Aerosol Dispersion in Ventilated Rooms:Effect of Built Space Configuration and Facemasks on Indoor Transmission

Better understanding of the dispersion of virus-laden droplets in ventilated rooms is needed to support mitigation strategies against airborne infections spread through bio-aerosols. Computational fluid dynamics tools are now widely used to study and visualize their spread. In this study, the extent of transmission and the susceptibility of virus-laden droplets on neighbouring occupants within a pair of connected, ventilated rooms are investigated (with and without the source having facemasks on). The dispersed phase model (DPM) was used to track the transmission between the two localized mannequins placed diagonally opposite each other and in separate rooms. Varying conditions of human sneezes and coughs ejected at speeds of 5, 10 and 15 m/s influenced by constant, specific, varying conditions of indoor airflow are studied to investigate the contamination of the adjoining space which contains an occupant (represented by a mannequin) at different locations. The dispersed analyses are drawn off cases of facemasks against cases without facemasks. It was established that the susceptibility of bioaerosol contamination across rooms is reduced by more than 60% when a facemask is used in comparison to cases of non-adherence to facemasks. Although within a single room (of the same dimension as one of the rooms), the transmission reduction across the room is slightly lower with the use of a facemask. As a result, this study reinforces the significance of facemasks in indoor spaces, even in separate rooms as SARS-CoV-2 or other airborne virus transmission can still occur well beyond recommended social distance spacing

Evaluating the intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in Sustainable Food Supply Chains:an emerging economy context

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate food supply chain stakeholders’ intention to use Industry 5.0 (I5.0) drones for cleaner production in food supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a quantitative research design and collected data using an online survey administered to a sample of 264 food supply chain stakeholders in Nigeria. The partial least square structural equation model was conducted to assess the research’s hypothesised relationships.FindingsThe authors provide empirical evidence to support the contributions of I5.0 drones for cleaner production. The findings showed that food supply chain stakeholders are more concerned with the use of I5.0 drones in specific operations, such as reducing plant diseases, which invariably enhances cleaner production. However, there is less inclination to drone adoption if the aim was pollution reduction, predicting seasonal output and addressing workers’ health and safety challenges. The findings outline the need for awareness to promote the use of drones for addressing workers’ hazard challenges and knowledge transfer on the potentials of I5.0 in emerging economies.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to address I5.0 drones’ adoption using a sustainability model. The authors contribute to existing literature by extending the sustainability model to identify the contributions of drone use in promoting cleaner production through addressing specific system operations. This study addresses the gap by augmenting a sustainability model, suggesting that technology adoption for sustainability is motivated by curbing challenges categorised as drivers and mediators

Impact of an evidence-based bundle on incontinence-associated dermatitis prevalence in hospital patients:A quasi-experimental translational study

IntroductionPurposeTo evaluate the effect of an intervention on the prevalence and severity of incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) in six hospitals in one state in Australia.MethodsThis quasi-experimental pre-and-post study was conducted in 18 wards. Skin and incontinence assessments were conducted on patients during February and March 2020 (pre-intervention) and July and August 2021 (post-intervention). The intervention comprised continence assessment and management tools, a patient education brochure on IAD, the Ghent Global IAD Categorisation Tool (GLOBIAD), and a skin care regime with patient skin protection measures (three-in-one barrier cream cloths, minimisation of bed protection layers, use of appropriate continence pad).ResultsA total of 1897 patients were assessed; 964 in the pre-intervention period and 933 patients in the post-intervention period. Of these, 343 (35.6%) patients in the pre-intervention period and 351 (37.6%) patients in the post-intervention period had incontinence. The prevalence of hospital-acquired IAD was 6.71% in the pre-intervention group and 4.27% in the post-intervention group. Hospital-acquired IAD prevalence reduced by 36.3% (p-value=X) despite higher patient acuity and prevalence of double incontinence in the post-intervention group compared with the pre-intervention group

Secure Blockchain-Based Resource Trading with Compensation Mechanism for 5G Network Services

In the current era of hyper-connectivity and users with diverse data traffic demands, resource sharing among multiple network operators is inevitable for service provisioning. This type of resource trading is susceptible to challenges like lack of trust between resource providers and fair incentivization of resource trading process. In this paper, we present a blockchain-based secure resource trading mechanism. Users communicate their data traffic needs to the Slice Provider (SP), and the SP broadcasts these to the Resource Providers (RPs). The RPs auction their resources, and the SP selects the RP with the lowest cost. After the trade is finalized, the transaction is recorded in blockchain. If the RP fails to fulfill the trade agreement or the Service Level Agreements (SLAs), it is penalized through a compensation mechanism, and the prices are adjusted as per the availability of resources. The final transaction cost is transferred after the agreed upon resources have been provided to the user. Apart from a compensation mechanism, a reputation system is designed to measure the reliability of RPs. Based on 5th Generation (5G) specifications, the users belong to the following classes: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). Through simulations and performance evaluations, we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed framework for fair incentivization of resource sharing process.</p

A Chainsaw-Sound Recognition Model for Detecting Illegal Logging Activities in Forests

Illegal logging activities in Kenya results to an increase in carbon emissions, creating a need to detect and prevent illegal logging activities. This paper proposes the use of an internet-of-things (IoT) based architecture for detection of logging sounds by chainsaw and a machine learning (ML) technique to identify and classify the collected environmental sounds. The IoT architecture, based on Long-Range (LoRa) wireless technology, will include devices fitted with sound sensors that are strategically placed in an identified site within the forest. Sound signals will then be transmitted in real-time to a cloud-based platform for storage, and classification using a temporal frequency convolutional neural network (TFCNN) model. The TFCNN model will include an attention mechanism for recognition of different sounds by their distinct characteristics and a feature representation module to further distinguish chainsaw sounds from other environmental sounds. Open-source datasets such as ESC-50 and FSC22 will be considered in model training but the latter will be utilized more due to its overall focus on forest acoustics.</p

Teaching Leadership Critically:A metamodern remix

In this chapter, we explore how a “metamodern” pedagogic approach can be illuminating for teaching leadership critically. Metamodernism is a way of thinking and acting that oscillates playfully between modernism (the “traditional”, “canonical”, or “mainstream”) and postmodernism (the “alternative”, “heterodox”, or “critical”) – by seeking to facilitate a productive conversation between the two. We explore how leadership studies have historically tended toward modernist teaching approaches, but how more recent critical leadership perspectives seek to explicitly challenge these mainstream assumptions. Whilst the critical turn has advanced academic knowledge, we argue that adopting an either/or oppositional view (i.e., mainstream vs critical) may be less useful for students compared to the potentiality of a both/and approach captured in a metamodern perspective. In this chapter we ask: How can we construct pedagogical experiences and environments that appreciate the value of the post-modern and critical turn in leadership studies, whilst also not denigrating or seeking to replace the many modernist foundations that leadership studies is based on and that students continue to value? A metamodern remixing of leadership helps us to raise new questions about what we teach (with a focus on oscillating between modernist and post-modern standpoints); how we teach (by adopting metamodern strategies for embracing oscillation using both/and thinking); and why we teach (with an emphasis on the creative and transformative potential of both intra and inter-disciplinarity in the leadership classroom)

How maladjustment and workplace bullying affect newcomers’ turnover intentions:roles of cognitive diversity and perceived inclusive practices

Purpose: This study aims to examine newcomers experiencing maladjustment due to cognitive diversity, specifically, how maladjustment affects their turnover intentions; the mediating role of reported workplace bullying; and the buffering effect of perceived inclusive practices in the hospitality sector. Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected time-lagged data from 403 respondents and analyzed the data through hierarchical regression analyses using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) 25.0. Findings: Role ambiguity, low self-efficacy and social exclusion could each lead to newcomers’ reported workplace bullying (NRB). Perceived inclusive practices buffered the impacts of role ambiguity and social exclusion. NRB negatively mediated the relationships between role ambiguity and NRB; and social exclusion and NRB. Practical implications: Hospitality practitioners should specify work procedures to minimize role ambiguities and record service processes to correct mistakes, reward veterans who help newcomers improve self-efficacy, invite newcomers to develop inclusive practices and review employee comments on third-party platforms to understand factors responsible for turnover intention. Originality/value: This study contextualized cognitive diversity into newcomers’ maladjustment-bullying-turnover model in China’s hospitality industry. It highlighted the buffering effect of perceived inclusive practices in the relationships between maladjustment and reported bullying and turnover intentions among newcomers and confirmed the important role of self-efficacy in addressing adverse work events.</p

I-AM-Bird:A Deep Learning Approach to Detect Amazonian Bird Species in Residential Environments

The Amazon presents several challenges, such as recognizing and monitoring its birdlife. It is known that bird records are shared by many bird watchers in citizen science initiatives, including by residents who observe birds feeding at their home feeders. In this context, the work proposed an approach based on deep learning to automatically detect species of Amazonian birds that frequent residential feeders. To this end, a data set consisting of 940 images captured by 3 webcams installed in a residential feeder was collected. In total, 1,836 birds of 5 species were recorded and annotated. Then, we used the dataset to train different configurations of the Faster R-CNN detector. Considering the IoU threshold at 50%, the best model achieved an mAP of 98.33%, an mean precision of 95.96%, and an mean recall of 98.82%. The results also allow us to drive future works to develop a monitoring system for these species in a citizen science initiative

Race and the Forms of Knowledge:Technique, Identity, and Place in Artistic Research

Enacts a radically interdisciplinary intersectionality to position performance-based research in solidarity with decolonialityThis boldly innovative work interrogates the form and meaning of artistic research (also called practice research, performance as research, and research-creation), examining its development within the context of predominately white institutions that have enabled and depoliticized it while highlighting its radical potential when reframed as a lineage of critical whiteness practice.Ben Spatz crafts a fluid yet critical new framework, explored via a series of case studies that includes Spatz’s own practice-as-research, to productively confront hegemonic modes of white writing and white institutionality. Ultimately taking jewishness as a paradigmatically “molecular” identity—variously configured as racial, ethnic, religious, or national—they offer a series of concrete methodological and formal proposals for working at the intersections of embodied identities, artistic techniques, and alternative forms of knowledge.Race and the Forms of Knowledge: Technique, Identity, and Place in Artistic Research takes inspiration from recent critical studies of blackness and indigeneity to show how artistic research is always involved in the production and transformation of identity. Spatz offers a toolkit of practical methods and concepts—from molecular identities to audiovisual ethnotechnics and earthing the laboratory—for reimagining the university and other contemporary institutions

Exploring the Role UK Grandfathers Play in Parenting Culture:Intermittent Intensive Grandfathering

Grandparents play an increasingly active caregiving role in contemporary family life. However, specific exploration of grandfatherhood and its practice is rare. This article explores how intensive parenting norms inform men’s performance of grandfathering in the United Kingdom, with ageing offering men a ‘second chance’ to (grand)parent in ways qualitatively different from fathering. In-depth interviews with UK grandfathers revealed that while they displayed ‘involved’ grandfatherhood and practised elements of intensive grandfathering, this was often in typically masculine ways. Men embraced the competitive nature of intensive parenting, particularly around educational development, and advancement. Other elements of intensive parenting (e.g. expert-dependence, over-protectiveness and self-sacrifice) were, however, overlooked. Accordingly, we introduce ‘intermittent intensive grandfathering’, recognising discontinuities in the childcare tasks that participants would/would not involve themselves.</p