Multiple Dimensions of Work Intensity: Ambulance Work as Edgework.

Working life in public sector professions is undergoing significant change and becoming increasingly demanding. This article explores work intensity in NHS ambulance services in England, describing four distinct but interrelated dimensions of intensity: temporal; physical; emotional; and organizational. We use the concept of edgework to explore the complexities involved in how emergency workers attempt to negotiate the rewards and risks associated with multidimensional work intensity. Although certain parts of ambulance work may be intrinsically intense and can provide an important source of validation, organizational elements have the potential to push work intensity to unnecessary extremes. Ambulance services are ‘professionalizing’, but as work in ambulance trusts continues to intensify, issues over dignity, staff retention and the meaning of work are becoming ever more challenging, just as they are in other public service professions.</p

The strategic and operational landscape of emergency services in the UK

Purpose: The organisational and service delivery landscape of the emergency services in the UK has been rapidly changing and is facing further change in the foreseeable future. This paper examines recent and ongoing organisational changes in the policy development, service delivery and regulatory landscape of the emergency services, in order to capture the overall picture and potential opportunities for improvement or further investigation. Design/methodology/approach: This general review utilises the characteristics of the three domains of a national framework, namely policy development, service delivery, and public assurance and uses these characteristics as lenses through which to examine the three main blue light emergency services of police, fire and ambulances. Findings: What emerges in the organisational landscape and conceptual maps for the police and even more so for Fire and Rescue Services, is the immaturity of many of the organisations in the policy and the public assurance domains while the service delivery organisations have remained relatively stable. In the relatively neglected ambulance services, we find the NHS’s recent Ambulance Response Programme has considerable potential to improve parts of all three domains. Research limitations/implications: The review is clearly limited to the UK and primarily focused on England. Practical implications: The review clearly identifies opportunities for improvement, potential improvement, and further research. Originality/value: Although the National Audit Office has attempted in the past to provide organisational landscape reviews of individual emergency services, this contemporary comparative review of all three services using a common model is unique. It provides considerable new insights for policy makers, service delivers and regulators

Regional Variations in Emergency Service Performance: Does Social Capital Matter?

Regional variations in emergency service performance: does social capital matter?, Regional Studies. The relationship between social capital and the performance of public organizations is currently at the top of the UK policy agenda and elsewhere. This paper examines whether social capital is associated with improved regional emergency service performance by exploring its relationship with the achievements of ambulance trusts in England. Drawing on a six-year panel dataset, ambulance response times are modelled using an index of social capital, incorporating measures of community organizational life, political efficacy and social trust, in the regions served by National Health Service (NHS) ambulance trusts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Smart City IoT Data Management with Proactive Middleware

With the increased emergence of cloud-based services, users are frequently perplexed as to which cloud service to use and whether it will be beneficial to them. The user must compare various services, which can be a time-consuming task if the user is unsure of what they might need for their application. This paper proposes a middleware solution for storing Internet of Things (IoT) data produced by various sensors, such as traffic, air quality, temperature, and so on, on multiple cloud service providers depending on the type of data. Standard cloud computing technologies become insufficient to handle the data as the volume of data generated by smart city devices grows. The middleware was created after a comparative study of various existing middleware. The middleware uses the concept of the federal cloud for the purpose of storing data. The middleware solution described in this paper makes it easier to distribute and classify IoT data to various cloud environments based on its type. The middleware was evaluated using a series of tests, which revealed its ability to properly manage smart city data across multiple cloud environments. Overall, this research contributes to the development of middleware solutions that can improve the management of IoT data in settings such as smart cities

Editorial Introduction to this Special Issue

This special issue of the Journal of Management, Spirituality &amp; Religion focuses on theCOVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that continues to impact our lives on earth in many ways. Itwill take time to understand the aftermath and absorb the shocks of this worldwidepandemic. This issue focuses on the learnings from indigenous knowledge systems and bestpractices in coping with COVID-19 [...

Sociodemographic profile of patients and prescribing trend of drugs in organophosphate poisoning at tertiary care teaching hospital in Central India: a descriptive study

Background: India is an agrarian country, where pesticides are most widely used in farming. Monsoon dependent agricultural practices are common in India. In present study socioeconomic class and prescribing pattern of commonly used drugs in organophosphate poisoning in indoor setting at tertiary care hospital is evaluated. The aim of the study was to evaluate prescribing trend of drugs and socioeconomic class of patients in organophosphate poisoning in monsoon season.Methods: Prospective observational study was conducted at Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and Medicine Wards for 4 months at 540 bedded tertiary care teaching hospital.Results: Total 64 diagnosed cases were enrolled and analyzed in present study (n=64). Maximum number of cases (57.81%) were male followed by female (42.18%). Most of the cases (37.50%) were from the age group of 21-30 years. 49 (76.56%) patients were of primary intentional poisoning followed by 15 (23.43%) patients of accidental poisoning. Most common drugs prescribed were atropine, pralidoxime, cefotaxime and ranitidine. The average amount of atropine and pralidoxime used per patient/day were 37.89±63.63 mg and 10.07±26.87 gm respectively.Conclusions: Present study revealed that young male adults with low socioeconomic class from rural background were prone for intentional organophosphate poisoning in central India

VUV PROPERTIES OF Eu3+- DOPED YBO3 PHOSPHOR PREPARED VIA ALDO-KETO AND SOLID-STATE PROCESS

The Eu3+ doped YBO3 was prepared by the novel aldo-keto method. The structure and VUV luminescence properties of the title compound were studied and compared to the corresponding properties of the materials prepared by a conventional solid state reaction. The use of novel aldo-keto method in preparation lowered the reaction threshold temperature by c.a. 300oC. The YBO3 phosphor from the aldo-keto method look like evenly sized spherical structures, whereas those from the solid-state process look like some agglomerates of little spheres. The Eu3+-doped YBO3 phosphors prepared by both methods showed the red emission with peak around 592, 611 and 627 nm at excitations wavelengths 147 and172 nm, which corresponds to the transitions from the excited 5D0 level to the 7FJ (J = 1, 2, 3, 4) levels of Eu3+ activators. However, the emission intensity of the Eu3+ doped YBO3 from the aldo-keto system is about 2 times as much as that from the sold-state process

Effect of dietary inclusion of soybean seed remnants on performance of growing goats

A 90 days experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of adding soybean seed remnants (SSR) into the concentrate mixture on performance of growing Berari goats. Eighteen goats of similar age (4–6 months) and body weight (11.40 ± 0.59 kg) were randomly assigned to three dietary groups (n=6): SSR0, SSR20 and SSR30 containing 0, 20 and 30% levels of SSR in concentrate respectively on DM basis. The fortnightly dry matter intake (DMI) and body weight (BW) changes showed no significant difference among groups. Ether extract (EE) digestibility was significantly higher in SSR20 and SSR30 groups. Feed conversion efficiency (FCE) was significantly improved in SSR30 at day 60, while average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and DM intake remained unaffected. Body condition score (BCS) was significantly improved at days 60 and 90. At day 90, packed cell volume (PCV), serum albumin, glucose, and globulin levels were significantly higher in SSR-supplemented groups. Rumen pH, titratable acidity, total volatile fatty acids (TVFA), and ammonia-N levels remained comparable. The total cost of production decreased linearly with increasing SSR inclusion level. The cost of total mixed ration (Rs/kg) decreased with increasing SSR levels, being lowest in SSR30 (Rs 16.58). Thus it is concluded that the partial inclusion of soybean seed remnants in the concentrate mixture of growing goats up to 30% on dry matter basis can be a possible strategy to improve the energy density of diet and economics of goat production

General anaesthetic and airway management practice for obstetric surgery in England: a prospective, multi-centre observational study

There are no current descriptions of general anaesthesia characteristics for obstetric surgery, despite recent changes to patient baseline characteristics and airway management guidelines. This analysis of data from the direct reporting of awareness in maternity patients' (DREAMY) study of accidental awareness during obstetric anaesthesia aimed to describe practice for obstetric general anaesthesia in England and compare with earlier surveys and best-practice recommendations. Consenting patients who received general anaesthesia for obstetric surgery in 72 hospitals from May 2017 to August 2018 were included. Baseline characteristics, airway management, anaesthetic techniques and major complications were collected. Descriptive analysis, binary logistic regression modelling and comparisons with earlier data were conducted. Data were collected from 3117 procedures, including 2554 (81.9%) caesarean deliveries. Thiopental was the induction drug in 1649 (52.9%) patients, compared with propofol in 1419 (45.5%). Suxamethonium was the neuromuscular blocking drug for tracheal intubation in 2631 (86.1%), compared with rocuronium in 367 (11.8%). Difficult tracheal intubation was reported in 1 in 19 (95%CI 1 in 16-22) and failed intubation in 1 in 312 (95%CI 1 in 169-667). Obese patients were over-represented compared with national baselines and associated with difficult, but not failed intubation. There was more evidence of change in practice for induction drugs (increased use of propofol) than neuromuscular blocking drugs (suxamethonium remains the most popular). There was evidence of improvement in practice, with increased monitoring and reversal of neuromuscular blockade (although this remains suboptimal). Despite a high risk of difficult intubation in this population, videolaryngoscopy was rarely used (1.9%)