E-PANOPTICON OF FACE-TO-DISPLAY WORKERS: FROM THE OFFICE TO THE HOME

Electronic Monitoring (EM) is becoming prevalent, enabling varied and pervasive monitoring of workplaces. The research design was a set of e-mail surveys. Quantitative data were analyzed using cross-tabulation of data, descriptive and chi-square tests statistics. The study provides an overview of e-worker monitoring in five countries. Twenty percent of respondents believe that their organization uses employee monitoring software to track their activities. Almost half of the e-workers believe that their activities are not being tracked by software. Nearby 1/10 of the face-to-display workers surveyed would trust their employer more using EM. Four-fifths of e-workers state that EM affects their productivity. Presented data emphasizes that companies using face-to-display workers monitoring software can negatively affect morale and productivity instead of producing better work. Further, employees are often unfamiliar with whether or not there is monitoring software tracking their activities. The study recommends that organizations should inform its employees before implementation of EM system to facilitate their positive attitudes

An iPPG-Based Device for Pervasive Monitoring of Multi-Dimensional Cardiovascular Hemodynamics

Hemodynamic activities, as an essential measure of physiological and psychological characteristics, can be used for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease detection. Photoplethysmography imaging (iPPG) can be applied for such purposes with non-contact advances, however, most cardiovascular hemodynamics of iPPG systems are developed for laboratory research, which limits the application in pervasive healthcare. In this study, a video-based facial iPPG detecting equipment was devised to provide multi-dimensional spatiotemporal hemodynamic pulsations for applications with high portability and self-monitoring requirements. A series of algorithms have also been developed for physiological indices such as heart rate and breath rate extraction, facial region analysis, and visualization of hemodynamic pulsation distribution. Results showed that the new device can provide a reliable measurement of a rich range of cardiovascular hemodynamics. Combined with the advanced computing techniques, the new non-contact iPPG system provides a promising solution for user-friendly pervasive healthcare.

Riders on the Storm: Workplace Solidarity among Gig Economy Couriers in Italy and the UK

In light of the individualisation, dispersal and pervasive monitoring that characterise work in the ‘gig economy’, the development of solidarity among gig workers could be expected to be unlikely. However, numerous recent episodes of gig workers’ mobilisation require reconsideration of these assumptions. This article contributes to the debate about potentials and obstacles for solidarity in the changing world of work by showing the processes through which workplace solidarity among gig workers developed in two cases of mobilisation of food delivery platform couriers in the UK and Italy. Through the framework of labour process theory, the article identifies the sources of antagonism in the app-mediated model of work organisation and the factors that facilitated and hindered the consolidation of active solidarity and the emergence of collective action among gig workers. The article emphasises the centrality of workers’ agential practices in overcoming constraints to solidarity and collective action, and the diversity of forms through which solidarity can be expressed in hostile work contexts.

A Multi-Hop LoRa Linear Sensor Network for the Monitoring of Underground Environments: The Case of the Medieval Aqueducts in Siena, Italy

In this paper, a pervasive monitoring system to be deployed in underground environments is presented. The system has been specifically designed for the so-called “Bottini”, i.e., the medieval aqueducts dug beneath the Centre of Siena, Italy. The results of a measurement campaign carried out in the deployment scenario show that the transmission range of LoRa (Long Range) technology is limited to a maximum of 200 m, thus, making the adoption of a classical star topology impossible. Hence, a Linear Sensor Network topology is proposed based on multi-hop LoRa chain-type communications. In this scenario, an ad-hoc transmission scheme is presented that optimally evaluates the wake-up time of all nodes with the aim of minimizing the average energy dissipation deriving from clock offsets. Numerical results show that the proposed wake-up time optimization leads in the best case to a 50% reduction in power dissipation with respect to a scheme that evaluates the wake-up time in a non-optimal way.