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Background The tactile perceptions arising on the skin mediate representations of the body and perceptions of the external physical world. Thus, these tactile sensations greatly impact our lives. Although tactile perception is caused by skin deformation, few studies have investigated the contribution of skin physical properties to tactile perception because the skin deformation in response to mechanical stimuli is difficult to measure in real time. In this study, we investigated how the skin deforms in response to externally applied mechanical stimuli and the effect of skin deformation on tactile perception. Materials and methods Tactile perception was assessed using psychophysical methods. A suction device was used to measure skin deformation in response to mechanical stimuli while assessing tactile perception. The relationship between skin deformation and tactile perception was investigated. Results Individuals show different skin deformation behavior in response to stimuli of the same intensity, and the amount of skin deformation affects the perceived pressure induced by suction stimulation. Furthermore, when the amount of skin deformation is small, tactile perception becomes more difficult, and the ease of tactile perception varies. Conclusion We argue that dynamic skin behavior is an important factor in tactile perception. Focusing on skin physical characteristics from a constructivist perspective of complex tactile perception may lead to improved tactile communication perception through the control of skin physical properties and realistic tactile presentation in remote environments.

Background Tactile sensation plays a crucial role in object manipulation, communication, and even emotional well‐being. It has been reported that the deformability of skin (also described as skin compliance) that shows a large mechanical response to stimuli is associated with high tactile sensitivity. However, although the compliance of the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin, can change daily due to skin care and environmental factors, few studies have quantified the effect of the stratum corneum on tactile sensation. Aims We investigated the changes in tactile sensitivity resulting from skin hydration and identified corresponding alterations in the compliance of the stratum corneum. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group (n = 20) that had a moisturizing cream applied to their cheeks or a control group (n = 19) that had Milli‐Q water applied to their cheeks. Tactile discrimination performance was assessed using psychophysical techniques before and after application. The water content, mechanical response characteristics, and penetration of PEG/PPG‐17/4 dimethyl ether from the cream in the stratum corneum were evaluated to identify hydration effects. Skin deformations occurring during tactile sensation were measured concurrently using a suction device employed for tactile stimulation. Results Tactile sensitivity was increased in participants who had cream applied to the skin surface, while no significant change was observed in participants who received Milli‐Q water. The improved discrimination of tactile stimulus intensity was directly related to the magnitude of skin displacement. The higher water content of the stratum corneum due to cream application decreased the dynamic modulus of elasticity of the stratum corneum and increased the skin's extensibility in response to tactile stimuli. Conclusions Hydrating the stratum corneum significantly enhances tactile sensitivity and is accompanied by an increase in skin extensibility, a factor in tactile intensity perception. The compliance of the thin stratum corneum layer plays a crucial role in tactile experiences that involve skin stretching.

Storytelling is one of the most important learning activities for children since reading aloud from a picture book stimulates children’s curiosity, emotional development, and imagination. For effective education, the procedures for storytelling activities need to be improved according to the children’s level of curiosity. However, young children are not able to complete questionnaires, making it difficult to analyze their level of interest. This paper proposes a method to estimate children’s curiosity in picture book reading activities at five levels by recognizing children’s behavior using acceleration and angular velocity sensors placed on their heads. We investigated the relationship between children’s behaviors and their levels of curiosity, listed all observed behaviors, and clarified the behavior for estimating curiosity. Furthermore, we conducted experiments using motion sensors to estimate these behaviors and confirmed that the accuracy of estimating curiosity from sensor data is approximately 72%.

The demand for urban construction has placed growing pressure on biodiversity conservation. In China, landscape fragmentation caused by rapid urbanization has resulted in an immense amount of damage to the ecological system. Taking the Haidian District of Beijing as the study area, this study distinguishes the vital patches and corridors for landscape connectivity maintenance through morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA), the probability of connectivity (PC), and the least-cost path analysis. Although we adopted and combined these methods from the existing research about landscape modeling, we went deeper into two parameters: the resistance value and the distance threshold. In order to get a species-specific result, we selected two focal species: the ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchius) and the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), whose biological characteristics and habitat types are assumed to represent most of the habitats in Beijing. The result shows the different habitats and corridors for two species. Then, the results of two simulated scenarios are overlaid to obtain the final landscape pattern. Based on this case study, we propose a paradigm of ecological network identification of multiple species, which may contribute to landscape modeling and green space planning.

Background: Natural sounds are reportedly restorative, but most research has used one-off experiments conducted in artificial conditions. Research based on field experiments is still in its infancy. This study aimed to generate hypotheses on the restorative effects of listening to natural sounds on surgeons, representing professionals working in stressful conditions. Methods: Each of four surgeons (two experts and two residents) participated six times in an experiment where they took a 10-min break listening to natural sounds (four times) or without natural sounds (twice) after a surgical operation. We measured their skin conductance level, an indicator of sympathetic arousal, continuously during the break (measurement occasions N = 2520) and assessed their mood using two questionnaires before and after the break (N = 69 and N = 42). We also interviewed them after the break. Results: Based on statistical Linear Mixed-Effects modeling, we developed two hypotheses for further, more detailed studies: (H1) Listening to natural sounds after an operation improves surgeons’ mood. (H2) Inexperienced surgeons’ tension persists so long that the effect of natural sounds on their sympathetic arousal is negligible. Conclusions: This risk-free, easy-to-use means of stress alleviation through natural sounds could benefit highly-stressed people working indoors.

Many studies have reported that natural sounds (e.g., birdsong) are more restorative than urban noise. These studies have used physiological and psychological indicators, such as the skin conductance level (SCL) and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS), to evaluate the restorative effect of natural sounds. However, the effect of faint background noise mixed with birdsong on the restorativeness of birdsong has not been described yet. In the current experiment, we examined whether traffic noise affects the perceived restorativeness and the physiological restorativeness of birdsong in a low-stress condition using the SCL and the PRS. The scores of the PRS showed that birdsong significantly increased the perceived restorativeness of the place regardless of the car noise, but no significant difference was found between these two birdsongs. In contrast, physiologically, the birdsong without car noise decreased the participants’ SCL significantly more than the birdsong with car noise did. These results indicate that the SCL would be useful to detect the effect of background noise on natural sound when the noise is too low to affect the perceived restorativeness. This study highlights the importance of measuring the SCL besides assessing perceived restorativeness to describe the characteristics of restorative natural sound in future research.

In this paper, we present a method of  person following control for a mobile  robot  using  visual  information.  Color  information  is  often  used  for  object  tracking.  Color  information  of  objects  varies  greatly  under illumination  changing  environment.  In  such  conditions ,  the  robot  controlled  by  visu al  information  may lose  sight of  a person.  In this paper,  we  consider  a  robust  person following method by color invariance and image - based control. Color  invariance show s robust  features  of  colored  objects  in  terms  of  changing  illumination conditions . At f irst, we estimate  the  lowest positions of both feet  of a tracked person through particle filters based on color invariances . Then,  we control the velocity of the robot to track the person by using the image - based controller. Experimental results using a n a ctual  robot demonstrate the  effectiveness of the proposed method.

This study used class practices to verify the applicability of a web application specially developed for the observation in general elementary school classes of the blooming of cherry blossoms with time-lapse digital images. The learning effects of class practices on children's perceptions of the connection between familiar phenomena and climate change were examined with a questionnaire survey. The results further demonstrated the potential for plant phenology observation using time-lapse images to contribute to students' acquisition of multi-timescale concepts from seasonal phenomena around them to century-scale climate change. This study can help provide a participatory approach, to an issue that is difficult for many learners to experience directly from the perspective of digital technology on environmental education.

So far, evaluation of environmental learning has evaluated only single points in time; however, accumulated learning experiences should have greater effect on learning and on environmental problems. We investigate conceptions of learning and the accumulated educational experiences they reflect in the context of environmental education, which has a unique position in education systems. We developed and conducted a systematic survey in order to create a learning scale for environmental education conceptions; participants were Japanese high school students (N = 771). Analysis found that students’ conceptions of learning consist of six orientations: (1) Environmental Recognition/Conservation Responsibility Orientation, (2) Thought Expansion/Fulfillment, (3) Certainty/Applicability Orientation, (4) Teacher-Dependent Orientation, (5) Experience-Based Physical Activity Orientation, and (6) Duty-Adjusted Orientation. Factors (1), (2), and (5), above, are considered unique to environmental learning. Factor (1) reflects the societal content of environmental conservation, which is a criterion for evaluating environmental learning. In contrast, Factors (3), (4), and (6) are general educational factors mediated by elements such as academic achievement. The scale obtained from this research will help determine learners’ views of and degree of interest in environmental learning.

Ecocentric education programs should include a method for the in-depth understanding of multi-scale ecological time concepts. To accomplish this, the common restriction that ecocentric education should pertain only to realistic nature may have to be removed. The purpose of this research was to confirm the validity of a program featuring phenology observation, employing fixed-point time-lapse images as climate change learning, and to obtain suggestions on the influence of the program on the multi-timescale concepts of the learners. An observation sheet listing images of cherry flowering from 16 April to 15 March each year from 1996 to 2017 was created, and the 50-min educational program using the observation sheet was conducted with 189 third year junior high school students. The tendencies among students’ answers to the two questions before and after the program suggest that the program contributed to the students acquiring the hundreds-year timescale concept based on the short-term timescale concept of dynamic nature. The contribution of this research is to visualize long-term and multi-scale ecological time concepts. By combining long-term time-lapse images with everyday nature experiences, the possibility of expanding such emotions as wonder and attachment to nature towards a long-term ecological timescale is achieved.