Strategies to Improve Work Attitude and Mental Health of Problem Employees: Focusing on Airline Cabin Crew

This study examines strategies for improving the work attitude and mental health of airlines’ “problem employees”. Based on a review of previous studies, five different handling methods for problem employees were derived: (1) duty assignment according to ability, (2) confidence beliefs, (3) managerial coaching, (4) human understanding, and (5) mentor system. The study hypothesized that these five approaches influence employees’ work attitudes, mental health, and job performance. To verify these hypotheses, empirical data were collected from 200 airline crew members. The analysis found that only three of the “five different handling methods of problem employees” positively influence job attitudes, mental health, and job performance: (1) duty assignment according to ability, (2) confidence beliefs, and (3) mentor system. In contrast, managerial coaching negatively impacted outcome variables. The study also found that the current handling approaches implemented in the industry have positive and negative outcomes on problem employees. Therefore, airline companies need to manage problem staff based on the findings of this study. Particularly, when conducting managerial coaching, supervisors should check employees’ work attitude change status. Research implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

EVALUATING THE ECOPHYSIOLOGY OF SURVIVAL FOR MAPANIA CUSPIDATA (MIQ.) UITTIEN (CYPERACEAE) TRANSPLANTATION

SHABDIN, Z., NORI, H., MEEKIONG, K. & FAIZ, M. F. M. 2021. Evaluating the ecophysiology of survival for Mapania cuspidata (Miq.) Uittien (Cyperaceae) transplantation. Reinwardtia 20(2): 69–75. — This study aimed to investigate the ecology of the sedge Mapania cuspidata at three different locations in East Malaysia, namely Gunung Gading, Matang and Bengoh, and the survival of M. cuspidata transplanted in pots exposed to different light intensities in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, East Malaysia. The highest species density was recorded in Matang with a total density of 1.98 individuals/ha followed by Bengoh (1.42) and Gunung Gading (0.96). In these locations, the soil pH ranged from 4.9 in Bengoh to 5.7 in Matang where as soil organic matter content was between 3.47% in Bengoh and 8.68% in Gunung Gading. The highest light intensity was recorded in Matang with 0.94 kLux, and produced plants with the highest chorophyll content (64.8 SPAD value). This study found that the transplanted M. cuspidata had 90% survival over a four month experiment, produced ~ 8 new leaves, took an average of 15.8 days to produce a new leaf and had a chlorophyll content of ~30.3 SPAD value regardless of the intensity of light where the plants were exposed to. The findings of this study suggests that M. cuspidata can grow well in any light conditions and therefore it is also possible to transplant and re-establish other Mapania species in new location. It is hoped that the initiative to relocateother Mapania species of concervation concern will be effective if adequate post-harvest handling methods are practiced.

Usage Experience and Capabilities of the VEGA-Science System

Currently, when satellite data volumes grow rapidly and exceed petabyte values and their quality provides reliable analysis of long-term time series, traditional data handling methods assuming local storage and processing may be impossible to implement for small or distributed research teams. Thus, new methods based on modern web technologies providing access to very large distributed data archives are gaining increasing importance. Furthermore, these new data handling solutions should provide not just access but also analysis and processing features, similar to desktop solutions. This paper describes the VEGA-Science web GIS—an open-access novel tool for satellite data processing and analysis. The overview of its architecture and basic technical components is given, but most attention is paid to examples of actual system application for various applied and research tasks. In addition, an overview of projects using the system is given to illustrate its versatility and further development directions are considered.

Questionnaire Background on the Hognose Snake (Heterodon nasicus) Breeders’ Awareness of the Risk of Being Bitten

Several cases of Heterodon nasicus bites producing various symptoms have already been described. In this paper, a survey was conducted among Polish breeders of this species, where 47.7% of the respondents admitted that their snakes had tried to bite them, and 31.4% fed their snakes with their bare hands. When asked whether they feared being bitten by this snake during daily handling, an overwhelming majority of the respondents declared (74% of total negative responses, n = 63) that they were not afraid of being bitten. Based on the popularity of H. nasicus as a pet animal, it can only be assumed that the magnitude of accidental bites is much greater than that reported in published case reports. Therefore, it is important to try to educate pet breeders to report such cases and pay attention to the use of appropriate handling methods during contact with snake food and during feeding.

Handling Missing Responses in Psychometrics: Methods and Software

The presence of missing responses in assessment settings is inevitable and may yield biased parameter estimates in psychometric modeling if ignored or handled improperly. Many methods have been proposed to handle missing responses in assessment data that are often dichotomous or polytomous. Their applications remain nominal, however, partly due to that (1) there is no sufficient support in the literature for an optimal method; (2) many practitioners and researchers are not familiar with these methods; and (3) these methods are usually not employed by psychometric software and missing responses need to be handled separately. This article introduces and reviews the commonly used missing response handling methods in psychometrics, along with the literature that examines and compares the performance of these methods. Further, the use of the TestDataImputation package in R is introduced and illustrated with an example data set and a simulation study. Corresponding R codes are provided.

Identification of Fungi Associated with Irvingia gabonensis (Ogbono) Seeds Spoilage in Benin City, Nigeria

Irvingia gabonensis (Ogbono) is one of the forest tree species of great domestic importance and its postharvest shelve life is affected by various species of fungi. This study is to investigate the effect of various species of fungi that attack Irvingia gabonensis seeds in post-harvest. Ready to use cotyledons of Ogbono were obtained from six (6) markets in Benin City (New Benin market, Aduwawa market, Uselu market, Oba market, Ikpoba Hill market, Santana market) Edo State, in sterile transparent polyethylene bags and transported to the laboratory for analyses. The proximate composition of the Ogbono seeds was determined using standard protocols. The pour plate method was used for isolation using a potato Dextrose Agar which was supplemented with streptomycin. The fungi were isolated based on their cultural and microscopic characteristics. The result of the highest and lowest fungal counts were too numerous to count and 3.3 × 103 cfu/g respectively. A total of seven species of fungi were isolated and identified in this study which included Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp., Neurospora sp., Penicillium sp., and Rhizopus sp. Aspergillus flavus was the most prevalent fungi with prevalence rate of 48 (90.6%), while Neurospora sp. was the least prevalent fungi with prevalent rate of 04 (18.2%). The presence of these fungi especially Aspergillus species portrays a serious public health implication as regard food poisoning, mycotocosis and food security. Proper handling methods of Ogbono seeds, coupled with good orientation are necessary to ensure the safety of ogbono seeds.

The Visual, Auditory, and Physical Environment of Livestock Handling Facilities and Its Effect on Ease of Movement of Cattle, Pigs, and Sheep

The visual, auditory, and physical environment livestock are handled in will have an effect on the ease of movement through races and corrals that are used for veterinary treatment, loading trucks or at slaughter houses. When livestock refuse to move easily through a handling facility, people are more likely to use electric goads (prods) or other aversive methods to move them forward. This is a major animal welfare concern. Modification of the environment can improve livestock movement and reduce aversive handling methods. In existing facilities used for handling cattle, pigs or sheep, simple changes such as, adding a light to a dark race entrance or reducing loud intermittent noise may improve livestock movement. Eliminating distractions such as, a noisy truck near a lairage can also facilitate cattle movement and reduce stopping or turning back. In an outdoor facility, sharp shadows on the floor were more likely to be associated with cattle stopping compared to no shadows or soft faint shadows. The installation of small solid walls to prevent approaching animals from seeing either moving equipment, vehicles or people in front of them may also improve forward livestock movement. Non-slip flooring is essential to prevent slipping and falling during handling. Rebuilding or completely redesigning an existing facility is often not required. Outcome based indicators should be used to assess continuous improvements in handling. Some of the commonly used measurable of handling are slipping and falling, stopping, turning back, vocalization during handling and electric prod use. Collecting data both before and after an environmental modification can be used to determine its effectiveness.

A Review on Negation Role in Twitter Sentiment Analysis

Negation is an important linguistic phenomenon that needs to be considered for identifying correct sentiments from the opinionated data available in digital form. It has the power to alter the polarity or strength of the polarity of affected words. In this paper, the authors present a survey on the negation role that has been done until now in sentiment analysis, specifically Twitter sentiment analysis. The authors discuss the various approaches of modelling negation in Twitter sentiment analysis. In particular, their focus is on negation scope detection and negation handling methods. This article also presents some of the challenges and limits of negation accounting in the field of Twitter sentiment analysis.