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Stability of new psychoactive substances in crude wastewater
Get PDFThose involved in drug testing continue to grapple with the dynamic nature of emerging psychoactive substances (NPS) and their rapid infiltration into society. The challenge extends beyond merely detecting and measuring NPS using analytical tools; it also encompasses the complexities arising from the formation and presence of metabolites and degradation products. This study utilises liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry to investigate the stability of new psychoactive substances in wastewater. Seven NPS compounds including 25C-NBOMe, 5F-APINACA 4-hydroxyphenyl, AB-PINACA, APINACA 4-hydroxyphenyl, fentanyl, norfentanyl and MDPV, along with their corresponding internal standard, were examined. Reference material for each NPS compound was introduced into a wastewater sample from a Wessex water treatment plant. The sample was then exposed to four different environments: room temperature, refrigerator temperature, acidification to pH 2, and the introduction of sodium metabisulfite. The findings highlight the critical dependence of storage conditions on target analytes, emphasizing the paramount importance of the time elapsed between collection and analysis for NPS wastewater analysis. Notably, synthetic cannabinoids exhibit limited stability in wastewater whereas cathinone-like substances demonstrate greater stability. Furthermore, metabolites prove to be more stable in wastewater than the parent drug, suggesting that focusing on metabolite detection may be more favourable for future analysis
Non-traditional banking: Current state of knowledge and future research directions
Get PDFThe collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank has raised many concerns over the overall strength of the banking system, one of which is the operational and market risk banks take through their non-traditional banking activities (NTBAs). This paper uses bibliometric citation analysis and content analysis to examine the literature on non-traditional banking activities (NTBA), focusing on its evolution, current influence, and future research directions. The analysis covers 309 articles published between 1986 and 2024 collected from the Web of Science database. The findings reveal two dominant research clusters: studies on the Glass-Steagall Act and universal banking and the post-Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act era. Within the latter cluster, seven sub-clusters are identified: profitability and insolvency risk, systemic risk, efficiency, market valuation, lending behaviour and liquidity creation, monetary policy, and digitalisation and fintech adoption. Despite the lessons learned from the Global Financial Crisis, the shift away from the traditional banking model has significantly increased banks' risk exposure. However, the recent hikes in interest rates to stem inflation may force banks to change their investment strategies. We argue that banks will need to transform in the next decade. This study provides the regulators, practitioners, and academics with an in-depth understanding of the NTBA research field
The Dis/appearing Sporting Body: the Complex Embodiment of Disabled Athletes
Get PDFThis article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes’ lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and 1 female) disabled athletes participated in online semi-structured interviews. The sample was purposively selected from athletes who had been drafted for the Disability Premier League (DPL), a unique pan-disability, draft-based franchise cricket tournament. This article establishes the DPL as a site of sociological importance ¬– a neoliberal, ableist environment which pushes the boundaries of what a disabled athlete and the disabled body should be. Our wide-ranging findings demonstrate the complex and interactional ways in which the disabled body dis/appears in sporting spaces and the significant embodied repercussions of this process
The effects of TiN nanoparticle incorporation on the microstructure and wear resistance of additively manufactured CoCrMoW alloys
Get PDFTo enhance the wear resistance of CoCrMoW alloys, this study used laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) to fabricate TiN nanoparticle-incorporated composites. By conducting microstructure characterization and wear resistance testing, the intricate relationship between microstructure and wear behavior was elucidated. The LPBF-fabricated samples presented dual-phase structures comprising face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed phases along with numerous stacking faults. The TiN particles were uniformly distributed in the sample with a 1 wt.% addition. However, as the additive content increased, the TiN particles grew, and the interparticle spacing correspondingly decreased. Notably, robust interfacial bonding existed between the TiN nanoparticles and the matrix material. The interface between the TiN particles and the matrix displayed a semicoherent nature characterized by a specific orientation relationship: [001] TiN//[011]γ and (020)TiN//(111)γ. Compared to the nonincorporated sample, the incorporated samples demonstrated reduced friction coefficients and wear rates. A comparative analysis of the nonincorporated and incorporated samples’ wear behaviors revealed that oxidation wear predominantly characterized the nonincorporated sample, which displayed significant plastic deformation along with fragmented debris and loose oxides. In contrast, the incorporated samples presented relatively smooth wear surfaces where abrasive wear emerged as the primary mechanism. These findings underscore enhancements in tribological properties due to TiN incorporation and offer valuable insights into its fundamental behavior during wear
Mapping the landscape of employer value propositions in Asian hotels through online job postings analysis
Get PDFThis study explores how Asian hotels leverage job postings, an often-overlooked branding channel, to communicate Employer Value Propositions (EVPs) as an employer branding tactic. Analyzing 4603 job postings from Indeed, a prominent job search website, the research categorizes EVPs into Economic, Functional, and Psychological types (E−, F-, P-EVPs) and reveals their frequency of communication across five key Asian cities. The findings indicate that approximately three-quarters of job postings convey at least one type of EVP, with F-EVPs and P-EVPs being more prevalent than E-EVPs. Chain hotels demonstrate a higher frequency of EVP communication compared to independent hotels, with no discernible differences between non-managerial and managerial positions. These findings offer valuable resources for hotels to assess their EVP strategies through benchmarking and identifying areas for improvement. It also pioneers the application of signaling theory to job advertisements, contributing to the theoretical fields of employer branding, talent management, and recruitment research
Creative Bricks, Endless Possibilities: Using Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) to Manage Player Transition in Women’s Semi-Elite Association Football in England.
Get PDFThis study uses the Lego® Serious Play® (LSP) methodology to explore the lived experiences and inequalities facing women’s participation in semi-elite association football in England. The study uniqueness is using Lego® Serious Play® to provide nuanced, abstract insights into leisure. It investigates how women navigate the transition process, both into and out of semi-professional sporting environments. By adopting a creative, experiential methodology, the focal point is the Lego® and not the footballer. Data was collected from fifteen women football players based at a semi-elite club in the South of England. Three key data themes emerged surrounding the transition process in the women’s game; (i) barriers facing women in male-dominated sports, (ii) governance and polices to support women’s football, and (iii) effective coaching to facilitate women’s progression in sport. This is the first study to use Lego® Serious Play® as a creative, experiential methodology in the context of managing sport organisations
An Exploration of Greek Parents’ Perceptions of Early Adolescents’ Social Media Engagement: Greek Parents’ Perceptions of Adolescent Social Media Use
Get PDFAlthough a global concern, research on the impact of social media on early adolescents in Greece is limited, especially from parents' perspectives. This study addresses this gap by exploring Greek parents' views on early
adolescents’ social media usage. Using an exploratory, qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 parents in western Greece, and the data were thematically analysed. Results indicate that while parents acknowledge the benefits of social media, they are concerned about its effects on early adolescents’ behaviour, mental health, academic performance, and linguistic skills. Parents view early adolescents as highly impressionable, and they feel unprepared to manage social media influences due to a lack of relevant information and education. Understanding these parental perspectives can guide the development of support services to enhance digital wellbeing among families
Career and employability learning through storytelling for the sustainable development goals
Get PDFFor responsible management education to have a meaningful impact on business practice through future business leaders, it is imperative to integrate career and employability-related learning. If ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ and employability are delivered in siloed learning design programmes, students may not recognise and leverage opportunities to design career paths that meet personal aspirations alongside supporting broader global goals. Responding to the need for a more integrated and holistic approach to ESD and employability, this paper explores how to facilitate connections between sustainability-related disciplinary learning and subsequent career decision-making and behaviours. A pioneering instructional resource is shared here that enables students to identify, develop, and communicate sustainability-related competencies and attributes to employers. Through the novel application of ‘Career and Employability Learning’ (CEL) constructs to ‘sustainability storytelling’, the underlying design of this resource illustrates how to shape and impact future workplaces in support of the SDGs. Empirical findings of implementing the masterclass across 18 universities provide cross-institutional student, educator and career professional feedback and testimonials. This paper offers multiple insights through an innovative methodological design, an innovative instructional resource, and an integrated pedagogic approach to sustainability and employability learning
Decent work conditions and Nigerian nurse emigration: The role of burnout and commitment
Get PDFBackground: While migration is a historical and universal phenomenon and has benefits for both receiving and sending countries, emigration of healthcare professionals poses significant challenges for the sending nations. Many sending nations, such as Nigeria, are characterised by insufficient vital expertise and depleted healthcare systems. This creates a vicious spiral of worsening conditions for nurses, increasing the effort to leave. To address these trends, relying on the Conservation of Resources theory, we investigated the decent work-emigration intention relationship coupled with the underlying mechanisms. Methods: Using convenience sampling, we used a self-administered questionnaire to collect responses from 280 registered nurses working in government hospitals in three States in Southwest Nigeria. Data collected was analysed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares to examine the convergent validity and reliability of the studied variables and the Hayes Process Macro to identify the direct effects and the indirect effects of each mediator. Results: The majority of the nurses reported inadequate decent work conditions (75 %), low affective commitment (89.5 %), a high prevalence of job burnout (70.6 %), and a strong intention to emigrate (89.3 %). Our findings suggest that decent work negatively relates with emigration intention, while job burnout and affective commitment independently and serially mediated this relationship. Conclusion: The results indicated that nurses with access to decent work conditions are inclined to experience low job burnout and high affective commitment, contributing to reduced emigration intention. Results suggest the need to focus more on interventions essential for resource retention devoted to transforming workplaces into environments of professional fulfilment
