Search Results (153)

With the development of information and communication technologies, analysing new risks of moral harassment at work is becoming increasingly pertinent, especially with the expansion of teleworking and hybrid working (a mix of remote and face-to-face work per week) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an attempt to respond to the new issues of labour regulation, this study places special emphasis on new risks of moral harassment in hybrid work and teleworking contexts, considering both the international and European framework and the legal regime in Portugal, identifying its specificities. With the rise in teleworking in the post-pandemic period, the online monitoring of workers has accentuated the difficulty in drawing the line between managerial power and harassment. Moral harassment at work is a persistent challenge and organisations must recognise, prevent and respond to inappropriate behaviour in the organisation. The results of this study—based on the results of an online survey completed by employees (with employment contracts)—show that teleworking employees recognise that they have been pressured, above all, both to respond to messages quickly and pressure to work beyond hours and suggest possible gender differences in the way harassment in hybrid work and teleworking contexts is reported. Full article

Investigating the coupled hydrodynamic and thermal wakes induced by underwater vehicles is vital for non-acoustic detection and environmental monitoring. Here, the standard SUBOFF model is simulated under eight operating conditions—speeds of 10, 15, and 20 kn; depths of 10, 20, and 30 m; and both with and without thermal discharge—using Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) coupled with the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Results indicate that, under heat emission conditions, higher speeds accelerate wake temperature decay, making the thermal wake difficult to detect downstream; without heat emission, turbulent mixing dominates the temperature field, and speed effects are minor. With increased speed, wake vorticity at a fixed location grows by about 30%, free-surface wave height rises from 0.05 to 0.15 m, and wavelength remains around 1.8 m, all positively correlated with speed. Dive depth is negatively correlated with wave height, decreasing from 0.15 to 0.04 m as depth increases from 5 to 20 m, while wavelength remains largely unchanged. At a 10 m submergence depth, the thermal wake is clearly detectable on the surface but becomes hard to detect beyond 20 m, indicating a pronounced depth effect on its visibility. These results not only confirm the positive correlation between vessel speed and wake vorticity reported in earlier studies but also extend those findings by providing the first quantitative evaluation of how submergence depth critically limits thermal wake visibility beyond 20 m. This research provides quantitative evaluations of wake characteristics under varying speeds, depths, and heat emissions, offering valuable insights for stealth navigation and detection technologies. Full article

Direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of the T106A low-pressure turbine were conducted for various turbulence intensities and length scales to investigate their effects on flow behaviour and transition. A source-term formulation of the synthetic eddy method (SEM) was implemented in the Nektar++ spectral/hp element framework to introduce anisotropic turbulence into the flow field. A single sponge layer was imposed, which covers the inflow and outflow regions just downstream and upstream of the inflow and outflow boundaries, respectively, to avoid acoustic wave reflections on the boundary conditions. Additionally, in the T106A model, mixed polynomial orders were utilized, as Nektar++ allows different polynomial orders for adjacent elements. A lower polynomial order was employed in the outflow region to further assist the sponge layer by coarsening the mesh and diffusing the turbulence near the outflow boundary. Thus, this study contributes to the development of a more robust and efficient model for high-fidelity simulations of turbine blades by enhancing stability and producing a more accurate flow field. The main findings are compared with experimental and DNS data, showing good agreement and providing new insights into the influence of turbulence length scales on flow separation, transition, wake behaviour, and loss profiles. Full article

Background/Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic intensified stress among students, though its impact on burnout symptoms remains mixed. Previous research emphasized examining both study-related behavior such as academic engagement and burnout for a fuller understanding of students’ well-being in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In this cross-sectional study we examined stress, burnout, study-related behavior, and typical coping patterns among three cohorts of university students before (2016), at the start of (2020), and after (2024) the pandemic, with 1016 students participating. Results: Perceived stress was significantly higher during the pandemic but returned to pre-COVID-19 levels afterward. Depression scores remained stable across cohorts. Burnout symptoms, particularly cynicism and academic efficacy, were significantly lower in the COVID-19 cohort. Study commitment, including subjective importance of studying, academic goals/ambition, willingness to exert oneself, and striving for perfection were lower during and after the pandemic than before. Emotional distancing peaked in 2020, suggesting disengagement as a coping strategy. Pre-COVID-19 students exhibited higher active coping scores than the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 cohorts, while satisfaction with studies was highest post-pandemic, likely due to the return of in-person academic and social experiences. Conclusions: These findings reveal fluctuations in students’ stress, burnout, and study-related behavior over time. While stress-levels have normalized, study commitment and typical coping patterns such as active coping remain altered, indicating the pandemic’s lasting impact on students’ academic behavior and mental health. Full article

In the wake of intensifying global Extreme Climate Incidents (ECIs), which have particularly noticeable effects on indigenous populations, integrating value-driven education has become a global imperative. While Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for SDG 13 climate action has been widely adopted in science and engineering curricula, language and culture programs remain underexplored as venues for transformative sustainability learning in Global Competence (GC). Learners in these fields often demonstrate critical literacy and global awareness, but lack the interdisciplinary tools and strategies to translate values into climate-conscious behavior. This study responds to this gap by incorporating virtual reality (VR) into a modified Global Competence Framework (GCF) in an experiment study within intercultural communication courses (N = 303, VR explorative group = 152, control group = 151). A mixed methodological approach was adopted by evaluating pretest–posttest quantitative data of ESD knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and qualitative data of critical online reflection. The results demonstrate increase localized ESD knowledge in terms of climate, attitudes, and ecological behaviors in both groups in the lived experience of GCF, yet the VR explorative group showed a greater improvement in knowledge and behavior because of their visualization of the 3D rotation of rarely acquired scientific knowledge in monsoonal movement and the local indigenous village reconstruction after destruction. By localizing the Typhoon Morakot tragedy that devastated Shiaolin Village, the intervention provided a culturally specific and interactive context for ESD concepts, enabling interdisciplinary learners to experience climate injustice firsthand with value-based strategies while critically reflecting on global responsibility and sustainable action. Full article

High-resolution remotely sensed data, which are characterised by their advanced spectral and spatial capabilities, provide unprecedented opportunities to monitor and analyse the dynamic structures of urban environments. Platforms like Google Earth Engine (GEE) enhance these capabilities, as they provide access to vast datasets and tools for analysing key urban parameters, including land use, vegetation cover, and surface roughness–all critical components in urban sustainability studies. This study presents a knowledge-based framework for processing high-resolution satellite imagery tailored to address the demands of sustainable urban planning in the Municipality of Kalamaria in Thessaloniki, Greece. The framework emphasises the extraction of essential urban parameters, such as the spatial distribution of built-up and green spaces, alongside the analysis of surface roughness attributes, including displacement height and roughness length. Unlike conventional methods, our framework enables a detailed intra-urban analysis as these surface roughness attributes are calculated within 200 m × 200 m sub-units. Surface roughness indicators offer essential insights into aerodynamic drag and turbulent air mixing, both of which are directly influenced by the structural characteristics of the urban landscape. Using this approach, ‘wake interference flow’ type was identified as the dominant airflow pattern in the study area. This type was observed in 105 out of 150 sub-units, suggesting that these areas likely suffer from poor air circulation and are prone to higher concentrations of air pollutants. The integration of Google Earth Engine offered a scalable and replicable solution for large-scale urban analysis making it easily adaptable to other urban areas, especially where detailed morphological datasets are unavailable. By providing a robust, scalable, and data-driven tool for assessing urban form and airflow characteristics, our study offers a significant advancement in sustainable urban planning and climate resilience strategies, with clear potential for adaptation in other cities facing similar data limitations. Full article

Background: Nursing leadership is associated with a host of benefits for patient outcomes and health services. Pressures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic saw many relatively inexperienced nurses thrust into leadership roles, often with little notice. In response to this situation, The Tasmanian Health Service—Hospitals South created the Leadership Excellence in Practice Program (L-EPP) as a way of developing the leadership skills of its nurses and midwives. This study aimed to describe the development of the L-EPP and to evaluate it from the perspective of its participants and their peers. Methods: A longitudinal mixed-methods study was conducted using data from the first two offerings of the L-EPP. The L-EPP employs a blended learning model comprised of e-learning, work-integrated learning and face-to-face workshops. Surveys targeting the participants’ leadership abilities were completed at numerous time points by participants themselves, their peers, and their managers. Results: A total of 57 participants completed the program. Workshop surveys indicated that these sessions were generally well-received by participants. Significant improvements were observed in several domains of leadership, from the perspective of the participants themselves and their peers and managers. Conclusions: The program was well-received by its participants, and would serve as a useful template for other organisations seeking to build the leadership capacity of their nurses and midwives. This may be particularly useful to organisations seeking to upskill their existing staff and prevent further attrition of nurses and midwives in the wake of the pandemic. Full article

Floating offshore wind turbines present peculiar characteristics that make them particularly interesting for the implementation of wind farm control strategies such as wake mixing to increase the overall power production. Wake mixing is achieved by generating an unsteady cyclical load on the blades of upwind turbines to decrease the wind deficit on downwind turbines. The possibility of exploiting the yaw motion of a floating offshore wind turbine allows for amplified wake mixing or a reduction in the workload of the control mechanism. To amplify the yaw motion of the system at a selected excitation frequency, a multi-disciplinary optimization framework was developed to modify selected properties of the floating platform and mooring line configuration of the DTU 10 MW turbine on the Triple Spar platform. At the same time, operational and structural constraints were taken into account. A simulation-based approach was chosen to design a floating platform and mooring line configuration that were optimized to integrate with the new control strategy based on wake mixing in floating offshore wind farms. Modifying the floating platform spar arrangement and mooring line properties allowed us to tune the yaw natural frequency of the system in accordance with the excitation frequency of the wake control technique and amplify the yaw motion while controlling the deviations of the operational constraints and costs from the baseline configuration. Full article

The importance of sleep has been reported for decades. Epilepsy is a heterogeneous disorder comprising multiple elements that might influence sleep and wakefulness. Notably, animal studies show disruptions of the circadian molecular system in different models of epilepsy, along with altered rest–activity and other circadian rhythms. So far, studies of molecular circadian systems in people with epilepsy are lacking, prompting further research. Seizures—the primary and most debilitating symptom of epilepsy—and interictal activity disrupt regular sleep and sleep–wake rhythms. Alterations in one’s sleep structure are seen in both drug-naïve and drug-resistant patients with epilepsy. In particular, low sleep efficiency, a reduction in total sleep time, and changes in sleep stages were found in both homogenous and mixed samples of epilepsy patients. Both ictal and interictal activity were also shown to be associated with changes in peripheral circadian phase biomarkers such as melatonin and cortisol. Moreover, epilepsy comorbidities, antiseizure medications, and a variety of syndromes can be a cause of sleep problems or even sleep disorders. Sleep disorders vary depending on various comorbidities and syndromes, and encompass all major groups of sleep disorders defined in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders. Controversial findings on the effects of various antiseizure medications were found in the literature. However, medications such as benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids, and barbiturates are particularly associated with excessive daytime sleepiness. Overall, a sleep evaluation must be included in the management of every patient with epilepsy. Full article

The water environment is a dynamic domain critical to global transportation and commerce, where seaplanes operate during take-offs, landings, and ground operations, often near maritime traffic. Canada’s vast remote regions and unique geography increase reliance on seaplanes, especially for private and recreational purposes. This article examines the intersection of aviation and maritime operations through a mixed-methods approach, analyzing seaplane safety on waterways using quantitative and qualitative methods. First, data from 1005 General Aviation (GA) seaplane accidents in Canada (1990–2022) are analyzed, revealing 179 fatalities, 401 injuries, and 118 destroyed aircraft—significant given that seaplanes comprise under 5% of GA aircraft. Of these, 50.35% occurred while the seaplane was not airborne. Second, insights from interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires involving 136 participants are explored through thematic and content analysis. These capture pilot concerns that are not evident in accident data, such as hazards from jet ski interactions and disruptive boat wakes. The findings highlight risks like limited visibility and maneuverability during waterborne take-offs, worsened by seaplanes’ lack of priority over maritime vessels in shared spaces. This article concludes with recommendations for both the seaplane and maritime communities, including increasing awareness among boaters about the presence and operations of seaplanes, as well as regulatory adjustments, particularly considering the right of way. Full article

Combinatorial magnetron sputtering and electrical characterization were used to systematically study the impact of compositional changes in the resistive switching of transition metal oxides, specifically the Zr_xTa_1−xO_y system. Current-voltage behavior across a range of temperatures provided insights into the mechanisms that contribute to differences in the electrical conductivity of the pristine Ta₂O₅ and ZrO₂, and mixed Zr_xTa_1−xO_y devices. The underlying conductive mechanism was found to be a mixture of charge trapping and ionic motion, where charge trapping/emission dictated the short-term cycling behavior while ion motion contributed to changes in the conduction with increased cycling number. ToF-SIMS was used to identify the origin of the “wake-up” behavior of the devices, revealing an ionic motion contribution. This understanding of how cation concentration affects conduction in mixed valence systems helps provide a foundation for a new approach toward manipulating resistive switching in these active layer materials. Full article

This study evaluated the agreement between MotionWatch8 actigraphy and polysomnography (PSG) in measuring sleep parameters among menopausal women under controlled 30 °C laboratory conditions. Sixteen peri- and post-menopausal women (age: 51.4 ± 4.2 years, BMI: 26.0 ± 3.1 kg/m²) contributed 59 nights of simultaneous recordings, with parameters analyzed using Bland–Altman plots, linear mixed model analysis, and epoch-by-epoch comparisons. Results showed MotionWatch8 significantly overestimated total sleep time by 18.6 min and sleep efficiency by 3.5%, while underestimating sleep onset latency by 11.2 min and wake after sleep onset by 9.1 min compared to PSG. Significant proportional errors were observed, particularly for participants with prolonged sleep onset latency, high wake after sleep onset, and lower sleep efficiency. Epoch-by-epoch analysis revealed high sensitivity for sleep detection (94.8%) but low specificity for wake detection (33.1%), with 87.3% overall accuracy. These findings demonstrate that MotionWatch8 may be less reliable for individuals with more extreme sleep characteristics, such as insomnia, as measurement accuracy declines with increasing severity of sleep disturbances, highlighting the need for caution when using this device for detailed sleep assessments in clinical populations with sleep disturbances. Full article

This paper introduces a numerical methodology for the investigation of two-dimensional, incompressible and unsteady flows. The analyses involve Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) over solid boundaries of known shape with effects of mixed convection heat transfer. The main contribution is the implementation of a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) model for the energy equation. LES is a mathematical model for simulating turbulent flows. The Boussinesq approximation links the vorticity transport equation with the energy equation to include buoyancy forces. The methodology consists of discretizing the vorticity field and heat by using particles (computational points), which characterizes a purely Lagrangian description. The vorticity field is discretized by using Lamb discrete vortices (vortex blobs) and the heat by using temperature particles. The velocity field is computed over each particle as the vortex cloud contribution requires high computational cost. The buoyancy forces computation is necessary over each vortex blob because of the temperature particles and also requires high computational cost. Thus, all those computations involving particles interactions demand the use of parallel computing in OpenMP-Fortran. The turbulence calculation makes use of the second-order velocity structure function model; that computation is necessary over each computational point during every time increment of a typical numerical simulation. As examples of application, two problems are chosen: nominally, the flow around a single circular cylinder and the interaction of airplane wake vortices with a ground plane. The numerical results are compared with experimental data, exhibiting very good agreement with the expected physics for each investigated problem. Full article

This study aimed to examine the influence of training load, performance, sleep, and menstrual parameters on heart rate variability (HRV) and to evaluate its potential as a predictor of sports performance. A four-year longitudinal case study was conducted on a female elite kayak athlete, involving daily monitoring of HRV, sleep quality and duration, menstrual cycles, illnesses, and acute training loads. Over this period, 1394 measurements were taken each morning immediately after waking up and before getting up. The results of four competitive seasons were analyzed using a performance index and were statistically processed with a linear mixed model. The analysis revealed a statistically significant positive association between rMSSD and both sleep quality (p < 0.001) and the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (p = 0.003). In contrast, the training load (p = 0.94), sleep duration (p = 0.27), and illness (p > 0.05) showed no statistically significant effect on rMSSD. Additionally, neither rMSSD (p = 0.82) nor its trend (p = 0.70) were significant predictors of the performance index. Despite the lack of a statistically significant correlation between HRV and sports performance, the findings suggest that the pre-competition decrease in HRV observed in this case study may reflect anticipatory physiological changes, potentially linked to increased sympathetic activation, as suggested in the existing literature. Full article

Cross-media vehicles, which combine the advantages of airplanes and submarines, are capable of performing complex tasks in different media and have attracted significant interest in recent years. In practice, however, cross-media rotorcrafts face numerous challenges during the cross-media transition, one of which is the complex mixed air–water flows induced by their rotors operating in close proximity to the water surface. These flows can result in aerodynamic penalties and structural damage to the rotors. The interactions between a water surface and a rotor wake bring about potential risks of cross-media locomotion, which is known as the near-water effect of rotors. Given that the distinctions between the near-water effect and the ground effect of rotors are not yet widely understood, this study details the discovery of the near-water effect and provides a comprehensive review of the evolutionary development of the near-water effect, tracing its understanding from the ground effect to the influence of droplets through aerodynamic modeling, numerical simulations, and near-water experimental studies. Furthermore, open problems and challenges associated with the near-water effect are discussed, including flow field measurements and numerical simulation approaches. Additionally, potential applications of the near-water effect for the development of cross-media rotorcraft are also described, which are valuable for aerodynamic design and cross-media control. Full article