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AbstractThe unprecedented events on October 7th in Israel, characterized by little actual and perceived control over the sources of the stress, have affected virtually every household in Israel, either due to the economic and social consequences of the ensuing war or experiencing the loss of relatives and friends. The current study examined the association between traumatic loss of close friends/relatives and resilience during the initial stages of the Iron-Swords war and explored the moderating role of coping strategies for this link. Data were collected from 286 participants (age range 19-82) who completed online scales assessing loss, resilience, and coping strategies during the first weeks of the Iron-Swords war. Results demonstrated a negative association between emotion-focused coping and resilience, as well as a positive association between problem-focused coping and resilience. Moreover, coping strategies moderated the loss-resilience link, which was significant only for individuals reporting low levels of both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Our findings support the claim that relying on at least one dominant coping strategy (i.e., problem-focused coping/emotional-focused coping/both) is efficient to reserve resilience levels at times of adversity. The findings of the current study, based on data collected in the first weeks of the Iron-Swords war, highlight the value of different coping styles in preserving individual resilience as a protective factor against stress during adversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT To address the issue of significant loss increase in planar transformers at high frequencies in LLC resonant converters, the winding width of the transformer was optimized. This design minimizes losses due to eddy currents and skin effects, thereby optimizing the transmission efficiency of the LLC resonant converter. This paper developed a mathematical model of the transformer windings, analyzed the losses in the windings and the core of the planar transformer, and summarized the design rules for three commonly used winding geometries. By determining the optimal winding width, the transformer losses were optimized. Using the finite element simulation software Maxwell3D, a 3D simulation model of the transformer was constructed. The simulation results were compared, and a 500‐W full‐bridge LLC prototype was built to validate the principles summarized in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on debates concerning crisis-laden horizons and the affective modes and narrative templates of environmentalism, this paper examines claims about how the feel of the affective present might or should be organised. To do so, it focuses on the appearance of futility in seabird research and conservation to consider what it reveals about injunctions to act and jarring encounters with crisis. Caught between futility's capacity to both enliven and flatten, the paper examines the contentious nature of futility's public utterance and its persuasive expression, to ask what futility does to the grip of ideas and claims about how things ought to be done. Taking leave from debates on how to stave off paralysis in an era of extinction and loss, the paper focuses on what it feels like to dwell in a refigured present in which futility becomes a corporeal condition. In doing so, the paper reflects on how limits can impose themselves in ways that are not addressed in debates over what constitutes good or bad affect or appropriate forms of address. It finishes by raising questions about what happens when researchers become responsible for stoking negative affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 8% of women will be diagnosed with breast tumors (BT) in their lifetime. Tumors are formed by the uncontrollable development of tissues in a specific area of the body. They can be benign or malignant. The best survival rate can be expected with earlier screening and diagnosis of the tumor. To distinguish between benign and malignant tumors in x-ray images of the breast, segmentation of the tumor is a crucial first step. Screening mammography is an efficient method of detecting BT. As a result, the research presented two distinct deep learning models, termed SegNet and UNet architectures, to segment BT from mammograms. Datasets accessible to the public were utilized in the proposed system, specifically INbreast. Histogram equalization is used on datasets during preprocessing to improve the compressed areas and normalize the pixel dispersion. To avoid overfitting and boost the quantity of training data, augmentation techniques are employed. The metrics like the dice coefficient (DC) and the Intersection of Union (IoU) score are considered to evaluate the model. The metrics of the SegNets model are greater than the U-Net, as demonstrated by the experimental results. For the INbreast dataset, the SegNets achieve a maximum DC of 92.75% and an IoU score of 86.49%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores and documents the processes of loss and grief among families who have lost relatives due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Gaborone city, Botswana. In-person and online in-depth interviews were used to collect data from 15 families and a key informant, selected using the non-probability technique of purposive sampling. Participant observation was also used as a method of data collection. We discovered that dealing with the processes of loss and grief has been restructured due to the pandemic, as there was limited to no interaction with the general public on the one hand, and funerals were short and less crowded on the other. Consequently, these changes have affected the aftermath as well as the mourning process of the concerned families. In addition, the study revealed that the concerned families and households were negatively affected by the untimely passing of their relative, and the short mourning days made it even harder for them to say goodbye properly. For remaining family members, it was difficult to grieve due to the lack of support from extended family members who were also affected by the pandemic. As they felt left out, the experience seems to have perpetuated mental health problems. Given the significance of COVID-19 in the history of humankind, documenting the experience of loss and grief in times of pandemic is a necessity, as it highlights various socio-cultural responses to the death of family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses experiences of transnational end-of-life care among aging Filipina migrants before and during COVID-19. de Leon addresses the emotional costs associated with loving and losing kin from a distance both before and during the pandemic, drawing on their autobiographical account of distant care by proxy during their aunt's wake and funeral. Blower-Nassiri highlights the exacerbated fears and anxieties around dying, illness, and end-of-life among aging migrants, drawing on two life histories of retired nurses who recalled moments of loss and being absent for end-of-life events, such as funerals, before and during the pandemic. Together, de Leon and Blower-Nassiri provide an intimate portrait of three Filipina migrants' experiences with end-of-life care and loss. They further address the limitations of the life course framework in their consideration of how care carries on, across generations through end-of-life practices and rituals that signal an accrual of loss over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tandem blade configuration is a significant flow control method that delays the onset of flow separation. This study numerically investigates the effects of diffusion factor and percentage pitch on the flow structure of tandem blades. Diffusion factors vary from 0.328 to 0.484. Percentage pitches change from 0.80 to 0.92. Results show that the loss coefficient increases with diffusion factor and decreases with percentage pitch. There is a hub-corner stall of the forward blade in all cases. Gap flow determines the rear blade corner separation. Varying the percentage pitch and diffusion factor changes the momentum distribution of the gap flow. Corner separation of the rear blade is inhibited as low-momentum gap fluids are involved in the passage vortex along with the hub-corner stall of the forward blade. Increasing diffusion factor causes a change in incidence at the leading edge of the rear blade, resulting in a variation at the corner separation of the rear blade. A tandem blade is compared with the reference outlet vane. The performance of the tandem blade is superior to that of the reference outlet vane in all incidences, with a 26.35% reduction in the loss coefficient and a 7.89% enhancement in the pressurization at the designed incidence. Tandem blades stall at positive incidence because of the hub-corner stall of the forward blade. The intensity of the gap flow increases with incidence, preventing corner separation of the rear blade at positive incidences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft magnetic materials are a core element of power electronics and electrical machines. However, none of the soft magnetic materials is able to exploit the full potential of wide bandgap semiconductors, which operate above MHz frequency for efficient energy conversion in power electronic systems. Here, a high‐performance Fe–Si soft magnetic composites with a 2D ordered domain structure are reported, enabling efficient energy conversion at MHz frequencies. By transforming spherical particles into flakes and arranging them in layers, 2D magnetic domains are created within the composite. This leads to a 90% increase in permeability and a tenfold decrease in loss at 3 MHz compared to composite made with spherical particles. The significantly increased cut‐off frequency indicates that the ordered flaky particles are suitable for MHz applications, unlike the disordered spherical particles. These findings provide an effective approach for fabricating high performance soft magnetic composites from traditional spherical particles and miniaturizing magnetic devices for efficient power electronics operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mary Main’s conceptualization and operationalization of attachment states of mind through the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) represent seminal contributions to the attachment field. The AAI is a semi-structured clinical interview used to assess attachment states of mind that is widely used in research and clinical settings. Unresolved state of mind regarding loss or trauma has been linked to concurrent internalizing symptoms. The current study explored the associations between unresolved classification and later depression and anxiety, above and beyond trauma history and symptoms. Participants (n = 70) were parents (98.6% female, 67.1% Black/African-American) from a follow-up of a randomized clinical trial of a parenting program for families referred to child welfare services. Parents completed the AAI, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire at timepoint 1 (T1) and the Brief Symptom Inventory approximately 12 years later, at timepoint 2 (T2). Hierarchical regressions revealed that unresolved state of mind significantly predicted depression at T2, and marginally predicted anxiety at T2, above and beyond childhood trauma, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and early internalizing symptoms. These results suggest that unresolved states of mind are clinically significant and provide unique information about later internalizing symptoms in adults with a history of trauma or loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized eye-tracking techniques to investigate decision-making behavior in intertemporal loss scenarios under both time pressure and no time pressure conditions. Results revealed shorter decision-making times and decreased large later (LL) option selection frequency under time pressure. Participants under time pressure exhibited reduced Mean Fixation Duration (MFD) and Search Measure (SM) values, indicating altered information processing. Mediation analyses confirmed that task choice outcomes were influenced by SM and MFD, suggesting a shift towards heuristic decision-making under time pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveMethodFindingsConclusionTo synthesise the qualitative research related to the processes of loss and grief experienced by adults who have sustained a moderate to severe ABI.We conducted a systematic review and thematic synthesis of the experiences of loss and grief in adults with moderate to severe ABI. Five electronic database searches (PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Scopus) were conducted, identifying 2434 studies, of which 25 met inclusion criteria.Thematic synthesis generated four overarching analytical themes: the loss within me; devaluation of social roles and social identity; acceptance of grief and loss as an active process; and an ambivalent experience of loss. Our findings indicate that the experiences of grief and loss following brain injury are dynamic processes, requiring significant adjustment to and reappraisal of the sense of self, an often uncomfortable reconstruction and sometimes reluctant acceptance of new personal and social identities, and development of tolerance for the ambiguity of one’s experience.Findings suggest that people with moderate to severe ABI go through a significant process of change and adaptation in relation to grief and loss and their sequelae. Given the enduring nature of the injury and changing needs of the individual, rehabilitation may need to be increasingly personalised and responsive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Zoo professionals and volunteers care for numerous animals, creating the potential for exposure to multiple deaths and transfer-related losses. Despite this, there is limited research exploring how zoo professionals and volunteers experience and adapt to zoo animal loss. This qualitative study was designed to explore the personal experiences of zoo animal loss among zoo professionals and volunteers, including their emotional challenges, coping mechanisms, and support-related needs. We found participants' responses highlighted two main themes: the lasting toll of animal-related loss and their interpersonal experience of loss. Within these themes, zoo professionals and volunteers' responses provided insights into experiences related to deaths (both expected and unexpected), transfer losses, experiences of complicated grief, and interpersonal factors that interfered with their ability to process their loss. Participants' suggestions for support when faced with these experiences included enhanced communication before pending losses and following deaths and transfers, environments conducive for memorializing rituals, and increased access to grief support resources. Zoo professionals and volunteers play essential roles in the wellbeing and conservation of a diverse array of animal species. Despite the growing body of literature revealing the psychological impacts of pet loss, there remains a dearth of information describing the experience of animal loss among those who work in zoo settings. This qualitative study explored the personal experiences of zoo animal loss among volunteers (n = 12), animal care and health professionals (ACHPs) (n = 135), and other zoo staff (n = 35) who participated in a larger mixed-method study. Participants responded to five open-ended questions exploring their most significant zoo animal death loss, where or from whom they found the most support, how the zoo community could better support them, advice for zoo leaders, and other thoughts about their grief and animal-related loss experiences. Using thematic analysis, two key themes were identified: the lasting toll of zoo animal loss and zoo professionals' and volunteers' interpersonal experiences. Participants described their experiences with animal transfers and both expected and unexpected deaths. Requests for support focused on better communication, grief resources, and opportunities to recognize and mourn animal losses. These findings suggest that zoo animal loss can negatively impact zoo professionals' and volunteers' psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most individuals in the general population will be exposed to potentially traumatic situations at some point in their lifespan. There is a strong body of research focusing on the clinical implications of exposure to potentially traumatic situations, but less attention has been given to psychological adjustment following these events. Very few available instruments assess trauma exposure while considering subjective perceptions of both positive and negative features. In this study, 304 adults from the general population, mostly women of middle and high socioeconomic status (mean age = 43), filled in a questionnaire with sociodemographic questions and an adapted version of the Trauma Exposure Checklist, which was originally developed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that most participants have experienced a potentially traumatic event, most prevalently related to violence and/or criminality and to the severe illnesses and deaths of close relatives. Principal components and reliability analyses lent support to a three-factor structure that considers perceptions of internal and external losses and a positive factor that addresses resources and social support. This study is a first step towards advancing our knowledge on the impact of developmental and sociodemographic factors on subjective experiences of psychological crises and, consequently, psychological adjustment throughout the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines long-term experiences of loss and grief among survivors of a massive earthquake that struck western Turkey in 1999. Based on extended ethnographic fieldwork in the region, I explore how subjectivity and temporality, loss and living on, can configure in the long aftermath of disaster. Drawing on the writings of Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî, I approach this relationship between disaster and future-making as a form of optimism. This article is part of a larger project concerned with the future of catastrophe – the ways that worlds and futures are fashioned in the wake of large-scale disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Pet ownership is growing in Chinese societies, but tools to assess grief from pet loss among the Chinese are lacking. This study adapted and validated the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ) in Hong Kong, which aimed to provide a culturally appropriate assessment tool for pet bereavement. The findings supported a three-factor structure—grief, anger, and guilt—similar to the original PBQ. The validated Chinese version of the PBQ demonstrated strong reliability, meaning it consistently measures what it is supposed to, and strong validity, meaning it accurately reflects the emotional experiences of pet loss. This tool can significantly enhance our understanding of the emotional complexities surrounding pet loss within this cultural context, offering critical insights that can guide more effective support interventions and public health strategies for individuals experiencing the often-unrecognized grief associated with pet loss. Despite the increasing prevalence of pet ownership in Chinese societies, standardized tools to assess grief from pet loss remain lacking. Research predominantly focuses on Western populations, creating a gap in understanding pet bereavement in Chinese cultural settings. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire (PBQ-C) for a Chinese context to create a culturally appropriate assessment tool. A total of 246 participants with companion animal loss experiences were recruited through the university of the research team. They were invited to complete an online survey including the PBQ-C, the Depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG). Both Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the PBQ-C and the findings supported a three-factor structure—grief, anger, and guilt—aligned with the original PBQ, with three items reassigned to different factors. Despite these adjustments, the PBQ-C demonstrated strong internal consistency, reflecting the reliability of the questionnaire in measuring the same construct across its items; split-half reliability, indicating its ability to produce consistent results when divided into two parts; and concurrent validity, showing that the PBQ-C correlates well with other established measures of grief. The validated PBQ-C provides a culturally sensitive tool for assessing pet bereavement in Chinese society that can promote research and counselling support for this under-researched and under-recognized type of loss of human-animal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have studied how people make sense of their lives in peripheral rural regions. While there are disadvantages in terms of infrastructure, transportation and so forth, we have focused on the ways that people understand their specific position and how they feel about it. Using the tools of the Strong Programme in cultural sociology, we have identified two key discourses: the discourse of loss and the discourse of autonomy. Through the former, residents describe the decline of traditions, of rural community and, in particular, the vanishing ideal of rural childhood. Through the latter, they re‐frame these societal developments as problems of individuals. The dichotomy between individual autonomy and individual dependence is employed as a key cultural framework for explaining and understanding life in a peripheral rural region. The research is based on interviews with residents of small rural municipalities located at the inner periphery of the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods are significant global disasters, but their impact in developing countries is greater due to the lower shock tolerance, many subsistence farmers, land fragmentation, poor adaptation strategies, and low technical capacity, which worsen food security and livelihoods. Therefore, accurate and timely monitoring of flooded crop areas is crucial for both disaster impact assessments and adaptation strategies. However, most existing methods for monitoring flooded crops using remote sensing focus solely on estimating the flood damage, neglecting the need for adaptation decisions. To address these issues, we have developed an approach to mapping flooded rice fields using Earth observation and machine learning. This approach integrates high-resolution multispectral satellite images with Sentinel-1 data. We have demonstrated the reliability and applicability of this approach by using a manually labelled dataset related to a devastating flood event in north-western Nigeria. Additionally, we have developed a land suitability model to evaluate potential areas for paddy rice cultivation. Our crop extent and land use/land cover classifications achieved an overall accuracy of between 93% and 95%, while our flood mapping achieved an overall accuracy of 99%. Our findings indicate that the flood event caused damage to almost 60% of the paddy rice fields. Based on the land suitability assessment, our results indicate that more land is suitable for cultivation during natural floods than is currently being used. We propose several recommendations as adaptation measures for stakeholders to improve livelihoods and mitigate flood disasters. This study highlights the importance of integrating multispectral and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for flood crop mapping using machine learning. Decision-makers will benefit from the flood crop mapping framework developed in this study in a number of spatial planning applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has profoundly impacted ecosystems, communities, and individuals worldwide. Climate change comics have emerged as a powerful medium for raising environmental awareness, particularly by highlighting the emotional toll it takes on humans. This paper examines the graphic narrative, A Fire Story: A Memoir by Brian Fies, which depicts the devastating wildfire disaster that struck Northern California in 2017. The narrative effectively conveys the ecological and human habitat destruction caused by climate change-induced natural disasters through autobiographical and witnesses accounts. It offers reflections on the past, present, and future while challenging climate denial and exploring themes of climate grief and resilience. The narrative explores how the traumatic event disrupts personal chronology and exposes the emotional vulnerability of survivors in their post-disaster lives. This article analyzes climate grief and resilience in climate change comics, emphasising the significance of A Fire Story as a valuable artefact that documents the testimonies of witnesses and survivors. To challenge climate denial, graphic narratives go beyond generalities and present highly detailed and emotionally charged narratives, including social fragmentation, forced evacuation, and economic devastation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For college student athletes, graduation coincides with a loss of competitive careers and athletic identities and begin a potentially traumatic transition to a new life phase. However, how athletes' experience this developmental transition may be influenced by their readiness to retire. Thus, we prospectively examined how NCAA student athletes' (N = 166) psychological well-being changed from graduation/retirement (T1) to four months later (T2) and determined the extent their readiness to retire, as represented by 12 key psychosocial dimensions (e.g., social support, athletic identity) predicted well-being at T2. Athletes completed a 12-item measure of retirement readiness at T1, measures of depressive symptomatology, body satisfaction, and life satisfaction at T1 and T2. Through regressions analyses, and controlling for gender and T1 well-being scores, we found that athletes who developed a new life focus and had positive social support systems at retirement from sport were more satisfied with their lives and less depressed four to five months later. For the athletes' T2 body satisfaction, only their T1 satisfaction was a significant predictor. As one of the first studies to longitudinally examine collegiate athletes' well-being over the first six months of retirement, our findings provide direction for additional research and development of programming that focuses on helping athletes maintain and extend their support networks as they transition from their teams and develop a new purpose and direction in their lives as they lose what had been present for them through their sport involvement. Implications for assisting collegiate athletes in transition from sport are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a rapidly aging population, Canada has a growing need for public health palliative care services. End of life care, including palliative care, is holistic in nature, paying attention to the physical, psychological, social-cultural, and spiritual needs of the person who is dying and their networks of friends, family, and caregivers. Public health approaches to palliative care work to strengthen community capacities to provide care in tandem with medical and social services. This study reports on the findings of the Healthy End of Life Project (HELP Ottawa), a 4.5-year community-based research project, to demonstrate the importance of including faith communities in public health palliative care initiatives. Focusing on Christian faith communities, this article explores how faith communities can best build the capacity to offer, ask for, and accept support for members who are living with advanced illness, caregiving, or grieving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background/Objectives: Adherence to pediatric obesity treatment can be challenging. Monetary incentives improve adherence to lifestyle interventions, with incentives framed as loss often more effective than those framed as gain. The objectives of this study were to determine if monetary incentives in the form of gift cards would improve adherence to an obesity treatment intervention and whether framing the incentive as either loss or gain affected adherence. Methods: Sixty adolescents with obesity (body mass index of ≥95th percentile for age and sex) were recruited from our pediatric obesity treatment program. They were randomized into one of three groups and given a monthly adherence score (AS) of up to 100 points. These points were based on completing a medical visit, reporting on diet intake, and measuring daily steps on a wearable tracker. The Gain Group (GG), N = 20, started each month with USD 0 in a virtual account and increased their monetary reward up to USD 100 depending on AS. The Loss Group (LG), N = 21, began each month with USD 100 in their virtual account, which decreased based on adherence. The Control Group (CG), N = 19, received USD 10 monthly. Results: Adherence was highest in the GG, with 66.0 points, compared to the LG, with 54.9 points, and CG, with 40.6 points, with p < 0.01. The GG had greater adherence to their step goal (14.6) and dietary reporting (18.7) compared to the LG (10.0 and 13.9) and the CG (3.9 and 8.1), p < 0.005. Conclusions: Gain-framed incentives are superior to loss-framed ones in improving adherence to pediatric obesity treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the Sahelian practice of separating young children from their birth parents for work-related purposes. This occurred in the 1970s in certain elite Tuareg contexts, when alternative livelihood options were scarce; its impact was still being felt in 2010. The practice involves mostly those born into the lowest status group (iklan) , especially women. This research seeks to explain what the practice of child separation from parents is, how it is expressed, and how it has changed. With this aim, it analyses the link between this practice, ideas and assumptions about the family and close relationships through women, and collective female dance and music rituals. The article is based on qualitative research conducted in Niger between 1973–2010, a 2002 anti-slavery report, and court proceedings concerning separated children between 2003–2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Mental and cognitive health is crucial to ensure well-being in older age. However, prolonged periods of stress, grief, and bereavement might compromise mental health balance, leading to profound changes. This study investigated the sex-stratified associations between midlife bereavement experiences (e.g. sibling loss, spousal loss, and multiple losses) and late-life depression (LLD) and cognitive impairment. Method: Linked data from the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey and the Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD) were used. Multiple logistic regressions were performed to examine the associations between midlife bereavement and LLD (n = 1078) and cognitive impairment (n = 995), separately. Results: Sibling loss and multiple losses in midlife were associated with lower odds of LLD, especially among women. Among men, sibling loss in midlife was associated with lower odds of cognitive impairment, while the experience of two losses among women suggested an increased (but non-significant) risk of cognitive impairment. Interaction analyses did not show significant effects between bereavement and gender on LLD and cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Midlife bereavement might have gendered implications on LLD and cognitive impairment, but associations need to be confirmed by well-powered studies. Further research is warranted to elucidate the association between multiple midlife losses and reduced LLD risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I offer a philosophical account of shared grief, on which it is a process, undergone by a group, of recognising and accommodating significant possibilities that are lost to that group. In setting out from an understanding of grief's distinctive characteristics, a philosophically interesting, metaphysically undemanding, and practically useful account of shared grief comes into view, that has broader consequences for understanding shared emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mary Main’s operationalization of infant attachment disorganization contributed to our understanding of attachment and psychopathology. Her exploration of attachment patterns at age 6 with Jude Cassidy laid the foundations for studying attachment post-infancy. They found remarkable correspondence from age 1 to age 6 in the disorganization spectrum and documented the emergence of role-reversal. This study proposes a person-centered approach to explore classes of children with respect to attachment disorganization at four time points between infancy and late preschool. Participants (n = 205) were recruited in the UK and formed a socioeconomically diverse community sample of mother–child dyads. We identified three classes of children: 1) a stable organized group; 2) an unstable group becoming organized; and 3) an unstable group becoming disorganized. Results show that major loss predicts membership of the third class of children. These findings contribute to our understanding of disorganization across multiple periods, and thus to Mary Main’s legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study aimed to explore facilitators’ experiences in bereavement support groups as they relate to their experiences of personal loss. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine facilitators who had experienced such grief, and data were analyzed qualitatively using a modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA). The analysis revealed two categories and nine subcategories: (i) ‘Experiences in group activities,’ encompassing positive and negative experiences during activities, and (ii) ‘Structuring of Meaning,’ the process of deciphering for oneself in relation to one’s experience of loss and life. These two categories interacted with each other, and it was important for facilitators to find meaning in their activities, loss experiences, and lives for the stable continuation of bereavement support group activities. These findings underscore the importance of facilitators following and supporting the sense-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Disasters can cause casualties and significant financial loss. In accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, areas affected by disasters must be built back better. Accurate post-disaster damage and loss assessments are critical for the success of recovery programs. This scoping review aimed to identify the components and entities of the healthcare sector's post-disaster damage and loss assessment program. Methods: An comprehensive search for relevant literature was performed using several databases, including the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, and Magiran. The search was limited to papers published between 2010 and 2022. In addition, we searched the grey literature for resources related to post-disaster damage and loss assessments. Study selection and data extraction were evaluated by a third reviewer. The main themes were determined through a consensus process and agreement among team members. Results: A total of 845 papers were identified, 41 of which were included in the review. The grey literature search yielded 1015 documents, 23 of which were associated with the study's purpose. The findings were classified into five main themes, 20 subthemes, and 876 codes. The main-themes include the following: Concepts and Definitions; Post-Disaster Damage and Loss Assessment Procedures; Healthcare sector procedures; Assessments Tools, and Methods; Intra-sectoral, Inter-sectoral, and cross-cutting issues. Conclusions: The existing corpus of literature on post-disaster damage and loss assessment programs within the healthcare sector offers only limited insights into the entities and components involved. It is of great importance that stakeholders have an extensive grasp of these pivotal concepts and principles, as they are fundamental in enabling effective responses to disasters, informed decision-making, and facilitating rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Consequently, there is a considerable scope for further investigation in this area. Scoping review registration number: https://osf.io/nj3fk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agents of deterioration (AoD) offer a structured categorization of hazards to collections: they are a basis for risk-informed preservation management. In drawing up the AoD their creators were not ignorant of wider societal issues of concern to conservators, but they envisaged them to be part of a broader institutional activity located beyond the scope of preventive conservation. Within conservation, there have been discussions about additional agents: social, cultural, or political causes of loss. Their continued exclusion from the AoD may mistakenly be interpreted as a lack of consideration of such concerns. There are reasons to limit the scope of an institution's preventive conservation system but not everyone agrees that those reasons are sufficient to justify this limitation. This paper is a discussion and disagreement by two authors. Henderson argues that dissociation should capture any loss of meaning resulting from any aspect of conservation practice, including cleaning, documentation, failure to respect beliefs, etc. She argues that dissociation from context may stop preventive conservators from identifying and respecting optimal traditional sustainable methods and techniques. Waller argues that the threat of losing context information about collection items should be managed as part of the wider cultural heritage institution's role and resolved through its engagement with the community. He acknowledges that preventive conservation can contribute to understanding and mitigating this form of loss, but advocates that primary responsibility must be situated at a higher level than the preventive conservation remit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies examining prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in people bereaved during the COVID‐19 pandemic are focused on psychopathology. However, mental health encompasses both absence of psychopathology and presence of well‐being. This is the first study examining symptom profiles of early PGD and subjective mental well‐being in 266 Dutch adults recently bereaved during the pandemic. Early PGD and well‐being indicators were assessed with the Traumatic Grief Inventory–Self Report Plus and the World Health Organization–Five Well‐Being Index, respectively. Latent class analysis identified four classes: low PGD/high well‐being (32%), low PGD/moderate well‐being (24%), moderate PGD/high well‐being (23%) and high PGD/low well‐being class (21%). People in the poorer mental health classes were more likely to be female, lower educated, suffering from a mental disorder, have a poor health status, closer kinship to the deceased, and higher risk of severe COVID‐19. Classifying adults according to symptom profiles of negative and positive outcomes provides a more complete picture of mental health in bereaved people and offers potential intervention targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent works in and around Black feminist and queer studies have explored the figure of unbearable life through different forms of forgetting. A forgetting attends every act of conceptual or cultural invention, but forgetting also marks a range of cognitive deteriorations in and around experiences of disability, death, and dying. Working between the discourses of afro-fabulation, afropessimism, and Black feminism, the article details the ways every act of invention is also a form of forgetting, and every instance of loss is also a form of creativity. Afro-fabulation, as one name for a Black queer mode of invention, is at once a mode of creating bearable forms of life from abjection, and a form of forgetting. In their shared attention to cognitive deterioration and death as forms of loss, Black feminism and afropessimism open space for reckoning with the impermanence and indeterminacy central to the Black radical tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the cultural imaginary of death and dying, the felt contours of grief are still often taken for granted. Grief is predominantly understood as sadness at loss; as melancholia at the finitude of relationships. Grief is conceived as a temporally-bound affective period in which one processes the pain of loss – that is, gets used to absence and works toward 'moving on'. In this article, we centre the accounts of people caring for the dying, or recently having experienced the death of a loved one to cancer, to advance a sociological analysis of grief that untethers it from this normative environ. In the lives of those living with death, we argue, grief evades social conventions and temporal limits. It is a spectral presence that shows little concern for expected affective crescendos (being at death's door/just departed). In its unruliness, grief reveals and resists the normative scene of death and dying, as collective pressure – for closure, for forgetting, for moving on – amplifies rather than ameliorates its felt experience. Centring the experiences of carers, we thus argue for an enlivened sociology of grief that illuminates its disruptive temporality, its haunting spectrality, and its propensity to instigate both affective refusals and (attempted) moments of collective catharsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attachment insecurity, including attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, is proposed as a key factor disrupting adaptive recovery following bereavement, resulting in complicated grief. However, findings are inconsistent across studies. This review aimed to synthesise existing research on attachment patterns in adults experiencing complicated grief to better understand this relationship. 22 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (5149 participants), published between 2003 and 2020, met inclusion criteria. Higher levels of attachment anxiety were consistently associated with symptoms of complicated grief. Higher levels of attachment avoidance were associated with symptoms of complicated grief, although this relationship was less consistent. The review has implications for clinical practice as bereaved adults with insecure attachment histories may be particularly vulnerable to experiencing complicated grief. The research is limited by the reliance on mainly cross-sectional studies. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies, and studies that explore men's experiences, and of individuals living in non-Western countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is an empirically validated treatment for mood disorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and trauma. IPT is based on the concept of "relational frame"—that an individual's experience of psychological distress impacts those around them, and that their social support network impacts the distressed individual. This concept, along with the specific techniques and tools that flow from it and the theoretical bases of IPT (attachment and interpersonal theory) make IPT unique. In this article we review the theoretical bases of IPT (attachment and communication) and provide a brief history of IPT, as well as the evidence supporting its use for a variety of disorders. We also describe its application to groups, adolescents, and other diverse populations. Future directions for research and treatment development are proposed, particularly research in the area of combining IPT with other psychotherapeutic modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper honors Jeremy Safran's legacy of scholarship and pedagogy through the lens of his emphasis on rupture and repair. Challenging a Freudian rendering of mourning as ultimately giving up a lost object, the author draws on Nicholas Abraham and Maria Torok's application of Sandor Ferenczi's concept of introjection to offer a relational rendering of the grieving process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stillbirth is a devastating event for families as well as hospital staff. Hospital practices around internal and external staff communication, debriefing, and training are unknown. Methods: We systematically sampled U.S. hospitals that provide obstetrical care. Staff knowledgeable of bereavement care on labor and delivery were invited to participate in an anonymous survey linked to hospital descriptors. We evaluated stillbirth communication, debriefing, and training for staff. Results: We received 289 usable surveys from 429 eligible staff (67% response). Most (94%) noted hospitals' marked rooms housing bereaved families, but only a third (37%) reported a marker on the paper or electronic medical record. Half of the hospitals had no standard debriefings post-loss, and 38% reported no perinatal loss training for labor and delivery nurses. Conclusions: Hospitals have significant variations and gaps in staff communication, support, and training, which are key aspects of respectful stillbirth care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) was recently added to ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR. Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are frequent comorbidities, but findings regarding comorbid somatoform disorder and personality disorders remain mixed and studies with severely impaired patients are scarce. It was therefore the objective of the present study to examine comorbidities of PGD in a bereaved inpatient psychiatric sample. We assessed N = 101 bereaved inpatients in a psychiatric hospital with clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires. We calculated differences between patients with and without a PGD-diagnosis in number and type of comorbid disorders as well as associations between the severity of PGD and comorbid disorders. On average, patients had 2.53 comorbid psychiatric diagnoses. Patients with and without a PGD-diagnosis did not differ in their number of comorbid diagnoses, and there was no association between number of comorbid diagnoses and PGD-severity. However, patients with PGD, had significantly more comorbid diagnoses belonging to neurotic-, stress-related and somatoform disorders of the ICD-10. Patients with PGD ICD-11 also had significantly higher scores in self-reported depressive, PTSD-, and somatoform symptoms, as well as the negative affectivity personality domain than those without a PGD diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to provide insights into comorbidities of PGD in a bereaved inpatient psychiatric sample. It highlights the importance of considering PGD symptoms as part of the complaints of bereaved patients to achieve a tailored treatment approach. Future longitudinal studies are needed to unveil relationships between pre-existing mental disorders and PGD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encounters with loss and death are an inherent part of human existence and a significant element in the tapestry of leisure. This article concludes the special issue of Leisure Sciences on 'Leisure, Loss, and Death.' It reflects upon the submitted manuscripts and introduces temporal approaches to the study of loss, highlighting distinctions between planning for and anticipating loss, the commodification and festivalization of loss, and the ways in which leisure can contribute to the recovery from loss and death. The article underscores that, by contemplating the event of loss and the temporal/experiential milieus before and after, numerous promising avenues for further inquiry emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death is among the few certainties of life. Although personal and societal attitudes about death are varied and complex, death can act as a catalyst for action, resulting in a somber, affirmative, and more authentic existence—captured by Heidegger's term "being-toward-death." This article calls for a more proactive engagement with the topic of death vis-à-vis leisure, asserting a greater need to embrace diverse perspectives, philosophies, and worldviews through both empirical and conceptual research. Serving as the introduction to the special issue of Leisure Sciences on "Leisure, Loss and Death," it explores nuanced definitions of death and distinguishes between personal and collective loss. It urges a more affirmative embrace of death in leisure research, presenting death as an existential milieu that can inform human existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances knowledge around the intersection of death, loss, and leisure travel. Our phenomenological study revealed the lived experiences of seven senior travelers who had traveled internationally following the death of a loved one(s). We employed the 'MeBox' method to help uncover new layers of meaning that are not always easy to put into words. The findings of our study provide new insights into notions of leisure by identifying overseas leisure travel within a liminal space in which feelings of loss and acceptance, and the creation of new perspectives, are experienced following the death of a loved one(s). Our findings challenge the destructive nature of human loss following death of a loved one(s). Instead, the experience of international travel appeared to influence the social, material, and existential life of senior travelers after the death of a loved one(s), transforming leisure into a personally meaningful experience for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Poets often use different tools and vocabularies to describe their ideologies and literary influences. Jeffries suggests various textual-conceptual tools to explore how texts are used to persuade and affect readers to adopt certain ideologies. Utilizing Jeffries' tools, the current paper aims to qualitatively investigate the ideologies presented in „Four Faces of Loss''. Then, some research questions are raised: Is the language used in the four poems extracted from „Four Faces of Loss'' ideological? How do these four different poets, with different backgrounds, use language to convey ideologies? How are the textual-conceptual functions used to express ideology or affect the reader? The study concludes that different textual-conceptual functions have been used by the poets each to express an ideology or to affect readers. Various words or expressions are used to reflect the poet's aspect of loss in one way or another. The four poems are knitted in a way to affirm that the use of language in these poems intends to awaken the feeling of loss of identity, belonging, oneself, etc., to express fear, doubt, distrust, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The experience of loss and grief in patients' lives with life‐long treatment in haemodialysis, and in their families' lives is a major cause of mental health problems. In practice, nurses often describe a lack of time and limited knowledge of how to provide nursing care in situations of loss and grief, thus finding out from nurses' perspectives of what competencies they need to provide care would be useful for the development of nursing practice. Objectives: To develop knowledge in a nursing perspective of competencies to provide care for patients and their families, who experience grief linked to loss due to kidney failure, haemodialysis and/or death. Design: The study took a phenomenological‐hermeneutical approach. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted 12 nurses caring for patients receiving haemodialysis with no kidney transplantation option and family members. Ricoeur's interpretation theory involving naïve reading, structural analysis and critical interpretation and discussion was used for analysis. Results: Four themes emerged of nurse's experiences: (1) patient's loss and grief in everyday life, (2) dealing with supportive conversations when caring for patients, (3) families' losses are resulting in grief reactions and (4) importance of close relationships when caring for families. Conclusions: To nurses, patients on haemodialysis and their families have multiple loss and grief experiences. Nurses' working in kidney care need to develop competencies to support patients and families to cope with grief and loss. Further research is needed to develop these competencies and then to implement in education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potato tuber harvesting machines cause mechanical damage due to the intensity of operation and having metal moving parts. The amount of these damages varies according to the constructing, the number of moving parts and the way the harvester works. Also, the increase in the sensitivity of potato tubers to mechanical damage during harvesting has caused an increase in these damages, while it also causes more spoilage of potato tubers during storage and increases the damage caused by it. Therefore, in this research, based on the results and recommendations of the research done inside the country, in the form of a systematic review and meta-analysis method, the effect of some harvesting machines on the amount of mechanical damage of potato tubers has been investigated. Articles published in scientific journals, final reports of research projects, papers presented in scientific conferences, and student theses were reviewed using standard keywords. Then, those who met the criteria to enter the research, entered the meta-analysis process after quality control using a random model. The results showed that the potato picker machine with a one-part conveyor chain without a shaker, with the least mechanical damage of 19.04%, is the most suitable machine for harvesting potato tubers, and the mechanical damage of potato picker machine with a single-part conveyor chain with a shaker, potato picker machine with Two-part conveyor chain, potato picker machine with long conveyor chain, potato picker machine with vibrating sieve and potato picker machine with short one-part conveyor chain with shaker, respectively were 19.04, 19.46, 20.26, 21.85, 24.04 and 24.14 percent. Therefore, in order to reduce mechanical damages, it is recommended to use a potato harvester with a one-part conveyor chain in light soils and a two-part conveyor chain in heavy soils. Before harvesting, it is necessary to bring the humidity of the field to an acceptable level with light irrigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along the food production chain of animal, fish, and vegetable products, a huge amount of by-products are generated every year. Major nutritional, financial, and environmental advantages can be achieved by transforming them into functional ingredients for food formulation and fortification. In this review, we investigated various conventional and emerging treatments recently employed to obtain functional ingredients rich in proteins, fibers, and bioactive compounds from vegetables, fish, meat, and dairy by-products. The optimal enrichment level in food as well as the nutritional, techno-functional, and sensory properties of the final food were also discussed. Novel technologies such as ultrasounds, microwaves, and high pressure have been successfully adopted to enhance the extraction of target compounds. The functional ingredients, added both in liquid or powder form, were able to improve the nutritional quality and antioxidant potential of food, although high levels of fortification may cause undesired changes in texture and flavor. This review provides important considerations for further industrial scale-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire detection is highly important for people's lives and property, and enhancing its accuracy is essential. This study focused on utilizing and improving YOLOv8 to obtain higher detection accuracy for fire detection. Three methods were used. First, the newly designed DGIConv module replaces the original Conv module, thereby decreasing the computational complexity while enhancing the model's performance. Second, to enhance the recognition ability of flame targets, a new attention mechanism named FourBranchAttention was designed, and a comparison was made with other attention mechanisms. The experiments revealed that the newly designed attention mechanism performed best on the mAP50 and mAP50-95 metrics. Finally, to improve the convergence speed and localization ability of the model, the loss function is optimized by adopting better hyperparameters of the TaskAlignedAssigner and employing the newly designed GSIoU as an alternative to the original CIoU. Through ablation experiments, all three improvements improved the detection performance to a certain extent, and the model using the three improvements achieved the best performance. Compared with the baseline, the YOLOv8 model with DGIConv, FourBranchAttention, and the optimized loss function increased the mAP50 by 2.52% and the mAP50-95 by 3.37%. The mAP50 and mAP50-95 had reached 98.46% and 75.26%, respectively. Compared with previous models, such as SSD/YOLOv7, the performance metrics of enhanced YOLOv8 also exhibited significant enhancements, thereby augmenting the accuracy of fire detection. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2024-05-03-09 Full Text: PDF

Abstract Background Disasters can cause casualties and significant financial loss. In accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, areas affected by disasters must be built back better. Accurate post-disaster damage and loss assessments are critical for the success of recovery programs. This scoping review aimed to identify the components and entities of the healthcare sector’s post-disaster damage and loss assessment program. Methods An comprehensive search for relevant literature was performed using several databases, including the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, and Magiran. The search was limited to papers published between 2010 and 2022. In addition, we searched the grey literature for resources related to post-disaster damage and loss assessments. Study selection and data extraction were evaluated by a third reviewer. The main themes were determined through a consensus process and agreement among team members. Results A total of 845 papers were identified, 41 of which were included in the review. The grey literature search yielded 1015 documents, 23 of which were associated with the study’s purpose. The findings were classified into five main themes, 20 subthemes, and 876 codes. The main-themes include the following: Concepts and Definitions; Post-Disaster Damage and Loss Assessment Procedures; Healthcare sector procedures; Assessments Tools, and Methods; Intra-sectoral, Inter-sectoral, and cross-cutting issues. Conclusions The existing corpus of literature on post-disaster damage and loss assessment programs within the healthcare sector offers only limited insights into the entities and components involved. It is of great importance that stakeholders have an extensive grasp of these pivotal concepts and principles, as they are fundamental in enabling effective responses to disasters, informed decision-making, and facilitating rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. Consequently, there is a considerable scope for further investigation in this area. Scoping review registration number https://osf.io/nj3fk .

The three-level converter has become the mainstream converter topology because of its good output power quality and high power factor. The three-level dual pulse width modulation frequency speed control system with rectifier–inverter structure has become a research hotspot in academic circles because of its advantages of bidirectional energy flow, high power quality, and controllable intermediate direct current (DC) voltage. Aiming at the high-performance and high-efficiency control of the three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) rectifier–inverter drive system of an induction motor, this study builds a prediction and loss model of the three-level rectifier–inverter system, constructs a cost function including the midpoint voltage balance and loss optimization, and proposes a model predictive control without weighting factors based on a sequential parallel structure. With the development of the field of power electronics, the control performance and efficiency of the converter have gradually improved, and the model predictive control applied to the converter is no longer limited to the traditional control objectives. The proposed strategy introduces the DC bus midpoint voltage and converter switching frequency control to the traditional sequential model predictive control and constructs a unified cost function with multiple control objectives. According to the actual requirements of the multiple control objectives in the operation of the rectifier–inverter system, the control objectives in the cost function are divided into primary and secondary control objectives and classified into two sequence optimization sets, and different sequence sets are sequentially optimized. In the same sequence set, adaptive parallel optimization is used to select the optimal switching state, which ensures the synchronous optimization of each control object in the sequence, thus avoiding the need for weighting factors. The parallel structure can rank multiple control targets, reduce the number of sequences to increase the number of optional voltage vectors between each sequence and increase the control effect of nonprimary control targets. Moreover, synchronous optimization of control targets of the same importance is realized at the same level, which solves the problem that targets of similar importance must be sequentially optimized in conventional sequential model predictive control, solves the problem that the priority of different targets is difficult to adjust, and has stronger applicability for the complex topology structure with multiple control requirements. The simulation and experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm can improve the steady-state and dynamic performance of the system, reduce the midpoint voltage bias, reduce the switching frequency of the rectifier and inverter, reduce the total harmonic bias, and adjust the midpoint voltage unbalance.

This study aimed to evaluate the learning activity sheets (LAS) in English, which served as inputs for an action plan for the school year 2023-2024. Based on the result of the study, the English expert respondents obtained an overall weighted mean of 3.64 with the verbal interpretation of Strongly Agree, while the teacher-respondents got an overall weighted mean of 3.72, which is also verbally interpreted as Strongly Agree. There is no significant difference between the two groups of respondents' evaluations regarding the appropriateness, accuracy, usefulness, clarity, and comprehensibility on the developed learning activity sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]