Letters to the Editor

" Sri Lankan English " or " SLE " , is considered as a " South Asian Variety of English " by Kirkpatrick (2008). In relation to the " Dynamic Model of Post-Colonial Englishes " of Schneider (2007), SLE at present is in phase 5 of the model: " Differentiation " (Widyalankara, 2014).Thus, in this " differentiation " phase, SLE is striving to acquire linguistic independence from other varieties, by establishing an internal stability. Hence, this study on SLE morphology and syntax, aims to discuss morphological and syntactic patterns that are distinct to Sri Lankan English with regard to the letters to the editor register in newspapers. Therefore, in this mixed method study, 4 written SLE syntactic and morphological features are analyzed in order to validate the claims on Sri Lankan English. To conduct this research, 144 letters from the " letters to the editor " register in three local newspapers were collected as the primary data and compiled into a corpus. Thereafter the data was analyzed using the electronic corpus analytical tool: " AntConc " and natural language processing tool: " Stanford CoreNLP ". From the analysis, it was evident that the syntactic features such as tendency to be highly formal in writing and the use of substitute " one " are widely used features in SLE. In addition, distinct morphological features of SLE: " Borrowings from Sinhala " and " Use of Latinate/Big words " are also widely used in SLE. Conclusively, from these findings, it was clear that Sri Lankan English has acquired " structural nativization " in relation to morphological and syntactic patterns that are nativized.

Nowadays it seems impossible that the public opinion is not taken into consideration. Surveys are being conducted every day. However, this concern is not historical. Everyone can learn at school that under the monarchy, only the king’s opinion counts. Therefore, we think that the freedom of speech did not exist. Isn’t the French Revolution a revolution of ideas ?
This thesis focuses on those voices which didn’t seem to count. Research has already been led on the letters to the editor but none as conducted a deep study. In this thesis letters to the editor to the Mercure de France are analysed during the years 1750, 1758 and 1768. In order to propose a clear and precise definition,their content is examined, as well as the particularity of the correspondant and the place they take in the Mercure. The review of the epistolary type, leads us to distinguish different types of functions within the “letters to the editor”. Finally, this study focuses on the publisher, the only custodian of this genre.
In studying these letters, the hypothesis that public opinion already existed under the monarchy can be considered. The limits represented by the writer and some hostile correspondents will also be exposed.

Taking as a point of departure the assertion by Giovanni Baule that the cover of a book uses its own language to prefigure the textual content, the article considers the message about the text suggested by the artwork used on the covers of the various editions of Il giorno della civetta, from the earliest Einaudi editions, to the Adelphi editions of 1993 and 2002, and to a sample of translations in various European countries and in Israel.

The discipline of political science is " ill-defined, amorphous and heterogeneous. " With this diagnosis, editors Fred I. Greenstein and Nelson W. Polsby open their preface to the first Handbook of Political Science (1975: 1). Twenty years later, the main features of political sciences are: specialization, fragmentation and hybridization. Its frontiers are open and moving and need not be defined. The process of specialization has generated an increasing fragmentation in subfields, which are not " amorphous " but rather well-organized and creative. The " heterogeneity " has been greatly nourished by exchanges with neighbouring disciplines through the building of bridges between specialized fields of the various social sciences. This process of cross-fertilization is achieved by hybridization. The relations between political science and the other social sciences are in reality relations between sectors of different disciplines, not between whole disciplines. It is not an " interdisciplinary " endeavor. Since there is no progress without specialization, the creative interchanges occur between specialized subfields, most of the time at the margins of the formal disciplines. The current advancement of the social sciences can be explained in large part by the hybridization of segments of sciences. It would be impossible to conceive of a history of political science and of its current trends without reference to the other social sciences.

English title: Good day, my reader! Among narrators, letter writers, printers and other contributors in early Swedish weekly press 1730–1773.
Abstract: The thesis deals with the early press of 'moral weeklies' in Sweden during the period 1730 to 1773, focussing on media technological conditions and the uses of the epistolary form. This genre, which initially followed the pattern of the English Spectator, emerged in the 1730s with nine journals produced in Stockholm. These were the first periodicals in Sweden that aimed to entertain as well as instruct. The study begins with the aim of finding explanations for their sudden emergence, by looking into the cultural and technological conditions of the period; such as printing, distribution, censorship practices, and potential audiences (chapters 3–6). The fall of autocracy and the rise of an early parlamentarianism provided the background. Stockholm attracted printers and book dealers, and a new generation of literati made careers in the state administration. Among these were several of the journals’ editors, as well as potential readers. In the next part (chapters 7–8), the extensive and varied use of the epistolary form in these weeklies is analysed, as serving different purposes. A closer examination and interpretation is made of the epistolary material in Sedolärande Mercurius [Didactic Mercury](1730-1731), edited by Carl and Edvard Carlsson, and Then Swänska Argus [The Swedish Argus] (1732-1734), edited by Olof Dalin. In Sedolärande Mercurius a number of letters explore the theme of problems with foreign trade; and in Then Swänska Argus satires in epistolary form paint a picture of ideas from abroad posing a threat to social life, and especially to married life.
The last part (chapters 9–10) follows these trends further in time, by looking into the uses of the epistolary form in a couple of journals in the latter half of the 18th century: Bref Om Blandade Ämnen [Letters about a variety of subjects] (1754), edited by Carl Christoffer Gjörwell; and Brefwäxling [Letter Exchange] (1772–1773) by Catharina Ahlgren. Brefwäxling in particular differs substantially from the journals in the 1730s, a fact that is discussed in terms of a transition from oral culture to a more literary one, new trends in epistolary rhetoric, and the gender of the narrator. The methods used in the study are archival research and textual analysis.
Keywords: Sedolärande Mercurius, Then Swänska Argus, Bref Om Blandade Ämnen, Brefwäxling, early periodicals, Spectator-genre, moral weeklies, epistolary form, letters to the editor, letter writing practices, eighteenth century literature, Carl Carlsson [Carleson], Edvard Carlsson [Carleson], Olof Dalin [von Dalin], Carl Christoffer Gjörwell, Catharina Ahlgren, coffee houses in Stockholm, handwritten newspapers, Eva Insenstierna

Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) is used to prioritize incoming patients in the emergency department (ED) according to patient acuity. It`s a five-level triage scale endorsed by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM). The ATS categories are defined by physiological predictors (airway, breathing, circulation, and disability) and maximum waiting time to treatment (1: immediate, 2: 10 minutes, 3: 30 minutes, 4: 60 minutes and 5: 120 minutes). Triage scales should be valid and reliable to ensure safe practice and promote clinical applicability in ED. Ebrahimi et al. reported that the pooled coefficient for ATS is fair: 0.390 (95% CI 0.307–0.466).

In an era of big institutions and even bigger technology, it can be easy to fall into despair assuming that there is next to nothing that the individual can do to either effect change or even more importantly preserve the foundational. But if all the world is indeed a stage, social critic and theologian Frederick Meekins in “Heckler In The Crowd” proves that for now at least the individual can vociferously comment on the shoddy plotting and deficient acting as events unfold.

RESUMEN:
El presente artículo se ocupa de la novela de Adolfo Bioy Casares La invención de Morel (1949) novela fundacional de la literatura de anticipación, en la que a través de la ficción científica, policíaca y amatoria, concurren los tópicos del ingenio técnico, la reduplicación de la vida, los periplos de inmortalidad, los archivos de imágenes, los simulacros y finalmente los hologramas, alumbrando el estatuto ontológico de las imágenes en la nueva ecología de medios, cuestiones problematizadas por teóricos de la imagen como Jean Baudrillard, Paul Virilio o Susan Sontag. Dando lugar, finalmente, a una reflexión en torno al complejo paso de lo real a lo virtual en el cual el mundo de las imágenes amenaza por suplantar al mundo real.
En referencia a 'La invención de Morel':
“He discutido con su autor los pormenores de su trama, la he releído;
no me parece una imprecisión o una hipérbole calificarla de perfecta”. Jorge Luis Borges.

Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca

The choice of anesthesia in parturients with Guillain–Barre Syndrome  is  difficult  as  they  have  weakness  of  limbs  due to  involvement  of nerves  which may  progress to  respiratory paralysis. So, general anesthesia  was the technique  of choice in  these  patients.  Recently,  there  has been  an  increase  in interest in the administration  of neuraxial  anesthesia in the form of epidural and spinal anesthesia in these patients. The  technique  of epidural  anesthesia  is safer  as the  extent of block could be diligently  extended so  as to avoid sudden hemodynamic  changes  and  respiratory  compromise.  We report a case of a parturient  with GBS who presented  to us for cesarean section. Epidural anesthesia was  administered with  0.375%  bupivacaine  (lesser  than  the  routinely  used anesthetic  concentration).

Το Διαδίκτυο στη σύγχρονη εποχή αποτελεί κύρια πηγή ενημέρωσης και πληροφόρησης. Οι νέες τεχνολογικές εξελίξεις έχουν συμβάλλει στην αλλαγή του τρόπου μετάδοσης μιας είδησης την οποία καθιστούν προσβάσιμη σε ένα μαζικό κοινό. Τα χαρακτηριστικά της άμεσης διάδοσης ενός γεγονότος σε συνδυασμό με τη μετάβαση της δημοσιογραφίας στην ψηφιακή εποχή έχουν αλλάξει ριζικά τη σχέση του μέσου με τον αναγνώστη. Ο παραδοσιακός Τύπος στην Ελλάδα καταγράφει σημαντικές απώλειες με τις πωλήσεις του να μειώνονται την ώρα που η επισκεψιμότητα σε ειδησεογραφικές ιστοσελίδες αυξάνεται. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία μελετά το πώς έχει εξελιχθεί η επικοινωνία ανάμεσα στον δημοσιογράφο και στον αναγνώστη, καθώς και το πώς ο αναγνώστης εκφράζει δημοσίως την απόψή του για ένα ζήτημα. Βασικά σημεία της έρευνας μας είναι η μεταπήδηση από τις επιστολές αναγνωστών στις εφημερίδες στα σχόλια χρηστών στις διαδικτυακές ιστοσελίδες.
  Μέσα από βιβλιογραφική έρευνα και συνεντεύξεις ανθρώπων που εργάζονται σε ελληνικά Μέσα Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης (ΜΜΕ) εξετάζουμε εάν ο διάλογος στο Διαδίκτυο έχει ζωντανέψει εξαιτίας του χαρακτηριστικού της ανωνυμίας που προσφέρει ή εάν λόγω της έλλειψης διατύπωσης γνώμης επωνύμως περιορίζεται. Η επικοινωνία χάρη στα εργαλεία που προσφέρει το Ίντερνετ πλέον καθίσταται διαδραστική, εξελίσσεται σε ζωντανό χρόνο και παραμένει ανοιχτή για όλους και χωρίς όρια. Έτσι, τα παραδοσιακά μέσα μαζικής ενημέρωσης, αλλά και ο ίδιος ο δημοσιογράφος φαίνεται να οδηγούνται σε ριζικές αλλαγές προκειμένου αφενός να διατηρήσουν και να επεκτείνουν το κοινό τους κι αφετέρου να ανταπεξέλθουν στις νέες επιταγές που προέρχονται από την επανάσταση του Διαδικτύου.

This article explores the mimicking of tabloid news as a form of covert racism, relying on the credibility of an established tabloid newspaper. The qualitative case study focuses on a digital platform for letters to the editor, operated without editorial curation pre-publication from 2010 to 2018 by one of Denmark’s largest newspapers, Ekstra Bladet. A discourse analysis of the 50 most shared letters to the editor on Facebook shows that nativist, farright actors used the platform to disseminate fear-mongering discourses and xenophobic conspiracy theories, disguised as professional news and referred to as articles. These processes took place at the borderline of true and false as well as racist and civil discourse. At this borderline, a lack of supervision and moderation coupled with the openness and visual design of the platform facilitated new forms of covert racism between journalism and user-generated content.

The article is devoted to Polish emigrants’ correspondence after the Second World War. The author indicates the lack of research on emigration epistolography although emigration letters are successively published. He also points to the most important areas of emigration correspondence research based on papers by Brigitte Diaz and by Paweł
Rodak. First of all the author devotes attention to the textuality of these letters because in his opinion the most important function of these letters is a preservation of language outside of the country.

La presente carta tiene por finalidad hacer una mejor precisión de los resultados de Gonzáles-Trijueque y Delgado (2013), respecto a sus resultados de comparar las medias de los ítems, las dimensiones globales y los puntajes de la adaptación española (González de Rivera & Rodríguez-Abuín, 2005) del Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terrorization - LIPT-60 (Leyman, 1990), un instrumento que examina el acosamiento en el contexto laboral. Su estudio, esencialmente
comparativo, sobrevalora las diferencias halladas debido al peso interpretativo que pone en la prueba de significancia estadística (Tabla 2) o en el juicio heurístico (para los datos de la Tabla 1). De acuerdo al actual manual de estilo (American Psychological Association, 2010) se requieren estimaciones de magnitud del efecto que acompañen a las pruebas de significancia estadística aplicadas.

Letters-to-the-editor constitute one of the few feedback opportunities for the reader to have its say in press. We can indeed affirm that this newspapers’ section intends to operate as a space for public debate about a variety of subjects, having, thus, a democratic purpose (Wahl-Jorgensen, 1999, 2002). However, this aim can be challenged
by the existence of several criteria for selection of letters, in which the majority of them is based in unwritten conventions and norms, thus rendering the process unclear to readers.
Having previously done research about the attitudes and behaviours of Portuguese editors and journalists towards the readers and the letters’ section, as well as the main rules for selection, this paper intends to uncover letters’ writers’ perceptions about this section and compare them to the cultural construction that press has about
its public. Empirical research in American newspapers shows, for instance, that these readers believe that their letters affect and form public opinion (Vacin, 1965).
Through questionnaires sent to several Portuguese letters-writers, either to the occasional, either to the so-called “regular writers”, our goal is to identify their main motivations and expectations when writing letters to newspapers, as well as their understanding
about the section, rules of selection and editing.

Through an analysis of the recently rediscovered correspondence between Sciascia and the French writer, essayist and publisher, Maurice Nadeau, the article reconstructs their, at times strained, professional relationship, characterized also by a degree of friendship. The aim of this study is not to delve gratuitously into private biographical matters, but rather to understand better the changes in the author’s attitude to his work and his books, through
the choices made with regard to the placing of the translations of them.

Pero más allá de factores de impacto, visibilidad y Open Access, el desafío postergado que asoma en el horizonte se refiere al uso del material científico publicado dentro de la formación de los nuevos profesionales e investigadores de las distintas disciplinas. Allí es donde el impacto es cercano a cero. Una forma en que los profesionales pueden mantenerse actualizados en sus conocimientos es el acceder a los avances; lamentablemente las
publicaciones seriadas suelen estar ausentes en la formación de Licenciatura, de modo que las nuevas generaciones de profesionales no suelen estar nutridos de la nueva sabia científica y menos de una metodología que les permita acceder y  provechar los avances publicados. Entender que alfabetizar en ciencia es mucho más que saber hacer citas en normas APA y hacerse cargo que el actual sistema de incentivos perversos para medir la productividad científica ha dejado totalmente de lado la difusión sobre el uso de estos contenidos dentro de la formación general de los nuevos profesionales. Ya se ha podido observar y de
manera preocupante que los estudiantes de pregrado no manejan o conocen las revistas de su especialidad, y lo que resulta más perturbador, los docentes en general no utilizan artículos de revistas seriadas dentro del material bibliográfico que entregan para su cátedra (Polanco-Carrasco, 2013). En este contexto, el impacto de la investigación en las aulas (en donde se forman profesionales) es escaso.

Letter to the Editor:

Dear Editor,
The article “Meta-analyses on COVID-19: scoping review and quality analysis”,(1) published in this journal, shows its relevance when planning meta-analysis and carrying out pertinent discussion about the role of this type of methodology in the current pandemic.
An essential instrument of evidence-based medicine, meta-analysis represents the top of the scale of level of evidence and grade of recommendation.(2) However, the emergency pandemic situation caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), identified in January 2020, brought several implications related to how we conduct, read and analyze systematic reviews and meta-analyses, since there were no original studies on the novel disease.


(...)

Letter to the editor:

Dear Editor, I began my school life in a white institution thanks to the good socioeconomic status achieved by my parents after years of hard working. At the school, I was always the only black girl in the classroom. For this reason, at the age of 6-years, I became aware of the perverse racism presented in our society.

However, in my multiethnic and multiracial family environment I was gifted with loving relationships and mutual commitment. For this reason, I developed mechanisms to sustains my ideal of healthy interethnic and interracial relationships.

My dual ethnical background (white Christian and black Yoruba) and my dual nationality (Brazil-Nigeria) determined my personal, educational and professional paths. In addition, these were responsible for my entering in medical school at the age of 18, without ever questioning whether that was my place. As a black woman, I occupied and continue to occupy this space under questioning eyes related to my deservingness to be there, intellectual capacity, and under frequent microaggressions from colleagues, professors, and users of the health systems.

(...)

As Editor-in-Chief at The Freelance Netizen™ online magazine, I edit, peer-review and supervise peer review services for all article and editorial submissions.

The Freelance Netizen™ explores the interdisciplinary connections between Information & Communication Technologies and the history of information culture, civil rights and social action. It critically addresses digital mediums as the intercultural confluence of global dialectics. A typical editorial at TFN magazine might explore the present and future directions of Intercultural Information Ethics and its crossroads with the latest WikiLeaks debate.

TFN magazine provides a crossroads between the academic applications of philosophy, technology and interculture with current events, looking to philosophies of communication and information as a platform for addressing questions of digital ontology. TFN magazine is currently exploring, alongside the International Centre for Information Ethics, applications of global citizenship in a digital era with a specific address of digital citizenship and the netizen.

The objective of TFN magazine is to further expertise in intercultural editing and writing for academic and scholarly communications and current events, both on a local and global scale, by researching and structuring innovative dialogue towards a citizen engagement of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) through an understanding of the nature of information.

Jared Bielby,
Editor-in-Chief, TFN
Co-chair, ICIE
Editor, IRIE
www.jaredbielby.com

http://www.thefreelancenetizen.com

Bone is an important site of metastatic breast cancer, is an incurable and heterogenous
disease, with psychological and economic burden on the patients and having treatment strategy
in this phase of the disease is important for the oncologists to have precise management of the
patients. Here, the phrase, bone only metastatic breast cancer defined clinically as the bone is the
main clinical presentation of the patient and bulk of the disease

This letter contains suggestions for editors and software providers to help avoid affiliation bias in the initial and concluding stages of the peer review process. Submission management systems have a responsibility to ensure protection against affiliation bias. This can be achieved by automatically withholding the author’s identity and affiliation information from all editors, including the Editor-in-Chief, until a decision about publication has been made. Journals relying on email-based submis-sions are in a more difficult situation. Not having external support in confirming the submitting author’s identity, this dilemma can be resolved through the implementation of strict instructions and guidelines concerning manuscript submission and handling. In this case the “human factor” cannot be fully eliminated, while automated processes can only be changed intentionally and with a certain delay. Therefore, with the suggested steps, submission management systems could become a strong guard against unconscious bias while also making conscious bias more difficult to impact the peer review process.

Letters to the editor published by two Colombian newspapers during 1999–2008 were examined. Most addressed themes, domestic politics and the citizens' affairs, were analyzed herein to describe emotions from a qualitative perspective. Findings showed that the internal armed conflict was the main driving force to express the individual's emotions and judgments. Significant events triggering a wide range of emotions were identified. Two units of meaning emerged: patriotism under siege, to account for people's love for the nation regardless of their affliction; and fear, the predominant emotion, to explain public distress caused by this intractable conflict. Being aware of the public's emotional condition questions whether it is worth considering the paradigm of objectivity as an ethical ideal in the journalistic field. It also encourages reporting conflicts through the perspective of peace journalism, emphasizing possible solutions. Since Colombia is currently moving to a post-conflict phase, this could help to heal the social issue. Media scholars worldwide have discussed the significant role of traditional and newer forums for audience participation in constructing and facilitating communal ties between users of different media (Erickson, 2010; Papacharissi and Oliveira, 2012). Public spaces for debate, political activism, and exchange of ideas build strong ties among the public. With the current focus on new media, the literature often refers to imagined communities

Letters-to-the-editor provide a significant forum for public debate, enabling the exchange of information, ideas and opinions between different groups of people. Since journalistic work is central to the processes of citizenship, this article observes the social context surrounding letters-to-the-editor in four Portuguese press publications. Keeping in mind the existence of a set of selection criteria, based on newsroom practices, it is possible to characterize the debate that takes place in the letters’ section as a construction. As with any other editorial content, the published letters are also a result of a selection, editing and framing process, shaped by journalistic routines and subject to limitations such as space and time.

L’accés dels ciutadans a les discussions sobre qüestions relacionades amb l’actualitat ha estat controlat, fins a fa ben poc, per les decisions preses en les redaccions dels mitjans. L’exemple més clar i tradicional són les cartes al director. La consolidació i expansió d’Internet ha revolucionat aquest fenomen de tal manera que la xarxa ofereix un espai de debat completament diferent a l’anterior. Aquesta comunicació analitza quins elements desapareixen, quins es mantenen i quins altres s’introdueixen amb aquesta transformació. Per tant, estudia les noves característiques de la comunicació dialògica i dels límits a la llibertat d’expressió dins de la societat digital.

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Citizens’ access to discussions on current issues has been dominated until recently by the decisions taken in the newsrooms of the media. The clearest example is the traditional letter to the editor. The consolidation and expansion of the internet has revolutionized this phenomenon so that the network offers a discussion space which is completely different to what has gone before. This paper examines what elements disappear, what remains and what others are introduced with this transformation. Therefore, this research studies the new features of dialogic communication and the limits to freedom of expression in the digital society.

This study analysed coverage of the Iraq War during 2003–04 in the only Colombian national newspaper during the time, El Tiempo, to establish how the attributes of this conflict, as represented through this medium, were perceived by its audience. We conducted a thematic analysis of 500 news items and 71 letters to the editor (LTE) to establish the polarity of these texts. Findings showed that the negative tone of the coverage seemed related to a strong negative reaction from the public. This supports the first level of influence from agenda-setting theory, since the Iraq War was an important issue for journalists and the public alike. There is also evidence of a second level of influence with regards to the issues reported being considered negative. LTE were gauged in terms of how they criticized coverage of the war, with the particular finding that journalistic professionalism was questioned following bias accusations about the qualifications of the parties at war. Overall, the wid...