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Textile Fiber Microscopy
This book offers an important and comprehensive guide to the study of textile fibers and contains a unique text that prioritizes a review of fibers' microstructure, macrostructure and chemical composition. The author - a noted expert in the field - details many fiber types and includes all the possible fiber shapes with a number of illustrative micrographs. The author explores a wealth of topics such as fiber end uses, fiber source and production, a history of each fiber and the sustainability of the various fibers. The text includes a review of environmentally friendly fibers and contains information on the most current fiber science by putting the focus on fibers that have been mechanically or chemically recycled, for use in textile production. The author also offers an exploration of issues of textile waste and the lack of textile recycling that can help public policymakers with ways to inform and regulate post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste issues.
eBook
Historical Epistemology: a Research Approach in Psychiatry
Drawing on a key issue raised in the paper by Scardigno and Mininni (2021), this commentary explores the question of historical research in psychiatry. Firstly, the importance of historical research is highlighted for both psychiatry as a medical discipline, and for descriptive psychopathology, the language of psychiatry. Of significance has been the construction of psychiatry as a hybrid discipline formed through the deep participation of both the natural and the social sciences. This in turn brings to light the fundamental difference in epistemological basis to psychiatry and medicine, with ensuing consequences for our understanding of mental disorders and for the development of further research methodology. Likewise conceptually hybrid, the special role carried by mental symptoms in psychiatry places them, as concepts, in the position of crucial research tools. Secondly, given some of the complexities raised in carrying out historical research in this area, the issue of how this should be approached is examined. The method proposed here is that of historical epistemology. This is an approach that focuses on concepts, on mapping their biographies in order to clarify their structures, their roles, their discontinuities, their relationships and interactions with other concepts and so on. Given the central role of concepts in psychiatry and descriptive psychopathology, this approach to their study is most likely to provide valid and meaningful results.
Journal Article
Too Warm and Too Dry—Decline and Threat of the Subarctic-Subalpine Liverwort Hygrobiella laxifolia in a Low Mountain Range in Central Europe under the Conditions of Climate Change
Using the liverwort Hygrobiella laxiflora as an example, this study aims to investigate the impact of climate change on montane species and their ecosystems. The study area is the Elbe Sandstone Mountains in Germany and the Czech Republic, where Hygrobiella laxifolia has an isolated occurrence in deeply carved gorges characterized by a specific microclimate (cellar climate). The focus is on determining the rate at which populations are affected. After little change in the population over a long period, a sudden sharp decline has been observed in recent years. The decline correlates with the mass proliferation of the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) observed since 2017, which has led to a strong thinning of the forests in the area. In many areas of occurrence, the forests now have a much sparser tree layer or none at all. Competition from other, more competitive species also plays an important role as a cause of decline, as these have spread more widely on the sites due to the now higher light levels. The severe bark beetle infestation and the large-scale forest fire of 2022 both represent events that led to the almost complete deforestation of large parts of the study area, which was previously unknown on this scale. Since both the bark beetle infestation and the forest fire are strongly intensified by climate change, we assume that climate change is the main reason for the decline of Hygrobiella laxifolia in the area. The populations of Hygrobiella laxifolia of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains show some morphological peculiarities. As two new species have recently been described within Hygrobiella, we have integrated a sample from the area into a molecular phylogeny of Hygrobiella based on the plastid sequences of trnL-trnF intergenic spacer and matK to clarify the relationships. The sample from Elbe Sandstone Mountains fits well into the clade of Hygrobiella laxifolia.
Journal Article
Future outlook of people living alone with early-stage dementia and their non-resident relatives and friends who support them
Little is known about the experiences of people living alone with dementia in the community and their non-resident relatives and friends who support them. In this paper, we explore their respective attitudes and approaches to the future, particularly regarding the future care and living arrangements of those living with dementia. The study is based on a qualitative secondary analysis of interviews with 24 people living alone with early-stage dementia in North Wales, United Kingdom, and one of their relatives or friends who supported them. All but four of the dyads were interviewed twice over 12 months (a total of 88 interviews). In the analysis, it was observed that several people with dementia expressed the desire to continue living at home for ‘as long as possible’. A framework approach was used to investigate this theme in more depth, drawing on concepts from the existing studies of people living with dementia and across disciplines. Similarities and differences in the future outlook and temporal orientation of the participants were identified. The results support previous research suggesting that the future outlook of people living with early-stage dementia can be interpreted in part as a response to their situation and a way of coping with the threats that it is perceived to present, and not just an impaired view of time. Priorities for future research are highlighted in the discussion.
Journal Article
Epistemology of Psychiatry
In historical and epistemological terms, psychiatry is a new discipline born during the 19th century. Rooted in both the natural and social sciences, psychiatric objects of inquiry, namely mental symptoms and mental disorders, are hybrid, constituted by the blending of components arising from disparate sources of knowledge ranging from the biological to the semantic in its widest sense. This poses problems for psychiatric research and therapy. Whilst conventional pluralism may be a convenient approach to manage aspects of psychiatric practice, it lacks the capacity to analyse psychiatric objects in their entirety. For the latter, psychiatry demands a new, tailored regional epistemology. This paper outlines the main features of an epistemology specific to the needs of psychiatry. It highlights the relational approach that needs to be taken and illustrates the usefulness of this approach by analysing the structure of psychiatric objects, exploring the manner in which they may be inscribed in the brain, and identifying the need to periodically recalibrate the language of psychiatry.
Journal Article
Memory Awareness Profiles Differentiate Mild Cognitive Impairment from Early-Stage Dementia: Evidence from Assessments of Performance Monitoring and Evaluative Judgement
Background: Measures of memory awareness based on evaluative judgement and performance monitoring are often regarded as equivalent, but the Levels of Awareness Framework suggests they reflect different awareness phenomena. Examination of memory awareness among groups with differing degrees of impairment provides a test of this proposition. Method: Ninety-nine people with dementia (PwD), 30 people with mild cognitive impairment (PwMCI), and their relatives completed isomorphic performance monitoring and evaluative judgement measures of memory awareness and were followed up at 12 and (PwD only) 20 months. In addition to the resulting awareness indices, comparative accuracy scores were calculated using the relatives' data to establish whether any inaccuracy was specific to self-ratings. Results: When making evaluative judgements about their memory in general, both PwD and PwMCI tended to overestimate their own functioning relative to informant ratings made by relatives. When monitoring performance on memory tests, PwD again overestimated performance relative to test scores, but PwMCI were much more accurate. Comparative accuracy scores indicated that, unlike PwD, PwMCI do not show a specific inaccuracy in self-related appraisals. Conclusions: The results support the proposition that awareness indices at the levels of evaluative judgement and performance monitoring should be regarded as reflecting distinct awareness phenomena.
Journal Article
Epistemology of Mental Symptoms
Background and Methods: Psychiatric diagnosis is dependent on the identification of mental symptoms. On the assumption that they are ‘natural kinds’, the latter are routinely entered as correlational variables in empirical research. Published work on the philosophy of psychiatry has tended to concentrate on the concept of mental disorder or on individual symptoms but has given less attention to mental symptoms as a class. This paper deals specifically with the epistemology of mental symptoms, that is, with focusing on the nature of mental symptoms as a class of ‘objects’ and how the clinician gets to know them. In order to do this, mental symptoms can be explored from various perspectives, namely: (i) as types of objects, (ii) as structures, (iii) as definitions, (iv) as pockets of meanings, (v) as comprising constituents, (vi) as attractors in specific dialogical contexts, etc. In this paper, on account of space constraints, we deal only with the former 4 perspectives. Results and Conclusion: Our analysis shows mental symptoms to be unstable constructs with implications for both correlational research and further theoretical exploration.
Journal Article
Understanding illness awareness in Alzheimer’s disease: a qualitative study with patient–caregiver dyads in Colombia
Diminished awareness of illness is a frequent neuropsychiatric symptom in people with Alzheimer's disease. It has been linked to emotional and behavioral challenges such as depression, apathy, irritability, and poor adaptation to loss of function. Despite its clinical importance, little is known about how individuals and their caregivers understand and experience illness awareness, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
To explore the meaning of illness awareness and the factors associated with its impairment, as experienced and described by people living with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers in Medellín, Colombia.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 individuals diagnosed with major neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer's disease and 24 caregivers. A grounded theory approach guided data collection and analysis, allowing for an inductive exploration of shared meanings and contextual influences.
For these patient-caregiver dyads, being aware of illness meant recognizing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes linked to the neurodegenerative process. Awareness and its disruption were shaped by personal characteristics (such as personality and emotional resilience), prior life experiences, socioeconomic conditions, and the quality of social support. Caregivers who felt emotionally supported and well-informed about the disease were better equipped to support changes in awareness in the person with dementia without increasing distress.
Understanding the cultural and interpersonal dimensions of illness awareness offers critical insights for the design of interventions that address absence of awareness with sensitivity and compassion. Recognizing how awareness is formed, preserved, or lost can inform more person-centered approaches to care.
Journal Article