Search results

Stress damages us and our performance. It is a real part of most manager's experience and can be said to occur when significant demands exceed perceived management responsibilities and routines. Stress can be the essence of working life, and certainly need not always be damaging to us. But when it becomes excessive, it is something unwanted.

Using a portable breath carbon monoxide analyser, breath carbon monoxide (CO) of non‐smoking police motorcyclists in central London was found to be consistently elevated in comparison to non‐smoking pedestrians. Although the highest levels were found among smokers, some of the non‐smoking policemen had similar levels to their smoking colleagues. The highest levels among non‐smoking police personnel were found in a group of car mechanics working in a partially enclosed garage. Among the non‐smoking police motorcyclists the highest levels were seen on the day with the highest maximum average hourly ambient CO, the lowest wind speed and the highest air temperature. We conclude that occupational exposure to exhaust fumes leads to elevated levels of breath CO.

The purpose of this paper is to arrange zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires into an appropriate position on electrodes and to research the properties of ZnO nanowires.

In this paper, dielectrophoresis (DEP) was used to fabricate ZnO nanowire devices, and the responses to temperature, ultraviolet (UV) light and breath of the device were studied.

The number of the bridged nanowires is increased with alternating current voltage. ZnO nanowires demonstrate a good photoconductivity illuminated by 365-nm UV light, and show a stable performance in monitoring unnatural breath of high frequency and low strength.

In this paper, DEP is a promising method for controllable assembly of ZnO nanowires. ZnO nanowires demonstrate a good response to 365-nm UV light and exhaled breath, which show great potential application in UV detector and medical monitor.

This paper aims to compare the prognostic and visualisation capabilities of all the three simulation paradigms to identify their suitability and rigor in eliminating weaknesses and bottlenecks in a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project.

The paper uses an light-emitting diode (LED) factory as a business case to show the differences and advantages of using three different simulation techniques to solve a manufacturing problem.

Even though this is only one business case that shows how system dynamics (SD) can be effective in a Six Sigma manufacturing project, more examples are needed to validate this hypothesis within Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing fields. Even though, discrete-events (DE) and agent-based (AB) models are both equally well suited to develop the manufacturing processes and the choice of what to use may be arbitrarily dependent on the available software or the preference of the modeller, hybrid models seem to become extremely powerful. Therefore, more hybrid models need to be constructed within LSS (especially when a flowchart and a SIPOC ((Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers) table are combined to develop a hybrid model) to achieve the most accurate results with accurate representation of reality.

There are three commonly used simulation techniques, DE, AB and SD, but choosing the right simulation methodology has often been a challenge.

The purpose of this paper is to devise a tool based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and machine learning (ML), for the assessment of potential airborne microbial transmission in enclosed spaces. A gated recurrent units neural network (GRU-NN) is presented to learn and predict the behaviour of droplets expelled through breaths via particle tracking data sets.

A computational methodology is used for investigating how infectious particles that originated in one location are transported by air and spread throughout a room. High-fidelity prediction of indoor airflow is obtained by means of an in-house parallel CFD solver, which uses a one equation Spalart–Allmaras turbulence model. Several flow scenarios are considered by varying different ventilation conditions and source locations. The CFD model is used for computing the trajectories of the particles emitted by human breath. The numerical results are used for the ML training.

In this work, it is shown that the developed ML model, based on the GRU-NN, can accurately predict the airborne particle movement across an indoor environment for different vent operation conditions and source locations. The numerical results in this paper prove that the presented methodology is able to provide accurate predictions of the time evolution of particle distribution at different locations of the enclosed space.

This study paves the way for the development of efficient and reliable tools for predicting virus airborne movement under different ventilation conditions and different human positions within an indoor environment, potentially leading to the new design. A parametric study is carried out to evaluate the impact of system settings on time variation particles emitted by human breath within the space considered.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the proximal predictors of breath alcohol content (BrAC) at exit of a venue that primarily served sexual minority patrons. Contrary to prior research that relies on self-report of alcohol consumption, participants’ BrAC level was measured prior to entering the venue and again at exit.

A portal method was used to assess individuals before and after attending a sexual minority bar. Participants (n=96) were randomly selected for participation on weekends from four bars.

A multivariate path model was conducted to predict BrAC at exit from the bar. Individuals who drank before coming to the bar had a mean BrAC of 0.093 (SD=0.065) at exit from the bar and those who did not drink before attending the bar had a mean BrAC 0.030 (SD=0.050) at exit (t=5.47 (99), p<0.001). Drinking before bar attendance, BrAC at entrance, planning to drive, and drinking intentions were significant predictors of BrAC at exit from the bar. There were no significant variations in BrAC by sexual identity.

BrAC levels at exit were mainly influenced by the BrAC levels at entrance and were not significantly changed while at the venue.

While previous research has demonstrated a higher incidence of problematic drinking behaviors in nonheterosexual populations, the current study suggests that bars and clubs who serve sexual minority patrons might not be adding to these problematic behaviors, and instead serve as a place of community for LGB individuals.

Exposure therapy is a widely used treatment for patients with post-traumatic stress dis -order. It involves reduction of fear through progressive exposure to frightening stimuli in a therapeutic environment. Here we propose a new method designed to improve the effectiveness of exposure therapy. We hypothesized that device-guided breathing during exposure therapy can increase the capability of the patient to undergo effective exposure. The successful application of the method is described for a single patient. Using a device to slow and regularize breathing, the patient was calmed and experienced a greater sense of control and a profound effect of the exposure. The use of the breathing-guiding device is believed to reduce arousal level and excitability of sympathetic “fight-flight” behaviors. The present study suggests that device-guided breathing integrated with exposure therapy may provide a practically feasible and potentially promising non-pharmacological treatment after trauma.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the idea of transparency of understanding from a communications perspective, and mindful listening as a mode of communication to achieve it.

Provides a discussion and Analysis.

Practical methods to achieve mindful listening are described. Transparency of understanding is publicly and interactively achieved through carefully orchestrated visible and audible behaviors. Drawing on spiritual traditions and language and social interaction research, the author suggests that our active and verbal input, our receptivity and embodied presence, including body orientation, facial expression, and eye behavior are significant factors in creating and displaying transparency of understanding.

The author suggests that if we could actually be present to listen to each other in the workplace with close attention we might minimize much misunderstanding and confusion, and maybe reduce the amount of time and energy we spend in repairing what we might have missed or misunderstood because we were not really paying attention?

This article reviews characteristics of resilience and various types of Asian martial arts and illustrates how Asian martial arts help to cultivate resiliency. Cultivation of internal energy (eg. chi kung), training the breath, meditative techniques and spiritual development, metaphors and models in Asian martial arts, and training ‘heart’ designed to enhance resiliency are mechanisms for how Asian marital arts cultivate resilience. Finally, a brief review of the health and mental health benefits of Asian martial arts is presented.