Imminent Action Research Articles

Deconstructing Students’ Language Identities On X: A Nigerian and Malaysian Case Study For Education

This study investigated students’ language deconstruction and identities on X social media technology. The Gen Z’s and Big Data are currently in vogue, which affords this research to enquire using a quantitative methodology. Besides, the online data analytics consisting of the number of likes, repost and comments were gathered from the X social media. Nowadays, the social media acts as an online reservoir for internet data that are readily available for use. Learning analytics are records of students’ activities based on their engagement on social media. However, the respondents in this study were students randomly selected from a two-world perspective on X, consisting of Malaysian and Nigerian students. A detailed data analysis was conducted using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and the results showed a recent decline of students’ engagement in educational discourse using indigenous languages on X. The recent decline was informed by this study’s data, which implies an imminent action is required to ensure the indigenous languages are protected from extinction. This study findings are significant to lecturers, policymakers, researchers and Government in ensuring that more language diversity issues are considered in this 21st century. This research likewise addressed the English language (L2) significance in educational discourse with a recommendation for the inclusion of more indigenous language option on X for diversity and equality purpose.

A pre-action indication of making stop/go decisions at flashing-light-controlled grade crossings based on drivers’ EEG information: A driving simulation experiment with audio-warning assistance

This study found that the electroencephalogram (EEG) information is a prior indication for sensing drivers’ imminent actions. It is possible to get to know the drivers’ intentions before their next moves, providing huge potentials of early interventions on the occurrence of accidents. A driving simulation experiment was conducted to identify EEG patterns during pre-action decision-making, assess their roles in stop/go decisions, and evaluate the impact of warnings on EEG signals. Four driving groups were divided based on drivers’ stop/go decisions and the influence of dilemma-zone effect, which could reflect drivers’ abilities to stop safely at the onset of flashing red light. The results revealed significant variations in EEG signals among the four driving groups, highlighting EEG as a sensitive pre-action indication. EEG changes indicated that with warning assistance, drivers have enhanced situational awareness, are able to make a stop/go decision in advance, and have less workload on visual search when approaching grade crossings. Such EEG patterns could interpret drivers’ stop/go decisions with a highest accuracy of 97.11%, and could identify potentially dangerous behaviors. These insights have implications for pre-event intervention based on EEG monitoring using non-contact devices.

Judicial expertise and its application to environmental crime in Ecuador

Environmental matters require imminent action by expert assessment to establish responsibilities and define judicial procedures. It is essential to know which factors have a legally relevant influence in determining environmental crime. The objective of the research is to analyze the judicial expertise from the perspective of environmental crime. It is supported by the review and analysis of scientific documents, from specialized databases, with the aim of identifying aspects that allow focusing attention on the need to integrate legal guidelines on environmental crimes that limit the sustainable development of the territories. It is concluded that the existence of a judicial expert opinion leads to the need to mediate, negotiate or settle matters or facts in accordance with the law, where the human being acts as a scientific technician with evidentiary training.

Management of adult patients with CMML undergoing allo-HCT: recommendations from the EBMT PH&G Committee

AbstractChronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a heterogeneous disease presenting with either myeloproliferative or myelodysplastic features. Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) remains the only potentially curative option, but the inherent toxicity of this procedure makes the decision to proceed to allo-HCT challenging, particularly because patients with CMML are mostly older and comorbid. Therefore, the decision between a nonintensive treatment approach and allo-HCT represents a delicate balance, especially because prospective randomized studies are lacking and retrospective data in the literature are conflicting. International consensus on the selection of patients and the ideal timing of allo-HCT, specifically in CMML, could not be reached in international recommendations published 6 years ago. Since then, new, CMML-specific data have been published. The European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Practice Harmonization and Guidelines (PH&G) Committee assembled a panel of experts in the field to provide the first best practice recommendations on the role of allo-HCT specifically in CMML. Recommendations were based on the results of an international survey, a comprehensive review of the literature, and expert opinions on the subject, after structured discussion and circulation of recommendations. Algorithms for patient selection, timing of allo-HCT during the course of the disease, pretransplant strategies, allo-HCT modality, as well as posttransplant management for patients with CMML were outlined. The keynote message is, that once a patient has been identified as a transplant candidate, upfront transplantation without prior disease-modifying treatment is preferred to maximize chances of reaching allo-HCT whenever possible, irrespective of bone marrow blast counts.

Cardiac Metabolism, Reprogramming, and Diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) account for the largest bulk of deaths worldwide, posing a massive burden on societies and the global healthcare system. Besides, the incidence and prevalence of these diseases are on the rise, demanding imminent action to revert this trend. Cardiovascular pathogenesis harbors a variety of molecular and cellular mechanisms among which dysregulated metabolism is of significant importance and may even proceed other mechanisms. The healthy heart metabolism primarily relies on fatty acids for the ultimate production of energy through oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria. Other metabolites such as glucose, amino acids, and ketone bodies come next. Under pathological conditions, there is a shift in metabolic pathways and the preference of metabolites, termed metabolic remodeling or reprogramming. In this review, we aim to summarize cardiovascular metabolism and remodeling in different subsets of CVD to come up with a new paradigm for understanding and treatment of these diseases.

Skill-based differences in the impact of opponent exposure during anticipation: the role of context-environment dependency

IntroductionWe examined skilled-based differences in the impact of exposure to an opponent with action tendencies that were either independent of, dependent on, or both independent of and dependent on evolving environmental information during anticipation.MethodsA video-based two-vs.-two soccer task was employed, where 14 expert and 14 novice soccer players had to predict an attacking opponent's imminent actions, before and after exposure to the preceding actions of the opponent.ResultsAnticipation accuracy, number of responses congruent with the opponent's action tendencies, response confidence, and visual dwell time on the opponent in possession increased following opponent exposure, both in experts and novices. When compared to novices, experts demonstrated higher anticipation accuracy, more congruent responses, and greater response confidence. Novices performed at their best when the opponent exhibited action tendencies that were independent of the environment, whereas experts demonstrated their highest performance when the opponent had action tendencies that were both independent of and dependent on unfolding environmental information.DiscussionOur findings provide novel insights into the role of context-environment dependency and support the notion that experts are superior to novices in detecting and utilizing opponents' action tendencies and integrating this information with unfolding environmental information during anticipation.

An annotated checklist of sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) from domestic and wild mammals in Malaysia, with lists of hosts and pathogens

Literature records of sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) from Malaysia were checked and reviewed, resulting in a list of 34 established species belonging to 11 genera (Ancistroplax, Atopophthirus, Enderleinellus, Haematopinus, Hamophthirius, Hoplopleura, Linognathus, Neohaematopinus, Pedicinus, Polyplax and Sathrax). Furthermore, three local and six cosmopolitan louse species are regarded as dubious in Malaysia, due to misidentifications or lack of locality records. Also, pathogens known to be associated with the sucking lice are listed. The alarming conservation status of some Malaysian mammalian host species and their sucking lice warrant more research and imminent action to preserve the biodiversity of the country. This paper presents the first complete checklist of anopluran lice from both Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo, including localities, literature references and a host-louse list.

Exploring Foucault on Care of the Self and Power Relations from an Orthodox perspective

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was indisputably one of the most significant theorists of the twentieth century. His work is generally interdisciplinary in nature delving especially into the humanities, and to a greater extent it includes philosophically oriented historical research in philosophy, history and theology. All this was in a quest for truth and to reflect on humanity which is the focus. Foucault recurrently pursued a manner in which to comprehend the ideas that form our present. In the materialist and consumer driven world of the 21st Century, spiritual practices in Christianity are often viewed by growing numbers of subjects as being based on what are considered to be obsolete religious traditions. The article focuses on the notion that Christianity indeed has a huge role to play in life and in understanding contemporary spirituality and religious life. Foucault was seemingly motivated by a strong yearning to discover a substitute for intimacy with the creator God and a desire to see power relations made devoid of the ability to limit a subjects freedom and domination by, for example, churches and their doctrines and dogmas. He argued that self-awareness was not a goal in itself, but rather something that is pursued in order for one to care for oneself in a world in which there are power relations in existence. Foucault maintained that by caring for oneself, one could transform oneself into a more ethical person. Through considering one’s previous and imminent actions and by evaluating if the actions align with ones ethics and goals, one can get to realise how insignificant one is when compared to the limitlessness creation. A standpoint on spirituality and Christianity per se, is advanced based on Michel Foucault’s work on spiritual observances in Christianity.

Cortical theta-gamma coupling governs the adaptive control of motor commands.

Motor control requires the adaptive updating of internal models to successfully target desired outcomes. This adaptive control can be proactive, such that imminent actions and corresponding sensorimotor programmes are anticipated prior to movement, or reactive, such that online error correction is necessary to adjust to sudden changes. While substantial evidence implicates a distributed cortical network serving adaptive control when behavioural changes are required (e.g. response inhibition), the neural dynamics serving such control when the target motor commands are to remain intact are poorly understood. To address this, we developed a novel proactive-reactive cued finger tapping paradigm that was performed during magnetoencephalography by 25 healthy adults. Importantly, to ensure condition-wise differences in adaptive cueing were not attributable to changes in movement kinematics, motor selection and planning processes were held constant despite changes in task demands. All data were imaged in the time-frequency domain using a beamformer to evaluate the effect of proactive and reactive cues on movement-related oscillations and subsequent performance. Our results indicated spectrally specific increases in low (i.e. theta) and high (i.e. gamma) frequency oscillations during motor execution as a function of adaptive cueing. Additionally, we observed robust cross-frequency coupling of theta and gamma oscillatory power in the contralateral motor cortex and further, the strength of this theta-gamma coupling during motor execution was differentially predictive of behavioural improvements and decrements during reactive and proactive trials, respectively. These data indicate that functional oscillatory coupling may govern the adaptive control of movement in the healthy brain and importantly, may serve as effective proxies for characterizing declines in motor function in clinical populations in the future.

The role of organisational resources for integrating health surveillance data into municipal action in Norway

ABSTRACT Making sure that health surveillance data are integrated into public health planning and decision-making is demanding. Politicians and their administration may lack knowledge, interest, or will to take it into account. Politics is at its core solution-driven, and this need for imminent action may outweigh the importance of solid knowledge. This paper focuses on Norwegian municipalities and fleshes out two factors that may provide an enabling environment for educating relevant personnel in health surveillance data; i) the existence of a public health coordinator and ii) the set-up of inter-sectoral working groups. We have anticipated that those organisational resources play an important role in linking the bodies of information provided in the municipalities’ health surveillance document ; the municipal health profile ; and the health promotion priorities. The findings confirm the anticipated centrality of organisational resources. Having dedicated and inter-sectoral organizational resources working as boundary spanners – such as public health coordinators – is decisive to meeting the demands of current public health challenges. Moreover, dedication is useless unless there is a critical volume of the coordinator’s work. It is only when she/he is in a full position that the profile is fully integrated. The study further identifies other conducive conditions for integration. For example, does knowledge on health determinants resides not only in statistical data, but also in qualitative experiences of people and professional practitioners. Of interest for further research is to explore how to educate such organisations to integrate such experiences into health promotion action.

Interrupting Immersive Immediacy

Immersive experiences in theatre and digital games are often characterized by immediacy in space and time, focusing on the imminent action of the here and now. Live action roleplay (larp) practices, by contrast, can encourage reflexivity. Such reflexive play can support the agential capacities of players in participatory performance works to visualize and pursue alternative futures.

An expert review on breaking barriers in severe asthma in Brazil: Time to act.

Currently, Brazil lacks a national asthma management program and is burdened with nearly 200,000 hospitalizations due to the disease per year and approximately 5 deaths per day. The purpose of this article was to analyze the current issues surrounding severe asthma in Brazil, as the status of diagnosis and treatment is largely unknown, and to provide feasible recommendations to elicit imminent action. A panel of Brazilian medical experts in the field of severe asthma was provided with a series of relevant questions to address prior to a multi-day conference. Within this conference, each narrative was discussed and edited by the entire group. Through numerous rounds of discussion consensus was achieved. In order to overcome barriers to adequate asthma treatment, this panel recommends specific initiatives that can be implemented in the short-term to decrease the burden of severe asthma in Brazil. With increasing healthcare costs and limited resources globally, there is an opportunity to implement these recommendations in other countries in order to achieve adequate asthma care. Severe asthma is a heterogeneous and complex disease with various phenotypes that requires strict attention for diagnosis and management. Although this disease affects only a small proportion of the population with asthma, it poses a great burden to healthcare systems. Thus, barriers to diagnosis, treatment, and management should be overcome as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Integrating explicit contextual priors and kinematic information during anticipation

ABSTRACT We examined the interaction between explicit contextual priors and kinematic information during anticipation in soccer. We employed a video-based anticipation task where skilled soccer players had to predict the direction of the imminent actions of an attacking opponent in possession of the ball. The players performed the task both with and without explicit contextual priors pertaining to the opponent’s action tendencies. The strength of the opponent’s action tendencies was altered in order to manipulate the reliability of contextual priors (low vs. high). Moreover, the reliability of kinematic information (low vs. high) was manipulated using the temporal occlusion paradigm. The explicit provision of contextual priors biased anticipation towards the most likely direction, given the opponent’s action tendencies, and resulted in enhanced performance. This effect was greater under conditions where the reliability of kinematic information was low rather than high. When the reliability of kinematic information was high, the players used explicit contextual priors of high, but not low, reliability to inform their judgements. Findings suggest that athletes employ reliability-based strategies when integrating contextual priors with kinematic information during anticipation. The impact of explicit contextual priors is dependent on the reliability both of the priors and the evolving kinematic information.

Back to WHAT? The role of research ethics in pandemic times

The Covid-19 pandemic creates an unprecedented threatening situation worldwide with an urgent need for critical reflection and new knowledge production, but also a need for imminent action despite prevailing knowledge gaps and multilevel uncertainty. With regard to the role of research ethics in these pandemic times some argue in favor of exceptionalism, others, including the authors of this paper, emphasize the urgent need to remain committed to core ethical principles and fundamental human rights obligations all reflected in research regulations and guidelines carefully crafted over time. In this paper we disentangle some of the arguments put forward in the ongoing debate about Covid-19 human challenge studies (CHIs) and the concomitant role of health-related research ethics in pandemic times. We suggest it might be helpful to think through a lens differentiating between risk, strict uncertainty and ignorance. We provide some examples of lessons learned by harm done in the name of research in the past and discuss the relevance of this legacy in the current situation.

A competição entre Simple Past e Present Perfect no inglês estadunidense: um estudo de caso sobre o perfect de resultado


 
 Este artigo tem como objetivo investigar a competição entre Present Perfect e Simple Past na expressão do aspecto perfect resultativo na língua inglesa. Testa-se a hipótese de que, no inglês estadunidense (AmE), contextos de transição, com estado-alvo resultante relevante no presente (compatíveis com resultativos fortes), são representados linguisticamente pelo Simple Past preferencialmente. Para tanto, adota-se como metodologia um estudo de caso triplo com base em um experimento de produção semiespontânea que elicita resultativos fortes. Os dados indicam variação morfológica na descrição de situações resultativas fortes, com preferência pelo uso do Simple Past, logo, a hipótese não foi refutada. O Simple Past assume a forma default, pois seu uso prevalece mesmo quando o contexto indica continuação e relevância do resultado no presente. Todavia, o uso do Present Perfect foi favorecido em situações cujo estado resultante é condição para uma demanda prévia por ação do interlocutor, especificamente, quando não há outra marcação linguística de causalidade.
 

African Lions and Zoonotic Diseases: Implications for Commercial Lion Farms in South Africa.

Simple SummaryIn South Africa, thousands of African lions are bred on farms for commercial purposes, such as tourism, trophy hunting, and traditional medicine. Lions on farms often have direct contact with people, such as farm workers and tourists. Such close contact between wild animals and humans creates opportunities for the spread of zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be passed between animals and people). To help understand the health risks associated with lion farms, our study compiled a list of pathogens (bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi) known to affect African lions. We reviewed 148 scientific papers and identified a total of 63 pathogens recorded in both wild and captive lions, most of which were parasites (35, 56%), followed by viruses (17, 27%) and bacteria (11, 17%). This included pathogens that can be passed from lions to other animals and to humans. We also found a total of 83 diseases and clinical symptoms associated with these pathogens. Given that pathogens and their associated infectious diseases can cause harm to both animals and public health, we recommend that the lion farming industry in South Africa takes action to prevent and manage potential disease outbreaks. African lions (Panthera leo) are bred in captivity on commercial farms across South Africa and often have close contact with farm staff, tourists, and other industry workers. As transmission of zoonotic diseases occurs through close proximity between wildlife and humans, these commercial captive breeding operations pose a potential risk to thousands of captive lions and to public health. An understanding of pathogens known to affect lions is needed to effectively assess the risk of disease emergence and transmission within the industry. Here, we conduct a systematic search of the academic literature, identifying 148 peer-reviewed studies, to summarize the range of pathogens and parasites known to affect African lions. A total of 63 pathogenic organisms were recorded, belonging to 35 genera across 30 taxonomic families. Over half were parasites (35, 56%), followed by viruses (17, 27%) and bacteria (11, 17%). A number of novel pathogens representing unidentified and undescribed species were also reported. Among the pathogenic inventory are species that can be transmitted from lions to other species, including humans. In addition, 83 clinical symptoms and diseases associated with these pathogens were identified. Given the risks posed by infectious diseases, this research highlights the potential public health risks associated with the captive breeding industry. We recommend that relevant authorities take imminent action to help prevent and manage the risks posed by zoonotic pathogens on lion farms.

Suing The NRA for Damages

A solution is needed for the gun violence epidemic, where approximately 15,000 innocent persons are shot to death each year. Close analysis reveals that meaningful legislative solutions have failed to move forward. The reason for this failure is the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) stranglehold on federal and state legislators. This Article explores a nonlegislative solution—a tort suit aimed at obtaining compensation for the shooting victims and returning the NRA to its original purpose. It will examine conduct actions by the NRA and consider the NRA’s foundational defenses: failure to engage in any “imminent lawless action,” the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and proximate cause. It will also consider the five tort causes of action: (1) aiding and abetting, (2) civil conspiracy, (3) strict liability, (4) the intentional infliction of emotional distress, and (5) negligence.

Probabilistic cancer risk assessment for dietary intake of seven nitrosamine chemicals in Korea

We conducted a probabilistic risk assessment for seven nitrosamines (i.e., N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosodibuthylmine (NDBA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), N-nitrosomorpholone (NMOR) and N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA)) to assess the cancer risk posed by dietary intake of nitrosamines for Korean people. The estimated cancer risks were the highest in the order of NDMA, NDEA, NDBA, NPYR, NPIP, NMOR and NMEA. The cancer risks of NPYR, NPIP, NMOR and NMEA was estimated to be lower than de minimis risk (i.e., a cancer risk of 10−6), and thus, can be ignored. The derived cancer risks of NDEA and NDBA exceeded de minimis risk, but did not exceed de manifestis risk (i.e., a cancer risk of 10−4), meaning that no imminent action is required for either chemical. However, because the high-end cancer risk (i.e., > 90th percentile) by NDMA intake exceeded de manifestis risk owing to its strong carcinogenicity and high daily intake rate, action to reduce the cancer risk from dietary intake of NDMA is strongly warranted. Because NDMA formation in foods is an unavoidable chemical reaction between NDMA precursors (i.e., nitrogen oxides and organic amines), we recommend focusing on reducing the contents of NDMA precursors in foods as a best management practice.

Judgement utility modulates the use of explicit contextual priors and visual information during anticipation

ObjectivesWe examined the impact of judgement utility on the use of explicit contextual priors and visual information during action anticipation in soccer. DesignWe employed a repeated measures design, in which expert soccer players had to perform a video-based anticipation task under various conditions. MethodsThe task required the players to predict the direction (left or right) of an oncoming opponent’s imminent actions. Performance and verbal reports of thoughts from players were compared across three conditions. In two of the conditions, contextual priors pertaining to the opponent’s action tendencies (dribble = 70%; pass = 30%) were explicitly provided. In one of these experimental conditions, players were told that an incorrect ‘right’ response would result in conceding a goal, which created imbalanced judgement utility (left = high utility; right = low utility). In the third control condition, no explicit contextual priors or additional instructions were provided. ResultsThe explicit provision of contextual priors changed players’ processing priorities, biased their anticipatory judgements in accordance with the opponent’s action tendencies, and enhanced anticipation performance. These effects were suppressed under conditions in which the explicit contextual priors were accompanied by imbalanced judgement utility. Under these conditions, the players were more concerned about the consequences of their judgements and were more inclined to opt for the direction with the higher utility. ConclusionsIt appears that judgement utility disrupts the integration of contextual priors and visual information, which results in decreased impact of explicit contextual priors during action anticipation.

Brandenburg in An Era of Populism: Risk Analysis in the First Amendment

We live in an era of populism, characterized by political polarization, inciting speech on social media, and an escalation in hate crimes. The regulatory framework for direct incitement to imminent lawless action established fifty years ago in Brandenburg is showing signs of severe strain. One of the central frailties of Brandenburg’s three-part test is the lack of guidance on how courts should evaluate the probability that an inciting speech act will cause an imminent offense. In the absence of clear direction on analyzing risk, judges often rely on outdated heuristics and misleading metaphors. This article is the first to draw on behavioral research to construct a systematic evidence-based framework for assessing the likelihood that inciting speech will result in imminent lawless action. This matrix is then applied to the fact pattern in Sines v. Kessler, a civil suit arising from the events in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.