Mass Media Discourse: Representation of the WAR Concept in the Context of “9/11” Culture Time

In the present article, which is based on the modern English-language publicistic writing, specific features of mass media discourse development in terms of culture time "Before 9/11" and "After 9/11" are revealed. The authors show the influence of a certain cultural context on the formation of concept clusters and subcultures leading to WAR concept transformation in certain period. Using the methods of analyzing the word definitions representing the concept, contextual analysis, analysis of conceptual metaphors, discourse and culture time, the authors make conclusion that in the context of culture time "After 9/11" mass media discourse reflects direct protest against leveling the concept of war and sport discourse dramatization: perception of mass media discourse in general is determined by the participation of "protesting" journalists in the group categorization; discourse as a semiotic medium can be characterized by its overall intentionality – the mind is focused on the route of evil, on fighting terrorism and revenge; cumulative metaphorical proposition of the text is represented by means of protest metaphors SPORT IS NOT WAR, WORDS ARE NOT WEAPONS, LANGUAGE IS NOT BATTLEFIELD, WAR IS NOT SPORT. It has been proved that their ontological realization (SOMETHING IS NOT WAR) can change the studied concept in the new culture time "After 9/11"

Integrating indigenous and exogenous communication channels and capabilities through community-based armyworm forecasting

Many development interventions have failed to generate the desired impact among African resource-poor farmers for reasons including the centralised and top-down approach, lack of active community participation, and over-reliance on external information and technology delivery strategies and channels. The migrant African armyworm, Spodoptera exempta, is among the major challenges threatening livelihoods of millions of farmers in East and Southern Africa. Outbreaks occur suddenly and can devastate crops and pasture. National and regional forecasting services have been operational since the 1960s to provide warning of potential outbreaks. This system relies on information from armyworm moth traps usually operated at district level. These centralised services have a number of difficulties and limitations which include: delays in communicating trap catch data to the forecaster; forecasts are not village specific; forecasts do not reach many farmers; lack of responsibility and local ownership of traps. An innovative approach called community-based armyworm forecasting (CBAF) was developed as a response to these limitations. The new approach has been piloted and tested in several East African countries and found to be effective. CBAF establishes a system that allows each village to have its own traps and trained forecasters who collect and interpret data, and provide village specific forecasts. A recent project on CBAF piloted the approach in 10, 5 and 39 villages of Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, respectively, in the 1 st year, and in a further 25 and 38 villages of Malawi and Tanzania in the 2 nd year. Discussion with stakeholders, field observations and assessments conducted by the authors indicate that the initiative has generated a number of benefits. It built local capacity, and because of the location specific early warning it enabled farmers to combat the pest more effectively. It was noticed by the authors that local communication channels and folk media play an important role in CBAF, complementing and enhancing the effectiveness of exogenous channels. This paper discusses how CBAF makes effective use of different communication channels and capabilities, and highlights preliminary results.Tant d\u2019interventions de d\ue9veloppement n\u2019ont pas pu g\ue9n\ue9rer un impact satisfaisant parmi les fermiers africains sans resources pour de raisons multiples, dont l\u2019utilisation de l\u2019approche coercitive et centralis\ue9e, le manque d\u2019une participation active de la communaut\ue9 et le fait d\u2019avoir plus d\u2019attachement aux informations, aux strat\ue9gies et guides externes de vulgarization de technologies. Spodoptera exempta, une chenille aussi nomm\ue9e \u201cchenille africain migratrice\u201d est parmi les contraintes majeures aux moyens de subsistance de milliers de fermiers d\u2019Afrique orientale et australe. Son \ue9ruption est soudaine et peut d\ue9vaster des cultures ainsi que des pasturages. Les services nationaux et r\ue9gionaux de pr\ue9diction \ue9taient op\ue9rationnels depuis 1960 pour fournir des alertes sur des irruptions potentielles sur base d\u2019informations collect\ue9es sur des pi\ue8ges tendus aux chenilles au niveau du district. Ces services centralis\ue9s pr\ue9sentent un bon nombre de difficult\ue9s et limitations entre autre, le retard dans la communication des donn\ue9es de pi\ue8ges au pr\ue9visioniste, le manqu\ue9 de sp\ue9cificit\ue9 des pr\ue9visions, la lenteur dans la livraison des pr\ue9visions aux fermiers, le manque de responsabilit\ue9 et d\u2019appropriation locale de ces pi\ue8ges. En r\ue9ponse \ue0 ces limitations, une approche innovatrice appell\ue9e pr\ue9diction des chenilles au niveau communautaire (CBAF) \ue9tait initi\ue9e et test\ue9e dans plusieurs pays d\u2019Afrique de l\u2019Est. Cette approche s\u2019\ue9tait av\ue9r\ue9e efficace \ue0 point qu\u2019il avait permis \ue0 chaque village d\u2019avoir ses propres pi\ue8ges et des pr\ue9visionistes form\ue9s pour la collecte et l\u2019interpr\ue9tation des donn\ue9es ainsi que pour fournir des pr\ue9visions sp\ue9cifiques aux villages.Un projet recent sur CBAF avait ex\ue9cut\ue9 cette approche dans 10, 5 et 39 villages de Malawi, Zimbabwe et Tanzanie, respectivement, dans la premi\ue8re ann\ue9e, et dans plus de 25 et 38 villages de Malawi et Tanzanie au cours de la deuxi\ue8me ann\ue9e. Des r\ue9unions avec des partenaires ainsi que des observations et \ue9valuations sur terrain par des auteurs indiquent combien l\u2019initiative avait \ue9t\ue9 b\ue9n\ue9fique. Le renforcement de capacit\ue9 locale avait \ue9t\ue9 realis\ue9 et les alertes localement sp\ue9cifiques ont permis aux fermiers de combattre avec plus d\u2019efficacit\ue9 la peste. Il \ue9tait remarqu\ue9 que les cha\ueenes de communication locale ansi que les \u201cfolk media\u201d jouent un role important dans CBAF par leur compl\ue9mentarit\ue9 et la promotion de l\u2019efficacit\ue9 des cha\ueenes exog\ue8nes. Cet article discute comment CBAF fait bon usage de diff\ue9rentes cha\ueenes de communication et comp\ue9tences, et met en \ue9vidence les r\ue9sultats pr\ue9liminaires

Larvicidal effects of endophytic and basidiomycete fungus extracts on Aedes and Anopheles larvae (Diptera, Culicidae)

Introduction In vitro bioassays were performed to access the larvicidal activity of crude extracts from the endophytic fungus Pestalotiopsis virgulata (Melanconiales, Amphisphaeriaceae) and the saprophytic fungus Pycnoporus sanguineus (Basidiomycetes, Polyporaceae) against the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Anopheles nuneztovari. Methods The extracts were tested at concentrations of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500ppm. Ethyl acetate mycelia (EAM) extracts and liquid culture media (LCM) from Pe. virgulata and Py. sanguineus were tested against third instar larvae of Ae. aegypti and An. nuneztovari. Results The larvicidal activity of the EAM extracts from Pe. virgulata against Ae. aegypti had an LC50=101.8ppm, and the extract from the basidiomycete fungus Py. sanguineus had an LC50=156.8ppm against the Ae. aegypti larvae. The Pe. virgulata extract had an LC50=16.3ppm against the An. nuneztovari larvae, and the Py. sanguineus extract had an LC50=87.2ppm against these larvae. Conclusions These results highlight the larvicidal effect of EAM extracts from the endophyte Pe. virgulata against the two larval mosquitoes tested. Thus, Pe. virgulata and Py. sanguineus have the potential for the production of bioactive substances against larvae of these two tropical disease vectors, with An. nuneztovari being more susceptible to these extracts