Positive Representations Research Articles

Teachers’ Perfectionist Attitude to Learning and Students struggling with Self-stigmatization in Private Secondary Schools in Delta State

The study investigated teachers’ perfectionist attitude to learning and Students struggling with self-stigmatization in private secondary schools in Delta State. Three (3) research questions were raised and answered while three (3) null hypotheses were formulated and tested in the study. The variables in the study were reviewed from relevant literature. This research is a correlational study of ex-post facto design. The population comprise all registered private secondary schools in Delta State. The population of the study is 15,951 comprising of 1177 proprietors/principals and 14,774 teachers in private secondary schools in Delta State in the twenty five (25) Local Government Areas of Delta State. The sample for this study comprised 1533 respondents made up of 588 proprietors/principals and 945 teachers in Delta State private secondary schools selected from 12 Local Government Areas. Proprietors/principals represented 50% while teachers represent 10% of the population. A self developed questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Perfectionist Attitude to Learning and Students struggling Self-stigmatization Questionnaire’ (TPALSSSQ)”, validated and its reliability equally determined via a pilot study using test re-test reliability technique with a coefficient index of 0.86 was used. The researcher administered a total of 1,533 questionnaire to randomly selected respondents from the selected private secondary schools in the study area. The research questions raised were answered using simple percentage, Mean score and Standard Deviation while Pearson Product Moment Statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that teachers’ perfectionist attitude to learning influence Students struggling with self-stigmatization. Students may feel that they are not good enough or that they will never meet the teacher's expectations. It was therefore recommended that teachers should foster a growth mindset and emphasize effort over ability, encourage self-compassion and self-awareness, provide positive role models and representation and promote diversity and inclusion.

Usage of Animalistic Illustration in Monetary Signs: International Experience

The purpose of the study is to study animalistic imagery in the design of banknotes and their correlation with the traditional and contemporary culture of the country they represent. The article is aimed at identifying aspects of money design impact on preserving unique heritage of a particular and its positive representation in the world. Research methodology is based on the application of empirical and comparative analysis. The theoretical basis consists of scientific publications on sign systems, certain aspects of banknote design, and the priority of different factors in banknote identification. The source material for the study includes banknotes from countries with different cultural backgrounds containing animalistic images. Scientific novelty. For the first time in the Ukrainian space, the article provides a review and systematization of the use of animalistic illustrations in the design of banknotes from different countries worldwide. The influence of a country’s traditional culture on the design of modern banknotes is explored. A comprehensive analysis of the design of Australian and South African banknotes is carried out from both design and culturological perspectives. Conclusions. Currently, images of fauna representatives are an integral part of the design of banknotes in countries such as South Africa, Australia, Madagascar, South Sudan, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand. The images used in banknote design present unique representatives of fauna specific to regions, which have become an integral part of local traditional culture and contemporary practices. This proves that the design of banknotes is based on a semantic component, particularly on signs that, on one hand, are iconic accurate reproductions of real fauna representatives, and on the other hand, symbols of many cultural mythologies and basic principles of the mentality of the leading ethnic group for a particular country. Studying the correlation between images used in the sign system of a particular country’s banknotes and its traditional culture allows for a better understanding of the specificity of using not only animalistic illustrations in banknote design but also other elements as components of the banknote sign system.

Comparative Analysis of Gender Representation in English Textbooks for Indonesian Junior High School Students

This study compares gender representations in three different English textbooks from three publishers used by Indonesian Junior High School students (the Indonesian government, an Indonesian private publisher, and an International publisher). Under Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the study specifically investigated males’ and females’ representations and the typical activities associated with both genders. Overall, the results showed that males dominated all the textbooks, visually and textually. Besides that, the analysis revealed that females still have lower representations, less variation in occupations, and feminine specialization in doing the household chores in two textbooks. However, positive representations and stereotypes also appear in the textbooks, such as neutral generic constructions and typical activities by both genders.

Cultural placemaking in the black suburbs of the tourist city

ABSTRACT This article examines how non-institutional(ized) street art tours and DIY parties in two racialized, lower-class neighborhoods in the outskirts of Lisbon generate different results. In the neighborhood of Quinta do Mocho, these street art tours and DIY parties arise as playfulness and multicultural experiences of opening up the communities to local white middle-class visitors and tourists. In the neighborhood of Cova da Moura, these actions culminate in a cultural festival that celebrates African and Afro-diasporic cultures, promoting the visibility of the talented artists of the neighborhood. In both cases, positive representations about these territories are produced, linked to a strengthening of the sense of belonging to Quinta do Mocho’s and Cova de Moura’s communities. The article concludes by suggesting that non-institutional(ized) street art tours and DIY parties arise as pioneering actions toward challenging and decolonizing urban thinking on contemporary Lisbon.

Positive Representations with Zero Casimirs

In this paper, we construct a new family of generalization of the positive representations of split-real quantum groups based on the degeneration of the Casimir operators acting as zero on some Hilbert spaces. It is motivated by a new observation arising from modifying the representation in the simplest case of Uq(sl(2,R))\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mathcal {U}_q(\\mathfrak {sl}(2,\\mathbb {R}))$$\\end{document} compatible with Faddeev’s modular double, while having a surprising tensor product decomposition. For higher rank, the representations are obtained by the polarization of Chevalley generators of Uq(g)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mathcal {U}_q(\\mathfrak {g})$$\\end{document} in a new realization as universally Laurent polynomials of a certain skew-symmetrizable quantum cluster algebra. We also calculate explicitly the Casimir actions of the maximal An-1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$A_{n-1}$$\\end{document} degenerate representations of Uq(gR)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mathcal {U}_q(\\mathfrak {g}_\\mathbb {R})$$\\end{document} for general Lie types based on the complexification of the central parameters.

Shark Dive and Hologram Zoo: Two Case Studies of Virtual Animal Encounters as Possible Models for Sustainable Wildlife Tourism.

Wildlife tourism is commonly argued to positively contribute to nature conservation by providing humans with educational and meaningful first-hand experiences with animals. However, concern for the sustainability of nature due to the negative impacts of wildlife tourism on animals and the environment invites alternative virtual opportunities for close encounters. Participant Observation framed by an Animal Studies perspective is employed to interpret two contemporary Australian family entertainments, Shark Dive and Hologram Zoo, centred on providing people with wild animal interactions but without real animals present. Shark Dive is a theatrical puppetry production replicating a real shark dive, and Hologram Zoo is an augmented reality experience that displays a variety of animals in 3D. The content of both is examined to understand how the animals are imagined, experienced, and given significance to determine whether they offer viable alternatives or complementary additions to in situ wildlife tourism. Findings reveal both hold potential for virtual wildlife tourism. Shark Dive provides a positive representation of marine life, generating awareness about conservation and encouraging self-reflection. Hologram Zoo's depiction of wild animals is impressive, but to more closely align with contemporary wildlife tourism ideals, the experience could enhance its conservation messaging and positive human-animal interactions.

Nostalgia for Soviet Estonia: Discursive Elements of Shared Memory in the Facebook Group “Sovetskaia Estoniia – Eesti NSV”

This paper explores the role of online platforms in shaping a nostalgic discourse around Estonia’s Soviet past, focusing on the Facebook group “Советская Эстония – Eesti NSV” (Soviet Estonia). Despite official condemnation of the Soviet legacy, this bilingual Russian-Estonian group fosters a positive representation of the era through shared photos and personal memories. Utilizing sociolinguistic methods, the study examines posts and comment threads, unveiling discursive mechanisms employed to reinforce group identity and leverage nostalgia. Members engage in discussions that not only counter the official narrative regarding the past but also extend to contemporary political issues. The research highlights the impact of digital tools and social media in facilitating the construction of collective memory and challenging dominant historical perspectives.

A structure theorem for generalized-noncontextual ontological models

It is useful to have a criterion for when the predictions of an operational theory should be considered classically explainable. Here we take the criterion to be that the theory admits of a generalized-noncontextual ontological model. Existing works on generalized noncontextuality have focused on experimental scenarios having a simple structure: typically, prepare-measure scenarios. Here, we formally extend the framework of ontological models as well as the principle of generalized noncontextuality to arbitrary compositional scenarios. We leverage a process-theoretic framework to prove that, under some reasonable assumptions, every generalized-noncontextual ontological model of a tomographically local operational theory has a surprisingly rigid and simple mathematical structure — in short, it corresponds to a frame representation which is not overcomplete. One consequence of this theorem is that the largest number of ontic states possible in any such model is given by the dimension of the associated generalized probabilistic theory. This constraint is useful for generating noncontextuality no-go theorems as well as techniques for experimentally certifying contextuality. Along the way, we extend known results concerning the equivalence of different notions of classicality from prepare-measure scenarios to arbitrary compositional scenarios. Specifically, we prove a correspondence between the following three notions of classical explainability of an operational theory: (i) existence of a noncontextual ontological model for it, (ii) existence of a positive quasiprobability representation for the generalized probabilistic theory it defines, and (iii) existence of an ontological model for the generalized probabilistic theory it defines.

The contribution of Sensory Processing Sensitivity and internalized attachment representations on emotion regulation competencies in school-age children.

As captured by the individual trait of Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), highly sensitive children perceive, process, and responds more strongly to stimuli. This increased sensitivity may make more demanding the process of regulating and managing emotions. Yet, developmental psychology literature also showed that other variables, as those related to the rearing environment, are likely to contribute to the process of regulating emotions. With the current contribution, we aim to bridge two lines of research, that of attachment studies and that of SPS, by investigating the additive and interactive contribution of SPS and internal working models of attachment representations on emotion regulation competencies in school-aged children. Participants were N = 118 Italian children (mean age: 6.5, SD = 0.58 years, and 51.8% female) with their mothers. Children's positive attachment representations were rated observationally through the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task procedure during an individual session at school. Mothers reported on children SPS trait and emotion regulation competencies completing the Highly Sensitive Child Scale-parent report and the Emotion Regulation Checklist. We performed and compared a series of main and interaction effect models. SPS was not directly associated with emotion regulation but it was significantly associated with positive attachment representations in predicting emotion regulation. Highly sensitive children showed poorer emotion regulation when the internalized representations were low in maternal warmth and responsiveness. When driven by sensitive and empathic attachment representation, highly sensitive children showed better emotion regulation than less-sensitive peers, suggesting a for better and for worse effect. Highly sensitive children are not only more vulnerable to adversities but also show better emotion regulation competencies when supported by positive internal working models of attachment relationships. Overall, findings shed light on the link between SPS and attachment and suggest that working for promoting secure attachment relationships in parent-child dyads may promote better emotion regulation competences, particularly in highly sensitive children.

Exploring the Relationship Between Women’s Empowerment and the Diversity and Positive Representation of Female Images in Fashion Advertising

This paper investigates the relationship between women’s empowerment and the diversity and positive representation of female images in fashion advertising. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, the study examines a selection of fashion advertisements from various magazines and online platforms over the past two years. The analysis focuses on the portrayal of women in terms of diversity, body positivity, and empowerment. The findings reveal a gradual increase in the diversity and positive representation of female images, with more advertisements showcasing a broader range of body types, ethnicities, and ages. There is also a notable trend towards portraying women in more empowered and active roles. However, persistent gaps remain, with limited representation of certain groups, such as older women and plus-size individuals, and some advertisements continue to perpetuate unrealistic beauty standards and objectification. The paper concludes with recommendations for the fashion industry to further promote diversity and positive representation as a means to empower women. Future research should explore the long-term effects of exposure to diverse and empowering representations on women’s self-perception and societal roles.

Does pro-gay messaging from a celebrity athlete work in conservative contexts? Evidence from the Republic of Georgia

ABSTRACT A growing consensus indicates that increasing visibility, awareness-raising, and positive media representations of gay people, through public advocacy and endorsements, contribute to tolerance and support. In particular, existing studies in the West show the promise of celebrity endorsements in promoting pro-gay attitudes. However, an emerging body of research, largely outside the West, points to potential backlash surrounding gay identity. We examine the efficacy of celebrity pro-gay endorsements. In an original survey experiment in Tbilisi, Georgia involving randomized pro-gay endorsements from a prominent Georgian football star, we find that a pro-gay celebrity endorsement reduces tolerance toward gay people. Our results have implications for the success of public messaging on gay identity in conservative social contexts.

Moving, Thinking, and Representing the Autistic Mind/Body

Abstract When released, the Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (ENA, 2022), chronicling the adventures of Woo Young-woo, an autistic lawyer played by neurotypical actor Park Eun-bin, quickly became a global hit. Its positive representations of disability, spotlighting the discrimination faced by autistic individuals, was widely heralded as departing from previously negative stereotypes. Amid a global move toward inclusion driven by the disability rights movement, we undertake a biocultural approach to analyze representations of the embodied (autistic) mind/body in Extraordinary Attorney Woo. We consider how neuroscientific research has evolved and the implications of this evolution for representations of autism. We argue that deep-rooted stereotypes about autism continue to influence progressive media representations of disability and that a deeper acknowledgment of those stereotypes is needed to achieve equitable and sensitive representation.

Analyzing the News Coverage of the Marginalized Group of Transgender People in Pakistani Media

The researchers analyzed how Pakistani media report issues relating to transgender people in their routine news coverage. After selecting the reputed English-language newspapers Dawn and The News, the researchers employed content analysis to examine the media approach toward transgender people thoroughly. The findings of the study revealed a 'soft approach' of media toward this marginalized group, as both newspapers highlighted their issue more favorably, supporting the stances of transgender people, especially regarding the security or threats being faced by them. According to Gillig et al. (2018), watching stories about transgender people decreased the [negative] impact of political ideology on the opinions of viewers. As a result, the main findings of this study reflect the supportive attitude toward transgender people in Pakistani media. This approach of media in Pakistan will help to reduce negative perceptions about transgender people because more conservative viewers' perceptions have changed as a result of seeing more positive media representations of these individuals. Nonetheless, there is a need for more positive news coverage because transgender related issues received a minimal amount of coverage—106 news stories over a year in both of the selected newspapers—which appears to be an insufficient amount of coverage of this population.

Approximating Intermediate Feature Maps of Self-Supervised Convolution Neural Network to Learn Hard Positive Representations in Chest Radiography.

Recent advances in contrastive learning have significantly improved the performance of deep learning models. In contrastive learning of medical images, dealing with positive representation is sometimes difficult because some strong augmentation techniques can disrupt contrastive learning owing to the subtle differences between other standardized CXRs compared to augmented positive pairs; therefore, additional efforts are required. In this study, we propose intermediate feature approximation (IFA) loss, which improves the performance of contrastive convolutional neural networks by focusing more on positive representations of CXRs without additional augmentations. The IFA loss encourages the feature maps of a query image and its positive pair to resemble each other by maximizing the cosine similarity between the intermediate feature outputs of the original data and the positive pairs. Therefore, we used the InfoNCE loss, which is commonly used loss to address negative representations, and the IFA loss, which addresses positive representations, together to improve the contrastive network. We evaluated the performance of the network using various downstream tasks, including classification, object detection, and a generative adversarial network (GAN) inversion task. The downstream task results demonstrated that IFA loss can improve the performance of effectively overcoming data imbalance and data scarcity; furthermore, it can serve as a perceptual loss encoder for GAN inversion. In addition, we have made our model publicly available to facilitate access and encourage further research and collaboration in the field.

We need bigger mirrors: the importance of fat fiction for young readers

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how narrative is constructed to create connections with fat readers, how books function to envision spaces of fat liberation for young readers and to highlight the incredible importance of providing bigger mirrors (Bishop, 1990) for fat representation in children’s literature.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzes and reflects on two texts that contain counternarratives of fatness: The (Other) F Word: A celebration of the fat and fierce edited by Angie Manfredi (2019) and Big by Vashti Harrison (2023) to interrogate how these two narratives intentionally disrupt anti-fat bias.FindingsBody size and fatness are identities that need to be included in diversity efforts within education. Books like The (Other) F Word: A celebration of the fat and fierce (Manfredi, 2019) and Big (Harrison, 2023) offer positive representations of fatness, disrupt biases around body size and provide spaces that allow fat students to find joy, hope, connection and, more than anything, imagine a way toward liberation.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper highlights the need to include more narratives of positive fat representation within children’s literature and calls for educators to interrogate their own anti-fat biases and practices.Originality/valueThere is a lack of research on fat representation specifically within children and young adult literature. This paper provides an analysis of two pieces of literature with fat representation that brings attention to the need for this type of future research.

Paradoxical Philogyny: The Comtesse de Murat’s Defense of Women and Female Friendship in Dialogue with François Poullain de la Barre and Gabrielle Suchon

In her memoirs, the Comtesse de Murat replies to the long list of misogynist accusations made in Abbé de Villiers’s Mémoires de la vie du comte D*** avant sa retraite (1696) by criticizing gender inequalities and by emphasizing female virtue. This article focuses on Murat’s positive representation of female friendship, whereby she denounces Villiers’s allegation that women’s affection is guided by greed. While Murat’s protagonist proves the contrary through her devoted comradeship with Mademoiselle Laval, not all female relationships in Murat’s memoirs are portrayed in a favourable light. The protagonist’s femme de chambre, for example, confirms Villiers’s critique of female covetousness and disloyalty. Even the relationship between the protagonist and Mademoiselle Laval is tarnished by sapphic allusions that are, however, outwardly denied. This article analyzes Murat’s paradoxical representation of women that builds on pro-feminist arguments by François Poullain de la Barre and Gabrielle Suchon. Yet, this paradox is lessened in Murat through the attribution of immoral acts to both sexes. Furthermore, the intimate connection between Mademoiselle Laval and the protagonist lends itself to a double entendre that advocates for homoeroticism and a preference for female-centred communities over heterosexual relationships.

An Analogue of Ladder Representations for Classical Groups

Abstract In this paper, we introduce a notion of ladder representations for split odd special orthogonal groups and symplectic groups over a non-archimedean local field of characteristic zero. This is a natural class in the admissible dual, which contains both strongly positive discrete series representations and irreducible representations with irreducible $A$-parameters. We compute Jacquet modules and the Aubert duals of ladder representations, and we establish a formula for describing ladder representations in terms of linear combinations of standard modules.

Visual Representation of Malaysian Candidates in General Election in Selected Coalition Parties: A Visual Survey on Social Media

The 15th General Election was held on November 19, 2022. The warmth of the previous GE-15 (General Election 15) is still being talked about by many today. In the context of elections in Malaysia, the main factors that influence selected coalition parties based on communication strategy involving the manifesto agenda besides its effective visual strategy. The use of visuals is seen as a practical, easy, and fast medium of dissemination to influence audiences within the political party. This study aims to examine the meaning and ideology behind the visual representation of candidates involving Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN), and Perikatan Nasional (PN). Visual Semiotics Theory by Kress and van Leuween (1996) was adapted to study visual characteristics and ideology. The results found PH, BN, and PN attach great importance to the implementation of the principle slogan and positive visual elements in the agenda of their party. As a result, PH emphasizes the principles of progress and integrity, BN emphasizes progress and well-being while PN is seen to emphasize the combination of the principles of PH and BN in their party, which are well-being, integrity, and progress. In this case, PN is seen as more critical and transparent based on a combination of slogan principles compared to PH and BN. Positive visual representations and interesting slogan principles are seen as effective alternatives for ideology dissemination to audiences throughout the election season.

Televizyon Reklamlarinda Yaşlılık Temsili

The media has a crucial role in the formation of perceptions toward older individuals and the development of various stereotypes. This research aims to identify and analyze older individuals’ representations in the media through commercials. The study population of the research is composed of commercials with older individuals’ representations by Saatchi & Saatchi agency which has carried out advertising campaigns for different cultures in more than 67 countries around the world. This study uses the homogenous sampling technique for the purposive sampling method. The study sample consists of commercials with older individuals’ representations broadcasted in five countries between 2015 and 2020 by Saatchi & Saatchi agency. The commercials are analyzed by the semiotic analysis method over Roland Barthes' concepts of denotation and connotation to comprehend the process of creating meaning. The study shows that commercials include negative and positive representations of older individuals. In the commercial with positive representations of older individuals, there is an attitude to break down the stereotype of the negative older individuals’ representation to oppose it. However, in most commercials, the negative stereotype of older individuals is reinforced.

News coverage on transgender celebrities in Belgium: Parasocial contact, attitudes, and policy support

ABSTRACT The role of media representations of transgender people in ameliorating attitudes towards transgender people and related policies has recently aroused attention. Since real-life transgender contact is rather seldom for most people, positive media representations may stimulate the formation of parasocial relationships, resulting in more supportive attitudes and policies, and thus less prejudices and discrimination. Current studies predominantly focus on entertainment narratives, approach attitudes towards transgender people one-dimensionally, and have shown interpersonal transgender contact is a predictor. This online cross-sectional study (N = 388, M age = 32.34, SD = 10.76) contributes to the literature by examining the indirect relationship between evaluation of news coverage on transgender celebrities' coming out and policy support through transphobia and transnegativity, and the moderating role of interpersonal transgender contact. Findings indicated that a positive news coverage evaluation, rather than mere exposure, relates to more policy support directly and indirectly via lower transphobia and lower transnegativity. Interpersonal contact strengthened the association between transphobia and policy support, but did not moderate the indirect associations. Taken together, the results point to the importance of disentangling transgender attitudes into transphobia and transnegativity, and highlight the parasocial role of a positive news coverage evaluation in enhancing attitudes and policy support.