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
The aim of the research is to measure the change in the impact of the factors of the Corona pandemic on psychological sensitivity and COVID-19 phobia in a sample of Bisha University students and to detect the differences in the phobia (phobia) Covid-19 among the sample members in the measurement before the ban and after the ban was opened, in addition to the differences in psychological sensitivity of The sample has between sizes before and after the spread of the Corona pandemic, as well as the differences in them according to the gender variable (male, female). The researcher relied on the comparative approach. The scale of psychological sensitivity and COVID-19 phobia was applied to a sample of (62) male and female respondents.
... Show MoreThe typical test for diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique, but the chest CT scan might play a complementary role at the first detection of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Objectives: To determine the sensitivity of CT scan on patients with COVID-19 in Al-Najaf, Iraq, and to compare the accuracy of CT scan with that of RT-PCR technique. Material and Method: This is a prospective study. The patients suspicious of having COVID-19 infection and respiratory symptoms were registered. All patients were diagnosed by RT-PCR and chest CT. Diagnostic performance of CT was intended using RT-PCR as the reference sta
... Show MoreAbstract
The current research aims to identify the attitudes towards the Covid-19 vaccine and the Locus of Control (internal, external) among university students, to identify the significance of the difference in attitudes towards the Covid-19 vaccine, the significance of the difference in the Locus of Control (internal, external) according to the gender variable (male, female), and to identify the significance of the difference in students’ attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccine according to the Locus of Control (internal, external). To achieve the objective of the research, the researcher developed two scales, a scale of (20) items to identify the attitudes toward a covid-19 vaccine, and a scale of the locus of c
... Show MoreAbstract
The pressures of life have become a tangible phenomenon in all societies in varying degrees. This disparity determines several factors, including the nature of societies, the level of their urbanization, the intensity of interaction, the intensity of conflict, and the increasing rate of change in those societies. many people name The modern era in which we live the “era of pressures", where one of the most important of these changes is the “new Coronavirus 19-COVID”, which has spread widely throughout the world, as the pandemic, has affected all aspects of daily life, including the educational and academic process, academic activities have been suspended in universities, which caused sudden change
... Show MoreAbstract
The present paper attempts to detect the level of (COVID-19) pandemic panic attacks among university students, according to gender and stage variables.
To achieve this objective, the present paper adopts the scale set up by (Fathallah et al., 2021), which has been applied electronically to a previous cross-cultural sample consisting of (2285) participants from Arab countries, including Iraq. The scale includes, in its final form, (69) optional items distributed on (6) dimensions: physical symptoms (13) items, psychological and emotional symptoms (12) items, cognitive and mental symptoms (11) items, social symptoms (8) items, general symptoms (13) items and daily living practices (12) items
... Show More<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
... Show More<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
... Show MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge influence on human lives all around the world. The virus spread quickly and impacted millions of individuals, resulting in a large number of hospitalizations and fatalities. The pandemic has also impacted economics, education, and social connections, among other aspects of life. Coronavirus-generated Computed Tomography (CT) scans have Regions of Interest (ROIs). The use of a modified U-Net model structure to categorize the region of interest at the pixel level is a promising strategy that may increase the accuracy of detecting COVID-19-associated anomalies in CT images. The suggested method seeks to detect and isolate ROIs in CT scans that show the existence of ground-glass opacity, which is fre
... Show More