Invisible Wall Research Articles

Invisible and fluid walls in early childhood nature learning: collecting data through video

ABSTRACT Background The forest school and nature kindergarten approach to early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been established for well over 50 years in the United Kingdom and across parts of Europe including Scandinavia. One example where the nature kindergarten approach has recently taken a foothold is the Australian ‘bush kinder’. Bush kinders are gaining popularity in the delivery of ECEC to four- and five-year-old Australian children. They provide children an opportunity to learn through a play-based experience, often with the child leading their learning, supported by the educator. This longitudinal research project examining STEM teaching and learning in bush kinders began in 2015 with further data collection occurring in 2017, 2020 and 2023. Purpose The study sought to explore the challenges of using video as a data source in ethnographic research in the context of wide open, natural environments such as nature reserves, forests, beaches and paddocks. It asked the question: ‘What ethical dilemmas arise when using video to collect data in early childhood research?’ Method The study focused on the teaching and play activities of around 20 educators and 200 four- to five-year-old children across four Australian bush kinders. Influenced by an ethnographic research tradition that emphasises researcher participation and observation, the paper presents two vignettes, which explore the use of video in recording the experiences of teachers and children in the bush kinder environment and the dilemmas that arise. Findings The use of video creates a dual data collection situation. First, videoing can take place from behind an ‘invisible wall’, where the researcher remains distant from the research subjects being studied. Second, the researcher can move through a ‘fluid wall’, closer to the events they are capturing on video, at times, becoming a participant in the study. Conclusions This paper offers a contribution to the methodological discourse on the use of video as a data collection method within ethnographic research in ECEC outdoor settings. In drawing close attention to the ways in which videoing can occur, it provides a framework that could be helpful to other researchers engaged in designing and carrying out ECEC research in diverse outdoor settings.

A scene with an invisible wall - navigational experience shapes visual scene representation.

Human navigation heavily relies on visual information. Although many previous studies have investigated how navigational information is inferred from visual features of scenes, little is understood about the impact of navigational experience on visual scene representation. In this study, we examined how navigational experience influences both the behavioral and neural responses to a visual scene. During training, participants navigated in the virtual reality (VR) environments which we manipulated navigational experience while holding the visual properties of scenes constant. Half of the environments allowed free navigation (navigable), while the other half featured an 'invisible wall' preventing the participants to continue forward even though the scene was visually navigable (non-navigable). During testing, participants viewed scene images from the VR environment while completing either a behavioral perceptual identification task (Experimentl) or an fMRI scan (Experiment2). Behaviorally, we found that participants judged a scene pair to be significantly more visually different if their prior navigational experience varied, even after accounting for visual similarities between the scene pairs. Neurally, multi-voxel pattern of the parahippocampal place area (PPA) distinguished visual scenes based on prior navigational experience alone. These results suggest that the human visual scene cortex represents information about navigability obtained through prior experience, beyond those computable from the visual properties of the scene. Taken together, these results suggest that scene representation is modulated by prior navigational experience to help us construct a functionally meaningful visual environment.

Collecting pieces for the 'puzzle': Nurses' intraprofessional collaboration in the hospital-to-home transition of older patients.

Communication is a key factor in intraprofessional collaboration between hospital nurses and homecare nurses in hospital-to-home transitions of older patients with complex care needs. Gaining knowledge of the nature of cross-sectoral communication is crucial for understanding how nurses collaborate to ensure a seamless patient trajectory. This study explores how cross-sectoral electronic health records communication influences collaboration between hospital nurses and homecare nurses when discharging older patients with complex care needs. The study is based on qualitative group interviews with six hospital nurses and 14 homecare nurses working at different hospitals and municipalities across Denmark. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, as described by Braun and Clark. The themes Collecting pieces for the 'puzzle': Losing the holistic picture of the patient; Working blindfolded: limited provision of and access to critical information; and Bypassing the 'invisible wall': dialogue supports cohesion illustrate the impact of organisational structures within electronic health records have on hospital nurses' and homecare nurses' intraprofessional collaboration across sectors. Challenges with predefined and word-limited elements in digital communication, and inadequate and limited access to significant medical information were identified. To compensate for the inadequacy of the electronic health records, direct contact and dialogue were emphasised as ways of fostering successful collaboration and overcoming the barriers created by electronic health records. Despite hospital nurses' and homecare nurses' desire to conduct holistic patient assessments, their ability to collaborate was hindered by failures in electronic health record communication resulting from restrictive organisational structures across sectors. Thus, it became necessary for hospital nurses and homecare nurses to bypass the electronic health record system and engage in dialogue to provide holistic care when discharging older patients with complex care needs. However, by hospital nurses and homecare nurses compensating for counter-productive organisational structures, problems brought about by the electronic health record system paradoxically remain invisible.

Recognising interdisciplinary implications of the affective filter

Linguistic education, like practically any other form of education, is strongly determined by affect. Although the entire “story” is far more complex, we might summarise it by saying that if students and teachers find themselves in emotionally convenient circumstances, linguistic progress is easily noticeable, whereas in situations when either of them are experiencing negative feelings or emotions, linguistic efforts are likely to prove simply futile. As implied by the well-known concept of the affective filter, negative emotions – be it fear, anxiety, discomfort and such – act an invisible wall blocking cognition and disable linguistic education. Hence, the teachers’ and – predominantly – the students’ affect either aids or hinders education and it does so in a less or more concealed fashion. On the level of terminology, too, the presence and salience of affect is either explicit or implicit. The former is the case with the said notion of affective filter and others such as speech anxiety, emotional intelligence, willingness to communicate, everyday stressors, etc. The latter is even more extensive, although it tends to be overlooked or disregarded, which can be exemplified by such linguistic concepts as, for example, (a) fossilization, which is mostly defined in cognitive terms and relates to that part of language users’ competence which has become fixed and may fall subject to stagnation – but which results from our natural need of comfort and of social recognition; or even such a traditional term as (b) language performance, which is contrasted against language competence and also viewed through a predominantly cognitive prism – but which, too, is subject to our emotional stance and individual invariably-unstable and internally influential feelings.

Can technology break the invisible wall? Exploring mobile application needs and preferences among North Korean refugees in South Korea

Although the ubiquity of digital technology among refugees inevitably changes resettlement experiences, studies exploring the utility and usability of mobile applications (apps) centered on refugees’ needs and priorities are largely fragmented. Using focus groups with North Korean refugees in South Korea ( N = 40), we explored the utility and usability of mobile apps, examined differences in app preferences among demographic subgroups and proposed recommendations for tailored app features. Six themes emerged under two domains: (a) content needs and priorities, and (b) feature preferences. Study findings highlight refugees as both consumers and producers of knowledge with implications for scaling up digital interventions for refugee resettlement.

Scaling the invisible wall: Molecular acclimation of a salinity-tolerant diatom to freshwater.

In aquatic ecosystems, marine and freshwater environments are separated by steep salinity gradients. The osmotic stress induced by this 'invisible wall' forms an insurmountable barrier for many aquatic lifeforms, including bacteria, algae and animals. Because the osmotic differences when transiting a salinity divide are so hard to overcome, most species have adapted exclusively to a marine or a freshwater lifestyle. A major consequence of this physiological specialization into marine and freshwater organisms is that transitions are relatively rare, impeding regular contact and colonization. While some animals use specialized organs or behaviour to cope with unfavourable salinity levels, unicellular algae such as diatoms are completely dependent on cellular mechanisms to mitigate salinity stress. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Downey and colleagues investigate the transcriptomic response of a salinity-tolerant diatom to a shock treatment with freshwater (Molecular Ecology, 2023). Through frequent sampling and integration of existing RNA sequencing data, a fine-grained model of the acclimation to hypo-osmotic stress emerges. Deciphering the pathways that drive the acute and long-term acclimation to freshwater has major implications for diatom ecology, diversification and resilience to global change.

The Wall Theory: A Case Study of Intercultural Experience among Chinese Migrants in Hungary

Abstract This paper presents an empirical study of the intercultural conflicts that Chinese migrants have experienced in Hungary, so far unexamined in the scientific literature. This study hypothesizes the wall theory, consisting of the visible wall and the invisible wall. The visible wall entails physical and spatial boundaries whereas the invisible wall refers to trust deficit. Our results suggest a visible wall is a ubiquitous concept in Hungarian culture, whereas the boundaries of the visible wall are obscure in Chinese culture. In contrast, the invisible wall is not prevalent in Hungarian culture, yet the invisible wall is a predominant concept in Chinese culture which alienates people in thinking. The concept of wall denotes different meanings in Chinese and Hungarian cultures. The study attempts to provide Chinese overseas with practical knowledge to be aware of the cultural differences and potential strategies to reduce intercultural conflicts.

The Fourth Wall of Professional Learning and Cultures of Collaboration

Recent innovations in professional development are rife with a wide array of efforts focused on teacher collaboration. In this essay, we address some of the unexamined assumptions about the nature and significance of interactions in teacher professional collaboration, drawing on the concept of the “fourth wall” from theater and film studies. The fourth wall is a term used to describe the invisible wall that separates actors from their audience. We use this metaphor to interrogate the function of the fourth wall in professional learning and argue that it reflects a culture of professional learning that, despite innovations that tout teacher collaboration, upholds isolation in teaching and teacher learning and deep embedded norms of noninterference in one another’s practice. We also attend to the possibilities for supporting teacher learning that breaching the fourth wall affords when shared enactments of practice are used as a context for teachers’ sensemaking and collaboration.

“This Silence is like an Invisible Wall that Needs to be Shattered and Broken”. An Interview with Jupiter Child

“This Silence is like an Invisible Wall that Needs to be Shattered and Broken”. An Interview with Jupiter Child

Physically Implied Surfaces

In addition to seeing objects that are directly in view, we also represent objects that are merely implied (e.g., by occlusion, motion, and other cues). What can imply the presence of an object? Here, we explored (in three preregistered experiments; N = 360 adults) the role of physical interaction in creating impressions of objects that are not actually present. After seeing an actor collide with an invisible wall or step onto an invisible box, participants gave facilitated responses to actual, visible surfaces that appeared where the implied wall or box had been—a Stroop-like pattern of facilitation and interference that suggested automatic inferences about the relevant implied surfaces. Follow-up experiments ruled out confounding geometric cues and anticipatory responses. We suggest that physical interactions can trigger representations of the participating surfaces such that we automatically infer the presence of objects implied only by their physical consequences.

TCTAP C-069 Rebreaking the Invisible Wall: A Case of Recurrent ISR in Minimal Setting

TCTAP C-069 Rebreaking the Invisible Wall: A Case of Recurrent ISR in Minimal Setting

Analysis of hysteresis rule of energy-saving block and invisible multi-ribbed frame composite wall

The energy-saving block and invisible multi-ribbed frame composite wall (EBIMFCW) is a new type of load-bearing wall. The study of this paper focus on it is hysteresis rule under horizontal cyclic loading. Firstly, based on the experimental data of the twelve specimens under horizontal cyclic loading, the influence of two important parameters of axial compression ratio and shear-span ratio on the restoring force model was analyzed. Secondly, a tetra-linear restoring force model considering four feature points and the degradation law of unloading stiffness was established by combining theoretical analysis and regression analysis of experimental data, and the theoretical formula of the peak load of the EBIMFCW was derived. Finally, the hysteretic path of the restoring force model was determined by analyzing the hysteresis characteristics of the typical hysteresis loop. The results show that the curves calculated by the tetra-linear restoring force model in this paper agree well with the experimental curves, especially the calculated values of the peak load of the wall are very close to the experimental values, which can provide a reference for the elastic-plastic analysis of the EBIMFCW.

A scene with an invisible wall - the role of navigational experience in visual scene perception

A scene with an invisible wall - the role of navigational experience in visual scene perception

From the European Union to the United States of Europe: Is it Time to Abolish the 'Purely Internal Rule'?

Whilst the Iron Curtain no longer exists, an “invisible wall” still divides Europe: the so-called “purely internal rule”, according to which situations that are entirely confined within a single Member State lie outside the scope of EU free movement provisions and, absent other links with the “scope of EU law”, are not protected by the Charter of fundamental rights. This chapter discusses whether the time has come to abolish the “purely internal rule”, so as to meld the individual EU Member States into some kind of United States of Europe.

The Jumping Festival

The Jumping Festival Joseph Han (bio) Tae-woo stood on the ledge behind the Dora Observatory's row of binoculars. No one paid him any mind since he was long dead. Tae-woo looked more like an outline, his body becoming opaque, waning like his spirit. Had he not found a living relative, Tae-woo could only get this far. A European tourist standing right under him, using the pair of binoculars between his legs, yelped when he found the propaganda village. Tae-woo swung his foot through the tourist's head. He bent over and farted in his face. The tourist crinkled his nose and waved his hand, probably wondering where the odd smell came from, perhaps it was the wind coming from the landscape ahead. Tae-woo hated the people who visited the DMZ. Folks from all around the world who got a cheap thrill from the proximity of being so close to North Korea. Tae-woo was close too. He couldn't fall forward. He could never breach the DMZ no matter how many occasions he tried. When he died, Tae-woo woke up outside of his body, panting and clutching his heart after having fallen through the chair in his booth. In the final years of his life, he worked as a parking attendant in a lot for a nearby megachurch where people paid weekly for their tickets into heaven, a fare to get out of the garage. Tae-woo's body slumped over the controls for the gate arm. A driver nearest the booth screamed at Tae-woo, believing he had fallen asleep while drivers in the far back honked at the hold up. Dying was painful, if only for that moment. He tried to slip back into his body by molding his new form into its former. He swatted at his head—his hand passed through. He would have preferred nothing to this. Tae-woo exited the booth and walked through the gate arm, figuring this meant he could walk back home to the north which, upon first arriving to the DMZ, proved false. At the border, his face smacked right into an invisible wall. In a second attempt, he generated some momentum from a far enough distance, believing he could run right through. A magnetic force repelled him upon impact, in a burst that sent him flying further back each time he tried to run faster. He pounded on the wall and sobbed. The wall only invisible until he came into contact with it, vibrating with an electric ripple from each impact that seemed to sting the wall and Tae-woo both. Tae-woo wondered if the family he left behind all that time ago had ever tried to do the same: if they ever went down, near where he stood then, to find him. Tae-woo knew he had been long forgotten, and rightly so. This didn't deter him from trying. After all, he believed they were all dead at this point, and if not, he could at least spend his time searching for an indication of how they had lived. His first wife. His son. But he was weak. Most ghosts from South Korea, their spirits fed, could interact with the physical [End Page 223] world if strong enough. Tae-woo spent months walking along the DMZ to get acquainted with the wall. When light hit the wall from a certain angle, it shimmered the faintest blue. On the day Tae-woo could've sworn he saw a bird fly right over what looked like a line at the top of the wall, he asked a new friend, Young-sik, to join him on an excursion. Young-sik was from South Korea. Moved by Tae-woo's determination, he entertained Tae-woo's theory that the wall had its limit. Young-sik picked up a rock, Tae-woo's eyes widening as it lifted off the ground. Young-sik braced himself to throw it like a shot put as high as he could. The rock barely made it above their heads and landed with a thump, dropping like Tae-woo's heart. After years of trying to find an entry...

“The Friendship of Our Distant Relations”: Feminism and Animal Families in Marlen Haushofer's <em>Die Wand</em> (1963)

This article considers Marlen Haushofer’s novel Die Wand (1963) in the contexts of animal (eco)feminism from the 1970s onward and the animal essays of philosopher Cora Diamond. It argues that Haushofer’s novel, in which the female narrator survives behind an invisible wall with a family of animals, anticipates feminist theories of intersection between the oppression of women and of non-human animals and illustrates a feminist ethics of care. The novel attends to animal characters as individuals with agency and, setting up a stylistic and thematic tension between the everyday and the extraordinary, exposes the reader to difficult ideas about animal death and human destructiveness. Despite the novel’s challenge to the conventional way of seeing animals, the narrator ultimately upholds the idea of an unbridgeable barrier between human beings and other species, but she reverses the traditional hierarchy: she values non-human animals more highly than human beings.

The Friendship of Our Distant Relations”: Feminism and Animal Families in Marlen Haushofer’s Die Wand (1963)

This article considers Marlen Haushofer’s novel Die Wand (1963) in the contexts of animal (eco)feminism from the 1970s onward and the animal essays of philosopher Cora Diamond. It argues that Haushofer’s novel, in which the female narrator survives behind an invisible wall with a family of animals, anticipates feminist theories of intersection between the oppression of women and of non-human animals and illustrates a feminist ethics of care. The novel attends to animal characters as individuals with agency and, setting up a stylistic and thematic tension between the everyday and the extraordinary, exposes the reader to difficult ideas about animal death and human destructiveness. Despite the novel’s challenge to the conventional way of seeing animals, the narrator ultimately upholds the idea of an unbridgeable barrier between human beings and other species, but she reverses the traditional hierarchy: she values non-human animals more highly than human beings.

Invisible walls: Measuring the impact of organized violence on urban expansion

In this paper, we examine the relationship between built-up area residential density and organized violence. Security for most of human history has been one of the driving factors for city development and growth; this remains true today. What is new, is that the prevalence of organized violence is associated with increased population density in adjacent built-up areas. Throughout history, those fleeing organized violence have sought refuge in areas that provided “pockets of safety” or a measure of “relative security.” We first observed this phenomenon in Colombia when we found that after decades of organized violence between guerilla groups and the Colombian national government, its cities were denser than cities in neighboring countries. Drawing on data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, we found that in a representative sample of 200 global cities, cities with frequent organized violence were also associated with denser residential built-up areas as well. We conclude that organized violence creates an invisible wall that contains the outward expansion of cities adjacent to organized conflict.

A scene with an invisible wall - Does navigation experience influence scene perception?

A scene with an invisible wall - Does navigation experience influence scene perception?

Customer Relationship Management in Banks: Convenience vs. Human Touch

The banking landscape is changing rapidly with digital platforms becoming a dominant form of interaction between banks and their clients; but isn’t this advancement a big challenge to human touch? Will this advancement render the human element unnecessary? Today, Consumers, particularly millennials, expect banking services to be faster and seamless on the back of smart digital interfaces. Technology has improved productivity. However, it has made the banking operations more mechanical and devoid of human touch. The paper explores the young generation banking customer’s attitude towards Customer Relationship Management strategies adopted by different banks and discovers the alarming signal of vanishing human touch; as the study finds that both banks and customers prefer technological convenience over human touch. Thus, in the evolution of banking, the invisible wall is hindering the relationship between banks and customers which would be showing the impact in the near future. The paper suggests that in the process of aligning the futuristic goals and current practices the major ignorance to human touch is an invisible challenge, which should be addressed at the right time. A service industry like banking cannot breathe without Emotional Connection. In times to come, the fading human touch phenomenon needs to be reserved