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AbstractThis paper appraises the role of contemporary Kiswahili music, a form of oral art, in promoting environmental awareness and advocacy. Using case studies from Kenya and Tanzania, we analyse whether East African music infused with suitable environmental practices can help mainstream environmental education, arouse public interest towards nature, advocate for change in mind-sets, and call for proactive action on environmental conservation, while still offering entertainment. Ethnomusicological Kiswahili songs encouraging connection to nature were purposively chosen and acquired from YouTube. The lyrics of these songs were transcribed, translated, and analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis and Conceptual Metaphor Theories. By examining the context and meanings of these songs, we demonstrate that contemporary environmental songs are art forms of expression that advocate for increased environmental management by eliciting discussions and encouraging active societal eco-friendly remedial actions towards ecological resilience and environmental integrity. This article contributes to the emerging discourse on educational and environmental connections through the use of contemporary music, entertainment, and metaphors, with an overarching view to addressing current and emerging environmental concerns. Consequently, we affirm that African music can be used for entertainment, communication of messages and promotion of positive behaviour change.

Purpose. Russian rural archeology of the Verkhneobskoi Region is a potentially promising area of scientific research, so any materials related to it must be introduced into scientific circulation in a timely manner. However, the number of publications on this topic in the region is still very small. This article presents archaeological finds from the cultural layer of the village of Povalikha, founded in 1719 in the department of the Beloyarskaya fortress (the Altai Region).Results. Four archaeologically intact vessels were found. Three vessels are unique in their shape and have a recess from the rim to the bottom, the question of their purpose remains controversial. A copper coin of 1739 was found in one of them. A summary of the numismatic complex discovered in the village is given. Individual fragments of ceramic vessels, a birch bark back from shoes and a fishing hook have been studied. The authors discuss a need for a broader study of Russian settlements of the 18th century located in the Altai Region.Conclusion. The authors conclude that the accidental discovery of representative artifacts indicates the clear prospect of thorough reconnaissance studies in the territory of the village of Povalikha. At the same time, it should be noted that the archaeological study of life support systems and the culture of everyday life of the Russian pioneers in the Verkhneobskoy Region is largely at the stage of initial accumulation of materials.

Visual understanding is a research area that bridges the gap between computer vision and natural language processing. Image captioning is a visual understanding task in which natural language descriptions of images are automatically generated using vision-language models. The transformer architecture was initially developed in the context of natural language processing and quickly found application in the domain of computer vision. Its recent application to the task of image captioning has resulted in markedly improved performance. In this paper, we briefly look at the transformer architecture and its genesis in attention mechanisms. We more extensively review a number of transformer-based image captioning models, including those employing vision-language pre-training, which has resulted in several state-of-the-art models. We give a brief presentation of the commonly used datasets for image captioning and also carry out an analysis and comparison of the transformer-based captioning models. We conclude by giving some insights into challenges as well as future directions for research in this area.

Food safety management implementation is vital in food industries. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) implementation in maize millers help in identifying aflatoxin hazards, prevent, reduce or eliminate them. Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) towards HACCP on aflatoxin determine the safety of the end product from its contamination. The main objective was to determine KAP on HACCP in Kiambu county maize millers in aflatoxin control. Clustering and systematic sampling methods were used to sample the 30 maize millers. 150 questionnaire respondents were selected randomly from the milling sub-sections. Multivariate probit model and multinomial logit model were used as the analytical framework for evaluating KAP. 60% of the respondents were male, 34% had completed university and 80% of the respondents from management section had completed university while dispatch section respondents had the lowest education level. HACCP average knowledge was 57.5%, 74.43% being highest from management section. HACCP attitude mean score was 3.326, management section showing more positivity with a mean of 3.633. Sufficient training and recruitment of food safety related experts across all sub- section would improve KAP towards aflatoxin reduction to the maize flour.

AbstractThis study examines the pathological consequences of in-between identity on the members of the dominant group in polarized cosmopolitan settings in Lessing’s The Grass is Singing (1950). The study is a postmodernist reading of postcolonial literature to interrogate the pathological consequences of the constant shifts of identity in migrant characters. Most postcolonial studies contend that marginalization occasioned by the dominant group result in neurotic conditions in members of the minority group. They maintain that severe cultural conditions introduced by the dominant group mostly affect the psyches of the members of the minority groups and clinical madness becomes prevalent. This study, however, interrogates this thesis and investigates the possibility of the dominant group sustaining pathological tendencies as they change their perspectives to coexist with members of the minority through hybridity. In some postcolonial works of fiction, there is a tendency of some members of the dominant group undergoing severe mental disintegration in spite of their claim to superiority in relation to the marginalized groups. Using Ato Quayson’s calibrations, the study adopts postmodernist, postcolonial, and psychological models to interrogate possible causes and aspects of pathology in members of the dominant group with reference to Lessing’s The Grass is Singing. Although postmodernism is the umbrella theory, Quayson’s calibrations enable interaction of scholars from different academic disciplines for effective exegesis of pathology in the dominant group. The major finding of the study is that marginalization does not just adversely affect the objectified but also the dominant group as well; and results in the collapse of their psyche. The ideas of Jacques Derrida and Albert Memmi will form a theoretical basis of interpretation.