Strategies in Addressing Psychological Injuries at Work in Economically Transitioning Societies

Work-related mental health issues, also known as psychological injuries (such as burnout, stress, fatigue or depression as a result of long working hours, high work pressure and bullying or even violence), have become substantive workplace and social concerns due to the adverse effect on employees and peer workers. Consequentially, employers often face costs due to psychologically injured employee’s long periods of absence or productivity loss. People suffering from such injuries may also face challenging family and social relations and some of them would have to resort to public resources for treatment and support. Employers and governments in developed countries have put great efforts on addressing these issues. In contrast, in developing countries, the focus of work injuries mostly lays on physical injuries. Mental health problems resulting from employment have attracted far less attention. It is urgent to identify: how work-related mental health issues have evolved; the determinants of the issues; and, the key strategies/practices that mitigate them. More specifically, in economies undergoing rapid changes, such as radical structural transformation (e.g. industrialization, globalization, digitalization), economic recession or even crisis, or changing management culture (privatization, performance targets, casualization), mental health of the labour force can be seriously affected. However, how these macro-economic or work cultural changes have shocked labour force and resulted in new mental health issues, and how employers and policy makers should respond to such pressures, still remain to be resolved. This Research Topic calls for new empirical research on the strategies in addressing mental health issues at work. We aim to 1) provide new evidence on the impact of economic changes on labour force mental health; 2) identify innovative market or community solutions to mental health issues at work; 3) identify and evaluate employer interventions to address or prevent work-related mental health issues; 3) understand government policy responses and their effectiveness

Effects of Catastrophic Insect Outbreaks on the Harvesting Solutions of Dahurian Larch Plantations

Optimal harvesting under pest outbreak risk was studied on a set of even-aged Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii) stands in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. The effects of catastrophic pest outbreaks caused by the Siberian moth (Dendrolimus sibiricus) on the economic harvesting plan are compared through both deterministic and stochastic cases. Stand simulation is based on an individual-tree growth system. A scenario approach is applied when simulating the effects of catastrophic pest outbreaks. Insect damage is assumed to be a Poisson process with an average rate of 0.1 per year. One hundred scenarios of insect damage are created using the Poisson process to simulate the distribution of bare land value of each of the optimal regimes. Numerical results show that the optimal rotation is shortened with an increasing probability of a catastrophe. The average bare land values in the stochastic case are approximately 14.8% to 22.9% lower. Numbers of thinnings are decreased for most plots when seeking a highest bare land value, compared to the deterministic optima. If given a constant thinning rate, increasing risk-taking shortens the optimum rotation, as the model set used.Peer reviewe

Incorporation of Extranodal Metastasis of Gastric Carcinoma into the 7th Edition UICC TNM Staging System

BACKGROUND: To assess the clinical significance and prognostic impact of extranodal metastasis (EM) in gastric carcinoma and establish an optimal classification in the staging system. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 1343 patients with gastric carcinoma who underwent surgical resection were recruited to determine the frequency and prognostic significance of EMs. EMs were divided into two groups (EM1 and EM2) and then incorporated into the 7(th) edition UICC TNM staging system. EMs was detected in 179 (13.3%) of 1343 patients who underwent radical resection. Multivariate analysis identified EMs as an independent prognostic factor (HR = 1.412, 95%CI = 1.151-1.731, P<0.001). After curative operation, the overall survival rate were worse in patients with ≥3 cases of EM (EM2) than those with the number of 1 and 2 cases (EM1) (P<0.001). Survival of patients with EM1 was found almost comparable to that of N3 stage (P = 0.437). Survival of patients with EM2 showed similar to that of stage IV patients (P = 0.896). By using the linear trend X(2), likelihood ratio X(2), and Akaike information criterion (AIC) test, EM1 treated as N3 stage and EM2 treated as M1 stage performed higher linear trend X(2) scores, likelihood ratio X(2) scores, and lower AIC value than the 7(th) edition UICC TNM staging system, which represented the optimum prognostic stratification, together with better homogeneity, discriminatory ability, and monotonicity of gradients. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: EMs might be classified based on their number and prognostic information and should incorporate into the TNM staging system

Early detection of pine wilt disease tree candidates using time-series of spectral signatures

Pine wilt disease (PWD), caused by pine wood nematode (PWN), poses a tremendous threat to global pine forests because it can result in rapid and widespread infestations within months, leading to large-scale tree mortality. Therefore, the implementation of preventive measures relies on early detection of PWD. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based hyperspectral images (HSI) can detect tree-level changes and are thus an effective tool for forest change detection. However, previous studies mainly used single-date UAV-based HSI data, which could not monitor the temporal changes of disease distribution and determine the optimal detection period. To achieve these purposes, multi-temporal data is required. In this study, Pinus koraiensis stands were surveyed in the field from May to October during an outbreak of PWD. Concurrently, multi-temporal UAV-based red, green, and blue bands (RGB) and HSI data were also obtained. During the survey, 59 trees were confirmed to be infested with PWD, and 59 non-infested trees were used as control. Spectral features of each tree crown, such as spectral reflectance, first and second-order spectral derivatives, and vegetation indices (VIs), were analyzed to identify those useful for early monitoring of PWD. The Random Forest (RF) classification algorithm was used to examine the separability between the two groups of trees (control and infested trees). The results showed that: (1) the responses of the tree crown spectral features to PWD infestation could be detected before symptoms were noticeable in RGB data and field surveys; (2) the spectral derivatives were the most discriminable variables, followed by spectral reflectance and VIs; (3) based on the HSI data from July to October, the two groups of trees were successfully separated using the RF classifier, with an overall classification accuracy of 0.75–0.95. Our results illustrate the potential of UAV-based HSI for PWD early monitoring

Sustainable and eco-friendly dyeing of traditional grass cloth with a reactive dye in palm oil medium

Traditional grass cloth has been used in China for a long time for the manufacturing of various household furnishing textiles and ladieswear. However, traditionally the grass cloth is dyed with reactive dyes in an aqueous medium, but the dyeing process is not sustainable because of high energy and water usage and the production of coloured effluent. In this work, the possibility of palm oil/water dual-phase dyeing of traditional grass cloth with a reactive dye, C.I. Reactive Blue 194 (Reactive Blue 194), was explored. The grass cloth soaked in an alkaline solution with 80–140% pick-up was dyed in a palm oil dyebath containing dye powder dispersed in a palm oil medium. The initial study confirmed that the pre-treatment of the fabric with an alkaline solution with 140% pick-up was beneficial for the uniform distribution of the dye in the fibres. The dyeing process parameters (e.g., fixation temperature, solution pH, and fixation time) for the grass cloth dyeing with the Reactive Blue 194 were optimised by using the Taguchi method. The pH of the alkali pre-treatment solution was found to be the most influential factor, as confirmed by the analysis of variance in terms of the percentage of contribution (94.41%), which was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The confirmation tests were carried out under optimal settings, and a higher K/S (24.06) was found compared with the initial condition (21.51). X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the dyeing process did not affect the crystallinity of the grass cloth fibres. Furthermore, the recovery of palm oil from the spent dyebath was around 99%, and up to five times recycling and reuse of palm oil were studied for the dyeing of grass cloth. The colour strength of the grass cloths dyed in the palm oil recycled up to five times was similar to the cloth dyed in fresh palm oil. The results show that palm oil can be used as a dyeing medium for the sustainable dyeing of grass cloth with effluent reduction, which can be extended to the dyeing of other textile fibres

Perlindungan Hukum terhadap Hak Karyawan dengan Sistem Outsourcing pada Perusahaan Badan Usaha Milik Negara (Bumn) di Kota Pontianak

This study aims to determine: 1) the reasons BUMN In Pontianak using a system of Outsourcing in the recruitment of employees. 2) outsourcing practices in BUMN in Pontianak, 3) the factors that cause outsourcing system has not given legal protection of employees and 4) the perspective of the legal regulation of the employees who were recruited by the BUMN system outsourcing in Indonesia. The research was conducted at the Department of Social Welfare and Labor Pontianak, and involve Pontianak Trade Union Chairman, Director of PT. Media Prima HR Solutions in Pontianak, Director of PT. Telkom Pontianak, Director of PT. PLN Pontianak, Director of PT. Pertamina Pontianak and workers / laborers who work in state-owned companies Pontianak. Data collection methods used were interviews, questionnaires, and direct observations. The data obtained in qualitative analysis. The results show that the legal protection of workers / laborers, both contradictory, always found the gap between das sollen (must) and das science (reality) and always appeared discrepancy between the law in the books and law in action. Fact of economic life with the hegemony of financial capitalism has operated through the "dis-solution subject" who do not see the workers / laborers as production subject that should be protected, but rather as an object that can be exploited, this is what happens in the practice of outsourcing in Indonesia, so that the legalization of outsourcing by Law No. 13 Year 2003 on Manpower reap kotroversi. For those who disagree argue useful in outsourced business development and create new jobs. For those who refused to believe the practice of outsourcing is a modern style of capitalism that brought misery to the workers / laborers. Based on the fact that the authors formulate the problem: 1) Why BUMN In Pontianak Still Using Outsourcing System In Recruitment? 2) Why not outsource system provide legal protection for employees? 3) How should the legal arrangements for employees who were recruited by the BUMN system outsourcing in Indonesia? The objectives are: 1) To explain the reasons BUMN In Pontianak using Outsourcing the recruitment system. 2) To determine the state of outsourcing practices in Pontianak. 3) To disclose and explain the factors that cause outsourcing system has not been providing legal protection for employees. 4) To reveal the perspective of the legal regulation of the employees who were recruited by the BUMN system outsourcing in Indonesia. To answer the problems and research objectives, juridical approach used empirical / sociological research Descriptive Analytical specifications. Data types include Primary Data and Secondary Data collected through library research and documentation (library and documentation) as well as field research (field research), while the sampling was done by using non-random sampling with purposive sampling method. From the discussion, note that the legality of many violations of outsourcing in terms of Pontianak, employment protection and working conditions for workers / laborers outsourcing is not given by the employer to the fullest, while legal protection for workers / laborers are constrained due to the weakness in the system employment law, good substance, structure and culture. Therefore, it is necessary revision of labor legislation, the Local Government of Pontianak need to increase the numberof labor inspectors personnel, provide facilities and an adequate budget for the operation of the labor inspection in order to carry out its duties and functions to the fullest and empower Unions / Union to be able to carry out the purposes and functions well.Keywords: Outsourcing employee/ labour and Legal Protection. A B S T R A KPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui : 1) alasan BUMN Di Kota Pontianak menggunakan sistem Outsourcing dalam perekrutan karyawan. 2) praktik outsourcing pada BUMN di Kota Pontianak, 3) faktor-faktor penyebab sistem outsourcing belum memberikan perlindungan hukum terhadap karyawan dan 4) perspektif pengaturan hukum terhadap karyawan yang direkrut dengan sistem outsourcing pada BUMN di Indonesia. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Dinas Sosial dan Tenaga Kerja Pontianak, dan melibatkan Ketua Serikat Buruh Kota Pontianak, Direktur PT. Media Prima HR Solutions di Kota Pontianak, Direktur PT. Telkom Kota Pontianak, Direktur PT. PLN Pontianak, Direktur PT. Pertamina Pontianak serta pekerja/buruh yang bekerja pada Perusahaan BUMN Kota Pontianak. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah wawancara, kuesioner, dan pengamatan langsung. Data yang diperoleh di analisis secara kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa perlindungan hukum pekerja/buruh, keduanya saling bertentangan, selalu dijumpai kesenjangan antara das sollen (keharusan) dan das sain (Kenyataan) dan selalu muncul diskrepansi antara law in the books dan law in action. Nyatanya kehidupan ekonomi dengan hegemoni kapitalisme financial telah beroperasi melalui dis-solution subject yang tidak memandang pekerja/buruh sebagai subjek produksi yang patut dilindungi, melainkan sebagai objek yang bisa di eksploitasi, inilah yang terjadi dalam praktik outsourcing di Indonesia, sehingga legalisasi outsourcing berdasarkan Undang-Undang Nomor 13 Tahun 2003 Tentang Ketenagakerjaan menuai kotroversi. Bagi yang setuju berdalih outsourcing bermanfaat dalam pengembangan usaha dan membuka lapangan kerja baru. Bagi yang menolak beranggapan praktik outsourcing merupakan corak kapitalisme modern yang membawa kesengsaraan bagi pekerja/buruh. Berdasarkan Kenyataan itu penulis merumuskan masalah : 1) Mengapa BUMN Di Kota Pontianak Masih Menggunakan Sistem Outsourcing Dalam Perekrutan Karyawan ? 2) Mengapa sistem outsourcing tidak memberikan perlindungan hukum terhadap karyawan ? 3) Bagaimana seharusnya pengaturan hukum terhadap karyawan yang direkrut dengan sistem outsourcing pada BUMN di Indonesia ? Tujuannya adalah : 1) Untuk menjelaskan mengenai alasan BUMN Di Kota Pontianak menggunakan sistem Outsourcing dalam perekrutan karyawan. 2) Untuk mengetahui praktik outsourcing pada BUMN di Kota Pontianak. 3) Untuk mengungkapkan dan menjelaskan faktor-faktor penyebab sistem outsourcing belum memberikan perlindungan hukum terhadap karyawan. 4) Untuk mengungkapkan perspektif pengaturan hukum terhadap karyawan yang direkrut dengan sistem outsourcing pada BUMN di Indonesia. Untuk menjawab permasalahan dan tujuan penelitian, digunakan metode pendekatan yuridis empiris/sosiologis dengan spesifikasi penelitian Deskriptif Analitis. Jenis datanya meliputi Data Primer dan Data Skunder yang dikumpulkan melalui penelitian kepustakaan dan dokumentasi(library and documentation) serta penelitian lapangan(field research), sedangkan pengambilan sampel dilakukan dengan menggunakan teknik Non Random Sampling dengan metode Purposive Sampling. Dari hasil pembahasan diketahui bahwa secara legalitas banyak terjadi pelanggaran syarat-syarat outsourcing di Kota Pontianak, perlindungan kerja dan syarat-syarat kerja bagi pekerja/buruh outsourcing tidak diberikan oleh pengusaha secara maksimal, sedangkan perlindungan hukum bagi pekerja/buruh terkendala karena adanyakelemahan dalam system hukum ketenagakerjaan, baik substansi, struktur maupun kulturnya. Oleh karena itu, perlu revisi atas beberapa peraturan Perundang-undangan ketenagakerjaan, Pemerintah Daerah Kota Pontianak perlu menambah jumlah personel pegawai pengawas ketenagakerjaan, menyediakan sarana dan fasilitas serta anggaran yang memadai untuk operasional pengawasan ketenagakerjaan agar dapat menjalankan tugas dan fungsinya secara maksimal serta memberdayakan Serikat Pekerja/Serikat Buruh agar mampu menjalankan tujuan dan fungsinya dengan baik.Kata Kunci : Pekerja/Buruh Outsourcing dan Perlindungan Hukum

Affordable housing lessons from Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore: 3 keys to getting the policy mix right

Cities take very different approaches to these issues. Each approach has its own merits and issuesA key argument against public housing has been that it might give the tenants less incentive to save for housing. It might also not be popular with mainstream voters because of the cost to taxpayers. Singapore’s approach seems to be a midway solution. The government plays a bigger role in providing housing, but does not waive individual responsibilities. Providing public housing and at the same time demanding individuals and employers contribute can send a strong signal: people are encouraged to join the labour force. So far, Singapore faces the least housing affordability issues. Hong Kong and Sydney are much more liberal in their approaches to housing. In Sydney, only the poorest benefit from the public housing system. The younger generation is struggling to get on the housing ladder. In Hong Kong, people are forced to buy housing in the commercial market if their income is even just above the eligibility line for public housing. The severe unaffordability of private housing in Hong Kong, even for young professionals, brews social discontent. Combining these three perspectives, Sydney’s housing, savings and public transport systems are far from well synergised to offer a competitive package of affordable housing. The 30-minute city plan prepared by the Greater Sydney Commission might improve the situation. However, similar to Hong Kong, current policies are weak in building the capacity of young people to own homes

Cultural distance and customer orientation strategy of Chinese service MNEs under the belt and road initiative

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore mechanisms of cultural distance in the base of Chinese Service Multi-National Enterprise (MNE) settings. When attempting to enter overseas markets, many service MNEs face challenges caused by the cultural distance between the home and host countries. Culture distance attracts much attention in academia and industry. However, there are few empirical works to examine how cultural distance affects customer orientation strategies in a global supply chain. This paper aims to answer the following research question: How is the effect of cultural distance on customer acquisition and customer retention strategies, and the effect of customer orientation strategies on the performance of service-oriented MNEs controlled by Chinese capital along the Belt and Road Initiative? Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines the effect of cultural distance on the customer acquisition strategy and customer retention strategy, and the effect of customer orientation strategies on the performance of Chinese Service MNEs. A large-scale empirical study of Chinese Service MNEs operating in overseas markets is performed and questionnaires were distributed and collected. This paper uses Hofstede's method (Hofstede, 2010), Schwartz's method (Schwartz, 2003) and House et al.'s method (House et al., 2004) to calculate cultural distance. By using each kind of method, this study calculates the absolute culture distance and relative culture distance respectively. Findings: The results suggest that cultural distance negatively affects customer orientation strategy, customer acquisition strategy positively affects performance and the interaction of customer acquisition and customer retention positively affects performance. Research limitations/implications: This study aims to contribute to the existing literature with a more fine-grained understanding of the inclusion of customer orientation strategy of Chinese Service MNEs in global supply chains. Practical implications: The findings outline several important implications that Chinese Service MNEs seeking to expand to overseas markets. Originality/value: This paper contributes a novel, combined perspective of culture distance and customer orientation strategy

Polypeptides Isolated from <i>Lactococcus lactis</i> Alleviates Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-Induced Inflammation in <i>Ctenopharyngodon idella</i>

The main purpose of the present study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of Lactococcus lactis BL52 and isolate active substances responsible for anti-inflammatory activity. Head-kidney (HK) macrophages were used for in vitro bioassay-guided isolation, and the structure of the two peptides was identified by mass spectrometry analysis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses in Ctenopharyngodon idella were also examined to evaluate the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of active substances. Two active peptides were isolated by HPLC from L. lactis BL52, and an in vitro anti-inflammatory assay demonstrated that peptide ALBL1 and ALBL2 dose-dependently inhibited LPS-induced inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β and inflammatory factors NO and PGE 2 production in macrophages (p p C. idella treated with peptide ALBL1 and ALBL2 can relieve pathological inflammatory responses caused by LPS. These results suggest that the anti-inflammatory properties of peptide ALBL1 and ALBL2 might be a result from the inhibition of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α expressions through the downregulation of Toll2/NF-κB signaling pathways

A Study on the Applicability of Kinetic Models for Shenfu Coal Char Gasification with CO2 at Elevated Temperatures

In this paper, measurements of the CO2 gasification kinetics for two types of Shenfu coal chars, which were respectively prepared by slow and rapid pyrolysis at temperatures of 950 °C and 1,400 °C, were performed by an isothermal thermo-gravimetric analysis under ambient pressure and elevated temperature conditions. Simultaneously, the applicability of the kinetic model for the CO2 gasification reaction of Shenfu coal chars was discussed. The results showed: (i) the shrinking un-reacted core model was not appropriate to describe the gasification reaction process of Shenfu coal chars with CO2 in the whole experimental temperature range; (ii) at the relatively low temperatures, the modified volumetric model was as good as the random pore model to simulate the CO2 gasification reaction of Shenfu coal chars, while at the elevated temperatures, the modified volumetric model was superior to the random pore model for this process; (iii) the integral expression of the modified volumetric model was more favorable than the differential expression of that for fitting the experimental data. Moreover, by simply introducing a function: A = A★exp(ft), it was found that the extensive model of the modified volumetric model could make much better predictions than the modified volumetric model. It was recommended as a convenient empirical model for comprehensive simulation of Shenfu coal char gasification with under conditions close to those of entrained flow gasification