parameter space of $(w_0,c_s^2,\Omega_{x0})$ in which the model universe is consistent with the age of the universe and the observations of distant Type I supernovae.Comment: minor changes, 4 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication as a Letter in MNRA

Testing the Gender Role-Perception Theory: A Proposed Explanation for the Lack of Maternity Leave Policy in the United States

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world to not have a federally mandated paid maternity leave. While there is an obvious lack of maternity leave policy in the United States, there is not adequate explanation of this lack. There are some current theories used to explain this problem, such as Hofstede’s theory of individualism, and historical influence, but they are not able to fully explain why there is not maternity policy in the United States. A new proposed theory, the Gender Role-Perception Theory combines gender roles in the United States and attitudes/perceptions towards working mothers to explain how society’s negative views of working mothers who abandon their traditional gender roles leads to the unavailability of maternity policy. Results indicated that while the Gender Role-Perception Theory did not predict attitudes towards a federally mandated maternity leave in general, it did predict attitudes towards paid federally mandated maternity leave. Additional findings included males being more supportive of maternity leave than females, and a liberal political affiliation being significantly correlated with attitudes towards a federally mandated maternity leave

Towards a socio-historical analysis of Ancient Greek? Some problems and prospects

Recent findings in sociolinguistics have greatly enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms of linguistic variation and change. In this paper, I discuss the possibility of applying a historical sociolinguistic approach to a corpus language such as Ancient Greek. In the first part of my paper, I address the question of exactly how to take into account the relationship between language and social context. I review a number of recently made proposals, and their applicability to Ancient Greek. In the second part of my paper, I argue for the benefits of one specific approach, the Systemic Functional framework, applying it to particle usage in letters and petitions from Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt (I – VIII ad)

The effects of berry juice on cognitive decline in older adults : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This study examined the effects of blackcurrant and boysenberry juices on cognitive processes in older adults. Current research suggests that fruits such as these may be able to reverse some of the effects of ageing on cognition. The free radical theory of ageing proposes that individuals age because oxidative damage accumulates in cells and interferes with cell functions. The hardest working tissues such as the brain accumulate the most oxidative damage through respiration. Antioxidants can protect against free radical formation and damage. Anthocyanins can contribute to half of the antioxidant capacity of deeply coloured berry fruit. An increase in dietary antioxidants such as anthocyanins may help to alleviate free radical damage within the brain. Research has shown that oxidative damage within the brain can impair cognitive functioning. Working memory shows age-related decline, along with visuospatial abilities, word retrieval and sustained attention. Some of this decline is thought to be related to oxidative damage of neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine and areas of the brain such as the hippocampus. Past research with humans has shown that some antioxidants can affect cognitive functioning in an older population. Animal studies have also established that diets enriched with anthocyanins can improve memory, motor control and neurotransmitter functioning. The present study involved giving berry juice drinks to 52 older adults that had been assessed as having a mild impairment of cognitive function. The participants were divided into three groups and drank 200mL a day of either blackcurrant juice, boysenberry juice or a placebo for twelve weeks. The participants were assessed at three different times over the course of the experiment using the RBANS. The RBANS is sensitive to small changes in its tests of memory, visuospatial ability, language and attention. The results of this study did not support previous research on antioxidants and cognitive functioning. There were no significant interactions between berry juices and any of the cognitive domains assessed by the RBANS over the course of the experiment. Some of the limitations of the study may be responsible for a lack of effect. The experiment was short with a low dose of antioxidants, and there was little control over the participants altering their own diet after being informed of the reasoning behind the study