Countermeasures Against Job Burnout Among College and University Administrators from the Perspective of Psychological Contract Theory

Administrators are the implementers of the management in colleges and universities; however, their job scopes are relatively boring and complicated, with heavy workload and high work pressure, causing some of them to be less active and slack off in their careers. Therefore, under the guidance of psychological contract theory, colleges and universities should adopt various measures to deal with job burnout among college and university administrators. In this paper, the main causes of job burnout among college and university administrators are analyzed, and specific countermeasures are proposed from the perspective of psychological contract theory, hoping to help college and university administrators improve their work enthusiasm.

Protecting those who protect nature by supporting conservationists’ mental wellbeing

Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated protective and risk factors. A better understanding can help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job satisfaction, productivity, and engagement, while reducing costs from staff turnover, absenteeism, and presenteeism. We surveyed 2311 conservationists across 143 countries, asking about experiences of psychological distress, personal characteristics, and workplace conditions. Moderate or severe distress was reported by 27.8%. Respondents with low dispositional and conservation-specific optimism, poor physical health, limited social support, women, and early-career professionals were most at risk. Heavy workload, job demands, and organisational instability were linked to higher distress, but job stability and satisfaction with one’s contributions to conservation were associated with lower distress. We suggest ways employers and others could support conservationists’ mental health and ability to tackle the global ecological crisis.

A Comparative Study of EFL Instructors’ Essay Rating: Holistic Versus Analytic Approaches at a Tertiary Institution in Saudi Arabia

This study seeks to explore the factors that influence EFL instructors’ rating decisions while using holistic and analytic rubrics. Few studies have been conducted on the factors that influence the rating practices of EFL instructors, specifically, in the Saudi EFL context. This study addresses this gap and contributes more broadly to the understanding of the interplay between EFL instructors and the use of holistic and analytic rubrics. The data were collected in a Saudi university at a preparatory year program (PYP). This study utilizes semi-structured interviews with eleven EFL instructors from different nationalities. Guided by the critical language testing as a theoretical framework and with qualitative analysis, the study reveals that critical language testing can minimize the negative consequences of writing assessment done by graders; however, students’ low English proficiency, time constraints, heavy workload can negatively affect the rating practices. Finally, several pedagogical implications, insights, and recommendations for future research are put forward in the conclusion.

The Continuing Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Physical Well-Being and Mental Health of ICU Healthcare Workers in Turkey: A Single-Centre Cross-Sectional Later-Phase Study

Background This study aimed to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on physical well-being and mental health of ICU healthcare workers (HCWs). Methods A total of 51 ICU HCWs working at a tertiary care hospital were included in this cross-sectional study conducted before (January 2019-January 2020) and during (January 2021-April 2021) COVID-19 pandemic. Data on sociodemographic and work-related characteristics, COVID 19 history and current mental health issues via Hospital Anxiety-Depression Scale (HADS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-40), Suicidal Ideation Scale (SIS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were recorded. Results Overall, 62.7% of participants were nurses, heavy workload (working ≥200 h/month) was reported by 76.5% of participants and previous history of COVID-19 was confirmed by 62.7%. Current mental health issues involved poor sleep quality in majority (96.1%) of participants, anxiety (51.0%), depression (51.0%) in at least half of them and a moderate degree of emotional exhaustion Heavy workload was associated with more remarkable decrease in sleep duration (median change: −0.5 vs. −1.0 h/day, P = .020), Vit B12 (median change: 60[−48-293] vs. −65[−371-262] pg/mL, P < .001) and Vit D (median change: −1.6[−13.1-20] vs. −9.7[−39.7-21.8] ng/mL, P = .004) during pandemic, while working hours per month were also significantly higher in those with versus without anxiety (264[150-390] vs. 240[150-264] h, P = .003) and with versus without depression (264[150-390] vs. 240[150-264] h, P = .037). Conclusion Our findings indicate high prevalence of mental health issues including anxiety and depression as well as poor sleep quality and emotional burnout among ICU HCWs, particularly those with heavy workload.

Identifying the Factors Affecting the Incidence of Medication Errors of Nurses in Teaching Hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Background: Medication errors are one of the major causes of injury to patients while receiving medical care. This study aimed to investigate the effective causes of medication errors in nurses in educational hospitals affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020 on 340 nurses from 10 educational hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient were analyzed using SPSS23 software . Results: According to the results, human factors have been the most important factor in the occurrence of medication errors. The most important causes of medication errors with respect to human, managerial and environmental factors include fatigue due to overwork (3.13 ± 1.16), method of supervision (3.06 ± 0.98) ,and heavy workload (3.00 ± 1.19), respectively. There was a statistically significant relationship between human factors and age (p = 0.024), gender (p = 0.013), employment relationship (p = 0.016), and marital status (p = 0.027), and between management factors and employment relationship (p = 0.034) and the number of patients under observation (p = 0.011). Conclusion: Considering the most important causes of medication errors, including fatigue due to overload, supervision methods, and heavy workload, using strategies to reduce fatigue due to workload, such as balancing nurses' work shifts and also holding workshops on supervision methods is recommended in order to improve the level of managerial competencies of nurses.

Can remote work during COVID-19 pandemic strengthen the link between workload and workaholism?

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of the way of doing work for the relationship between workload and workaholism during COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 668 employees working in different Lithuanian organizations participated in a study. A sample included employees who worked in the workplace (n = 331), as well as those who worked completely from home (n = 337). The levels of workaholism were measured using DUWAS-10 (Schaufeli et al., 2009). Workload was assessed with the help of the Quantitative Workload Inventory (QWI; Spector & Jex, 1998). It was revealed in a study that the higher levels of workload experienced by employees were related to the increased workaholism. It was further found that the positive relationship between workload and worka­holism was stronger in the group of complete remote workers. Overall, the findings support the idea that remote work is an important variable increasing a risk for workaholism especially for those employees who experience a heavy workload. Therefore, the ways of doing work must be considered when addressing well-being of employees.

Design of a Fast Temporary Fastener with the Labor-Saving and Reversible Ability

Aircraft panel assembly mainly includes the pre-joining process and the riveting process. In addition, the traditional pre-joining process is mainly executed by bolts, which has problems such as the large tightening torque, inconvenient bilateral tightening, heavy workload, and inconvenient loading and unloading. To solve the above-mentioned problems, a research of new temporary fastener is performed deeply from three levels of quick installation, labor-saving, and reversible ability. This involves (a) employing the lever mechanism and the rapid expansion anchor to implement the rapid clamping and disassembly of working processes by labor-saving; (b) integrating the adjusting spring to overcome the tolerances of parts; and (c) building up the space-cross slide rails to provide the axial clamping forces and the reversible forces. The application of designed fasteners was employed into the production of aircraft panel, and the error between theoretical and experimental values was less than 10%. Besides this, the result showed the good effect in panel clamping and the reliable processes of loading and unloading installation, and will greatly reduce the complexity of pre-joining process, the difficulty of installation, and the comprehensive cost.

Application of Water Conservancy Informatization in River and Lake Management

In order to solve the problems of heavy workload, low efficiency, inconvenient transportation and complex terrain, difficulties in regional monitoring and evidence collection, and insufficient quantitative analysis ability in traditional river and lake management, this paper studies and summarizes the literature and policies related to river and lake information management by using the integration of Internet, UAV, GIS and other technologies in recent years, The technical methods and means of river and lake management and protection are put forward to provide reference for improving water management system and ensuring water safety.

Fault Diagnosis of the Gyratory Crusher Based on Fast Entropy Multilevel Variational Mode Decomposition

Gyratory crusher is a kind of commonly used mining machinery. Because of its heavy workload and complex working environment, it is prone to failure and low reliability. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a fault diagnosis method of the gyratory crusher based on fast entropy multistage VMD, which is used to quickly and accurately find the possible fault problems of the gyratory crusher. This method mainly extracts the vibration signal by combining fast entropy and variational mode decomposition, so as to analyze the components of the vibration signal. Among them, fast entropy is used to quickly determine the number of modes in the signal spectrum and the bandwidth occupied by the modes. The extracted parameters can be converted into the input parameters of VMD. VMD can accurately extract the modal components in the signal by inputting the number of modes and related parameters. Due to the differences between modes, using the same parameters to extract the modes often leads to inaccurate results. Therefore, the concept of multilevel VMD is proposed. The parameters of different modes are determined by fast entropy. The modes in the signals are separated and extracted with different parameters so that different signal modes can be accurately extracted. In order to verify the accuracy of the method, this paper uses the data collected from the rotary crusher to test, and the results show that the proposed FE method can quickly and effectively extract the fault components in the vibration signal.

Some Developments and Issues after the Adoption of UNCLOS

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is a framework treaty and a number of its provisions lend themselves to divergent interpretations. There are developments that had not been foreseen at the time of its adoption. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has made a substantive contribution to the development of the law of the sea by its jurisprudence, including advisory opinions. The issue of the regime of islands, which has in particular arisen in the South China Sea, is still highly controversial and no consistent State practice exists. A largely unresolved and complex question is that of the limits of the international seabed Area as the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) is overburdened by a tremendous and unforeseen heavy workload. The issue of Marine Genetic Resources (MGRs) in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), of which there was no knowledge at the time of the elaboration of UNCLOS, remains to be resolved by a further implementation agreement to UNCLOS currently under negotiation.