Search Results (33)

This study attends to employees’ boundary-setting enactments during workplace resocialization following parental leave in the United States. We qualitatively analyzed the work/life boundary-setting enactments of 16 employees who returned to the workplace following parental leave using the dialectical lens of control (organizational assimilation) and resistance (individualization). Findings illustrate how employees managed tensions that generated an overarching work/life paradox during organizational resocialization across identity, time, and topic boundary-setting stressors. Employees’ tensioned enactments illustrated a control/resistance dialectic whereby paradoxical responses (vacillating, integrating, and/or balancing) were used to align with professional norms or privilege a working parent identity. This study contributes to paradox research and the model of organizational socialization to deepen our theoretical understanding of how resocialization is a communication process where managing work/life paradoxical responses to identity, time, and topic stressors can attenuate dialectical organizational tensions. Furthermore, we offer practical recommendations for organizations, supervisors, and individuals to productively understand and approach tensions. Full article

Work–life balance (WLB) in academia remains a challenge as a result of increasing workloads, precarious employment, and expectations of constant availability. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed these structural barriers to work–life balance in academia and also clearly showed the inequities related to hybrid and remote work for women, caregivers, and underrepresented minorities. This paper highlights the key factors that pose challenges to WLB in academia, how these challenges have been worsened by COVID-19, and what we can learn from pandemic times solutions to devise inclusive practices for long-term structural change. The methodology used in this paper is a critical review of 298 published articles. This review is structured as follows: The structural barriers, inequities, and workplace policies that impact academic WLB are first inventoried. Then, the lessons learned from the pandemic are studied by dividing the short-term disruptions from the permanent shifts. Finally, inclusive solutions, focusing on institutional boundary-setting, workload redistribution, hybrid work policies, and mental health support are presented. This paper makes three key contributions: (1) it provides an intersectional understanding of WLB, accounting for gender, caregiving, ethnicity, migration, and social class; (2) it frames COVID-19 as a driver for structural reform, rather than an anomaly; (3) it bridges WLB research and policy design, proposing actionable strategies for universities and policymakers. By placing equity and inclusion at the core of the analysis, this work advocates for systemic solutions that promote a sustainable academic environment aligned with principles of social justice. Full article

(1) Background: The integration of digital technologies such as electronic health records (EHRs), telepsychiatry, and communication platforms has transformed the mental health sector a lot compared to in previous years. While these tools enhance service delivery, they also introduce unique stressors. Despite growing concerns, there is no validated instrument specifically designed to measure the digital stress experienced by mental health professionals. (2) Methods: This study involved the development and psychometric validation of the Digital Stress Scale (DSC). The process included item generation through a literature review and qualitative interviews, expert panel validation, and a two-phase statistical evaluation. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were conducted on responses from 423 licensed mental health professionals using EHRs and digital communication tools. The scale’s reliability and convergent validity were assessed via internal consistency and correlations with established mental health measures. (3) Results: The final DSC included four subscales: digital fatigue, technostress, digital disengagement, and work–life digital boundaries. CFA supported the factor structure (CFI = 0.965, RMSEA = 0.038), and the overall reliability was acceptable (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.87). Descriptive analysis showed moderate-to-high levels of digital stress (M = 11.94, SD = 2.72). Digital fatigue was the strongest predictor of total stress (β = 1.00, p < 0.001), followed by technostress and work–life boundary violations. All subscales were significantly correlated with burnout (r = 0.72), job dissatisfaction (r = −0.61), and perceived stress (r = 0.68), all with a p < 0.001. (4) Conclusions: The DSC is a valid and reliable tool for assessing digital stress among mental health professionals. Findings point out the urgent need for policy-level interventions to mitigate digital overload, promote healthy work–life boundaries, and enhance digital competency in mental health settings. Full article

In October 2023, a Knowledge Exchange Forum was established, bringing together arts therapies staff and students from three different palliative and end-of-life care (PEoLC) settings: St Columba’s Hospice Care in Edinburgh, the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in New York. Adopting a practice-led approach, the Forum offers a space to unpack questions and challenges that arts therapists face in PEoLC. In this dialogical paper, we outline the development of the Forum and share emerging insights from our cross-cultural discussions. When working in PEoLC settings, arts therapists are commonly required to work across a continuum of care. This continuum extends from individual sessions with patients, families and bereaved carers, to groups and community-oriented initiatives. It often requires a capacity to work flexibly and fluidly with regard to, for example, therapeutic boundaries, consistency of location, and time. Discussion of emerging insights leads to a consideration of their implications for education and practice, and for future directions in professional networking and knowledge exchange. Full article

Beyond their direct use, buildings and heritage places are objects and settings which help to guide community actions. Cognitive perception systems interact directly with the built environment through action and generate experiences that will be used for subsequent actions. This requires a reorientation towards phenomenological perspectives that query the conceptual boundary between cognition and action. Five universities from three countries (Portugal, Italy, and Spain) came together in July 2023 through an Erasmus+ BIP (Blended Intense Programme) experience, developed for the La Latina neighbourhood, in the historical centre of Madrid. The intention was to highlight the importance of different disciplines, and interdisciplinary working, for planning an urban future which includes the goals of socio-economic and environmental sustainability, happiness, and the right of residents to maintain longstanding emotional connections with their neighbourhoods. The novelty of this experience compared to existing Master’s and PhD programmes in Europe was the early and intense contact of students with the subject through the development of fieldwork over two weeks. This was led by teachers from different disciplines to provide interdisciplinary perspectives for a training programme which included architecture, urbanism, urban anthropology, geography, history, and archaeology. Through this training, the intended outcomes were twofold: to equip students with the necessary knowledge and criteria to critically address these issues and to raise awareness among local stakeholders about the negative transformations affecting historic centres and their impact on residents’ quality of life. Full article

EPIICAL (Early treated Perinatally HIV-Infected individuals: Improving Children’s Actual Life) is a consortium of European and non-European research-driven organizations inter-connected with the aim of establishing a clinical and experimental platform for the early identification of novel therapeutic strategies for the pediatric Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Within the EPIICAL project, several pediatric clinical studies were conducted, requiring the collection and transfer of biological samples and associated data across boundaries within and outside Europe. To ensure compliance with the applicable rules on pediatric data and sample transfer and to support the efforts of academic partners, which may not always have the necessary expertise and resources in place for designing, managing and conducting multi-national studies, the consortium established a dedicated expert Working Group. This group has guided the consortium since the start of the project through the complexities of the ethical and regulatory aspects of international clinical studies. The group provided support in the design and preparation of the prospective and retrospective multi-center and multi-national pediatric studies with a focus on the clinical study protocols, informed consent and assent forms. In particular, well-structured informed consent and assent templates were developed, and data sharing and material transfer agreements were set up to regulate the transfer of samples among partners and sites. We considered that such support and the implementation of ad hoc agreements could provide effective practical solutions for addressing ethical and regulatory hurdles related to sharing data and transferring samples in international pediatric clinical research. Full article

While the occupational health of sign language interpreters has traditionally focused on physical health, evidence demonstrating mental health concerns is growing and supporting a shift to a more integrated approach. We embarked on a qualitative study to guide the adaptation of a previously developed Total Worker Health^® program to the context of sign language interpreting. Eight unstructured 90-min focus groups were conducted. Interpreters reported occupational safety, health, and well-being concerns and shared their solutions for management. Twenty-seven interpreters participated (aged 53.7 years; 81% female; 85% white). Predominant concerns centered on topics like workplace violence, secondary traumatic stress or vicarious trauma, lack of work–life integration or boundaries, and loss of agency or loss of self. The organizational culture of the field fostered deprioritization of self, oppression, elitism, sexism, and unhealthy relationships with interpreter peers and community members. Physical health remained a contributor, specifically the physical effects of non-physical work, aging, and differences in exposures across interpreting settings but paled in comparison to mental health and organizational culture. Solutions for management included but were not limited to prioritization of jobs, creating safe spaces/communities of supported practice, and exercise. This study supports the evolution of future research, practice, policy, and capacity building aspiring to a more integrated approach. Full article

Background: Teaching is a physically and mentally challenging profession that demands high emotional involvement, often leading to stress and anxiety. Understanding how teachers cope with these demands is essential for enhancing their well-being and effectiveness. Objectives: This study aimed to (1) investigate personal and school-based well-being initiatives that teachers use for maintaining their occupational well-being, and (2) develop a coping strategy model that enhances teachers’ occupational well-being. Methods: This study utilised a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore the coping strategies of Australian primary school teachers. Results: The twenty-one participants interviewed employed ten diverse coping strategies classified into five personal and five school-based well-being-enabling initiatives. The personal strategies included setting boundaries, exercise and physical health, social support and interactions, mental health and mindfulness, and work–life balance. The school-based initiatives comprised supportive leadership, colleague support, flexibility and autonomy, resource availability, and proactive approaches to address challenges. A novel SHIELD model incorporating Support, Health, Interaction, Empathy, Leadership, and Development strategies was formulated as a holistic coping strategy for enhancing teachers’ occupational well-being. Conclusions: The findings highlight the necessity of a holistic approach to teacher well-being, integrating both personal and institutional support systems. Schools can enhance teacher well-being by fostering a supportive and empathetic culture, providing necessary resources, and encouraging healthy lifestyles. The SHIELD model offers a comprehensive framework for supporting teachers and improving educational outcomes. Full article

Social work professionals experience high levels of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and secondary traumatic stress (STS). This paper reports the findings of a pilot test of the Burn-Not-Out programme that aimed to reduce social workers’ burnout, STS, and depressive symptoms and to enhance compassion satisfaction (CS), using the mixed methods evaluation methodology. Hong Kong social workers participated in the programme between December 2023 and March 2024 and completed pre- and post-programme self-administered online surveys including the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), healthy alongside self-constructed questions on boundary setting, and post-programme online focus group discussions. The results from 94 paired surveys revealed a concerning mental health profile of the participants at baseline, and, after programme participation, there were statistically significant reductions in burnout (Cohen’s d = 0.73) and depressive symptoms (Cohen’s d = 0.57) among the participants. The participants in the focus group reported that they valued the programme’s emphasis on healthy boundaries, one-on-one coaching, and the sense of being cared for, which contributed to their mental health improvement. This study highlights the urgent need for more research on the role of psychological capital in social workers’ resilience and calls for more empirical systemic interventions that can promote social workers’ mental wellness, with sustainable policies that ensure manageable workloads and adequate workplace support. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered how people work, with an increasing number transitioning to working from home (WFH). This paradigm shift has raised various challenges in adapting living spaces to meet the needs of remote work. Dedicated workspaces or home offices need to be customized for creativity and productivity. Thus, this systematic literature review explores the potential challenges and limitations of implementing modern office design features in residential environments. The study synthesizes findings from 108 peer-reviewed articles published within the last decade, focusing on ergonomics, productivity, work–life balance, and spatial constraints. The study found several challenges in translating office design features to home settings. Firstly, spatial limitations in residential areas often restrict the implementation of open-plan layouts and collaborative zones, which are hallmarks of modern office designs. Secondly, the integration of ergonomic furniture and adjustable workstations are limited by budget constraints and the dual-purpose nature of many home spaces. Furthermore, the review highlights the psychological challenges of maintaining work–life boundaries when professional and personal spaces overlap. Noise pollution and distractions emerge as significant factors impacting productivity in home offices, which contrasts controlled modern office environments. The review suggests that the complete replication of modern office design in homes may be impractical; a hybrid approach that adapts key features to residential constraints could enhance home office productivity. Potential solutions could include modular furniture designs, the simulation of collaborative spaces, and the development of noise-cancelling technologies specifically for home environments. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on remote work environments and provides valuable insights for enhancing work–life balance, environmental sustainability, and economic growth. Full article

Flexible manipulators have been widely used in industrial production. However, due to the poor rigidity of the flexible manipulator, it is easy to generate vibration. This will reduce the working accuracy and service life of the flexible manipulator. It is necessary to suppress vibration during the operation of the flexible manipulator. Based on the energy method and the Hamilton principle, the partial differential equations of the manipulator were established. Secondly, an improved radial basis function (RBF) neural network was combined with the fuzzy backstepping method to identify and suppress random vibration during the operation of the flexible manipulator, and the Lyapunov function and control law were designed. Finally, Simulink was used to build a simulation platform, three different external disturbances were set up, and the effect of vibration suppression was observed through the change curves of the final velocity error and displacement error. Compared with the RBF neural network boundary control method and the RBF neural network inversion method, the simulation results show that the effect of the RBF neural network fuzzy inversion method is better than the previous two control methods, the system convergence is faster, and the equilibrium position error is smaller. Full article

Ever since Varela and Maturana proposed the concept of autopoiesis as the minimal requirement for life, there has been a focus on cellular systems that erect topological boundaries to separate themselves from their surrounding environment. Here, we reconsider whether the existence of such a spatial boundary is strictly necessary for self-producing entities. This work presents a novel computational model of a minimal autopoietic system inspired by dendrites and molecular dynamic simulations in three-dimensional space. A series of simulation experiments where the metabolic pathways of a particular autocatalytic set are successively inhibited until autocatalytic entities that could be considered autopoietic are produced. These entities maintain their distinctness in an environment containing multiple identical instances of the entities without the existence of a topological boundary. This gives rise to the concept of a metabolic boundary which manifests as emergent self-selection criteria for the processes of self-production without any need for unique identifiers. However, the adoption of such a boundary comes at a cost, as these autopoietic entities are less suited to their simulated environment than their autocatalytic counterparts. Finally, this work showcases a generalized metabolism-centered approach to the study of autopoiesis that can be applied to both physical and abstract systems alike. Full article

Background: Human-centric artificial intelligence (HCAI) aims to provide support systems that can act as peer companions to an expert in a specific domain, by simulating their way of thinking and decision-making in solving real-life problems. The gynaecological artificial intelligence diagnostics (GAID) assistant is such a system. Based on artificial intelligence (AI) argumentation technology, it was developed to incorporate, as much as possible, a complete representation of the medical knowledge in gynaecology and to become a real-life tool that will practically enhance the quality of healthcare services and reduce stress for the clinician. Our study aimed to evaluate GAIDS’ efficacy and accuracy in assisting the working expert gynaecologist during day-to-day clinical practice. Methods: Knowledge-based systems utilize a knowledge base (theory) which holds evidence-based rules (“IF-THEN” statements) that are used to prove whether a conclusion (such as a disease, medication or treatment) is possible or not, given a set of input data. This approach uses argumentation frameworks, where rules act as claims that support a specific decision (arguments) and argue for its dominance over others. The result is a set of admissible arguments which support the final decision and explain its cause. Results: Based on seven different subcategories of gynaecological presentations—bleeding, endocrinology, cancer, pelvic pain, urogynaecology, sexually transmitted infections and vulva pathology in fifty patients—GAID demonstrates an average overall closeness accuracy of zero point eighty-seven. Since the system provides explanations for supporting a diagnosis against other possible diseases, this evaluation process further allowed for a learning process of modular improvement in the system of the diagnostic discrepancies between the system and the specialist. Conclusions: GAID successfully demonstrates an average accuracy of zero point eighty-seven when measuring the closeness of the system’s diagnosis to that of the senior consultant. The system further provides meaningful and helpful explanations for its diagnoses that can help clinicians to develop an increasing level of trust towards the system. It also provides a practical database, which can be used as a structured history-taking assistant and a friendly, patient record-keeper, while improving precision by providing a full list of differential diagnoses. Importantly, the design and implementation of the system facilitates its continuous development with a set methodology that allows minimal revision of the system in the face of new information. Further large-scale studies are required to evaluate GAID more thoroughly and to identify its limiting boundaries. Full article

The building sector contributes to 50.9 percent of China’s carbon emissions. Due to the complexity of the assessment process, it is difficult to predict the entire life cycle carbon emissions of a building at the early stage of design. In this study, a whole-life carbon emission estimation model for the early stage of building design is developed based on comparison of the standard calculations and an analysis of stock cases. Firstly, the standard calculation methods in China, Japan and Europe were compared, and the boundary of the model was defined in three parts: production, construction and demolition and operation. Second, information on 68 examples of Chinese buildings was collected and divided into a training set and a test set at a ratio of 7:3. In the training set, the relationship between carbon emissions and the design parameters was searched, and a carbon emission estimation model applicable to different stages was constructed. Finally, the model was applied to the test set for validation. The results show that the calculation error of the model is within ±15%, and it can quickly estimate carbon emissions based on the design factors, which is helpful for carbon emission assessment work in the early stages of design. Full article

Mechanical vibrations represent an important problem in machining processes performed by machine tools. They affect surface quality, tool life, and productivity. In extreme situations, chattering may appear, which can dramatically reduce the tool life. CNC router machines are particularly sensitive to vibrations, with their structure bearing resemblance to a composition of beams that are uniform in cross-section. These CNC machines are commonly used for different tasks, like engraving, cutting, and 3D printing. This work proposes a modeling methodology for vibration systems that consist of coupled thin beams subjected to vertical vibration. This methodology is used to model vertical vibrations in a CNC router machine. For this, the geometry is decomposed into beams of uniform cross-sections that are coupled at their ends. Each beam is modeled by means of the classical theory of Bernoulli–Euler for thin beams. The boundary conditions are determined by the beam couplings. In the system thus defined, fundamental frequencies are calculated using the bisection method, and then the modes are computed for the corresponding frequencies. The modal amplitudes, being time-dependent, are modeled as a state space system, considering the first m frequencies. In order to provide support to the modeling methodology, simulation experiments are performed for validation, comparing the results provided by models built with the proposed methodology against finite element models and an experimental setting with a real structure. Moreover, an analysis of the vibration model focusing on a specific component of the equipment is presented to illustrate the usefulness and flexibility of the models obtained with the proposed methodology. Full article