Predictive Processing and the Phenomenology of Time Consciousness: A Hierarchical Extension of Rick Grush’s Trajectory Estimation Model

This chapter explores to what extent some core ideas of predictive processing can be applied to the phenomenology of time consciousness. The focus is on the experienced continuity of consciously perceived, temporally extended phenomena (such as enduring processes and successions of events). The main claim is that the hierarchy of representations posited by hierarchical predictive processing models can contribute to a deepened understanding of the continuity of consciousness. Computationally, such models show that sequences of events can be represented as states of a hierarchy of dynamical systems. Phenomenologically, they suggest a more fine-grained analysis of the perceptual contents of the specious present, in terms of a hierarchy of temporal wholes. Visual perception of static scenes not only contains perceived objects and regions but also spatial gist; similarly, auditory perception of temporal sequences, such as melodies, involves not only perceiving individual notes but also slightly more abstract features (temporal gist), which have longer temporal durations (e.g., emotional character or rhythm). Further investigations into these elusive contents of conscious perception may be facilitated by findings regarding its neural underpinnings. Predictive processing models suggest that sensorimotor areas may influence these contents

Vanilla PP for Philosophers: A Primer on Predictive Processing

The goal of this short chapter, aimed at philosophers, is to provide an overview and brief explanation of some central concepts involved in predictive processing (PP). Even those who consider themselves experts on the topic may find it helpful to see how the central terms are used in this collection. To keep things simple, we will first informally define a set of features important to predictive processing, supplemented by some short explanations and an alphabetic glossary. The features described here are not shared in all PP accounts. Some may not be necessary for an individual model; others may be contested. Indeed, not even all authors of this collection will accept all of them. To make this transparent, we have encouraged contributors to indicate briefly which of the features are necessary to support the arguments they provide, and which (if any) are incompatible with their account. For the sake of clarity, we provide the complete list here, very roughly ordered by how central we take them to be for “Vanilla PP” (i.e., a formulation of predictive processing that will probably be accepted by most researchers working on this topic). More detailed explanations will be given below. Note that these features do not specify individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for the application of the concept of “predictive processing”. All we currently have is a semantic cluster, with perhaps some overlapping sets of jointly sufficient criteria. The framework is still developing, and it is difficult, maybe impossible, to provide theory-neutral explanations of all PP ideas without already introducing strong background assumptions

Coverage of climate change issues in Kenyan print media: a case of Daily Nation and Standard newspapers

Climate change is an issue of public interest and given the adverse effects of climate change, concerted efforts are imperative as different stakeholders work on solutions. The media with its power to set and build agenda is very critical, especially in its coverage of climate change. This study sought to analyse the extent to which climate change stories are given prominence, the nature of climate change stories, and drivers of climate change stories in The Daily Nation and The Standard between 2018 and 2019. The study was anchored on the agenda setting theory to examine prominence accorded to climate change stories, agenda building to assess who the drivers of coverage are beyond the newsroom and the framing theory was used to examine the framing of climate change stories. The research adopted a descriptive content analysis research design. The study developed analysis criteria and a code sheet for content analysis and an interview guide for key informant interviews with media house editors. The researcher interviewed one media editor from The Daily Nation and one from The Standard. The study had four key words; climate change, global warming, floods and drought. When these terms were used, a total of 1730 articles were retrieved. The study found that the Kenyan print media does not use placement of stories on front pages to set the climate change agenda. Media houses focus more on adaptation stories and that they rarely cover mitigation stories. It also established that they frame climate change stories using disaster and that victims are the key actors in disaster stories while government officials feature prominently in events driven stories. The study concluded that climate change coverage is not given prominence through placement of stories on key pages and recommended that media houses need to consider strategic placement for those stories in front pages. The study recommended that media houses need to give significant focus on mitigation efforts

Introduction to problems of loan repayment on settlement schemes in Kenya

In 1961 Kenya embarked on a program of agricultural reform called the Million Acre Settlement Scheme providing for the transfer of ownership of land in the Rift Valley from outgoing white settlers to local farmers. These new settlers were given loans by the Kenya Government to cover the cost of the purchase of their plots and of certain development inputs. Over course of time most of these farmers have fallen heavily into arrears with repayment of their loans and this problem provides the focus for this study of problems of farmers on the settlement schemes, which has the ultimate objective of making recommendations for improving the present poor rate of repayment. Not unexpectedly overall income was found to be the crucial factor affecting rates of repayment, however the relationship of size of income to rate of repayment is not straightforward as other factors intervene, especially patterns of expenditure, and more importantly perhaps to any solution are those which indirectly affect rates of repayment through their influence on income levels. It was furthermore discovered that some loan instalments are never credited due to poor administration and that the quality of administration permeates many other variables. This is a purely introductory paper since most data is still being analysed and few figures are adduced in support of the main arguments, which should be taken as provisional in nature. For the same reason no suggestions are made herein for action to improve the situation

Performance of Learners with Visual Impairment in Summative Evaluation in Special Schools in Kenya

Vision is the most crucial sense among the five senses Almost 80 percent of all learning is achieved through the visual channel Good vision is therefore paramount for learners to reach their academic potential Lack of it can negatively affect how a learner performs in examinations Available studies have looked at the performance of learners with visual impairment in specific subjects The aim of the study was therefore to explore the general performance of learners with visual impairment in summative evaluation in special schools in Kenya A survey design with qualitative research method was adopted Examination results from four special schools for learners with visual impairment were analyzed and in addition a questionnaire was used to solicit more information from teachers who taught the classes under study Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data and findings were presented in tables and percentages Findings indicated that learners with visual impairment generally performed poorly in examinations Mathematics and sciences were the worst done at secondary school level where as Kiswahili and Social studies were the two worst performed at primary school leve

Clinical epidemiology of malaria under differing levels of transmission

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Catastrophic Healthcare Expenditures and Household Poverty in Kenya: The Case of Cancer, Hypertension, and Diabetes

It is estimated that non-communicable diseases account for 27% of all deaths suffered by Kenyans, equivalent to almost 100,000 people per year. Kenya is experiencing an upsurge in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with current estimates showing that NCDs account for a third of the disease burden. This promoted the basis of the study to examine the effects of catastrophic healthcare expenditures due to cancer, hypertension, and diabetes on household poverty in Kenya. The study used the latest Kenya Household Health Expenditure and Utilization Survey (KHHEUS) 2018 dataset. Data analysis was undertaken by employing STATA Software. A significance level of p of <0.05 was used. The results indicated catastrophic health expenditure, education level, working status, household size, and locality are significant determinants of household poverty. The presence of chronic illnesses such as hypertension, cancer, and diabetes increases the probability of being poor as a result of high out-of-pocket expenditures. It was noted that the households with catastrophic health expenditure of 40 percent and above are classified to be poor. The study recommended that the reliance on out-of-pocket expenses to finance medical services needs to be reduced because it leads to catastrophic health expenditures even as the country gears towards universal healthcare coverage. County governments are encouraged to be innovative in trying to come up with social health insurance schemes to lessen the burden of financing NCDs. Keywords: Catastrophic healthcare expenditures, out of pocket expenditures, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, household poverty, Kenya DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-16-09 Publication date:August 31st 202

Suicide Attempts among Emotionally and Behaviorally Disturbed Adolescents Removed from the Home

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between adolescent suicide behavior and the age of removal from home amongst children with emotional and behavioral disturbance. The study aims to determine whether a child�s removal from home can be counted as a viable basis for the development of suicide prevention programs and an expansion for evidence based practices. The study was conducted using archived de-identified data collected and provided by a private not-for-profit behavioral health treatment facility located in rural Kansas. The participants included male and female adolescents between the ages of thirteen to eighteen years old that were admitted into the facility between January 1st, 2011 and May 31st, 2011. The results did not indicate a significant relationship between adolescent suicide behavior and the age of the child�s first removal from the home. However correlations revealed a significant relationship between multiple types of trauma experienced and the age of the child�s first removal from the home. Further analyses revealed a positive correlation between multiple types of trauma experienced and suicide attempts. T-tests indicated little difference between genders in regards to suicide attempts or the child�s first removal from the home. These results may have been influenced by an inadequate amount of participants and a limited pool of data. Adolescent suicide is a critical issue facing society today. Further research is needed to determine the effects of out-of-home placements as a possible predictor to adolescent suicide behavior in hopes of shedding more light to the issue of adolescent suicide