scholarly journals Words describing feelings about death: A comparison of sentiment for self and others and changes over time

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0242848
Author(s):  
Lauren R. Miller-Lewis ◽  
Trent W. Lewis ◽  
Jennifer Tieman ◽  
Deb Rawlings ◽  
Deborah Parker ◽  
...  

Understanding public attitudes towards death is needed to inform health policies to foster community death awareness and preparedness. Linguistic sentiment analysis of how people describe their feelings about death can add to knowledge gained from traditional self-reports. This study provided the first description of emotive attitudes expressed towards death utilising textual sentiment analysis for the dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance. A linguistic lexicon of sentiment norms was applied to activities conducted in an online course for the general-public designed to generate discussion about death. We analysed the sentiment of words people chose to describe feelings about death, for themselves, for perceptions of the feelings of ‘others’, and for longitudinal changes over the time-period of exposure to a course about death (n = 1491). The results demonstrated that sadness pervades affective responses to death, and that inevitability, peace, and fear were also frequent reactions. However, words chosen to represent perceptions of others’ feelings towards death suggested that participants perceived others as feeling more negative about death than they do themselves. Analysis of valence, arousal and dominance dimensions of sentiment pre-to-post course participation demonstrated that participants chose significantly happier (more positive) valence words, less arousing (calmer) words, and more dominant (in-control) words to express their feelings about death by the course end. This suggests that the course may have been helpful in participants becoming more emotionally accepting in their feelings and attitude towards death. Furthermore, the change over time appeared greater for younger participants, who showed more increase in the dominance (power/control) and pleasantness (valence) in words chosen at course completion. Sentiment analysis of words to describe death usefully extended our understanding of community death attitudes and emotions. Future application of sentiment analysis to other related areas of health policy interest such as attitudes towards Advance Care Planning and palliative care may prove fruitful.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayla Ogus Binatli

This paper investigates whether the relationship between income inequality and growth changes over time. Two time periods, covering 1970–1985 and 1985–1999, are analyzed and compared. A statistically significant relationship between inequality and growth in either time period fails to emerge. However, there are indications that effect of inequality on growth may be different in the nineties when compared to the seventies. In the literature, a consistent negative effect of inequality on growth is documented although the significance of the effect is open to debate. This paper also finds a negative effect of income inequality on growth in the seventies but, although statistically insignificant, a consistently positive effect in the nineties.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-139
Author(s):  
Syed Muhammad Adib Termizi Ahmad Al Jafari

Masjids symbolise purity with which it is a requirement for a mosque to be free from being owned by anyone and the sole beneficiary is for Allah the Al Mighty. However, Singapore’s needs for land and space to ensure its growth and progress as well as maintaining economy that changes over time made every mosque in Singapore to undergo a change in the lease period or dependant on the legal notice that allows the government to takeover control of the mosque at any point in time. These two issues clearly trespass the basis of beneficiary (wakaf) in Islam in which it is stated that properties that are classified as wakaf, have to be sustainable and are not bound to any conditions. As such, this paper is written to discuss on how a building, that is limited to a specific time period, can be regarded as a mosque, according to the views by scholars of Islamic law. A descriptive and inductive approach is being used in this research’s methodology to gather the scholar’s opinions, as well as their arguments. Analytical and critical approach is used to discuss their views and their arguments to find the opinion that is the closest match with the truth and suffice the needs of the Muslim community in Singapore and their interests. The result of this research shows that there is no consensus among the Islamic jurists that mosques must be built on land that is on wakaf property, which therefore validate the status of mosques in Singapore. This is achieved by using the opinions of scholars that allow mosques to be built on land that is on lease or rent as well as opinions of scholars that allow the use of mats or carpet to be used as a mosque. Keywords: Wakaf, mosque, Islamic law, wakaf property Abstrak Masjid adalah sebuah bangunan yang mempunyai kesucian, sehingga mana disyaratkan bagi sesebuah masjid hendaklah ia terlepas dari hak milik sesiapa dengan di wakafkannya hanya untuk Allah Taala. Akan tetapi keperluan Singapura terhadap tempat dan tanah untuk memastikan ia terus membangun dan maju serta dapat melaksanakan dasar ekonomi yang berasaskan perubahan dari masa ke semasa menjadikan setiap masjid yang berada di dalam pulau ini dihadkan dengan waktu atau tergantung dengan undang-undang yang membolehkan kerajaan mengambil alih masjid tersebut pada bila-bila masa. Kedua-dua pekara itu dengan jelas melanggar asas hukum wakaf yang mensyaratkan agar mana wakaf itu mestilah berkekalan dan tiada tergantung dengan sebarang syarat. Oleh yang demikian kertas kerja ini bertujuan membincangkan sejauh manakah sesebuah bangunan yang terhad dengan waktu tertentu, harus dianggap sebagai masjid pada pandangan fiqh Islami. Pendekatan deskriptif dan induktif telah diguna pakai dalam metodologi kajian ini untuk mengumpul pendapat ulama’, serta hujah-hujah mereka. Manakala pendekatan analitikal dan kritikal pula digunakan bagi membincangkan pandangan para ulama’ serta hujah-hujah mereka untuk mencari pendapat yang paling dekat dengan kebenaran serta menjaga kepentingan dan maslahat masyarakat Islam Singapura. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa tiada kesepakatan di antara fuqaha bahawa masjid itu mesti didirikan di atas tanah yang diwakafkan, yang mana ini menjadikan masjid di Singapura sah dianggap sebagai masjid dengan menggunakan pendapat yang mengharuskan ia dibina di atas tanah yang disewa di samping pendapat yang mengharuskan hamparan atau tikar dijadikan sebagai masjid. Kata Kunci: Wakaf, tanah wakaf, masjid, Undang-undang Islam


Paleobiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Hee Lee ◽  
Milford H. Wolpoff

With a sample of 94 Pleistocene cranial capacities between the time period of 1.8 Ma and 50 Ka now known, we consider the evolution of cranial capacity in Homo, with the null hypothesis that the changes over time are a result of one process. We employ a new method that uses a resampling approach to address the limitations imposed on the methods of previous studies. To test the null hypothesis, we examine the distribution of changes in adjacent temporal samples and ask whether there are differences between earlier and later samples. Our analyses do not reject the hypothesis of a single process of brain size change, but they are incompatible with an interpretation of punctuated equilibrium during this period. The results of this paper are difficult to reconcile with the case for cladogenesis in the Homo lineage during the Pleistocene.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shohei Komaki ◽  
Hideki Ohmomo ◽  
Tsuyoshi Hachiya ◽  
Yoichi Sutoh ◽  
Kanako Ono ◽  
...  

Abstract Background One of the fundamental assumptions of DNA methylation in clinical epigenetics is that DNA methylation status can change over time with or without interplay with environmental and clinical conditions. However, little is known about how DNA methylation status changes over time under ordinary environmental and clinical conditions. In this study, we revisited the high frequency longitudinal DNA methylation data of two Japanese males (24 time-points within three months) and characterized the longitudinal dynamics. Results The results showed that the majority of CpGs on Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip probe set were longitudinally stable over the time period of three months. Focusing on dynamic and stable CpGs extracted from datasets, dynamic CpGs were more likely to be reported as epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) markers of various traits, especially those of immune- and inflammatory-related traits; meanwhile, the stable CpGs were enriched in metabolism-related genes and were less likely to be EWAS markers, indicating that the stable CpGs are stable both in the short-term within individuals and under various environmental and clinical conditions. Conclusions This study indicates that CpGs with different stabilities are involved in different functions and traits, and thus, they are potential indicators that can be applied for clinical epigenetic studies to outline underlying mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 257-258
Author(s):  
Uchechi Mitchell ◽  
Elena Graetz ◽  
Jing Wang

Abstract Despite being a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, suicidal ideation, and mortality among U.S. older adults, research on hopelessness and how it changes over time are lacking. Although hopelessness generally increases with age, levels of hopelessness may be influenced by race/ethnicity and social or economic factors. This study uses longitudinal data from 8,359 individuals from the Health and Retirement Study to examine race differences in trajectories of hopelessness from 2006 to 2018. We used linear mixed models to estimate trajectories of hopelessness for blacks, whites and Hispanics age 51 and older. The model was fit with a natural spline cubic function to model changes in time trends of hopelessness and the interaction between time and race. Models controlled for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, health status, and psychosocial factors that influence hopelessness. We found that older Hispanics have the highest levels of hopelessness, followed by non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites. Trajectories of hopelessness were non-linear and differed by race. For older whites, hopelessness increased from 2006-2010 and then decreased until 2018. For older blacks, it decreased the entire time period but did so at a decreasing rate; and, for older Hispanics, hopelessness decreased from 2006-2012 and then increased thereafter. Our study shows that hopelessness generally decreased over time among older adults between 2006 and 2018 in race-specific ways, despite generally increasing with age. These findings suggest that race, age and period effects differentially influence trajectories of hopelessness. Factors contributing to these differences may be related to concurrent social and economic conditions.


10.29007/gdxw ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Govindaswamy ◽  
Wahhaj Farooq ◽  
Yiyang Wang ◽  
Ilyas Ustun ◽  
Daniela Raicu ◽  
...  

C. elegans is an ideal organism for modeling aging research due to their simple neural connectome and relatively short life. Current issues faced within aging research includes the decoupling of lifespan and healthspan. We propose a method to efficiently measure the healthspan of a nematode by considering healthspan as a comparable characteristic of the lifespan of a worm, where the lifespan is represented as a temporal sequence. We apply Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) so that the healthspan of any set of worms can be compared based on locomotion feature values’ similarity over time. This technique allows us to compare the effects of various gene knockouts on the healthspan of the worm, such as daf2, in comparison to its wildtype N2. Results show that daf2 worm increases the lifespan of the worm, and using DTW to compare each feature as it changes over time, we can see that the proportion of its life that it stays in a healthy state also increases compared to N2 worms. To validate the results, we measure the time period a worm is healthy and the time period it is frail using a method called frailty threshold analysis. This allows us to determine the day a worm converts from being healthy to frail. We then compare the longevity of healthy state and frail state between worm types based on the duration of healthy state and frail state to see that daf2 in fact extends its healthy state since the proportion it stays in healthy state is greater than that of N2.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunali P Ghelani ◽  
Lin Yee Y Chen ◽  
Faye L Norby ◽  
Elsayed Z SOLIMAN ◽  
Silvia Koton ◽  
...  

Objective: To evaluate the 30-year trends in the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort and identify race and sex differences in these trends. Background: Long-term data to study recent trends in the incidence of AF, overall and across sex and race groups, are scarce. Methods: We included 15,343 men and women aged 45 to 65 in 1987-89 without AF from 4 US communities in the ARIC cohort. Incident AF was identified based on study electrocardiograms, hospital discharge codes, and death certificates through 2017. We calculated age and time-period specific incidence rates (IR) of AF. We used Poisson regression to calculate IR ratios of AF over time adjusting for age, sex and race. Results: A total of 3,241 AF cases were identified during a mean (SD) follow up of 22 (8.4) years (599 in African Americans, 2642 in whites, 1582 in women, 1659 in men). Overall, the IR of AF in the ARIC cohort was 9.6 per 1000 person-years (6.9 in African American, 10.5 in whites, 8.1 in women, and 11.6 in men). Age-specific IR by time-period did not show significant changes over time (Figure). In a model adjusted for sex, race, and age group, the rate of AF did not change over time from 1987-1991 to 2012-2017 (IR ratio=1.10, 95% CI = 0.89-1.36 comparing 2012-2017 to 1987-1991). Similarly, no evidence of changes over time in AF rates were identified in men or women, whites or African Americans separately. Conclusions: Even though the incident rates of AF increase as age increases, our analysis provided evidence suggesting that the overall rates of AF have not changed over time in a multicenter cohort of African American and white individuals in the US from 1987 to 2017.


2012 ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Eunice Conceição ◽  
Susana Garcia ◽  
Cristina Padez ◽  
Hugo Cardoso

Studies which document secular change in stature are almost exclusively based on males, while similar data on females is less common. In addition, secular trends in socioeconomic differences of height are seldomly reported. This study aims to document changes in mean stature in a sample of Portuguese women born between 1966 and 1982 (n = 30,629). For this study self-reported stature data was obtained from a large sample of women who delivered their children at the Dr. Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital, in Lisbon, between 1991 and 2004. Reported data on educational level was used as a proxy for socioeconomic status to assess changes in female stature in relation to their social class. Results show that female stature in the sample increases during the time period considered (mean stature: 160.8 cm in 1966 and 161.1 cm in 1982), but not consistently. In addition, women of higher educational level are systematically taller than their lower educational level counterparts (mean stature difference between highest and lowest educational level groups is 4.2 cm). Compared to males, mean stature increase in females was about 75% less. Although the time period considered is short, this study documents important socioeconomic differences in female stature and is the first to report stature changes over time in Portuguese women.


VASA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Urban ◽  
Alban Fouasson-Chailloux ◽  
Isabelle Signolet ◽  
Christophe Colas Ribas ◽  
Mathieu Feuilloy ◽  
...  

Abstract. Summary: Background: We aimed at estimating the agreement between the Medicap® (photo-optical) and Radiometer® (electro-chemical) sensors during exercise transcutaneous oxygen pressure (tcpO2) tests. Our hypothesis was that although absolute starting values (tcpO2rest: mean over 2 minutes) might be different, tcpO2-changes over time and the minimal value of the decrease from rest of oxygen pressure (DROPmin) results at exercise shall be concordant between the two systems. Patients and methods: Forty seven patients with arterial claudication (65 + / - 7 years) performed a treadmill test with 5 probes each of the electro-chemical and photo-optical devices simultaneously, one of each system on the chest, on each buttock and on each calf. Results: Seventeen Medicap® probes disconnected during the tests. tcpO2rest and DROPmin values were higher with Medicap® than with Radiometer®, by 13.7 + / - 17.1 mm Hg and 3.4 + / - 11.7 mm Hg, respectively. Despite the differences in absolute starting values, changes over time were similar between the two systems. The concordance between the two systems was approximately 70 % for classification of test results from DROPmin. Conclusions: Photo-optical sensors are promising alternatives to electro-chemical sensors for exercise oximetry, provided that miniaturisation and weight reduction of the new sensors are possible.


2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Olff ◽  
Mirjam Nijdam ◽  
Kristin Samuelson ◽  
Julia Golier ◽  
Mariel Meewisse ◽  
...  

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