Search results for: workplace incidents

Authors: Davaakhuu Vandannyam, Amarsaikhan Dashtseren, Oyungoo Badamdorj

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Background: Shift work and extended working hours are increasing in many industries and organization's in the world. Over a 24 hour period, the circadian clock regulates sleep/wake patterns, body temperature, hormone levels, digestion and many other functions. Depending on the time of day or night, the human body is programmed for periods of wakefulness and sleep, high and low body temperature, high and low digestive activity and so on. Shift work is highly prevalent in industrialized societies (>20%) but, when it includes night work, it has pronounced negative effects on sleep, subjective and physiological sleepiness, performance, accident risk, as well as on health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer. Method: In this cross-sectional field study, 634 shift work and day work nurses from a plant were involved, with participation rate of 100% (634 nurses). The general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) and RLS, ESS, ISI, FSS were used to evaluate the level of insomnia, sleepiness, fatigue and restless legs syndrome, respectively. Results: As a result of research on some indicators of health risks caused from work shift, it was proven that prevalence of restless legs syndrome was at 5.5% and 25.9% are in risk of becoming sick, 42.3% are in fatigue, 3.5% in high stage of insomnia and 27.4% are sleepy on duty. Insomnia of nurses mainly affected from long-hour shift, dissatisfaction, workload, lose of focus and use of coffee. There is sleepiness lies in the workplace due to number of shifts, unsatisfactory performance and emergency calls between shifts. It has been determined that risk of sickness influenced by number of shifts in a month and long hour shift, dissatisfaction and use of coffee and divisions are causing restless legs syndrome. Conclusions: Among the nurses, it was found that the prevalence of insomnia is 31.6%, sleepiness 27.4%, fatigue 42.3%, restless legs syndrome 35% and stress 25.9%. These factors of shift work affecting health tend to go up as working hours increase and more common among shift work nurses.

Keywords: shiftwork, insomnia, sleepiness, restless

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Authors: Preet Gill, Danus Ravindran

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These The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread implications for medical specialist training programs worldwide, including radiology. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the Australian and New Zealand radiology trainee experience and well-being, as well as to compare the Australasian experience with that reported by other countries. An anonymised electronic online questionnaire was disseminated to all training members of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists who were radiology trainees during the 2020 – 2022 clinical years. Trainees were questioned about their experience from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australasia (March 2020) to the time of survey completion. Participation was voluntary. Questions assessed the impact of the pandemic across multiple domains, including workload (inpatient/outpatient & individual modality volume), teaching, supervision, external learning opportunities, redeployment and trainee wellbeing. Survey responses were collated and compared with other peer reviewed publications. Answer options were primarily in categorical format (nominal and ordinal subtypes, as appropriate). An opportunity to provide free text answers to a minority of questions was provided. While our results mirror that of other countries, which demonstrated reduced case exposure and increased remote teaching and supervision, responses showed variation in the methods utilised by training sites during the height of the pandemic. A significant number of trainees were affected by examination cancellations/postponements and had subspecialty training rotations postponed. The majority of trainees felt that the pandemic had a negative effect on their training. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on radiology trainees across Australia and New Zealand. The present study has highlighted the extent of these effects, with most aspects of training impacted. Opportunities exist to utilise this information to create robust workplace strategies to mitigate these negative effects should the need arise in the future.

Keywords: COVID-19, radiology, training, pandemic

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Authors: Henry Memczak, Marc Hovestaedt, Bernhard Ay, Sandra Saenger, Thorsten Wolff, Frank F. Bier

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The influenza viruses cause flu epidemics every year and serious pandemics in larger time intervals. The only cost-effective protection against influenza is vaccination. Due to rapid mutation continuously new subtypes appear, what requires annual reimmunization. For a correct vaccination recommendation, the circulating influenza strains had to be detected promptly and exactly and characterized due to their antigenic properties. During the flu season 2016/17, a wrong vaccination recommendation has been given because of the great time interval between identification of the relevant influenza vaccine strains and outbreak of the flu epidemic during the following winter. Due to such recurring incidents of vaccine mismatches, there is a great need to speed up the process chain from identifying the right vaccine strains to their administration. The monitoring of subtypes as part of this process chain is carried out by national reference laboratories within the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS). To this end, thousands of viruses from patient samples (e.g., throat smears) are isolated and analyzed each year. Currently, this analysis involves complex and time-intensive (several weeks) animal experiments to produce specific hyperimmune sera in ferrets, which are necessary for the determination of the antigen profiles of circulating virus strains. These tests also bear difficulties in standardization and reproducibility, which restricts the significance of the results. To replace this test a peptide-based assay for influenza virus subtyping from corresponding virus samples was developed. The differentiation of the viruses takes place by a set of specifically designed peptidic recognition molecules which interact differently with the different influenza virus subtypes. The differentiation of influenza subtypes is performed by pattern recognition guided by machine learning algorithms, without any animal experiments. Synthetic peptides are immobilized in multiplex format on various platforms (e.g., 96-well microtiter plate, microarray). Afterwards, the viruses are incubated and analyzed comparing different signaling mechanisms and a variety of assay conditions. Differentiation of a range of influenza subtypes, including H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, as well as fine differentiation of single strains within these subtypes is possible using the peptide-based subtyping platform. Thereby, the platform could be capable of replacing the current antigenic characterization of influenza strains using ferret hyperimmune sera.

Keywords: antigenic characterization, influenza-binding peptides, influenza subtyping, influenza surveillance

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Authors: Yaara Shilo

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Early childhood education and care (ECEC)in Israel has undergone extensive reform and now requires daycare centers to meet internationally recognized professional standards. Since 1948, one of the aims of childcare facilities was to enable women’s participation in the workforce.A 1965 law grouped daycare centers for young children with facilities for the elderly and for disabled persons under the same authority. In the 1970’s, ECEC leaders sought to change childcare from proprietary to educational facilities. From 1976 deliberations in the Knesset regarding appropriate attribution of ECEC frameworks resulted in their being moved to various authorities that supported women’s employment: Ministries of Finance, Industry, and Commerce, as well as the Welfare Department. Prior to 2018, 75% of infants and toddlers in institutional care were in unlicensed and unsupervised settings. Legislative processes accompanied the conceptual change to an eventual appropriate attribution of ECEC frameworks. Position papers over the past two decades resulted in recommendations for standards conforming to OECD regulations. Simultaneous incidents of child abuse, some resulting in death, riveted public attention to the need for adequate government supervision, accelerating the legislative process. Appropriate care for very young children must center on quality interactions with caregivers, thus requiring adequate staff training. Finally, in 2018 a law was passed stipulating standards for staff training, proper facilities, child-adult ratios, and safety measures. The Ariav commission expanded training to caregivers for ages 0-3. Transfer of the ECEC to the Ministry of Education ensured establishment of basic training. Groundwork created by new legislation initiated professional development of EC educators for ages 0-3. This process should raise salaries and bolster the system’s ability to attract quality employees. In 2022 responsibility for ECEC ages 0-3 was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Education, shifting emphasis from proprietary care to professional considerations focusing on wellbeing and early childhood education. The recent revolutionary changes in ECEC point to a new age in the care and education of Israel’s youngest citizens. Implementation of international standards, adequate training, and professionalization of the workforce focus on the child’s needs.

Keywords: policy, early childhood, care and education, daycare, development

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Authors: Krisala Joshi, Sayanta Ghosh, Renu Lata, Jagdish C. Kuniyal

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Throughout the world, monitoring and estimating the changing pattern of forests across diverse landscapes through remote sensing is instrumental in understanding the interactions of human activities and the ecological environment with the changing climate. Forest change detection using satellite imageries has emerged as an important means to gather information on a regional scale. Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India is situated in a transitional zone between the lesser and the greater Himalayas. Thus, it presents a typical rugged mountainous terrain with moderate to high altitude which varies from 1200 meters to over 6000 meters. Due to changes in agricultural cropping patterns, urbanization, industrialization, hydropower generation, climate change, tourism, and anthropogenic forest fire, it has undergone a tremendous transformation in forest cover in the past three decades. The loss and degradation of forest cover results in soil erosion, loss of biodiversity including damage to wildlife habitats, and degradation of watershed areas, and deterioration of the overall quality of nature and life. The supervised classification of LANDSAT satellite data was performed to assess the changes in forest cover in Kullu valley over the years 2000 to 2020. Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) was calculated to discriminate between burned and unburned areas of the forest. Our study reveals that in Kullu valley, the increasing number of forest fire incidents specifically, those due to anthropogenic activities has been on a rise, each subsequent year. The main objective of the present study is, therefore, to estimate the change in the forest cover of Kullu valley and to address the various social aspects responsible for the anthropogenic forest fires. Also, to assess its impact on the significant changes in the regional climatic factors, specifically, temperature, humidity, and precipitation over three decades, with the help of satellite imageries and ground data. The main outcome of the paper, we believe, will be helpful for the administration for making a quantitative assessment of the forest cover area changes due to anthropogenic activities and devising long-term measures for creating awareness among the local people of the area.

Keywords: Anthropogenic Activities, Forest Change Detection, Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Supervised Classification

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Authors: Avent Grange, Frederic Bertrand, Jean-Baptiste Droin, Amandine Marrel, Jean-Henry Ferrasse, Olivier Boutin

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CEA and its industrial partners are designing a gas Power Conversion System (PCS) based on a Brayton cycle for the ASTRID Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor. Investigations of control and regulation requirements to operate this PCS during operating, incidental and accidental transients are necessary to adapt core heat removal. To this aim, we developed a methodology to optimize the thermal-hydraulic behavior of the reactor during normal operations, incidents and accidents. This methodology consists of a multi-objective optimization for a specific sequence, whose aim is to increase component lifetime by reducing simultaneously several thermal stresses and to bring the reactor into a stable state. Furthermore, the multi-objective optimization complies with safety and operating constraints. Operating, incidental and accidental sequences use specific regulations to control the thermal-hydraulic reactor behavior, each of them is defined by a setpoint, a controller and an actuator. In the multi-objective problem, the parameters used to solve the optimization are the setpoints and the settings of the controllers associated with the regulations included in the sequence. In this way, the methodology allows designers to define an optimized and specific control strategy of the plant for the studied sequence and hence to adapt PCS piloting at its best. The multi-objective optimization is performed by evolutionary algorithms coupled to surrogate models built on variables computed by the thermal-hydraulic system code, CATHARE2. The methodology is applied to a loss of off-site power sequence. Three variables are controlled: the sodium outlet temperature of the sodium-gas heat exchanger, turbomachine rotational speed and water flow through the heat sink. These regulations are chosen in order to minimize thermal stresses on the gas-gas heat exchanger, on the sodium-gas heat exchanger and on the vessel. The main results of this work are optimal setpoints for the three regulations. Moreover, Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control setting is considered and efficient actuators used in controls are chosen through sensitivity analysis results. Finally, the optimized regulation system and the reactor control procedure, provided by the optimization process, are verified through a direct CATHARE2 calculation.

Keywords: gas power conversion system, loss of off-site power, multi-objective optimization, regulation, sodium fast reactor, surrogate model

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Authors: Rupam Saikia, Ashim Kanti Dey

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Sonapur is an intense hilly region on the border of Assam and Meghalaya lying in North-East India and is very near to a seismic fault named as Dauki besides which makes the region seismically active. Besides, these recently two earthquakes of magnitude 6.7 and 6.9 have struck North-East India in January and April 2016. Also, the slope concerned for this study is adjacent to NH 44 which for a long time has been a sole important connecting link to the states of Manipur and Mizoram along with some parts of Assam and so has been a cause of considerable loss to life and property since past decades as there has been several recorded incidents of landslide, road-blocks, etc. mostly during the rainy season which comes into news. Based on this issue this paper reports a static and dynamic slope stability analysis of Sonapur which has been carried out in MIDAS GTS NX. The slope being highly unreachable due to terrain and thick vegetation in-situ test was not feasible considering the current scope available so disturbed soil sample was collected from the site for the determination of strength parameters. The strength parameters were so determined for varying relative density with further variation in water content. The slopes were analyzed considering plane strain condition for three slope heights of 5 m, 10 m and 20 m which were then further categorized based on slope angles 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 considering the possible extent of steepness. Initially static analysis under dry state was performed then considering the worst case that can develop during rainy season the slopes were analyzed for fully saturated condition along with partial degree of saturation with an increase in the waterfront. Furthermore, dynamic analysis was performed considering the El-Centro Earthquake which had a magnitude of 6.7 and peak ground acceleration of 0.3569g at 2.14 sec for the slope which were found to be safe during static analysis under both dry and fully saturated condition. Some of the conclusions were slopes with inclination above 40 onwards were found to be highly vulnerable for slopes of height 10 m and above even under dry static condition. Maximum horizontal displacement showed an exponential increase with an increase in inclination from 30 to 70. The vulnerability of the slopes was seen to be further increased during rainy season as even slopes of minimal steepness of 30 for height 20 m was seen to be on the verge of failure. Also, during dynamic analysis slopes safe during static analysis were found to be highly vulnerable. Lastly, as a part of the study a comparative study on Strength Reduction Method (SRM) versus Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM) was also carried out and some of the advantages and disadvantages were figured out.

Keywords: dynamic analysis, factor of safety, slope stability, strength reduction method

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Authors: Jianuo Sun, Jinghan Wang, Sirui Zhang, Chenhan Xu, Hongxia Hao, Hong Zhou

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In recent years, the diversification and industrialization of drug-related crimes have posed significant threats to public health and safety globally. The widespread and increasingly younger demographics of drug users and the persistence of drug-impaired driving incidents underscore the urgency of this issue. Drug detection, a specialized forensic activity, is pivotal in identifying and analyzing substances involved in drug crimes. It relies on pharmacological and chemical knowledge and employs analytical chemistry and modern detection techniques. However, current drug detection methods are limited by their inability to perform semi-quantitative, real-time field analyses. They require extensive, complex laboratory-based preprocessing, expensive equipment, and specialized personnel and are hindered by long processing times. This study introduces an alternative approach using nucleic acid aptamers and Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) technology. Nucleic acid aptamers, selected artificially for their specific binding to target molecules and stable spatial structures, represent a new generation of biosensors following antibodies. Rapid advancements in AIE technology, particularly in tetraphenyl ethene-based luminous, offer simplicity in synthesis and versatility in modifications, making them ideal for fluorescence analysis. This work successfully synthesized, isolated, and purified an AIE molecule and constructed a probe comprising the AIE molecule, nucleic acid aptamers, and exonuclease for cocaine detection. The probe demonstrated significant relative fluorescence intensity changes and selectivity towards cocaine over other drugs. Using 4-Butoxytriethylammonium Bromide Tetraphenylethene (TPE-TTA) as the fluorescent probe, the aptamer as the recognition unit, and Exo I as an auxiliary, the system achieved rapid detection of cocaine within 5 mins in aqueous and urine, with detection limits of 1.0 and 5.0 µmol/L respectively. The probe-maintained stability and interference resistance in urine, enabling quantitative cocaine detection within a certain concentration range. This fluorescent sensor significantly reduces sample preprocessing time, offers a basis for rapid onsite cocaine detection, and promises potential for miniaturized testing setups.

Keywords: drug detection, aggregation-induced emission (AIE), nucleic acid aptamer, exonuclease, cocaine

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Authors: Kamal Kithsiri Karunadasa Hewawasam Revulge

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This paper is an interpretative historical analysis of Australian migration laws that examines asylum and refugee policies and attitudes in Australia. It looks at major turning points in Australian migration history, and in doing so, the researcher reviewed relevant literature on the aspects crucial to highlighting the current trend of Australian migration policies. The data was collected using secondary data from official government sources, including annual reports, media releases on immigration, inquiry reports, statistical information, and other available literature to identify critical historical events that significantly affected the systematic developments of asylum seekers and refugee policies in Australia and to look at the historical trends of official thinking. A reliance on using these official sources is justified as those are the most convincing sources to analyse the historical events in Australia. Additional literature provides us with critical analyses of the behaviour and culture of the Australian immigration administration. The analytical framework reviewed key Australian Government immigration policies since British colonization and the settlement era of 1787–the 1850s and to the present. The fundamental basis for doing so is that past events and incidents offer us clues and lessons relevant to the present day. Therefore, providing a perspective on migration history in Australia helps analyse how current policymakers' strategies developed and changed over time. Attention is also explicitly focused on Australian asylum and refugee policy internationally, as it helped to broaden the analysis. The finding proved a link between past events and adverse current Australian government policies towards asylum seekers and refugees. It highlighted that Australia's current migration policies are part of a carefully and deliberately planned pattern that arose from the occupation of Australia by early British settlers. In this context, the remarkable point is that the historical events of taking away children from their Australian indigenous parents, widely known as the 'stolen generation' reflected a model of assimilation, or a desire to absorb other cultures into Australian society by fully adopting the settlers' language, their culture, and losing indigenous people's traditions. Current Australian policies towards migrants reflect the same attitude. Hence, it could be argued that policies and attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees, particularly so-called 'boat people' to some extent, still reflect Australia's earlier colonial and 'white Australia' history.

Keywords: migration law, refugee law, international law, administrative law

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Authors: P. P. L. Kwan, D. K. S. Chan

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Organizations are constantly changing in today’s business environment. Research findings have revealed that overcoming resistance and getting employees ready for change is a crucial driver for organizational change success. Thus, change adaptability has become a more prominent selection criterion used in many organizations. Although change readiness could be situation-specific, employees’ personality, emotion, and cognition should also be crucial factors in shaping their readiness. However, relatively little research has focused on the roles of individual characteristics in organizational changes. The present study examines the relations between individual characteristics and change readiness with the aim to validate a model, which proposes three types of individual attributes as antecedents to change readiness. The three attributes considered are trait cynicism, positive affectivity, and personal valence covering personality, emotional, and cognitive aspects respectively. The model also hypothesizes that relations between the three antecedents and change readiness will be moderated by a positive mental resource known as psychological capital (PsyCap), which consists of hope, optimism, efficacy and resilience; and a learning culture within the organization. We are currently collecting data from a targeted sample size of 300 Hong Kong employees. Specifically, participants complete a questionnaire which was designed to measure their perceived change efficacy in response to three scenarios commonly happened in the workplace (i.e., business acquisition, team restructuring, and information system change) as a measure of change readiness, as well as the aforementioned individual characteristics. Preliminary analysis provides some support to the hypotheses. That is, employees who are less cynical in personality and more positive in their cognition and affectivity particularly welcome the potential changes in their organizations. Further data collection and analyses are continuously carried out for a more definitive conclusion. Our findings will shed light on employee selection; and on how strengthening positive psychological resources and promoting the culture of learning organization among employees may enhance the chance to succeed for organizations undergoing change.

Keywords: learning organization, psychological capital, readiness for change, employee selection

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Authors: Omid Giahi, Ebrahim Darvishi, Mahdi Akbarzadeh

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Introduction: Occupational low back pain (LBP) is one of the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorders in which a lot of risk factors are involved that. The present study focuses on the relation between personal, psycho-social and occupational risk factors and LBP severity in industrial workers. Materials and Methods: This research was a case-control study which was conducted in Kurdistan province. 100 workers (Mean Age ± SD of 39.9 ± 10.45) with LBP were selected as the case group, and 100 workers (Mean Age ± SD of 37.2 ± 8.5) without LBP were assigned into the control group. All participants were selected from various industrial units, and they had similar occupational conditions. The required data including demographic information (BMI, smoking, alcohol, and family history), occupational (posture, mental workload (MWL), force, vibration and repetition), and psychosocial factors (stress, occupational satisfaction and security) of the participants were collected via consultation with occupational medicine specialists, interview, and the related questionnaires and also the NASA-TLX software and REBA worksheet. Chi-square test, logistic regression and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data. For analysis of data, IBM Statistics SPSS 24 and Mplus6 software have been used. Results: 114 (77%) of the individuals were male and 86 were (23%) female. Mean Career length of the Case Group and Control Group were 10.90 ± 5.92, 9.22 ± 4.24, respectively. The statistical analysis of the data revealed that there was a significant correlation between the Posture, Smoking, Stress, Satisfaction, and MWL with occupational LBP. The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) derived from a logistic regression model were 2.7 (1.27-2.24) and 2.5 (2.26-5.17) and 3.22 (2.47-3.24) for Stress, MWL, and Posture, respectively. Also, the SEM analysis of the personal, psycho-social and occupational factors with LBP revealed that there was a significant correlation. Conclusion: All three broad categories of risk factors simultaneously increase the risk of occupational LBP in the workplace. But, the risks of Posture, Stress, and MWL have a major role in LBP severity. Therefore, prevention strategies for persons in jobs with high risks for LBP are required to decrease the risk of occupational LBP.

Keywords: industrial workers occupational, low back pain, occupational risk factors, psychosocial factors

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Authors: Abdul Basit Kiani

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Web development, the art of creating and maintaining websites, has witnessed remarkable advancements. The aim is to provide an overview of some of the cutting-edge developments in the field. Firstly, the rise of responsive web design has revolutionized user experiences across devices. With the increasing prevalence of smartphones and tablets, web developers have adapted to ensure seamless browsing experiences, regardless of screen size. This progress has greatly enhanced accessibility and usability, catering to the diverse needs of users worldwide. Additionally, the evolution of web frameworks and libraries has significantly streamlined the development process. Tools such as React, Angular, and Vue.js have empowered developers to build dynamic and interactive web applications with ease. These frameworks not only enhance efficiency but also bolster scalability, allowing for the creation of complex and feature-rich web solutions. Furthermore, the emergence of progressive web applications (PWAs) has bridged the gap between native mobile apps and web development. PWAs leverage modern web technologies to deliver app-like experiences, including offline functionality, push notifications, and seamless installation. This innovation has transformed the way users interact with websites, blurring the boundaries between traditional web and mobile applications. Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has opened new horizons in web development. Chatbots, intelligent recommendation systems, and personalization algorithms have become integral components of modern websites. These AI-powered features enhance user engagement, provide personalized experiences, and streamline customer support processes, revolutionizing the way businesses interact with their audiences. Lastly, the emphasis on web security and privacy has been a pivotal area of progress. With the increasing incidents of cyber threats, web developers have implemented robust security measures to safeguard user data and ensure secure transactions. Innovations such as HTTPS protocol, two-factor authentication, and advanced encryption techniques have bolstered the overall security of web applications, fostering trust and confidence among users. Hence, recent progress in web development has propelled the industry forward, enabling developers to craft innovative and immersive digital experiences. From responsive design to AI integration and enhanced security, the landscape of web development continues to evolve, promising a future filled with endless possibilities.

Keywords: progressive web applications (PWAs), web security, machine learning (ML), web frameworks, advancement responsive web design

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Authors: Lisseth Rojas Barreto, Carlos Muñoz Hernández

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to many abrupt changes, including a prolonged lockdown, which brought about work and personal challenges to the population worldwide. Among the most affected populations are women who are workers and housewives at the same time, and especially those who are also parenting. These women were faced with the challenge to perform their usual varied roles during the lockdown from the same physical space, which inevitably had strong repercussions for each of them. This paper will present some results of a research study whose main objective was to examine the possible effects that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown may have caused in the work, social, family, and personal environments of female English teachers who are also housewives and, by extension in the teaching and learning processes that they lead. Participants included five female English language teachers of a public foreign language school, they are all married, and two of them have children. Similarly, we examined some of the coping strategies these teachers used to tackle the pandemic-related challenges in their different roles, especially those used for their language teaching role; coping strategies are understood as a repertoire of behaviors in response to incidents that can be stressful for the subject, possible challenging events or situations that involve emotions with behaviors and decision-making of people which are used in order to find a meaning or positive result (Lazarus &Folkman, 1986) Following a qualitative-case study design, we gathered the data through a survey and a focus group interview with the participant teachers who work at a public language school in southern Colombia. Preliminary findings indicate that the circumstances that emerged as a result of the pandemic lockdown affected the participants in different ways, including financial, personal, family, health, and work-related issues. Among the strategies that participants found valuable to deal with the novel circumstances, we can highlight the reorganization of the household and work tasks and the increased awareness of time management for the household, work, and leisure. Additionally, we were able to evidence that the participants faced the circumstances with a positive view. Finally, in order to cope with their teaching duties, some participants acknowledged their lack of computer or technology literacy in order to deliver their classes online, which made them find support from their students or more knowledgeable peers to cope with it. Others indicated that they used strategies such as self-learning in order to get acquainted and be able to use the different technological tools and web-based platforms available.

Keywords: coping strategies, language teaching, female teachers, pandemic lockdown

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Authors: Priscilla Echeverria

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This paper addresses initial teacher formation as a formative space in which pedagogy students develop a pedagogical agency capacity to contribute to social justice, considering ethical, political, and epistemic dimensions. This paper is structured by discussing first the concepts of agency, pedagogical interaction, and social justice from a critical perspective; and continues offering preliminary results on the capacity of pedagogical agency in novice teachers after the analysis of critical incidents as a research methodology. This study is motivated by the concern that responding to the current neoliberal scenario, many initial teacher formation (ITF) programs have reduced the meaning of education to instruction, and pedagogy to methodology, favouring the formation of a technical professional over a reflective or critical one. From this concern, this study proposes that the restitution of the subject is an urgent task in teacher formation, so it is essential to enable him in his capacity for action and advance in eliminating institutionalized oppression insofar as it affects that capacity. Given that oppression takes place in human interaction, through this work, I propose that initial teacher formation develops sensitivity and educates the gaze to identify oppression and take action against it, both in pedagogical interactions -which configure political, ethical, and epistemic subjectivities- as in the hidden and official curriculum. All this from the premise that modelling democratic and dialogical interactions are basic for any program that seeks to contribute to a more just and empowered society. The contribution of this study lies in the fact that it opens a discussion in an area about which we know little: the impact of the type of interactions offered by university teaching at ITF on the capacity of future teachers to be pedagogical agents. For this reason, this study seeks to gather evidence of the result of this formation, analysing the capacity of pedagogical agency of novice teachers, or, in other words, how capable the graduates of secondary pedagogies are in their first pedagogical experiences to act and make decisions putting the formative purposes that they are capable of autonomously defining before technical or bureaucratic issues imposed by the curriculum or the official culture. This discussion is part of my doctoral research, "The importance of developing the capacity for ethical-political-epistemic agency in novice teachers during initial teacher formation to contribute to social justice", which I am currently developing in the Educational Research program of the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom, as a Conicyt fellow for the 2019 cohort.

Keywords: initial teacher formation, pedagogical agency, pedagogical interaction, social justice, hidden curriculum

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Authors: J. Jessa

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Background: Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder, the incidence of which has significantly increased in recent years. Children with autism have impairments in social skills, communication, and imagination. Children with autism has more common than healthy children feeding problems: food selectivity, problems with gastrointestinal tract: diarrhea, constipations, abdominal pain, reflux and others. Many parents of autistic children report that after implementation of gluten-, casein- and sugar free diet those symptoms disappear and even cognitive functions become better. Some children begin to understand speech and to communicate with parents, regain eye contact, become more calm, sleep better and has better concentration. Probably at the root of this phenomenon lies elimination from the diet peptides construction of which is similar to opiates. Enhanced permeability of gut causes absorption of not fully digested opioid-like peptides from food, like gluten and casein and probably others (proteins from soy and corn) which impact on brain of autistic children. Aim of the study: The aim of the study is to assess the safety of gluten-free diet in children with autism, aged 2,5-7. Methods: Participants of the study (n=70) – children aged 2,5-7 with autism are divided into 3 groups. The first group (research group) are patients whose parents want to implement a gluten-free diet. The second group are patients who have been recommended to eliminate from the diet artificial substances, such as preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, and others (control group 1). The third group (control group 2) are children whose parents did not agree for implementation of the diet. Caregivers of children on the diet are educated about the specifics of the diet and how to avoid malnutrition. At the start of the study we exclude celiac disease. Before the implementation of the diet we performe a blood test for patients (morphology, ferritin, total cholesterol, dry peripheral blood drops to detect some genetic metabolic diseases), plasma aminogram) and urine tests (excretion of ions: Mg, Na, Ca, the profile of organic acids in urine), which assess nutritional status as well as the psychological test assessing the degree of the child's psychological functioning (PEP-R). All of these tests will be repeated after one year from the implementation of the diet. Results: To the present moment we examined 42 children with autism. 12 of children are on gluten- free diet. Our preliminary results are promising. Parents of 9 of them report that, there is a big improvement in child behavior, concentration, less aggression incidents, better eye contact and better verbal skills. Conclusion: Our preliminary results suggest that dietary intervention may positively affect developmental outcome for some children diagnosed with ASD.

Keywords: gluten free diet, autism spectrum disorder, autism, blood test

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Authors: Kamila Troper, Pedro Mestre, Maria Lurdes Menano, Joana Mendonça, Maria João Costa, Sandra Demel

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Introduction: Visual impairment is a problem that has an influence on hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Although it is possible for a Visually Impaired person to do most jobs, the right training, technological assistance, and emotional support are essential. Ergonomics be able to solve many of the problems/issues with the relative ease of positioning, lighting and design of the workplace. A little forethought can make a tremendous difference to the ease with which a person with an impairment function. Objectives: Review the main ergonomic adaptation measures reported in the literature in order to promote better working conditions and safety measures for the visually impaired. Methodology: This was an exploratory-descriptive, qualitative literature systematic review study. The main databases used were: PubMed, BIREME, LILACS, with articles and studies published between 2000 and 2021. Results: Based on the principles of the theoretical references of ergonomic analysis of work, the main restructuring of the physical space of the workstations were: Accessibility facilities and assistive technologies; A screen reader that captures information from a computer and sends it in real-time to a speech synthesizer or Braille terminal; Installations of software with voice recognition, Monitors with enlarged screens; Magnification software; Adequate lighting, magnifying lenses in addition to recommendations regarding signage and clearance of the places where the visually impaired pass through. Conclusions: Employability rates for people with visual impairments(both those who are blind and those who have low vision)are low and continue to be a concern to the world and for researchers as a topic of international interest. Although numerous authors have identified barriers to employment and proposed strategies to remediate or circumvent those barriers, people with visual impairments continue to experience high rates of unemployment.

Keywords: ergonomic adaptations, visual impairments, ergonomic analysis of work, systematic review

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Authors: Hang T. T. Truong, Ronald S. Laura, Kylie Shaw

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Within Vietnam's system of higher education, its schools of business play a vital role in supporting the country’s economic objectives. However, the crucial contribution of soft skills for maximal success within the business sector has to date not been adequately recognized by its business schools. This being so, the development of the business school curriculum in Vietnam has not been able to 'catch up', so to say, with the burgeoning need of students for a comprehensive soft skills program designed to meet the national and global business objectives of their potential employers. The burden of the present paper is first to reveal the results of our survey in Vietnam which make explicit the extent to which major Vietnamese industrial employers’ value the potential role that soft skill competencies can play in maximizing business success. Our final task will be to determine which soft skills employers discern as best serving to maximize the economic interests of Vietnam within the global marketplace. Semi-structured telephone interviews have been conducted with the 15 representative Head Employers of Vietnam's reputedly largest and most successful of the diverse business enterprises across Vietnam. The findings of the study indicate that all respondents highly value the increasing importance of soft skills in business success. Our critical analysis of respondent data reveals that 19 essential soft skills are deemed by employers as integral to business workplace efficacy and should thus be integrated into the formal business curriculum. We are confident that our study represents the first comprehensive and specific survey yet undertaken within the business sector in Vietnam which accesses and analyses the opinions of representative employers from major companies across the country in regard to the growing importance of 19 specific soft skills essential for maximizing overall business success. Our research findings also reveal that the integration into business school curriculums nationwide of the soft skills we have identified is of paramount importance to advance the national and global economic interests of Vietnam.

Keywords: business curriculum, business graduates, employers’ perception, soft skills

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Authors: Jude Harrison

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Child protection is a complex and sensitive practice. The core responsibility is the care and protection of children and young people who have been subject to or who are at risk from abuse and neglect. The work involves investigating allegations of harm, preparing for and making representations to the legal system, and case planning and management across a continuum of complicated care interventions. Professionals’ learning for child protection practice is evident in a range of literature investigating multiple learning processes such as university preparation, student placements, professional supervision, training, and other post-qualifying professional development experiences at work. There is, however, very limited research into how caseworkers learn in and through their daily practice. Little is known, therefore, about how learning at work unfolds for caseworkers, the dimensions in which it can be understood or the ways in which it can be best facilitated and supported. Compounding this, much of the current child protection learning literature reflects an orthodox conception of learning as mentalistic and individualised, in which knowledge is typically understood as abstract theory or as technical skill or competency. This presentation outlines key findings from a PhD research study that explored learning at work for statutory child protection caseworkers from an alternative interpretation of learning using a practice theory approach. Practice theory offers an interpretation of learning as performative and grounded in situated experience. The findings of the study show that casework practice is both a mode and site of learning. The study was ethnographic in design based and followed 17 child protection caseworkers via in-depth interviews, observations and participant reflective journaling. Inductive and abductive analysis was used to organise and interpret the data and expand analysis, leading to themes. Key findings show learning to be a sociomaterial property of doing; the social ontological character of learning; and teleoaffectivity as a feature of learning. The findings contribute to theoretical and practical understandings of learning and practice in child protection, child welfare and the professional learning literature more broadly. The findings have potential to contribute to policy directions at state, territory and national levels to enhance child protection practice and systems.

Keywords: adiult learning, workplace learning, child welfare, sociomaterial, practice theory

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Authors: Sharda Kumari

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As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to leave its mark on the global business landscape, companies have had to adapt to new realities and find ways to sustain their operations amid social distancing measures, government restrictions, and heightened public health concerns. This unprecedented situation has placed considerable stress on both employees and employers, underscoring the need for innovative approaches to manage the risks associated with Covid-19 transmission in the workplace. In response to these challenges, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, with an increasing preference for remote interactions and virtual collaboration. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems have risen to prominence as a vital resource for organizations navigating the post-pandemic world, providing a range of benefits that include acquiring new customers, generating insightful consumer data, enhancing customer relationships, and growing market share. In the context of pandemic management, CRM systems offer three primary advantages: (1) integration features that streamline operations and reduce the need for multiple, costly software systems; (2) worldwide accessibility from any internet-enabled device, facilitating efficient remote workforce management during a pandemic; and (3) the capacity for rapid adaptation to changing business conditions, given that most CRM platforms boast a wide array of remotely deployable business growth solutions, a critical attribute when dealing with a dispersed workforce in a pandemic-impacted environment. These advantages highlight the pivotal role of CRM systems in helping organizations remain resilient and adaptive in the face of ongoing global challenges.

Keywords: healthcare, CRM, customer relationship management, customer experience, digital transformation, pandemic response, patient monitoring, patient management, healthcare automation, electronic health record, patient billing, healthcare information systems, remote workforce, virtual collaboration, resilience, adaptable business models, integration features, CRM in healthcare, telehealth, pandemic management

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Authors: Fruzsina Pataki-Bittó, Edit Németh

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On the one hand, new technologies and communication tools improve employee productivity and accelerate information and knowledge transfer, while on the other hand, information overload and continuous interruptions make it even harder to concentrate at work. It is a great challenge for companies to find the right balance, while there is also an ongoing demand to recruit and retain the talented employees who are able to adopt the modern work style and effectively use modern communication tools. For this reason, this research does not focus on the objective measures of office interruptions, but aims to find those disruption factors which influence the comfort and job satisfaction of employees, and the way how they feel generally at work. The focus of this research is on how employees feel about the different types of interruptions, which are those they themselves identify as hindering factors, and those they feel as stress factors. By identifying and then reducing these destructive factors, job satisfaction can reach a higher level and employee turnover can be reduced. During the research, we collected information from depth interviews and questionnaires asking about work environment, communication channels used in the workplace, individual communication preferences, factors considered as disruptions, and individual steps taken to avoid interruptions. The questionnaire was completed by 141 office workers from several types of workplaces based in Hungary. Even though 66 respondents are working at Hungarian offices of multinational companies, the research is about the characteristics of the Hungarian labor force. The most important result of the research shows that while more than one third of the respondents consider office noise as a disturbing factor, personal inquiries are welcome and considered useful, even if in such cases the work environment will not be convenient to solve tasks requiring concentration. Analyzing the sizes of the offices, in an open-space environment, the rate of those who consider office noise as a disturbing factor is surprisingly lower than in smaller office rooms. Opinions are more diverse regarding information communication technologies. In addition to the interruption factors affecting the employees' job satisfaction, the research also focuses on the role of the offices in the 21^st century.

Keywords: information overload, interruption, job satisfaction, office environment, work efficiency

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Authors: Kunkanit Sutamchai, Kate E. Rowlands

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Recent public ethical scandals in many organizations around the world have raised concern about organizational ethics, which have, in turn, made ethical behaviors and conducts on the part of leaders become more critical topics in organizational studies. However, current research on the benefits of mindfulness within the workplace contexts has predominantly focused on stress reduction and work performance enhancement, while the aspects of ethical behavior development have been far less investigated in mindfulness research in the organizational and management fields. Only recently has there been an emerging call for organizational researchers and practitioners to study mindfulness concepts and practices from the original Buddhist perspectives given that ethics is regarded as a foundation for Buddhist mindfulness. Yet little, if any, empirical research on the contributions of mindfulness practices to ethical leadership has been done in Eastern Buddhist contexts. Therefore, this study aims to explore the extent to which and how Buddhist-based mindfulness practices can influence organizational leaders’ ethical values and practices. On this basis, Thailand was selected as a context of study due to a predominantly Buddhist society and culture. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty executive leaders from various private organizations in Thailand, who practice Buddhist-based mindfulness meditation regularly. The findings from this study shed light on the role Buddhist-based mindfulness practices can play in promoting ethical behavior among executive leaders in Thailand. The results also suggest that ethical values and practices influenced by Buddhist-based mindfulness practices are well aligned with the elements appeared in the inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural ethical leadership framework, namely: humane, justice, sustainability and responsibility, and moderation. This study concludes that the integration of ethical dimensions to mindfulness practices may provide promising opportunities for ethical leadership development, particularly in the context of Thailand. This could contribute significantly to the future development of both organizations and society at large. The study also suggests that mindfulness interventions in organizational contexts should place more explicit emphasis on ethics. This may be done by relating the ethical principles underlying Buddhist-based mindfulness to other ethical systems in different contexts and cultures where they can be aligned.

Keywords: Buddhism, ethical leadership, leadership development, mindfulness, Thailand, training

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Authors: L. R. Ferreira, R. Biscaro, C. C. Danziger, C. M. Galhardi, L. C. Biscaro, R. C. Biscaro, I. S. Vasconcelos, L. C. R. Ferreira, R. Reis, L. H. Oliveira

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Introduction: There is a worldwide trend for the employer to be aware of investing in health promotion that goes beyond occupational hygiene approaches with the implementation of a comprehensive program with integration between occupational health and safety, and social/psychosocial responsibility in the workplace. Work accommodation is a necessity in most companies as it allows the worker to return to its function respecting its physical limitations. This study had the objective to verify if the integration of health and safety in the companies, with the inclusion of the concept of TWH promoted by an occupational health service has impacted in the management of absenteeism of workers in work accommodation. Method: A retrospective and paired cohort study was used, in which the impact of the implementation of the Program for the Health/Safety Integration and Total Worker Health Concept (PHSITWHC) was evaluated using the indices of absenteeism, health attestations, days and hours of sick leave of workers that underwent job accommodation/rehabilitation. This was a cohort study and the data were collected from January to September of 2017, prior to the initiation of the integration program, and compared with the data obtained from January to September of 2018, after the implementation of the program. For the statistical analysis, the student's t-test was used, with statistically significant differences being made at p < 0.05. Results: The results showed a 35% reduction in the number of absenteeism rate in 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. There was also a significant reduction in the total numbers of days of attestations/absences (mean of 2,8) as well as days of attestations, absence and sick leaves (mean of 5,2) in 2018 data after the implementation of PHSITWHC compared to 2017 data, means of 4,3 and 25,1, respectively, prior to the program. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the inclusion of the PHSITWHC was associated with a reduction in the rate of absenteeism of workers that underwent job accommodation. It was observed that, once health and safety were approached and integrated with the inclusion of the TWH concept, it was possible to reduce absenteeism, and improve worker’s quality of life and wellness, and work accommodation management.

Keywords: absenteeism, health/safety integration, work accommodation management, total worker health

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Authors: Mokopane Charles Marakalala

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Research shows that mobile fraud has grown exponentially in South Africa during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), fraudulent online banking and transactions resulted in a sharp increase in cybercrime since the beginning of the lockdown, resulting in a huge loss to the banking industry in South Africa. While the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 38 of 2001, regulate financial transactions, it is evident that criminals are making use of technology to their advantage. Money-laundering ranks among the major crimes, not only in South Africa but worldwide. This paper focuses on the impact of biometric-based solutions in combatting mobile fraud at the South African Risk Information. SABRIC had the challenges of a successful mobile fraud; cybercriminals could hijack a mobile device and use it to gain access to sensitive personal data and accounts. Cybercriminals are constantly looting the depths of cyberspace in search of victims to attack. Millions of people worldwide use online banking to do their regular bank-related transactions quickly and conveniently. This was supported by the SABRIC, who regularly highlighted incidents of mobile fraud, corruption, and maladministration in SABRIC, resulting in a lack of secure their banking online; they are vulnerable to falling prey to fraud scams such as mobile fraud. Criminals have made use of digital platforms since the development of technology. In 2017, 13 438 instances involving banking apps, internet banking, and mobile banking caused the sector to suffer gross losses of more than R250,000,000. The final three parties are forced to point fingers at one another while the fraudster makes off with the money. A non-probability sampling (purposive sampling) was used in selecting these participants. These included telephone calls and virtual interviews. The results indicate that there is a relationship between remote online banking and the increase in money-laundering as the system allows transactions to take place with limited verification processes. This paper highlights the significance of considering the development of prevention mechanisms, capacity development, and strategies for both financial institutions as well as law enforcement agencies in South Africa to reduce crime such as money-laundering. The researcher recommends that strategies to increase awareness for bank staff must be harnessed through the provision of requisite training and to be provided adequate training.

Keywords: biometric-based solution, investigation, cybercrime, forensic investigation, fraud, combatting

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Authors: Vesta Kohlmeier, George C. Dragan, Juergen Orasche, Juergen Schnelle-Kreis, Dietmar Breuer, Ralf Zimmermann

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Aerosols from hazardous semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) may occur in workplace air and can simultaneously be found as particle and gas phase. For health risk assessment, it is necessary to collect particles and gases separately. This can be achieved by using a denuder for the gas phase collection, combined with a filter and an adsorber for particle collection. The study focused on the suitability of carbonaceous monolithic multi-channel denuders, so-called Novacarb™-Denuders (MastCarbon International Ltd., Guilford, UK), to achieve gas-particle separation. Particle transmission efficiency experiments were performed with polystyrene latex (PSL) particles (size range 0.51-3 µm), while the time dependent gas phase collection efficiency was analysed for polar and nonpolar SVOC (mass concentrations 7-10 mg/m3) over 2 h at 5 or 10 l/min. The experimental gas phase collection efficiency was also compared with theoretical predictions. For n-hexadecane (C16), the gas phase collection efficiency was max. 91 % for one denuder and max. 98 % for two denuders, while for diethylene glycol (DEG), a maximal gas phase collection efficiency of 93 % for one denuder and 97 % for two denuders was observed. At 5 l/min higher gas phase collection efficiencies were achieved than at 10 l/min. The deviations between the theoretical and experimental gas phase collection efficiencies were up to 5 % for C16 and 23 % for DEG. Since the theoretical efficiency depends on the geometric shape and length of the denuder, flow rate and diffusion coefficients of the tested substances, the obtained values define an upper limit which could be reached. Regarding the particle transmission through the denuders, the use of one denuder showed transmission efficiencies around 98 % for 1-3 µm particle diameters. The use of three denuders resulted in transmission efficiencies from 93-97 % for the same particle sizes. In summary, NovaCarb™-Denuders are well applicable for sampling aerosols of polar/nonpolar substances with particle diameters ≤3 µm and flow rates of 5 l/min or lower. These properties and their compact size make them suitable for use in personal aerosol samplers. This work is supported by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), research contract FP371.

Keywords: gas phase collection efficiency, particle transmission, personal aerosol sampler, SVOC

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Authors: Ehsan Ahmed Yahia

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Introduction: The nursing role in nutrition screening and assessing hospitalized patients is important. Malnutrition is a common and costly problem, particularly among hospitalized patients, and can have an adverse effect on the healing process. The study's goal is to assess the prevalence of malnutrition among adult hospitalized orthopedic patients and to detect the barriers to the nutrition screening process. Aim of the study: This study aimed to (a) assess the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized orthopedic patients and (b) evaluate the relationship between malnutrition and selected clinical outcomes. Material and Methods: This prospective field study was conducted for three months between 03/2022 and 06/2022 in the selected orthopedic departments in a teaching hospital affiliated withCairo University, Egypt. with a total number of one hundred twenty (120) patients. Patients' assessment included checking for malnutrition using the Nutritional Risk Screening Questionnaire. Patients at risk for malnourishment were defined as NRS score ≥ 3. Clinical outcomes under consideration included 1) length of hospitalization, 2) mobilization after surgery and conservative treatment, and 3) rate of adverse events. Results: This study found that malnutrition is a significant problem among patients hospitalized in an orthopedic ward. The prevalence of malnutrition was the highest in patients with lumbar spine and pelvis fractures, followed by the proximal femur and proximal humerus fractures. Patients at risk for malnutrition had significantly prolonged hospitalization, delayed postoperative mobilization, and increased incidence of adverse events.27.8% of the study sample were at risk for malnutrition. The highest prevalence of malnourishment was found in Septic Surgery with 32%, followed by Traumatology with 19.6% and Arthroplasty with 15.3%. A higher prevalence of malnutrition was detected among patients with typical fractures, such as lumbar spine and pelvis (46.7%), proximal femur (34.4%), and proximal humeral (23.7%) fractures. Additionally, patients at risk for malnutrition showed prolonged hospitalization (14.7 ± 11.1 vs. 21.2 ± 11.7 days), delayed postoperative mobilization (2.3 ± 2.9 vs. 4.1 ± 4.9 days), and delayed to mobilize after conservative treatment (1.1 ± 2.7 vs. 1.8 ± 1.9 days). A significant statistical correlation of NRS with individual parameters (Spearman's rank correlation, p < 0.05) was observed. The rate of adverse incidents in patients at risk for malnutrition was significantly higher than that of patients with a regular nutritional status (37.2% vs. 21.1%, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results indicate that the prevalence of malnutrition in surgical patients is significant. The nutritional status of patients with typical fractures is especially at risk. Prolonged hospitalization, delayed postoperative mobilization, and delayed mobilization after conservative treatment is significantly associated with malnutrition. In addition, the incidence of adverse events in patients at risk for malnutrition is significantly higher.

Keywords: malnutrition, nutritional risk screening, surgery, nursing, orthopedic nurse

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Authors: Jing (Claire) LI

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The topic of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is significant for pharmaceutical companies in China at this current stage. This is because, as a rapid growth industry in China in recent years, the pharmaceutical industry in China has been undergone continuous and terrible incidents relating to CSR. However, there is limited research and practice of CSR in Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Also, there is an urgent call for more research in an international context to understand the implications of corporate life cycle on CSR performance. To respond to the research need and research call, this study examines the relationship between corporate life cycle and CSR performance of Chinese listed companies in pharmaceutical industry. This research studies Chinese listed companies in pharmaceutical industry for the period of 2010-2017, where the data is available in database. Following the literature, this study divides CSR performance with regards to CSR dimensions, including shareholders, creditors, employees, customers, suppliers, the government, and the society. This study uses CSR scores of HEXUN database and financial measures of these CSR dimensions to measure the CSR performance. This study performed regression analysis to examine the relationship between corporate life cycle stages and CSR performance with regards to CSR dimensions for pharmaceutical listed companies in China. Using cash flow pattern as proxy of corporate life cycle to classify corporate life cycle stages, this study found that most (least) pharmaceutical companies in China are in maturity (decline) stage. This study found that CSR performance for most dimensions are highest (lowest) in maturity (decline) stage as well. Among these CSR dimensions, performing responsibilities for shareholder is the most important among all CSR responsibilities for pharmaceutical companies. This study is the first to provide important empirical evidence from Chinese pharmaceutical industry on the association between life cycle and CSR performance, supporting that corporate life cycle is a key factor in CSR performance. The study expands corporate life cycle and CSR literatures and has both empirical and theoretical contributions to the literature. From perspective of empirical contributions, the findings contribute to the argument that whether there is a relationship between CSR performance and various corporate life cycle stages in the literature. This study also provides empirical evidence that companies in different corporate life cycles have difference in CSR performance. From perspective of theoretical contributions, this study relates CSR and stakeholders to corporate life cycle stages and complements the corporate life cycle and CSR literature. This study has important implications for managers and policy makers. First, the results will be helpful for managers to have an understanding in the essence of CSR, and their company’s current and future CSR focus over corporate life cycle. This study provides a reference for their actions and may help them make more wise resources allocation decisions of CSR investment. Second, policy makers (in the government, stock exchanges, and securities commission) may consider corporate life cycle as an important factor in formulating future regulations for companies. Future research can explore the "process-based" differences in CSR performance and more industries.

Keywords: China, corporate life cycle, corporate social responsibility, pharmaceutical industry

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Authors: Uma Krishnamoorthy, Vivienne Beavers, Janet Marshall

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Introduction: Cervical cytology showing features raising the suspicion of non cervical glandular neoplasia are reported as code 0 under the United Kingdom National Health Service Cervical screening programme ( NHSCSP). As the suspicion is regarding non cervical neoplasia, smear is reported as normal and patient informed that cervical screening result is normal. GP receives copy of results where it states further referral is indicated in small font within text of report. Background: There were several incidents of delayed diagnosis of endometrial cancer in Lancashire which prompted this Northwest Regional review to enable an understanding of underlying pathology outcome of code zero smears to raise awareness and also to review whether further action on wording of smear results was indicated to prevent such delay. Methodology: All Smears reported at the Manchester cytology centre who process cytology for Lancashire population from March 2013 to March 2014 were reviewed and histological diagnosis outcome of women in whom smear was reported as code zero was reviewed retrospectively . Results: Total smears reported by the cytology centre during this period was approximately 109400. Reports issued with result code 0 among this during this time period was 49.Results revealed that among three fourth (37) of women with code zero smear (N=49), evidence of underlying pathology of non cervical origin was confirmed. Of this, 73 % (36) were due to endometrial pathology with 49 % (24) endometrial carcinoma, 12 % (6)polyp, 4 % atypical endometrial hyperplasia (2), 6 % endometrial hyperplasia without atypia (3), and 2 % adenomyosis (1 case) and 2 % ( 1 case) due to ovarian adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: This review demonstrated that more than half (51 %) of women with a code 0 smear report were diagnosed with underlying carcinoma and 75 % had a confirmed underlying pathology contributory to code 0 smear findings. Recommendations and Action Plan: A local rapid access referral and management pathway for this group of women was implemented as a result of this in our unit. The findings and Pathway were shared with other regional units served by the cytology centre through the Pan Lancashire cervical screening board and through the Cytology centre. Locally, the smear report wording was updated to include a rubber stamp/ print in "Red Bold letters" stating that " URGENT REFERRAL TO GYNAECOLOGY IS INDICATED". Findings were also shared through the Pan Lancashire board with National cervical screening programme board, and revisions to wording of code zero smear reports to highlight the need for Urgent referral has now been agreed at National level to be implemented.

Keywords: code zero smears, endometrial cancer, non cervical glandular neoplasia, ovarian cancer

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Authors: Wenli Tsou, Jessica Wu

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Courses of English for specific academic purposes (ESAP) have become popular for higher education in Taiwan; however, no standardized tests have been developed for evaluating learners’ English proficiency in individual designated fields. Assuming a learner’s proficiency in a specific academic area is built up with one’s general proficiency in English with specific knowledge and vocabulary in the content areas, an adequate ESAP proficiency test may be constructed by some selected test items related to the designated academic areas. In this study, through collaboration between a language testing institution and a university in Taiwan, three sets of ESAP tests, covering three disciplinary areas of business and the workplace, science and engineering, and health and medicine majors, were developed and administered to sophomore students (N=1704) who were enrolled in ESAP courses at a university in southern Taiwan. For this study, the courses were grouped into the above-mentioned three disciplines, and students took the specialized proficiency test based on the ESAP course they were taking. Because students were free to select which ESAP course to take, each course had both major and non-major students. Toward the end of the one-semester course, ending in January, 2015, each student took two tests, one of general English (General English Proficiency Test, or GEPT) and the other ESAP. Following each test, students filled out a survey, reporting their test taking experiences. After comparing students’ two test scores, it was found that business majors and health and medical students performed better in ESAP than the non-majors in the class, whereas science and engineering majors did about the same as their non-major counterparts. In addition, test takers with CERF B2 (upper intermediate) level or above performed well in both tests, while students who are below B2 did slightly better in ESAP. The findings suggest that students’ test performance have been enhanced by their specialist content and vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, results of the survey show that the difficulty levels reported by students are consistent with their test performances. Based on the item analysis, the findings can be used to develop proficiency tests for specific disciplines and to identify ability indicators for college students in their designated fields.

Keywords: english for specific academic purposes (ESAP), general english proficiency test (GEPT), higher education, proficiency test

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Authors: Tacho Rubby Kong

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Community health workers’ performances are known to influence members’ behaviours and practices while translating policies into service delivery. However, little remains known about the extent to which this remains true within interventions aimed at addressing malaria burden in low-resource settings like Cameroon. The objective of this study was to examine the health workers’ performance and their influence on the adoption of strategies to address the malaria burden at a subnational level health system in Cameroon. A qualitative exploratory design was adopted on a purposively selected sample of 18 key informants. The study was conducted in Konye health district among sub-national health systems, managers, health facility in-charges, and frontline community health workers. Data was collected using semi-structured interview guides in a face-to-face interview with respondents. The analysis adopted a thematic approach utilising journals, credible authors, and peer review articles for data management. Participants acknowledged that workplace networks were influential during the implementation of policies to address malaria. The influence exerted was in form of linkage with other services, caution, and advice regarding strict adherence to policy recommendations, perhaps reflective of the level of trust in providers’ ability to adhere to policy provisions. At the district health management level and among non-state actors, support in perceived areas of weak performance in policy implementation was observed. In addition, timely initiation of contact and subsequent referral was another aspect where community health workers exerted influence while translating policies to address the malaria burden. While the level of support from among network peers was observed to influence community health workers’ adoption and implementation of strategies to address the malaria burden, different mechanisms triggered subsequent response and level of adherence to recommended policy aspects. Drawing from the elicited responses, it was infer that community health workers’ performance influence the direction and extent of success in policy implementation to address the malaria burden at the subnational level.

Keywords: subnational, community, malaria, strategy

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Authors: Narumon Jiwattanasuk, Phrakrupalad Pannavoravat, Pataraporn Sirikanchana

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Mindfulness has become a perspective addressing positive wellbeing these days. The aims of this paper are to analyze the problems of executive meditation practitioners at the Buddhamahametta Foundation in Thailand and to provide recommendations on the process to develop peaceful wellbeing in executive meditation practitioners by applying the principles of the four foundations of mindfulness. This study is particularly focused on executives because there is not much research focusing on the well-being development of executives, and the researcher recognizes that executives can be an example within their organizations. This would be a significant influence on their employees and their families to be interested in practicing mindfulness. This improvement will then grow from an individual to the surrounding community such as family, workplace, society, and the nation. This would lead to happiness at the national level, which is the expectation of this research. The paper highlights mindfulness practices that can be performed on a daily basis. This study is qualitative research, and there are 10 key participants who are executives from various sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, retail, power energy, and so on. Three mindfulness-based courses were conducted over a period of 8 months, and in-depth interviews were done before the first course as well as at the end of every course. In total, four in-depth interviews were conducted. The information collected from the interviews was analyzed in order to create the process to develop peaceful well-being. Focus group discussions with the mindfulness specialists were conducted to help develop the mindfulness program as well. As a result of this research, it is found that the executives faced the following problems: stress, negative thinking loops, losing temper, seeking acceptance, worry about uncontrollable external factors, unable to control their words, and weight gain. The cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness can develop peaceful wellbeing. The results showed that after the key informant executives attended the mindfulness courses and practiced mindfulness regularly, they have developed peaceful well-being in all aspects such as physical, psychological, behavioral, and intellectual by applying 12 mindfulness-based activities. The development of wellbeing, in the conclusion of this study, also includes various tools to support the continuing practice, including the handout of guided mindfulness practice, VDO clips about mindfulness practice, the online dhamma channel, and mobile applications to support regular mindfulness-based practices.

Keywords: executive, mindfulness activities, stress, wellbeing

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