The interplay between formal and informal elements in analysing situations of role conflict among construction participants

The interplay of formal and informal factors in construction teams influences the enactment of roles and the individuals who fulfil those roles. With a specific focus on a phenomenon called role conflict, the aim is to explore if and how the interaction of formal and informal elements would lead to situations of role conflict. This phenomenon proved to lead to frustration, tension and employee burnout. An analytical model of role interaction was developed, which disentangles formal and informal elements that shape role interactions. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews, project documents and observations. Four cases of role conflict are presented here. Contract, as a formal element, and participant’s values and interests, as informal elements, appeared to be the most important factor shaping participants’ expectations and behaviours. The analysis in this study showed that if a participant who faces role conflict is able to influence the formal elements in favour of his or her informal elements, then he or she may experience less frustration. At a more general level, the results suggest that increasing formality can increase participants’ frustration, which then would decrease the likelihood of collaboration. As the theoretical contribution, this research extends organizational role theory to deal with informal and formal aspects. Taking into account formal sources enables the study of how roles are institutionally governed while including informal sources allows for the idea that some of the aspects of the role, even in the context of work role, are socially constructed

Parental Physical Activity and Resilience During Pandemic-Related Schooling at Home

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education for millions of families, forcing an instantaneous overlap in parental responsibilities and a resulting decline in personal mental health. Psychological resilience is an important contributor to handling prolonged stress. As physical activity (PA) is known to improve mental health, it is possible that PA during the COVID-19 education disruption could result in a significant difference in parental resilience. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if PA levels during the COVID-19 educational disruption resulted in statistically significant differences in perceived resilience among parents of school-aged youth. METHODS: Fifty-six parents/guardians of youth aged 10-18 years completed a survey in fall of 2020. In addition to demographic questions, participants completed the recreational and sedentary portions of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Adult Resilience Measure, resulting in overall resilience as well as personal (e.g., individual thoughts, behaviors) and relational (e.g., mutually empowering connections) resilience subscale scores. Parents were classified as meeting or not meeting WHO recommended PA levels. T-tests examined differences in resilience scores between groups. RESULTS: Overall, personal, and relational mean resilience scores for parents who did (n = 36) versus did not (n = 20) meet WHO recommended PA levels were 73.39 ± 8.66 versus 67.95 ± 9.30, 41.78 ± 5.25 versus 39.70 ± 4.78, and 31.61 ± 4.45 versus 28.25 ± 5.54 respectively. T-tests revealed a significant difference in total (t(54) = 2.19, p = .033, d = .61) and relational subscale scores (t(54) = 22.48, p = .016, d = .67), but no difference between personal subscale scores (t(54) = 1.46, p = .149, d = .41). CONCLUSION: Parents of school-aged youth who did not meet WHO recommended PA levels had significantly lower overall perceived resilience than those who met recommended levels. The significantly lower relational, but not personal, resilience scores seen in parents who did not meet WHO recommendations also suggests the importance of meaningful connections during PA. In short, meeting PA recommendations resulted in significantly higher perceived parental resilience during the COVID-19 educational disruption

Effects of a College-Mentored Physical Activity Program for Elementary Students

Health risks of a sedentary lifestyle for children, defined as being less than 5,000 steps per day, include unfavorable indicators of body composition and cardio-metabolic risk. Results of school-based physical activity interventions to increase physical activity levels have been mixed. However, mentorship programs have shown promise. Previous mentorship programs have relied on peer-to-peer mentorships, with participants being of a similar age group. College mentors present an alternative and low-cost resource that may also provide positive results, yet have been largely ignored in research studies to date. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a novel, individualized college-mentored physical activity program on physical activity levels among older elementary school students. METHODS: Fifth grade students (n = 12) were paired one-to-one with local college mentors for 30 minute bi-weekly running sessions on the elementary school campus for six weeks. Multiple assessments from activity trackers were compared on intervention versus non-intervention days using paired-samples t-tests. RESULTS: Significant increases in steps (t(11) = 8.056; p ≤ .001) and moderate-to-vigorous activity (t(11) = 5.202; p ≤ .001) were seen on intervention days, as compared to non-intervention days. The average increase in step count on intervention days (6,381) versus non-intervention days (3,158) also resulted in students being elevated out of a sedentary classification. CONCLUSION: Individualized mentoring from college students significantly increased multiple assessments of physical activity, including minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity and number of steps taken. Perhaps most notably, the mentored physical activity program promoted students from a sedentary to active lifestyle on intervention days as determined by step count. This novel high-impact and low-cost approach should be further developed for future school-based physical activity programs and research

Prediction of adverse perinatal outcome by fetal biometry: comparison of customized and populationâ based standards

ObjectiveTo compare the predictive performance of estimated fetal weight (EFW) percentiles, according to eight growth standards, to detect fetuses at risk for adverse perinatal outcome.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study of 3437 Africanâ American women. Populationâ based (Hadlock, INTERGROWTHâ 21st, World Health Organization (WHO), Fetal Medicine Foundation (FMF)), ethnicityâ specific (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)), customized (Gestationâ Related Optimal Weight (GROW)) and Africanâ American customized (Perinatology Research Branch (PRB)/NICHD) growth standards were used to calculate EFW percentiles from the last available scan prior to delivery. Prediction performance indices and relative risk (RR) were calculated for EFW â 90th percentiles, according to each standard, for individual and composite adverse perinatal outcomes. Sensitivity at a fixed (10%) falseâ positive rate (FPR) and partial (FPR â 90th percentile were also at risk for any adverse perinatal outcome according to the INTERGROWTHâ 21st (RRâ =â 1.4; 95%â CI, 1.0â 1.9) and Hadlock (RRâ =â 1.7; 95%â CI, 1.1â 2.6) standards, many times fewer cases (2â 5â fold lower sensitivity) were detected by using EFW >â 90th percentile, rather than EFW â 90th percentile were at increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes according to all or some of the eight growth standards, respectively. The RR of a composite adverse perinatal outcome in pregnancies with EFW <â 10th percentile was higher for the mostâ stringent (NICHD) compared with the leastâ stringent (FMF) standard. The results of the complementary analysis of AUC suggest slightly improved detection of adverse perinatal outcome by more recent populationâ based (INTERGROWTHâ 21st) and customized (PRB/NICHD) standards compared with the Hadlock and FMF standards. Published 2019. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153734/1/uog20299.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153734/2/uog20299_am.pd

Cogranulation of low rates of graphene and graphene oxide with macronutrient fertilizers remarkably improves their physical properties

Published: November 20, 2017The beneficial effects of graphene (GN) and graphene oxide (GO) additives on the physical properties of monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertilizer granules were investigated. Low doses (0.05 to 0.5% w/w) of GN and GO sheets were cogranulated with MAP and effects on the crushing strength, abrasion and impact resistance of prepared granules were evaluated. Cogranulation with 0.5% w/w GN sheets (MAP-GN) significantly enhanced the mechanical strength of MAP granules (∼18 times improvement) whereas inclusion of same amounts of GO sheets (MAP-GO) improved the strength to a lesser extent (∼8 times improvement). The cogranulation of GN also improved MAP granules resistance to abrasion (>70%) and impact resistance (>75%). Heating MAP-GO granules at 50 °C after granulation is shown to enhance their physical properties in comparison to MAP-GO granules dried under ambient temperatures. The advantages of GN and GO sheets compared with current additives in enhancing the physical properties of MAP granules are explained by their high specific area, superior nanofiller–matrix and adhesion/interlocking ability arising from their unique wrinkled structures and two-dimensional (2D) geometry. These results confirm the potential of GN/GO additives to enhance the physical properties of MAP granules that could be translated to other fertilizers and applied in the industry.Shervin Kabiri, Roslyn Baird, Diana N. H. Tran, Ivan Andelkovic, Mike J. McLaughlin, and Dusan Losi

Graphene oxide a new carrier for slow release of plant micronutrients

The environmental problems and low efficiency associated with conventional fertilizers provides an impetus to develop advanced fertilizers with slower release and better performances. Here we report of development of a new carrier platform based on graphene oxide (GO) sheets that can provide a high loading of plant micronutrients with controllable slow release. To prove this concept two micronutrients zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) were used to load on GO sheets and hence formulate GO-based micronutrients fertilizer. The chemical composition and successful loading of both nutrients on GO sheets were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The prepared Zn-graphene oxide (Zn-GO) and Cu-graphene oxide (Cu-GO) fertilizers showed a biphasic dissolution behaviour compared to commercial zinc sulphate and copper sulphate fertilizer granules, displaying desirable fast- and slow-release micronutrient release. A visualization method and chemical analysis were used to assess the release and diffusion of Cu and Zn in soil from GO-based fertilizers compared with commercial soluble fertilizers to demonstrate the advantages of GO carriers and show their capability to be used as generic platform for macro- and micro-nutrients delivery. A pot trial demonstrated that Zn and Cu uptake by wheat was higher when using GO-based fertilizers compared to standard zinc or copper salts. This is a first report on the agronomic performance of GO-based slow-release fertilizer.Shervin Kabiri, Fien Degryse, Diana N. H. Tran, Rodrigo C. da Silva, Mike J. McLaughlin and Dusan Losi

Graphene oxide-Fe(III) composite containing phosphate - a novel slow release fertilizer for improved agriculture management

Novel materials offer opportunities to develop new types of fertilizers which could potentially increase efficiency of nutrient use in agriculture. Slow-release fertilizers can be more effective than traditional nutrient sources and simultaneously reduce negative impacts of nutrients to the environment. Using low-cost, abundant natural material, graphite rock, a functionalized graphene oxide (GO)/iron (GO-Fe) composite was synthetised and examined as a new carrier of phosphate ions in order to improve nutrient delivery to plants. The morphology of the composite was examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the presence of crystal phases. The composite was also characterised with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). We found that the presence of ferric ions was responsible for attachment of phosphate ions onto the GO-Fe composite, providing a loading capacity of 48 mg P/g. The kinetics of P release were examined using a column perfusion test while P diffusion in three different types of soils was examined using a visualization technique and chemical analysis. Compared with commercial monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertilizer, application of GO-Fe composite loaded with phosphate (GO-Fe-P) resulted in slower release of P, thus reducing the possibility for leaching or runoff of soluble P to surface and groundwaters.Ivan B. Andelkovic, Shervin Kabiri, Ehsan Tavakkoli, Jason K. Kirby, Michael J. McLaughlin, Dusan Losi

Optimisation of phosphate loading on graphene oxide-Fe(iii) composites-possibilities for engineering slow release fertilisers

Current commercially available phosphorus (P) fertilisers, which are highly soluble salts, are susceptible to surface runoff to waterways, and leaching to groundwaters where soils are light/medium textured. Here, we report the synthesis of a graphene oxide (GO)/iron (GO–Fe) composite, a promising carrier for loading P. The GO–Fe carriers loaded with P acted as slow release fertilisers with tunable loading/release properties. The amount of P loaded onto the GO–Fe composite was 15%, similar to commercial products. Investigation of the morphology and spectroscopic and chemical analysis revealed a complex loading mechanism of Fe onto GO. Iron, as an active center for P sorption, could interact with the oxygen functional groups at the edge of GO sheets as well as the π-electron system of the aromatic part of GO. Column perfusion studies, visualisation of P diffusion in soils and chemical analysis of soils after diffusion showed the composites to have slow-release properties. Pot experiments using wheat and our composites resulted in the same yield as using highly soluble commercial fertiliser.Ivan B. Andelkovic, Shervin Kabiri, Rodrigo C. da Silva, Ehsan Tavakkoli, Jason K. Kirby, Dusan Losic and Michael J. McLaughli

Engineered phosphate fertilisers with dual-release properties

A new strategy to produce phosphate (P) fertilizers with both fast and slowly soluble P by the compaction method to produce composite products is presented. This unique composition is created by combining monoammonium phosphate (MAP) as a highly soluble P nutrient source, with a commercially available slow-release P such as struvite (Str) or P-loaded graphene oxide (GO). Graphene oxide-loaded P was synthesized by in situ oxidation of GO and ferrous ion (GO-Fe) mixtures with hydrogen peroxide and further loading of P onto the GO-Fe composite. The nutrient release in water was studied for dual-release MAP-Str and MAP-GO-Fe-P and compared to their corresponding slow- and fast-release sources. Column perfusion experiments showed a biphasic dissolution behavior with no significant difference between MAP-GO-Fe-P and MAP-Str. Visualization of P diffusion and chemical analysis of the soil after diffusion were used to assess the diffusion of P from different P fertilizers in various types of soil. Runoff and leaching simulations were performed to investigate the effects of the prepared fertilizer formulations on the environment. Overall, the diffusion of the dual-release fertilizers and the P loss in runoff and leaching experiments were less than for MAP. The better environmental performance of the dual-release fertilizers compared to MAP was related to the specific properties of the GO-based materials such as their two-dimensional structure and to the low solubility of the Str in the case of Str-based fertilizers.Shervin Kabiri, Ivan B. Andelkovic, Rodrigo C. da Silva, Fien Degryse, Roslyn Baird, Ehsan Tavakkoli, Dusan Losic, and Michael J. McLaughli