Unified Percept Research Articles

Young children's perceptions and experiences of school readiness during the transition from preschool to primary school in China

AbstractSchool readiness has a profound educational value for children's positive adjustment to primary school and holistic development. However, little research sufficiently addresses how young children view multifaceted components of learning, such as cognitive, affective and behavioural experiences on school readiness. A timely understanding of children's perceptions and experiences is crucial to shed light on how to promote transition and improve children's school readiness. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of 41 children in China (5–6 years of age, 23 girls) regarding their school readiness based on Mosaic approach methods. The results indicated that young children have their own unique perceptions, emotional and behavioural experiences of school readiness. The perceptions of school readiness include four aspects of material supplies, subjects knowledge, interests and specialties and behavioural habits, which has similarities to that of adults in aspects of academic knowledge and social rules. Nevertheless, findings revealed young children view interests and strengths as important part of school readiness, reflecting their personal preferences and abilities. The emotional experiences could be considered positive or negative, with positive emotional experiences expressing children's curiosity and expectation, fulfilment and pleasure, and negative emotional experiences expressing academic burden, rules pressure and social worries, which need to be addressed. Young children's behavioural experiences with school readiness present two patterns of passive acceptance and active participation, they are eager to participate in activities and have a strong desire to explore and learn. Our findings extend beyond existing conception of school readiness, and give greater weight to children's interests and strengths, positive experiences and active participation. It is important to focus on children's intrinsic interests and strengths, accept children's ideas and choices, care for their emotional state and provide positive support.

Dynamical predictive coding with reservoir computing performs noise-robust multi-sensory speech recognition.

Multi-sensory integration is a perceptual process through which the brain synthesizes a unified perception by integrating inputs from multiple sensory modalities. A key issue is understanding how the brain performs multi-sensory integrations using a common neural basis in the cortex. A cortical model based on reservoir computing has been proposed to elucidate the role of recurrent connectivity among cortical neurons in this process. Reservoir computing is well-suited for time series processing, such as speech recognition. This inquiry focuses on extending a reservoir computing-based cortical model to encompass multi-sensory integration within the cortex. This research introduces a dynamical model of multi-sensory speech recognition, leveraging predictive coding combined with reservoir computing. Predictive coding offers a framework for the hierarchical structure of the cortex. The model integrates reliability weighting, derived from the computational theory of multi-sensory integration, to adapt to multi-sensory time series processing. The model addresses a multi-sensory speech recognition task, necessitating the management of complex time series. We observed that the reservoir effectively recognizes speech by extracting time-contextual information and weighting sensory inputs according to sensory noise. These findings indicate that the dynamic properties of recurrent networks are applicable to multi-sensory time series processing, positioning reservoir computing as a suitable model for multi-sensory integration.

Analysis of Color and Artistic Conception in Painting Art

The charm of painting, as a bright pearl in the treasure house of culture, lies in its visual language constructed through colors and lines, which conveys the artist’s unique perception of life and profound emotions. Color, as the most intuitive and expressive language in painting, is not only a simple reproduction of material colors but also a projection of the artist’s inner world. Artistic conception, as a core concept in traditional Chinese painting theory, refers to the emotional atmosphere and spiritual mood embedded in paintings. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interaction between color and mood in painting art, to analyze the techniques of using color in different painting styles and their influence on the creation of mood, and to provide new perspectives and methods for the creation of paintings.

Refined Intelligent Landslide Identification Based on Multi-Source Information Fusion

Landslides are most severe in the mountainous regions of southwestern China. While landslide identification provides a foundation for disaster prevention operations, methods for utilizing multi-source data and deep learning techniques to improve the efficiency and accuracy of landslide identification in complex environments are still a focus of research and a difficult issue in landslide research. In this study, we address the above problems and construct a landslide identification model based on the shifted window (Swin) transformer. We chose Ya’an, which has a complex terrain and experiences frequent landslides, as the study area. Our model, which fuses features from different remote sensing data sources and introduces a loss function that better learns the boundary information of the target, is compared with the pyramid scene parsing network (PSPNet), the unified perception parsing network (UPerNet), and DeepLab_V3+ models in order to explore the learning potential of the model and test the models’ resilience in an open-source landslide database. The results show that in the Ya’an landslide database, compared with the above benchmark networks (UPerNet, PSPNet, and DeepLab_v3+), the Swin Transformer-based optimization model improves overall accuracies by 1.7%, 2.1%, and 1.5%, respectively; the F1_score is improved by 14.5%, 16.2%, and 12.4%; and the intersection over union (IoU) is improved by 16.9%, 18.5%, and 14.6%, respectively. The performance of the optimized model is excellent.

More similar than different: Characterizing special interests in autistic boys and girls based on caregiver report.

Almost all autistic youths have special interests (SIs), which are focused, intense areas of passion and interest in a particular topic. Emerging research suggests that there are gender differences in SIs among autistic youth; however, commonly used measures that assess for the presence of SIs may not fully capture the granular nature of those differences between autistic boys and girls. Characterizing these differences is important for autism identification in girls, as SIs in autistic girls may often be overlooked by caregivers, teachers, and clinicians due to their more "typical" and more socially oriented content areas compared to autistic boys. This study therefore aimed to more fully characterize gender differences in SIs using a newly developed caregiver-report measure of SIs (the Special Interests Survey; SIS). Caregivers of 1921 autistic youth completed the SIS. Analyses revealed many similarities between boys and girls; there were no gender differences in mean age SI onset, caregivers' perceptions of uniqueness or interferences of endorsed SIs, or duration of previous SIs. There were gender differences in endorsement of less than half (39%) of the SI categories measured, and there were minor differences in the number of endorsed current and past SIs. Categories with significant gender differences fell along typical gender lines (e.g., more boys interested in math and construction, more girls interested in animals and arts/crafts). This study extends the growing literature on SIs and gender differences in autism and has important implications for supporting autistic youth and their families.

Feature binding is slow: Temporal integration explains apparent ultrafast binding.

Visual perception involves binding of distinct features into a unified percept. Although traditional theories link feature binding to time-consuming recurrent processes, Holcombe and Cavanagh (2001) demonstrated ultrafast, early binding of features that belong to the same object. The task required binding of orientation and luminance within an exceptionally short presentation time. However, because visual stimuli were presented over multiple presentation cycles, their findings can alternatively be explained by temporal integration over the extended stimulus sequence. Here, we conducted three experiments manipulating the number of presentation cycles. If early binding occurs, one extremely short cycle should be sufficient for feature integration. Conversely, late binding theories predict that successful binding requires substantial time and improves with additional presentation cycles. Our findings indicate that task-relevant binding of features from the same object occurs slowly, supporting late binding theories.

Exploring the varying agendas of principals, teachers, and a university related to mentorship

ABSTRACT Teachers are entering the field with a different set of teaching expectations than existing teachers were held to during their own training programs. As a result of shifts in teacher preparation practices and increasingly diverse student populations, existing teachers may not be equipped to mentor novice and student teachers, perpetuating cycles of inequity and frustration. Employing qualitative methods that examined the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, this study explores factors that inform existing teachers’ willingness and ability to mentor the next generation of teachers. Findings suggest that there needs to be more explicit guidance and coordination on the part of all stakeholders, each of whom presents unique perceptions and agendas regarding mentoring the next wave of teachers.

Growing Confidence and Remaining Uncertainty About Animal Consciousness

While the study of consciousness has had a controversial history and, until recently, a pessimistic prognosis, recent views within the neuroscientific community suggest that a maturing if incomplete scientific understanding of consciousness is close at hand. The purpose of this essay is to specify the major points on which in my opinion there is widespread though not universal agreement, as proposed benchmarks for the current state of consciousness research across the phylogenetic spectrum. Most published definitions of consciousness boil down to a focus on it as a process arising in a nervous system engaged with a body and its environment, giving rise to subjective (personal) experience. A broad consensus on the phenomenology of consciousness sees it consisting at a minimum of (1) awareness_ _and focused attention, (2) unity of perception, (3) qualitative variations in content, (4) mental causation, and (5) a sense of self. There is also broad agreement that the substrate of consciousness requires sizeable, complex nervous systems organized into several hierarchical levels of processing. Further insight is gained by reconstructing the evolution of subjective phenomenological experience ― most likely from multiple origins, hosted by a diversity of body and brain architectures, and diverging into markedly different forms across the animal kingdom. However, three major mysteries about phenomenological experience that remain unresolved are (1) the neurological correlates of consciousness, (2) the apparent gap between phenomenology and mechanism, and (3) the process that monitors the brain activity admitted into consciousness.

NEVRUZ FESTİVAL İN TURKİC PEOPLES AND TURKEY

Although mythology, that is, shorthand for unknown times, unusually conveys everyday life with the help of symbols, it cyclically tells about the creation of the world and the apocalypse. The mythology of the steppe peoples also transmits their early times from generation to generation in the form of oral culture. This oral culture is a product of a nomadic lifestyle with livestock farming. Steppe peoples have their unique perception of time and the universe in their mythologies. Nauryz culture also reflects their perception of the universe and time. The purpose of the article is to reveal the content of the Nauryz holiday, personifying spring and fertility, the new year, and the beginning of the year, in the culture of the Turkish people, which is filled with meanings and elements symbolizing spring, the joy of life, water and sacred purification, renewal, abundance, fertility, and awakening of nature. The time of the awakening of nature has been celebrated at various times in agricultural and livestock societies since ancient times. Nauryz is a widely celebrated holiday among the peoples of Eurasia, who devote their lives mainly to animal husbandry. Although the Turkic peoples living throughout Eurasia celebrate Nauryz in different ways and continues to exist as a common value. This study will examine the origins of the Nauryz holiday among the steppe peoples and the Turkic world, as well as its development among the Ottoman Turks and Turkey in the light of some archival documents, as well as research and source studies.

The Influence Of Advertising Creativity, Brand Trust, And Brand Image On Consumer Purchase Intentions Of Cosmetic Products (A Study On Sociolla Store Users At Ska Mall Pekanbaru)

This study aims to understand the impact of advertising creativity, brand trust, and brand image on consumer purchasing interest in cosmetic products at the Sociolla Store, SKA Mall Pekanbaru. The development of digital economy has changed the way of trading, including in the cosmetic industry with the emergence of e-commerce platforms such as Sociolla. In the context of tight competition, understanding the factors that influence consumer purchasing interest becomes important. This study involved 120 respondents from Sociolla Store users at SKA Mall Pekanbaru. Data were collected using an online questionnaire assessing respondents' perceptions of advertising creativity, brand trust, brand image, and purchase interest. Data analysis was conducted using multiple regression to assess the influence of independent variables on the dependent variable. The results showed that the majority of visitors or consumers of Sociolla at SKA Mall Pekanbaru are individuals of relatively young age, especially in the age range of 26 to 35 years, with a background of higher education and diverse professions. Validity and reliability tests of the instrument showed that the questionnaire used has good validity and reliability. Data analysis showed that advertising creativity, brand trust, and brand image significantly influence consumer purchasing interest in cosmetic products. Advertising creativity plays an important role in attracting attention and influencing consumer purchasing interest. Brand trust also plays a role in forming long-term relationships between consumers and brands, while brand image creates unique perceptions and influences consumer preferences. In conclusion, advertising creativity, brand trust, and brand image have a significant influence on consumer purchasing interest in cosmetic products at the Sociolla Store, SKA Mall Pekanbaru. These results can be valuable guidance for cosmetic companies in enhancing their marketing strategies in the digital era

Employee Experience While Working Remotely During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand: A Qualitative Enquiry

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought massive changes to all aspects of human society and the economy. Recent outbreaks in Thailand lasted for a longer duration and have been more severe than the previous commencing epidemic, as evidenced by the increased counts of cases, hospitalizations, and, unfortunately, fatalities. Thereby, social distancing - the most powerful strategy to prevent the coronavirus spread - was more strictly imposed, as officials implemented vaccination and other mitigation strategies. Consequently, remote working has become obligatory for every firm, alternating working in person in most situations. This paper aims to reflect unique perceptions of employee experience and initially identify some contributing factors regarding the remote working situation in Thailand during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby illuminating implications for both employees and employers in the possible long-term future of remote working. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants who served different roles in various industries, yet all experienced remote working during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand. The subsequent analysis yielded four primary themes. First , the application of technology and its quality had a strong impact on employee experience, as this was the inevitable instrument to maintain all activities. Second, the discrepancy in role autonomy discriminated more distinctly the working pressure between managers and subordinates. Third, work-life balance was more difficult to achieve for people who have a family, with more blurs and complications. And finally, organizational changes were critical to employee experience, yet still limited and incomprehensible.

Auditory cortex conveys non-topographic sound localization signals to visual cortex

Spatiotemporally congruent sensory stimuli are fused into a unified percept. The auditory cortex (AC) sends projections to the primary visual cortex (V1), which could provide signals for binding spatially corresponding audio-visual stimuli. However, whether AC inputs in V1 encode sound location remains unknown. Using two-photon axonal calcium imaging and a speaker array, we measured the auditory spatial information transmitted from AC to layer 1 of V1. AC conveys information about the location of ipsilateral and contralateral sound sources to V1. Sound location could be accurately decoded by sampling AC axons in V1, providing a substrate for making location-specific audiovisual associations. However, AC inputs were not retinotopically arranged in V1, and audio-visual modulations of V1 neurons did not depend on the spatial congruency of the sound and light stimuli. The non-topographic sound localization signals provided by AC might allow the association of specific audiovisual spatial patterns in V1 neurons.

The image of the non-Jew in the responsa of David Zvi Hoffmann

This article has a double focus. First, it sheds new light on David Zvi Hoffmann (1843–1931), an important rabbinic scholar, born in the Austrian Empire but who eventually moved westwards to become, at the turn of the century, the rector of the Orthodox Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin and an important halakhic decisor. Taking up the topic of interfaith encounters in nineteenth-century Germany, I demonstrate that Hoffmann held a nuanced and unique perception of Christian–Jewish encounters. The article also offers methodological insights on the analytical tools used in historical and philosophical research into Jewish law. More than half a century ago, Haym Soloveitchik proposed an evidentiary criterion, which he called ‘measurable deflection’, for gauging when medieval social historians may infer historical realia from halakhic sources. This article contends, however, that the usefulness of measurable deflection is limited. It suggests replacing it with alternative benchmarks, called ‘proximity indicators’, and uses them to provide a novel understanding of Hoffmann’s position towards non-Jews. As a conclusion, the article advances that Hoffmann exemplifies the tension of living as a religious Jew in nineteenth-century Germany.

Attunement Space and Eco-Deconstruction in Malone Dies

As exemplified by Timothy Morton’s argument, what is at stake in the discussion of the Anthropocene is the need to deconstruct the closedness of the anthropocentric world and recover the fundamental connection between the human and the nonhuman that has been suppressed by it. This essay attempts to examine how Malone Dies shows the possibility of eco-deconstruction, not in the sense of an idealistic or normative ethics of ecology, but rather in presenting us a uniquely imaginative ‘attunement space’ that allows for an alternative form of sensitivity to the profound and paradoxical intimacy between the human and the nonhuman. Beckett's vision in Malone Dies resonates with Morton's vision of ecological being, but takes it to a more enigmatic place that more fully takes into account both the violence and the receptivity within the ‘grey zone’ between human and nonhuman. In Beckett's view, it is necessary to descend to a limit (non-)place like the ‘attunement space’ presented in this novel, where ordinary sensory perception and temporal and spatial restrictions dissolve. The essay shows how this ‘attunement space’ unveils itself in several overlapping layers. First, there is the layer of something articulated in terms of the spiritual, a realm of what Malone calls ‘the soul’. Then there is another layer that involves the perception of the unperceivable, which is usually hindered by ordinary human sensory perception. In this realm something fundamental that exists prior to all phenomena and things is revealed – something that is inseparable from what Beckett calls the ‘buzzing confusion’, ‘the mess’, or ‘the chaos’. This unique perception takes place in the realms of both sight and sound. The attunement to an undifferentiated dimension in Malone Dies makes possible an ecological awareness of the already existing intimacy with nonhuman life, as Morton describes.

Comparative Analysis of Consumer Preferences for African Prints in Southwest Nigerian States

This research investigates the diverse perceptions and preferences of consumers towards African prints in Southwest Nigeria across various age groups. The study examined the interplay of cultural, social, and economic factors shaping consumer choices in of African print fabric usage. Survey research design was adopted for the study using questionnaire as the data gathering tool. Samples were selected across the six states in Southwest Nigeria. A total of three hundred and eighty-four (384) African print consumers were sampled using random sampling technique. The data was subjected descriptive analysis, using frequency distribution, percentage, and mean score. The study revealed that users of African print fabrics across age groups have their unique perceptions and preferences in African print fabrics. It was therefore recommended that African print designers should adopt user-centred design process and focus on consumer preferences during the design process of African print fabrics. Keywords: African prints, Preference, Southwest, Nigeria.

Experiencing Intimate Relationships and Sexuality: A Qualitative Study with Autistic Adolescents and Adults

Romance, intimacy, and sexuality are crucial elements of human well-being. However, they have gone unnoticed and insufficiently explored among individuals with neurodevelopmental difficulties, namely among autistic people. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disability characterized by repetitive and stereotypical behavior, interests, or activities and by difficulties in interpersonal relationships and verbal and non-verbal communication. Preliminary studies reveal that, although most wish to relate intimately with other people, several autistic individuals tend to isolate themselves and engage in individual sexual behaviors. Despite the importance of this topic, few studies have looked at it in depth nor included the unique perceptions of autistic people about topics such as romantic and intimate relationships or sexuality. To fill that gap, we have designed a qualitative, cross-sectional and exploratory study that sought to explore the perceptions and experiences of autistic people about romance, intimacy and sexuality. Twenty-two autistic teenagers and adults (63.6% female) aged between 15 and 45 years, consented to participate in individual in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The transcripts were examined with thematic analysis. The results highlight three main themes: Intimate relationships, sexuality, and sex education. The negative impact of autistic characteristics in sexuality and sexuality was highlighted by the participants. Understanding the difficulties and the needs of autistic people will increase awareness regarding this topic and improve assessment and interventions related to romantic relationships and sexuality. Furthermore, our study sheds light on the importance of developing tailored and adequate sex education programs and tools for the difficulties presented by autistic youth.

A Qualitative Study Exploring Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Firefighters.

Firefighters are at increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), yet rates of CRC screening are low among this occupational group. This study examines perceived risks, barriers, and facilitators to CRC screening. Three semistructured focus group discussions were conducted by investigators in Tucson, AZ. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns and themes in the data. Three groups of firefighters (8 male (57%); 6 female (43%) mean age 50.4 ( SD = 12.2) years) voluntarily participated in the CRC discussions. Four major themes were examined: (1) perceptions of risk for CRC, (2) barriers to cancer screening, (3) facilitators to getting cancer screening, and (4) misinformation about CRC and screening. Findings indicate unique perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs among firefighters. Results from this study will inform the adaptation of a tailored CRC screening intervention for firefighters.

Significance of biocultural heritage, cultural landscape and islandness for responsible tourism: a Knoydart case study

The COVID-19 pandemic, environmental crisis and increasing growth in tourism prompted interest in more responsible tourism. So called responsible tourism (RT) entails diverse ingredients and an aim of this research is to understand if residents of community owned nature-rich land believe they have responsibility to share with visitors, or if their focus is shifting toward prioritising environmental conservation and or personal wellbeing. In this case study a unique perception of RT emerges in Knoydart Scotland, born from a pronounced awareness of biocultural heritage and a self-directed understanding of landscape as cultural. A distinctive feature in this case study is an expression of abundant generosity evolving from participants’ embodied understanding of the integration of culture and nature. This commitment to a cultural landscape is particularly noteworthy since it is set within a location presented to tourists as ‘wilderness’. Findings suggest that it is meaningful to explore historically evolved cultural understandings of ‘islandness’ and biocultural heritage, before promoting exogenous RT strategies. This research revitalizes frequently discredited notions about what responsible and sustainable tourism involve, as well as offering a rare example of the impacts of ‘islandness’ within a mainland setting.

Coherent categorical information triggers integration-related alpha dynamics.

To create coherent visual experiences, the brain spatially integrates the complex and dynamic information it receives from the environment. We previously demonstrated that feedback-related alpha activity carries stimulus-specific information when two spatially and temporally coherent naturalistic inputs can be integrated into a unified percept. In this study, we sought to determine whether such integration-related alpha dynamics are triggered by categorical coherence in visual inputs. In an EEG experiment, we manipulated the degree of coherence by presenting pairs of videos from the same or different categories through two apertures in the left and right visual hemifields. Critically, video pairs could be video-level coherent (i.e., stem from the same video), coherent in their basic-level category, coherent in their superordinate category, or incoherent (i.e., stem from videos from two entirely different categories). We conducted multivariate classification analyses on rhythmic EEG responses to decode between the video stimuli in each condition. As the key result, we significantly decoded the video-level coherent and basic-level coherent stimuli, but not the superordinate coherent and incoherent stimuli, from cortical alpha rhythms. This suggests that alpha dynamics play a critical role in integrating information across space, and that cortical integration processes are flexible enough to accommodate information from different exemplars of the same basic-level category.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our brain integrates dynamic inputs across the visual field to create coherent visual experiences. Such integration processes have previously been linked to cortical alpha dynamics. In this study, the integration-related alpha activity was observed not only when snippets from the same video were presented, but also when different video snippets from the same basic-level category were presented, highlighting the flexibility of neural integration processes.

Growing Confidence and Remaining Uncertainty About Animal Consciousness

While the study of consciousness has had a controversial history and, until recently, a pessimistic prognosis, recent views within the neuroscientific community suggest that a maturing if incomplete scientific understanding of consciousness is close at hand. The purpose of this essay is to specify the major points on which in my opinion there is widespread though not universal agreement, as proposed benchmarks for the current state of consciousness research across the phylogenetic spectrum. Most published definitions of consciousness boil down to a focus on it as a process arising in a nervous system engaged with a body and its environment, giving rise to subjective (personal) experience. A broad consensus on the phenomenology of consciousness sees it consisting at a minimum of (1) awarenessand focused attention, (2) unity of perception, (3) qualitative variations in content, (4) mental causation, and (5) a sense of self. There is also broad agreement that the substrate of consciousness requires sizeable, complex nervous systems organized into several hierarchical levels of processing. Further insight is gained by reconstructing the evolution of subjective phenomenological experience ― most likely from multiple origins, hosted by a diversity of body and brain architectures, and diverging into markedly different forms across the animal kingdom. However, three major mysteries about phenomenological experience that remain unresolved are (1) the neurological correlates of consciousness, (2) the apparent gap between phenomenology and mechanism, and (3) the process that monitors the brain activity admitted into consciousness.