Indoor Air Quality in Healthcare Units—A Systematic Literature Review Focusing Recent Research

The adequate assessment and management of indoor air quality in healthcare facilities is of utmost importance for patient safety and occupational health purposes. This study aims to identify the recent trends of research on the topic through a systematic literature review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology. A total of 171 articles published in the period 2015–2020 were selected and analyzed. Results show that there is a worldwide growing research interest in this subject, dispersed in a wide variety of scientific journals. A textometric analysis using the IRaMuTeQ software revealed four clusters of topics in the sampled articles: physicochemical pollutants, design and management of infrastructures, environmental control measures, and microbiological contamination. The studies focus mainly on hospital facilities, but there is also research interest in primary care centers and dental clinics. The majority of the analyzed articles (85%) report experimental data, with the most frequently measured parameters being related to environmental quality (temperature and relative humidity), microbiological load, CO2 and particulate matter. Non-compliance with the WHO guidelines for indoor air quality is frequently reported. This study provides an overview of the recent literature on this topic, identifying promising lines of research to improve indoor air quality in healthcare facilities.

Working Together Apart through Embodiment

Computer-mediated collaboration has long been a core research interest in CSCW and HCI. As online social spaces continue to evolve towards more immersive and higher fidelity experiences, more research is still needed to investigate how emerging novel technology may foster and support new and more nuanced forms and experiences of collaboration in virtual environments. Using 30 interviews, this paper focuses on what people may collaborate on and how they collaborate in social Virtual Reality (VR). We broaden current studies on computer-mediated collaboration by highlighting the importance of embodiment for co-presence and communication, replicating offline collaborative activities, and supporting the seamless interplay of work, play, and mundane experiences in everyday lives for experiencing and conceptualizing collaboration in emerging virtual environments. We also propose potential design implications that could further support everyday collaborative activities in social VR

The Grammaticalization of Catalan anar (‘to go’) + Infinitive for the Expression of Perfective Past: A Diachronic, Corpus-Based Perspective

This study constitutes an exploratory analysis of the grammaticalization cline of anar (‘to go’) + infinitive in Catalan to express perfective past (e.g., va arribar ‘s/he arrived’). Our research interest primarily lies in diachronically tracing the evolution of this grammatical change, which appears to be unprecedented in other Romance languages (e.g., Spanish, French), in which the construction has instead led to the expression of a near and/or intentional future. A gap in research is found in the fact that there have been few corpus-based, pragmatic approaches to the matter. We base our theoretical framework on the definition of grammaticalization by Hopper and Traugott (2003) and a number of related publications (Alturo 2017, Pérez-Saldanya & Hualde 2003). Critical items (N=346) were retrieved from the diachronic corpus CICA (11th-18th c.) and subsequently analyzed in the light of pragmatic factors, establishing a three-stage cline based on Segura (2012). Results show how informative bridging contexts are in shaping grammaticalization processes, as they highlight the challenges of tracing a grammaticalization process based on corpora of literary texts. A discussion follows on the identification of potential next steps that might be useful in complementing our own research.

2022 IGWS calendar

The annual Indiana Geological and Water Survey calendar focuses on an area of Survey research, interest or history. The topic of the 2022 calendar is scientific illustrations. For nearly 50 years between them, two artist-draftsmen, Robert "Bob" Judah and Wilbur "Bill" Stalions, translated scientific concepts and research into a visual medium so that more people, including those without a scientific background, could understand the work of the Survey. This calendar contains scans of some original works which have been kept in Survey archives and have not been visible to the public, as well as previously published works from multiple decades.

Attacks on Voice Assistant Systems

Voice assistant systems (e.g., Siri, Alexa) have attracted wide research attention. However, such systems could receive voice information from malicious sources. Recent work has demonstrated that the voice authentication system is vulnerable to different types of attacks. The attacks are categorized into two main types: spoofing attacks and hidden voice commands. In this chapter, how to launch and defend such attacks is explored. For the spoofing attack, there are four main types, such as replay attacks, impersonation attacks, speech synthesis attacks, and voice conversion attacks. Although such attacks could be accurate on the speech recognition system, they could be easily identified by humans. Thus, the hidden voice commands have attracted a lot of research interest in recent years.

A novel terahertz metasurface based on single-walled carbon nanotubes film for sensing application

Single-walled carbon nanotubes have attracted extensive research interest because of their fascinating optoelectronic response in the terahertz frequency range. Here, a 1μm thick isotropic single-walled carbon nanotubes film was obtained...

The Stakes of Social Media

The COVID-19 context affected the use of social media. Video and voice chat facilitate social interactions during the current social distancing requirements. However, social media creates unrealistic reference points of comparison. The time spent on social media can thus diminish well-being. Researchers and managers aspire to understand how sentiments can control social media. Another research interest regards which techniques create positive sentiments and enhance user experience. This chapter introduces the main stakes of social media, how sentiments change social media, and in turn, social media influences sentiments. The main focus presents a literature review regarding the techniques to analyze sentiments. Finally, solutions and recommendations contemplate the use of social media, for both users and social media platforms.

Conditions of Network Engagement

There is growing research interest in innovation network dynamics. Based on an explorative case study of a regional innovation network for the tourism industry, this chapter contributes to a better understanding of network engagement as a dynamic and social construct. By following the microfoundational trend, the chapter anchors the concept of engagement at a lower level in order to increase the depth of understanding of the conditions of network engagement. As there are many different notions of engagement, the chapters start by providing an overview of the different notions of engagement in innovation and network literature. Then, inspired by the critical incident technique, a narrative presents the findings, showing the dynamic and social aspect of network engagement, followed by a discussion of the conditions of network engagement and theoretical contributions.

Understanding the solid state luminescence and piezochromic properties in polymorphs of an anthracene derivative.

Luminescent molecular crystals have gained significant research interest for optoelectronic applications. However, fully understanding their structural and electronic relationships in the condensed phase and under external stimuli remains a significant...

Tin oxide/Silicon Heterojunction with Nano Litchi Shell Structure for Ultrafast, High-Detectivity, Self-Powered Broadband Photodetectors

Self-powered photodetectors with excellent figure-of-merits, fast response speed, and broadband detection capability have drawn tremendous research interest. However, it is still challenging to develop excellent light-absorbing materials as photodetectors with...