Volume 92

Following the LGBTQ+-themed performance at the Opening Ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris on July 27, 2024, there has been a heated debate on social media about the LBGTQ+ group and same-sex marriage. Although it has been nearly a decade since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, that same-sex marriage should be permitted, views and acceptance of this issue still vary widely. In order to examine the changes in public opinion before and after the legalization of same-sex marriage, this research paper took the U.S. Supreme Court's Ruling on June 26, 2015, to allow same-sex marriage as the timeline, collected a large number of comments on this issue in social media before and after the legalization, and conducted in-depth analysis on these comments. The findings show that although there is a slight increase in public approval of same-sex marriage after the legalization of same-sex marriage, the difference is not statistically significant. Therefore, there is a need for greater publicity to shape and promote changes in people's beliefs and customs and ensure equal rights for minority groups.

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Physical boundaries always being considered to play a crucial role in past defense systems. Layers of defensive networks were formed by clearly defined internal and external boundaries. However, this traditional defense process also relied on its internal survival logic and complex spatial design. This article aims to study the process that boundaries of defensive architecture constantly broken and reshaped over changing environments. However, this article will not focus on how advanced the defensive technology or how strong the structural engineering of fortifications is. Instead, it traces the concept framework of defensive structures and discusses how fortifications` boundaries have exploded through warfare, inheriting these concepts, while also examining how conceptual shifts allowed defense systems to transcend traditional physical walls and extend into broader spatial contexts in contemporary warfare. This conceptual design would never constrained by the limitations of space or physical properties. By analyzing the layout of trace italienne and modern radar systems, we gain a deeper understanding of how the boundaries of defensive spaces are defined and expanded. This conceptual understanding is enlightening for the formation of defensive spaces, it allows us to break free from the limitations of physical space and consider the possibilities of contemporary defensive system.

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Being one of the most controversial artists, Marcel Duchamp with his conceptual art transcended the art from mere, sensuous pleasure into philosophized works. His conceptual approach, along with Brillo Box by Andy Warhol, enlightened art theorist Arthur Danto to identify the “post-historical era” in his theory as “the end of art”. The art in the post-historical era complies with the idea of pluralism, having no criteria to the definition of art either their forms. This research aims to justify that, throughout the architectural history, Brtualism acts as a similar character as Duchamp, being “the end of superficial architecture” and exclaiming ethical concern shall prioritize aesthetics. The design philosophy of Brutalism also highlights its ambition to create an unbiased and inclusive community. Like Duchamp, Brutalist style revolutionized the conventional ideas of beauty while urging the society to look beyond the facade of the architecture to consider its identity to fabricate the equitable spaces for everyone.

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This paper aims to investigate two paintings, The Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Calling of Saint Matthew, as with similar style. Meanwhile, explores the differences when compare these two paintings. The literary review will provide background information for both paintings as well as more specific description regarding the detail aspects inside the painting. Later on in the comparison section, the main angles the analysis focused on are color and light. The finding of this paper indicate that the technique is quite similar used when painting yet for different purposes. Vermeer put light to focus and emphasize the main character by leaving the background dark, while Caravaggio conveyed strong emotion and story through the use of light. These results suggest that there are a lot of hidden similarity in between two completely different paintings as well as a lot of differences that could potentially be found in similar styled paintings.

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Globalisation has established interdependent relationships between nations and allowed more cross-cultural connections. The two outcomes increase the demand for English-proficient individuals and the number of bicultural and bilingual families, respectively. The paper suggests the sociolinguistic factors of language mixing frequency in Mandarin-English bilingual children in Mandarin-based societies. Sociolinguistic factors are defined as the influence of community/society and identity on one's language use in this paper. By reviewing the literature, this paper suggests parental, pedagogical, and contextual factors. Parental factors refer to how parental bilingual discourse strategies can influence the language mixing of children. Pedagogical factors refer to how the advantages of using language mixing in EFL learning influence children's language mixing patterns in the future. Contextual factors refer to the consideration of changing language mixing frequencies according to the context of the conversation. Contextual factors will be split into three categories: interlocutor's preferences, social connections, and cultural expression. After discussing sociolinguistic factors, this paper also points out the limitations of the reviewed research.

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This paper explores evolutionary explanations for homosexual orientation by comparing Kin Selection Theory and Alliance Theory. Through a comprehensive literature review, the study evaluates Kin Selection Theory, which posits that homosexual individuals may enhance the reproductive success of their relatives through altruistic behaviors, thereby providing indirect genetic benefits. Key studies are analyzed to assess the validity of this hypothesis, highlighting both supporting evidence and limitations, such as cultural variability and methodological constraints. Conversely, Alliance Theory is examined as an alternative explanation, suggesting that same-sex sexual behaviors facilitate social bonds, reduce aggression, and improve social status, thereby offering direct adaptive advantages within social hierarchies. Empirical research supporting Alliance Theory is discussed, emphasizing its role in enhancing social integration and resource sharing among homosexual individuals. The paper also outlines research designs for investigating both theories, incorporating quantitative and qualitative methods to assess altruistic behaviors and social alliances among diverse populations. Additionally, the study identifies significant research gaps, including the need for cross-cultural analyses, exploration of long-term effects of alliances, and understanding the impact of social identity on homosexual individuals. By integrating insights from both theories, this paper underscores the complexity of the evolutionary origins of homosexual orientation and calls for interdisciplinary approaches to further elucidate the interplay between genetic predispositions and socio-cultural factors. Ultimately, the comparative analysis aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how Kin Selection and Alliance Theories contribute to explaining the persistence and variability of homosexual orientation in human populations.

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This article is a literature review that focuses on exploring how can the frequency, syntactic characteristics, and situational differences of code-switching be impacted by the language popularity of Mandarin-English bilingual children in different social environments, more specifically, in environments with varying levels of status in two languages. It is discovered after looking through enough literature that the language status of Mandarin or English impacts the code-switching pattern through sociolinguistic mechanisms on families and children. Children thus tend to code-switch more in the minor language context. Nevertheless, there are some special cases. The research gap regarding this topic is mainly on the impact of language status on syntactical characteristics of code-switching and whether one language as the community language, but not the national language can overwhelm the impact of national language on the code-switching pattern. Depending on some relevant literature, it is predicted that the impact of language status on syntactical characteristics does not exist and the latter gap may have the answer “no”.

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World War II conducted significant shifts to the world, including its influence on the depiction of women. This work examines the change of women’s portrayal in media before and after World War II. By analyzing selected women’s magazines from Good Housekeeping from 1936 and 1946, this paper highlights the shifts in societal expectations and the representation of women during this period. The findings reveal that while the post-war era showed some progress in recognizing women’s contributions and social status, these magazines continued to emphasize traditional gender roles. Despite women’s increased participation in the workforce during the war, the media continued to portray women as homemakers, who are putting their effort most in marriage and family life. This study concludes that although there were improvements in women’s societal image, the expectation remained in family roles.

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Some college students begin their courses with low self-efficacy. Before beginning a course, they start considering “I cannot do well in this class” or “This class isn’t a good choice for me”. In previous papers, several researchers have provided their findings on the related topic. However, according to their experiements, different results were discovered and different explanations were given. Thus, this paper is a literature review and the purpose of it is to summarise the previous point of views and give possible explanations for the variety of results. In this article, self-efficacy’s impact on academic performance, as well as the inner process in which self-efficacy influences academic performance will be discussed. As a result of the finding, it is concluded that a high level of self-efficacy positively influences academic performance, and the inner correlation between self-efficacy and academic performance is explained. Moreover, some tips are given for students to improve their self-efficacy.

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This study investigates how secure and insecure attachment styles influence decision-making under social contexts, focusing on the interplay between dispositional and situational factors. Attachment theory, as developed by John Bowlby, categorizes individuals into secure and insecure attachment styles, explaining the emotion regulation and interpersonal relationship patterns based off the early-development of individuals. This study tends to investigate the how different attachment styles interplay with social context on the aspect of decision making. It is hypothesized that individuals with secure attachment styles are more likely to exhibit stable and logical relationships when having interpersonal interactions. At the same time, insecurely attach individuals tend to focus on external factors, seeking validations or avoiding social interactions, leading to unstable relationships and illogical decision makings. Developing a combination of the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) Questionnaire and hypothetical decision-making scenarios, this study tends to examine behavioral patterns in response to various social pressures. Results are expected to demonstrate statistically significant difference between the attachment style groups on decision making.

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