Strategies to Cope With the COVID-Related Deaths Among Family Members

The extraordinary circumstances of deaths during COVID-19 pandemic have been challenging for the deceased's families. This contribution aims to describe some spontaneous strategies that family members may adopt to cope with the loss of a relative for COVID-19. The present reflection derives from the experience of a clinical psychology unit of one of the biggest public hospital in Milan, Italy, which supported 246 families of COVID-19 victims in the 1st days after the loss. Spontaneous strategies used by family members to deal with such a unique mourning process involved: creating alternative good-bye rituals, normalizing the loss, addressing faith and hope, highlighting the perks of isolation, supporting others in need, and delivering the bad news to others. These observed strategies may suggest how to assess and support a “normal” bereavement process during the extraordinary COVID-19 circumstances, in order to prevent further psychological distress.

MIGRATION, MOBILITY, AND PURSUIT OF GOOD OLD AGES: NARRATIVES OF OLDER PUERTO RICAN ADULTS WHO MIGRATE

Migration research has articulated “regimes of mobility,” or multi-scalar movements (within and across households, communities, and borders) that are interconnected and embedded in unequal power relations. Research on late-life migration has been limited by: (1) simplistic conceptualizations of mobility as adaptive or traumatic; and (2) a focus on transnationalism. The migration of older adults between Puerto Rico and US mainland presents a new frontier for examining mobility in aging. Puerto Rico’s population is rapidly aging and out-migrating. Moreover, as US citizens, Puerto Ricans experience no legal restrictions on migration typical of transnationalism. Yet little is known about their migration patterns and associated narrated meanings. I conducted semi-structured interviews and participant observation among older Puerto Ricans who migrated to the US mainland in late-life. Preliminary findings suggest that older Puerto Ricans negotiate competing definitions of “good” old ages based on residential context. They report migrating to the mainland to pursue “good” old ages defined in material terms, namely access to social and medical services. Post-migration, however, older Puerto Ricans report experiences of confinement and loneliness, due to language barriers and familial separation. In narrating hopes for the future, they describe an alternative “good” old age in Puerto Rico, emphasizing belonging and familial connection. As older Puerto Ricans negotiate multiple definitions of “good” old ages through circular mobility, the social and economic inequalities which first necessitated migration reproduce disadvantage in the new location. This study highlights the need to conceptualize multi-scalar mobilities that intersect with inequality to shape aging among migrant populations.

Performance Analysis of Hard-Switching Based Hybrid FSO/RF System over Turbulence Channels

The hybrid system of free space optic (FSO) and radio frequency (RF) has come forth as alternative good solution for increasing demand for high data rates in wireless communication networks. In this paper, wireless networks with hard-switching between FSO and RF link are analyzed, assuming that at a certain time point either one of the two links are active, with FSO link having higher priority. As the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of FSO link falls below a certain selected threshold, the RF link is activated. In this work, it is assumed that the FSO link follows Gamma-Gamma fading due to the atmospheric turbulence effect whereas RF link experiences Rayleigh fading. To analyze the proposed hybrid model, analytical expressions are derived for the outage probability, bit error rate and ergodic capacity. A numerical comparison is also done between the performances of the proposed hybrid FSO/RF model and the single FSO model.

Usefulness of the concept of social savings and consumer surplus in studies on the impact of innovation on economic growth

Aim: The main objective of the paper was to calculate social savings (and consumer surplus) of innovation on the example of railroads in Germany for 1985. The railways were among the most important innovations in the nineteenth century. Being aware of the limits of the social savings technique, the author included the concept of consumer surplus in his calculation Design / Research methods: For the purpose of the research, the author used the concept of social savings proposed by Robert Fogel and consumer surplus. Conclusions / findings: For the year 1895, social savings amounted to 2.82% (first equation) of GDP and 5.04% of GDP (second equation), taking into account elasticity of demand (-1,38), social savings amounted to 1.27% of GDP and 2.18% of GDP for Germany. The result thus elicited the author referred to the social savings from railroads as made available in literature and the author’s previous research. The author demonstrated that the social savings from the innovation were relatively small. Originality / value of the article: The results of research are useful for examining the impact of innovation, such as railroads, on the level of social savings. The paper fills the gap in the Polish economic thinking on the use of counterfactual methods. Implications of the research: The concept of social savings which takes into account demand elasticity can be applied successfully in evaluating the impact of (various) innovations on economic growth. Limitations of the research: The weakness of the method may be the lack of knowledge about the real level of elasticity of demand for innovation, as well as determining the level of prices of an alternative good, especially if the use of innovation at the initial stage of bringing it to the market involves a relatively high price.

Numerical Simulation and Water Tank Experiment on Atmospheric Wind Field over a Mountain under Neutral Stability Condition

Analysis and forecast atmospheric wind velocity profiles have the important roles in research the dispersion of the pollutants and its effects to surrounding environment. A three-dimensional numerical modeling on atmospheric wind flow over a mountain under neutral condition was processed to attain the velocity contours of atmospheric wind field on complex terrains. Meteorological conditions and geographical conditions including four downwind velocities and two underlying surface roughness characteristics were considered in the present study. Water tank experiment and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technology were used to gain typical wind flow field and validate the simulation results. The numerical results agree well with the experimental results, which prove the numerical methods used in this paper could be the alternative good tool to research and forecast atmospheric wind field.

How Good a Bet is Good Form?

‘Good form’ theories of perception leave some latitude concerning how casually or cautiously order is imposed on the stimulus. Exploring this issue, the present experiment introduced a series of figures admitting up to three alternative ‘good’ readings. Eight college students estimated two angles in each of fifty-six pictured spatial forms. Theory predicted that geometrical regularities of rectangularity and symmetry would dominate their estimates. But a regularity would rarely appear when inconsistent with projective geometry and the given figure. The accuracy of subjects' estimates was also assessed. The results confirmed the hypotheses at high significance levels, arguing that such figures are interpreted through an order-imposing process restrained by projective geometry, and that subjects could make roughly accurate estimates based on the imposed order. Parallels with computer scene analysis are discussed. It is concluded that perceptual presumption of certain ‘good forms’ runs little risk of misinterpreting the stimulus.