Background and Purpose: Coronavirus has posed an unfamiliar threat to the world. Despite such circumstances, Malaysians continue to stay optimistic by keeping abreast with updates and mostly by seeking refuge in hopeful and consoling messages shared by fellow citizens. This study identified Facebook postings with positive messages, posted by Malaysians during the Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented by the Malaysian government as a form of prosocial behaviour. Methodology: Through an analytic framework consisting of Positive Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, 15 Facebook postings related to COVID-19 were selected and identified as positive discourse, which were coded and categorised using a thematic analysis. Further analysis was also conducted on the linguistic features identified in the narratives of the postings showing the construction of positive discourse in the Facebook postings. Findings: The findings demonstrate an extensive utilisation of expressions of solidarity primarily through collective pronouns like “we” and “us”, which suggest solidarity and empowerment among Malaysians in dealing with COVID-19. Further analysis reveals the forms and contextual functions of the linguistic strategies as carrying pragmatic devices (e.g. speech acts and figurative language), which contributes to the power enactment in the Facebook postings in creating an overall positive reaction. Contributions: This critical discourse study does not only promote positive discourse for its own sake, but also serves as a pragmatic approach to materialise utilitarian goals. It is therefore hoped to contribute not only to linguistics, but also social, psychological as well as arts and humanities studies through further examinations of the pivotal roles that communication and language play, especially in rising against dire situations. Keywords: COVID-19, Critical Discourse Analysis, media discourse, Positive Discourse Analysis, power and solidarity. Cite as: Azizan, M., Ismail, H. H., & Qaiwer, S. N. (2020). Power and solidarity in positive Facebook postings amidst COVID-19 in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(2), 329-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss2pp329-364
Al-Dalmaj marsh and the near surrounding area is a very promising area for energy resources, tourism, agricultural and industrial activities. Over the past century, the Al-Dalmaje marsh and near surroundings area endrous from a number of changes. The current study highlights the spatial and temporal changes detection in land cover for Al-Dalmaj marsh and near surroundings area using different analyses methods the supervised maximum likelihood classification method, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Geographic Information Systems(GIS), and Remote Sensing (RS). Techniques spectral indices were used in this study to determine the change of wetlands and drylands area and of other land classes, th
... Show MoreChanges in mechanical properties of material as a result of service in different conditions can be provided by mechanical testing to assist the estimation of current internal situation of these materials, or the degree of deterioration may exist in furnaces serviced at high temperature and exceed their design life. Because of the rarity works on austenitic stainless steel material type AISI 321H, in this work, ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, hardness, and absorbed energy by impact are evaluated based on experimental data obtained from mechanical testing. Samples of tubes are extracted from furnace belong to hydrotreaterunit, also samples from un-used tube material are used to make comparisons between these properti
... Show MoreThis paper presents an experimental and numerical study which was carried out to examine the influence of the size and the layout of the web openings on the load carrying capacity and the serviceability of reinforced concrete deep beams. Five full-scale simply supported reinforced concrete deep beams with two large web openings created in shear regions were tested up to failure. The shear span to overall depth ratio was (1.1). Square openings were located symmetrically relative to the midspan section either at the midpoint or at the interior boundaries of the shear span. Two different side dimensions for the square openings were considered, mainly, (200) mm and (230) mm. The strength results proved that the shear capacity of the dee
... Show MoreHepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a significant global health problem. Populations of different ethnicities show great heterogeneity in HBV genotype frequency distributions. A cross-sectional study was conducted during June–October 2018 to determine frequency of HBV genotypes among chronic HBV patients from Baghdad, Iraq. The method of detection was nested polymerase chain reaction system. Further, the study assessed the impact of HBV genotypes on serum level of liver-function tests: total serum bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Eighty chronic HBV patients were enrolled in the study. Six HBV genotypes were identified (A, B, C, D, E and F). The most frequently encountered genotypes
... Show MoreAqueous Two Phase System (ATPS) or liquid-liquid extraction is used in biotechnology to recover valuable compounds from raw sources. In Aqueous Two-Phase Systems, many factors influence the Partition coefficient, K, (which is the ratio of protein concentration in the top phase to that in the bottom phase) and the Recovery percentage (Rec%). In this research, two systems of ATPS were used: first, polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000/Sodium citrate (SC), and the second, PEG8000/ Sodium phosphate (SPH), for the extraction of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA). The behavior of Rec% and K of pure (BSA) in ATPS has been investigated throughout the study by the effects of five parameters: temperature, concentration of polyethylene glycol (P
... Show MoreHerein, the interfacial polymerization method has been used for the synthesis of PPy/NaVO3 composites with different compositions of NaVO3 (10 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 % and 50 %) as an efficient electrode material for supercapacitors. The successful formation and composition of the as-prepared composites (PV1-PV5) were confirmed by FTIR, XRD, EDX, and SEM analysis. The electrochemical properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanometric charge–discharge measurement (GCD), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte. As compared to other, the PV4 composite exhibit excellent specific capacitance of 391 F g−1 at a current density of 0.75 A/g with good cycling stability of ∼59 % after 1000 cycle
... Show MoreScientists are investigating the efficacy of different biosorbents for promoting economic and environmental viability in purifying contaminants. Among the primary by-products of biodiesel production is waste microalgae biomass, which has the potential to be used as a cheap biosorbent for the treatment of pollution. In the present study, the biomass left over after extracting the chlorella vulgaris was used to test the potential biosorption of CIP from simulated aqueous solutions. Bisorbent's ability was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Analysis with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer revealed that C
... Show MoreReliability analysis methods are used to evaluate the safety of reinforced concrete structures by evaluating the limit state function 𝑔(𝑋𝑖). For implicit limit state function and nonlinear analysis , an advanced reliability analysis methods are needed. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) can be used in this case however, as the number of input variables increases, the time required for MCS also increases, making it a time consuming method especially for complex problems with implicit performance functions. In such cases, MCS-based FORM (First Order Reliability Method) and Artificial Neural Network-based FORM (ANN FORM) have been proposed as alternatives. However, it is important to note that both MCS-FORM and ANN-FORM can also be time-con
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