KAMPONG, LAND AND ITS CAPACITY TOWARDS SUBSISTENCE LIVING

Kampong is a land that compound by conclusive territory and accommodating people's lives and well-being. As there is anecdotal evidence that people are returning to reoccupying houses and working with the land; this study investigates the land and its capacity for these returnees. The main intention is to identify apparent evidence that land in kampong is accessible and available to be reutilized again. The study presents descriptive information about the attended, productive, and unattended land through site observation and fieldwork measurements. The findings illustrate the capacity of the land to absorb the returnees and allow future subsistence that feeds the demand for food, goods and jobs.

What Are Constructions, and What Else Is Out There? An Associationist Perspective

Constructionist approaches to language propose that the language system is a network of constructions, defined as bidirectional mappings between a complex form and a meaning. This paper critically evaluates the evidence for and against two possible construals of this proposal as a psycholinguistic theory: that direct, bidirectional form-meaning associations play a central role in language comprehension and production, and the stronger claim that they are the only type of association at play. Bidirectional form-meaning associations are argued to be plausible, despite some apparent evidence against bidirectionality. However, form-meaning associations are insufficient to account for some morphological patterns. In particular, there is convincing evidence for productive paradigmatic mappings that are phonologically arbitrary, which cannot be captured by form-meaning mappings alone, without associations between paradigmatically related forms or constructions. Paradigmatic associations are argued to be unidirectional. In addition, subtraction and backformation at first glance require augmenting the associative networks with conditioned operations (rules). However, it is argued that allowing for negative form-meaning associations accommodates subtraction and backformation within the constructionist approach without introducing any additional mechanisms. The interplay of positive and negative form-meaning associations and paradigmatic mappings is exemplified using a previously undescribed morphological construction in Russian, the bez-Adjective construction.

Apparently benign craniocervical signs in achondroplasia: “neurologic leftovers” identified through a retrospective dataset

Background Achondroplasia is the most common dwarfing disorder. It can result in a variety of sequelae, including neurologic complications, among which high cervical myelopathy is one of particular concern. However, some individuals with achondroplasia appear to have persistent signs by physical examination that, while they might suggest the presence of high cervical myelopathy, remain isolated, non-progressive and apparently benign. To document and quantify these apparently benign craniocervical signs (ABCS) a cohort of 477 individuals with achondroplasia was retrospectively analyzed and information regarding persistent neurologic features suggestive of high cervical myelopathy was recorded in a REDCap database. Results Within this cohort, 151 individuals (31.7%) had neurologic examinations that were in some manner concerning. Of these, 46 (30.5% of the subpopulation) required cervicomedullary decompressive surgery. The remaining 105 had concerning signs by examination but no apparent evidence for clinically significant cervical myelopathy. Of those 105 individuals, 88 (83.8%; 18.4% of the entire population) remained neurologically intact throughout their follow-up, and without clinical sequelae. Conclusions It appears that many individuals with achondroplasia, if carefully examined, may demonstrate isolated, initially concerning signs suggestive of cervical myelopathy, but in the vast majority these are benign and do not indicate need for aggressive neurosurgical intervention. Further investigations may help to identify ways to differentiate these benign features from the less common but more problematic true myelopathic ones. We postulate that the “neurologic leftovers” may arise from temporally remote, subtle damage to the spinal cord at the craniocervical junction, which damage otherwise does not reach clinical relevance.

The Global Study of Philanthropic Behavior

While there is apparent evidence that individual philanthropic behavior and the motivations for this behavior are at least to some extent universal, there is also evidence that people across the world do not equally display this behavior. In this conceptual article, I explore how we can study philanthropic behaviors from a global perspective. I contend that the macro-level study of philanthropy is underdeveloped, because of three problems intrinsic to the study of global philanthropy: problems with geographical orientation, connotations and definitions. As a first step to overcome these problems, I suggest the use of the term generosity behavior over philanthropic behavior, as this term appears more inclusive of the multitude of definitions and connotations across cultures. I conclude by formulating a collaborative research agenda for a more inclusive study and understanding of global generosity behavior, focused on generating publicly accessible knowledge and informing policy.

Can item effects explain away the evidence for unconscious sound symbolism? An adversarial commentary on Heyman, Maerten, Vankrunkelsven, Voorspoels and Moors (2019)

Apparent evidence for unconscious sound symbolism is probably artifactual: Commentary on Heyman, Maerten, Vankrunkelsven, Voorspoels and Moors (in press). Sound-symbolism effects in the absence of awareness: A replication study. Psychological Science, 0956797619875482. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875482

Apparent evidence for unconscious sound symbolism is probably artifactual: Commentary on Heyman, Maerten, Vankrunkelsven, Voorspoels and Moors (in press).

Sound symbolism refers to the intuition that a word’s sound should match the characteristics of its referents – e.g., kiki should label something spiky – and its prevalence and systematicity provide compelling evidence for an intuitive mapping between linguistic form and meaning. Striking recent work (Hung, Styles, & Hsieh, 2017) suggests that these mappings may have an unconscious basis, such that participants can compute the fit between a word’s sound and an object’s shape when both are masked from awareness. This surprising finding replicated in the pre-registered report by Heyman, Maerten, Vankrunkelsven, Voorspoels and Moors (2019), with potentially far-reaching implications for the role of awareness in language processing (Hassin, 2013; Rabagliati, Robertson, & Carmel, 2018). However, as I demonstrate, it is an artifact of the stimuli used. Once item effects are accounted for, these data provide no evidence that sound symbolism, and language more generally, can be processed without awareness.

Dust mite ingestion-associated, exercise-induced anaphylaxis: a case report and literature review

Background Oral mite anaphylaxis (OMA) is a condition characterized by severe allergic reactions after ingesting food containing dust mite-contaminated flour. Physical exertion is recognized as a common trigger factor inducing anaphylaxis. The association of OMA with exercise-induced anaphylaxis has rarely been reported. Case presentation We report a 29-year-old Thai woman who had dust mite ingestion-associated, exercise-induced anaphylaxis who tolerated the same bag of contaminated flour without exercise. A sample of contaminated cooking flour was examined under a light microscope. Living mites, Dermatophagoides farinae, were detected by a medical entomologist based on the morphology. We performed skin test to both mite-contaminated and newly opened Gogi® cooking flour, common aeroallergens, food allergens, and all other ingredients in the fried coconut rice cake 5 weeks after the anaphylactic episode. Specific IgE tests, using ImmunoCAP were also performed. Conclusions Dust mite ingestion-associated, exercise-induced anaphylaxis may be misdiagnosed as wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis and should be suspected in patients with anaphylaxis linked to food intake and exercise, but who have no apparent evidence to the index food ingredients on allergy workup.

Apparent evidence for Hawking points in the CMB Sky★

ABSTRACT This paper presents strong observational evidence of numerous previously unobserved anomalous circular spots, of significantly raised temperature, in the cosmic microwave background sky. The spots have angular radii between 0.03 and 0.04 rad (i.e. angular diameters between about 3° and 4°). There is a clear cut-off at that size, indicating that each anomalous spot would have originated from a highly energetic point-like source, located at the end of inflation – or else point-like at the conformally expanded Big Bang, if it is considered that there was no inflationary phase. The significant presence of these anomalous spots, was initially noticed in the Planck 70 GHz satellite data by comparison with 1000 standard simulations, and then confirmed by extending the comparison to 10 000 simulations. Such anomalous points were then found at precisely the same locations in the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) data, their significance was confirmed by comparison with 1000 WMAP simulations. Planck and WMAP have very different noise properties and it seems exceedingly unlikely that the observed presence of anomalous points in the same directions on both maps may come entirely from the noise. Subsequently, further confirmation was found in the Planck data by comparison with 1000 FFP8.1 MC simulations (with l ≤ 1500). The existence of such anomalous regions, resulting from point-like sources at the conformally stretched-out big bang, is a predicted consequence of conformal cyclic cosmology, these sources being the Hawking points of the theory, resulting from the Hawking radiation from supermassive black holes in a cosmic aeon prior to our own.