Matter Of Public Concern Research Articles

Childhood risks and problematic smartphone use: Dual processes of life history strategy and psychological distress

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) and its negative consequences among adolescents are so commonly observed that they have become a matter of public concern. Utilizing life history (LH) theory, this study aims to examine how childhood risks (i.e., childhood harshness and unpredictability) would be associated with adolescent PSU via cognitive and emotional processes of LH strategy and psychological distress. A sample of 459 Chinese high school students aged from 14 to 18 (M = 16.90) participated in this study and voluntarily completed an anonymous survey. The results showed that childhood unpredictability and psychological distress were positively correlated with PSU, whereas childhood harshness and the two processes of LH strategy were negatively correlated with PSU. Path analysis further supported a partial mediation model, in which childhood unpredictability increased PSU, via serial mediators of the emotional process of LH strategy and psychological distress. The findings support the efficacy of LH theory in elucidating the development of behavioral addiction. However, the direct and negative association of childhood harshness with PSU was unexpected. It implicates the complexity of childhood environment on adolescent behavioral addictions and warrants further investigation.

Setting the Argument

This article details an assignment that provides students opportunities to develop critical thinking skills native to the process of what it means to “think like a lawyer.” By asking students to map and compose a narrative about a contested public issue that describes the issue’s various dimensions (social, cultural, political, legal, economic) and how they interact to animate the issue as a matter of public concern, the assignment invites students to reimagine their roles as authors and see themselves as having the capacity to assemble and set a problem for analysis and deliberation rather than accept a problem as pre-structured. While completing the assignment, students witness firsthand the constitutive nature of the structure of legal discourse and the intra-operations of the distinct facets of legal critical thinking. Through explaining the assignment’s design and rationale, this article demonstrates how writing assignments that emphasize problem setting prepares students well to navigate the transition to law school and ultimately begin laying the grounds for successful professional careers.

The African Pastor as a Public Figure in Response to Gender-Based Violence in South Africa: A Public Pastoral Intervention

The burgeoning field of public theology has garnered significant scholarly attention. Amidst its multifaceted discussions, a recurring theme asserts that theology plays a vital and irreplaceable role in public discourse. This perspective contends that engaging with matters of public concern from a theological standpoint not only contributes meaningfully to public discourse but also shapes our understanding of the world, human existence, and the divine. Within the African context, particularly in South Africa, gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pressing societal issue despite government and organizational efforts. This article delves into the potential role of pastors as public figures in addressing the persistent challenge of GBV. It explores the implications of pastors assuming public roles within an African context and how this engagement can be instrumental in combating GBV. By drawing on literature related to public practical theology, pastoral care, and GBV in South Africa, the article advocates for proactive public interventions by pastoral ministries. Through synthesizing insights from existing scholarship, it contributes to ongoing discussions at the intersection of theology, pastoral practice, and societal issues, with a specific focus on addressing GBV in the unique South African context.

Investigations of Mechanical Properties and Maximum Load Capacities under Abuse Testing of Lithium Ion Battery

Lithium-ion batteries are crucial in driving the various technological applications’ innovation. In this regard, it is important to ensure the safety and reliability of LIBs as a matter of public concern. This paper explores the mechanical properties and abuse testing’s maximum load capacities, highlighting the testing’s abusive conditions. The focus is to deepen a broader understanding of the extreme mechanical load and the battery behavior responses. Based on the extensive abusive testing procedures, drop, impact, crush or penetration, and thermal runaway tests, the mechanical responses and failure modes of LIBs at the cell, module, and pack levels were analyzed. This work, is based on the drop and impact test, using solidworks simulation to establish the abuse testing impacts on battery mechanical and electrical properties. The model for conducting the tests was the 18650 lithium ion cell battery, subjected to the front, side and rear impact at various heights and velocities with reference safety standard AIS 156 and AIS 048. Mechanical properties and maximum load capacities’ correlation was described, illuminating the crucial failure mechanisms and feasible mitigation approaches. The derived insights from the abuse testing have a significance to the design, safety and reliability of the LIB-based energy storage systems to guide the future research and development in safer and robust battery use.

The Influence of Chinese Online Novels on the Values of Adolescents

Introduction. With the development of the Internet, the popularity of online novels, especially in China, prompts the declining interest in reading paper books. The potential impact of online novels on adolescents has become a matter of public concern. Most studies examine the role of online novels in students’ learning process, as well as the impact on young people’s communication and social interaction. However, so far, the impact of online novels on adolescents’ values and psychology has been understudied despite their critical importance in shaping young peopleʼs identity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the influence of online novels on the values and psychology of Chinese secondary school learners. Materials and Methods. To address this challenge, a survey was conducted among students attending Yifu Educational Institution in Nanning, China. Questionnaires developed through the Question Star app were distributed through relevant user groups on social media platforms including WeChat and Tencent QQ. Results. As a result, positive (increased general knowledge and literacy, the opportunity to spend free time productively) and negative (impact on learning and physical health, decreased literary abilities, promotion of tendencies harmful for society) characteristics of the influence of online novels on adolescents were identified. Practical recommendations were formulated aimed at counteracting negative impact of online novels on adolescents such as the need to strengthen the ideological and moral education of students, the necessity to develop national cultural superiority and pride of modern youth, as well as to introduce young people to useful bibliography. Discussion and Conclusion. The results obtained will make a significant contribution to such fields as psychology, sociology and education. Also, the results of the study will serve as a basis for the development of new approaches to combat the negative impact of Internet novels on the values of adolescents. The results of the study may be useful for specialists of educational institutions and all those who care about the upbringing of the younger generation.

Tackling food waste management: Professional training in the public interest

The magnitude of food waste is a matter of public concern, particularly in the food service sector. This research seeks to examine the influence of employee training policies on food waste and its management, with a focus on restaurant practices. A total of 300 questionnaires were collected from restaurant managers and owners in three coastal cities of Ecuador, and the CHAID segmentation algorithm was applied to categorize restaurants based on their investments in employee training. Differences in food waste and sustainable practices among these restaurant segments were then compared. Three segments were identified: restaurants with low employee training and higher food waste in dish preparation; restaurants with high employee training exhibiting low food waste in premium food products, and restaurants with medium training and medium levels of food waste. In terms of implications, in view of the significant disparities in food waste levels and sustainable practices across the segments resulting from this study, we conclude the importance of restaurants' investment in employee training to promote sustainability. These findings are relevant in shaping environmental regulations and in facilitating stakeholders' decision-making.

Cultural landscape as heritage: proposals for Ukraine from the experience of certain European countries

Formulation of the problem. Ukraine has a vast and uniquely diverse cultural landscape potential. However, the state of the landscapes, which has long been a matter of public concern, has deteriorated many times over as a result of russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine is far behind in implementing the commitments made by the European and international community in a number of international documents on the preservation of cultural landscapes. The purpose of the article. The purpose of this publication is to develop proposals for the implementation of the concept of cultural landscape in the field of protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage on the basis of fulfilling Ukraine's relevant international obligations and introducing the best mechanisms and practices of European countries. Methodology and results. The research methodology is based on a descriptive qualitative and comparative approach, which made it possible to reveal the peculiarities of the experience of preserving the cultural landscape as a heritage in certain EU countries - representatives of the “old Europe” (Italy and Spain), post-socialist (Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic) and post-Soviet (Latvia and Lithuania) space. The European experience was studied through the prism of meeting the requirements of the European Landscape Convention and the possibilities of its practical application in Ukraine. The analysis of examples of practical implementation of the concept of cultural landscape by European countries in comparison with domestic practice in Ukraine made it possible to identify the main problems in this area and to outline indicative directions of a possible strategy for their solution, the main mechanisms, tools and specific measures for their implementation. The first step in the development of such a strategy could be the development and adoption by government decree of a National Action Plan for the Protection and Preservation of the Cultural Landscape Heritage of Ukraine. The overall goal of this plan for the next 5-10 years should be to ensure the protection, preservation and careful use of the country's cultural landscapes by: bringing the country's legislation into line with the EU system of legal and regulatory standards for landscape protection, regulation and planning; taking these issues into account in the formulation and implementation of state cultural, environmental and urban planning policies and including them as an integral part of the strategy for Ukraine's post-war reconstruction; raising public awareness and involving communities. Scientific novelty and practical significance. The novelty of the study is the identification of the main areas of action for the protection and preservation of the cultural landscape heritage of Ukraine and the development of concrete proposals for their filling with appropriate measures. Acknowledgement. The research is financed by the European Union NextGenerationEU from the funds of the Recovery and Resilience Plan mechanism within the project "Scholarships for outstanding researchers threatened by the military conflict in Ukraine" No. 09І03-03-V01-00021. This article is one of the results of the research within the framework of grant no. 2/0043/23 "Identification of landscape diversity and its changes in Slovakia based on remote sensing data in the context of the European Green Deal" supported by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency VEGA.

Perspective: The unexplored dimensions behind the foam formation in River Yamuna, India.

For nearly two years, a persistent foam cover has been observed during the post-monsoon season in the Yamuna River beneath the barrage near Okhla in Delhi, India. This affair has been a matter of public concern now, after the gigantic appearance of foam in November 2021, as the visibility of foam has awakened people's environmental 'conscience' over the 'concealed' chemical pollution. The mechanisms of agents responsible for foaming in rivers, particularly surfactants and phosphates, have received wide attention in the dynamic community of river pollution. Many studies in the past, around the globe, have evidently provided different rationales behind the dense foam formation in rivers, yet the Concerned Govt. Authorities have highlighted the cause of foam formation in the river Yamuna is associated with the presence of detergents and phosphates as foaming agents. Despite this, an aperture with copious unaccounted factors or underlying agents still exists to rationalize the foam formation and persistence. In this article, we outline these unaccounted factors which might be responsible for the foam formation and stabilization and give indications for future research directives towards the emergence of studies regarding the dense foam formation in river Yamuna.

Public inquiries: irreconcilable interests and the importance of managing expectations

ABSTRACT Public inquiries address serious matters of public concern, including those affecting the most vulnerable and marginalised in society. There are ongoing, heated debates about how inquiries should be set up and run and who primarily should be served by a public inquiry. However, these debates must be judged in the context of an accurate understanding of their role and function. This article explores the source of misplaced expectations of the process, leading to frustration and distress for participants and delays, which can seriously undermine participant and public confidence. It argues that, even where the public inquiry process is well understood, conflicting interests and expectations arise because of the different capacities in which people engage with a public inquiry, which are often difficult or impossible to resolve. The article examines evidence of how this has led to frequent challenges about the setting up and running of public inquiries and considers judicial decisions on the decision-making process. It recognises limitations to the public inquiry process, which cannot always deliver the outcomes and resolution sought by participants and the public. It identifies the need for clearer articulation of the role and function of a public inquiry and more effective management of expectations.

Dynamic Analysis and Seat Selection of Bus Driving Comfort under Different Road Conditions

The comfort of a bus running on different road conditions is a matter of public concern. In this paper, the differential equations of motion are established for a bus running on different road conditions and the whole driving process is mechanically analyzed. Firstly, the bump degree at different positions is quantitatively analyzed and it is found that the rear row is bumpier on different roads. Then, the relationship between the speed of the bus and the vertical displacement and acceleration is quantitatively described. Regardless of the speed, a similar displacement and acceleration will be eventually achieved, but the speed is higher, and the duration of maximum displacement and acceleration is longer. When the speed is 8 m/s, resonance occurs on the bus during road condition II. Finally, the change in vertical displacement and acceleration under the action of different spring stiffness coefficient ratios of the front and rear wheels is quantitatively analyzed. High stiffness ratios mean less displacement and acceleration. By establishing an actual excitation road surface, the differential equations and analytical solutions in this paper can be used to roughly analyze the mechanical response of a traveling bus. These results can provide some guidance for the design and driving of buses.

Save Your Rights: How Florida and Other States Have Targeted Voting Access Following the 2020 Election

Following the 2020 general election, Florida’s Republican led legislature introduced Senate Bill 90 (“S.B. 90”), which seeks to put many restrictions on various aspects of the voting process. S.B. 90 limits ballot drop-off boxes, restricts mail-in voting, proscribes “line-warming,” increases registration difficulty, and expands identification requirements. Despite lauding Florida’s election as a gold standard for the rest of the country, Governor Ron DeSantis approved this bill in May of 2021, explaining that Florida should not become complacent despite its success. The Republican Governor approved this law against the backdrop of record voter turnout for Black and Latino voters and record mail-in voting by Democrats. Florida Rising Together, a grassroots organization working alongside other similar organizations, has filed suit against the State of Florida. Florida Rising Together’s suit alleges that this law intends to discriminate against Black, Latino, and elderly Florida voters by suppressing their vote. Florida Rising Together sought to introduce three professors from University of Florida as expert witnesses in their case against Florida. In response, the university—a public institution and organ of the Florida State government—barred all three professors from serving as expert witnesses for a party adverse to the State’s interests. While unprecedented, experts assert that the university’s conduct implicates violations of the professors’ First Amendment rights, despite any likelihood of a conflict of interest existing between them and their employer. By using the Pickering balancing test, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida should find that any conflict of interest the professors’ expert testimony may create in their relationship as state employees is far outweighed by the professors’ interest, as citizens, to comment upon matters of public concern—whether Florida’s newly implemented law violates the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. Furthermore, Florida Rising Together (“Florida Rising”) should bring a Section 1985 claim against University of Florida officials for intimidating witnesses in a civil rights case.

Revenue diversification strategies of online news organisations: subscriptions and memberships

The funding model crisis for newspapers is a matter of public concern; and it is not only a business issue, but also a social and political one, as news organisations are considered to have an irreplaceable function in democratic systems. Technological and social changes have transformed the business model of news organisations so that, in a digital scenario with a strong competition for consumers’ attention, they have had to diversify their portfolio of income streams. In such a context, this study analyses the state of the diversification of revenue streams in the Spanish digital media market, using the available data from the total universe of digital media in the country. The article focusses on the two most common revenue streams related to user payment -subscriptions and memberships- and analyses the importance of four variables in this diversification of revenue strategies: their nature (digital native versus traditional), thematic scope (general versus specialised), territorial scope (local versus national), and the type of organisation that promotes it (traditional, new, or independent groups). The data obtained suggest that there are no universal formulae in the implementation of payment models for Spanish digital media. Specifically, there are significant differences in the revenue models between native and non-native digital media. Thus, payment strategies are more prevalent among non-native digital media than among native media. Furthermore, the non-native media that have opted for paid models tend to diversify their sources of income more than the non-native ones based on free model. Additionally, data show that paywalls and memberships are more usual among specialised non-native digital media and generalist native outlets. Also, payments are more often required by local and regional media than national outlets. From the ownership point of view, although the main Spanish media corporations are developing their revenue models, the pay-per-content model is also quite extended among organisations, associations, and foundations not linked with the traditional publishing groups. This study, due to its exhaustiveness, dimensions, and novelty, identifies in detail the current state of the implementation of the pay model for digital media in Spain, which can help and facilitate media managers in their decision-making.

Policy Narratives on Palliative Care in Sweden 1974–2018

In Sweden, efforts to govern end-of-life care through policies have been ongoing since the 1970s. The aim of this study is to analyse how policy narratives on palliative care in Sweden have been formulated and have changed over time since the 1970s up to 2018. We have analysed 65 different policy-documents. After having analysed the empirical material, three policy episodes were identified. In Episode 1, focus was on the need for norms, standards and a psychological end-of-life care with the main goal of solving the alleged deficiencies within end-of-life care in hospital settings. Episode 2 was characterised by an emphasis on prioritising end-of-life care and dying at home, and on the fact that the hospice care philosophy should serve as inspiration. In Episode 3, the need for a palliative care philosophy that transcended all palliative care and the importance of systematic follow-ups and indicators was endorsed. Furthermore, human value and freedom of choice were emphasised. In conclusion, the increase of policy-documents produced by the welfare-state illustrate that death and dying have become matters of public concern and responsibility. Furthermore, significant shifts in policy narratives display how notions of good palliative care change, which in turn may affect both the practice and the content of care at the end of life.

Indoor gas emission assessment in public schools in Perlis

Indoor gas emission has been a matter of public concern. People mostly spend their time in the indoor environment, especially children, therefore more exposed to indoor air pollution. The primary objective of this study is to determine the exposure level of the pollutant and evaluate the potential adverse effects on students at schools in indoor settings. Three schools were randomly selected in Kangar and Arau areas. The methods applied in the study involved the measurement of pollutants, questionnaire and health risk assessment. The monitoring was conducted in each school’s classroom, library, and science lab. Concentrations of the indoor and outdoor air pollutants (e.g. CO, CO2, SO2, NO2, and VOCs) were collected. From the sampling results, the average indoor pollutant concentrations in all selected schools were 0.39, 484, 0.002, 0.046 and 0.04 ppm, respectively. The average CO, CO2, SO2, NO2 and VOCs concentrations in the outdoor environment are 1.11, 442, 0.03, 0.019 and 0.03 ppm. All of the pollutant concentrations do not exceed the standard limit and guidelines. From health risk assessment, it can be concluded that potential health risk for human exposure to CO was low birth weight, auditory system, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma symptom, and respiratory responses.

Viešas reikalas? Bylos dėl impotencijos XVII–XVIII a. Vilniaus ir Žemaitijos katalikų konsistorijose

Matter of Public Concern? Impotence-Related Cases in the Catholic Consistories of Vilnius and Samogitia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Since the time of Paul the Apostle, Christians regarded marriage as a medium in which a couple’s legitimate offspring are born and which prevents the risk of fornication (Lat. fornicatio). With the development of canon law, the concept of conjugal debt (Lat. debitum conjugale) was defined in the middle of the twelfth century, which stated that upon marrying, a man and a woman undertook to have sexual relations with each other. At the same time, theologians and canonists debated about the essential condition for marriage: whether it was consent (Lat. consensus) or consummation of marriage via sexual intercourse (Lat. consummatio). In this context, various sexual pathologies that interfered with a couple’s sexual life were treated not only as a medical but also as a legal problem affecting the continuity and validity of marriage. In Catholic canon law, the terms used to refer to the sexual disorders causing difficulties in marriage were “impotence” (Lat. impotentia) or “frigidity” (Lat. frigiditas). These terms, although not gendered, were nevertheless most often used to describe men’s physiological problems. In the ninth century, impotence was divided into natural, permanent, and temporary, the latter thought to be caused by magic (Lat. maleficium). The decisions of the popes collected in Decretales (Liber Extra) of Pope Gregory IX, the most important collection of medieval canon law, defined modus operandi of the Church in dealing with impotence-related cases. Only permanent impotence could become legal grounds for declaring a marriage null and void; if the disorder was temporary, the couple had to live together for three years and attempt to consummate marriage. The very nature of the condition had to be proven by a specialist examination or a witness testimony, and in this respect, the impotence-related cases were rather a definitive example of institutional intervention in a seemingly very private sphere. In the Catholic consistories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, impotencerelated cases were perhaps the rarest category of all marital litigation. In the surviving sources of the seventeenth-eighteenth-century ecclesiastical courts, it was possible to find data on ten such cases, of which seven were examined. Due to the scarcity and chronological inconsistency of the data drawing generalising conclusions is problematic, nonetheless, it is possible to observe certain trends and to reveal aspects that are relevant from the point of view of micro-history. All bar one of the cases involved male impotence, and five out of seven resulted in the decisions declaring the marriages null and void. The analysis of case materials clearly reveals an aspect of publicity characteristic of this type of cases that had evolved in canon law since the Middle Ages, namely, third-party inspections. It was the expert insights of women or doctors that had a decisive influence on the decisions on whether to annul the marriage or to order the spouses to stay in it. This rather unwanted limelight may have precluded many of the cases from ever reaching the courts. Keywords: Impotence, ecclesiastical courts, Catholic Church, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, canon law.

Combined monitoring of IgG and IgA anti-Spike and anti-Receptor binding domain long term responses following BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination in Greek healthcare workers.

Studies on the humoral response to homologous BNT162b2 mRNA-vaccination focus mainly on IgG antibody dynamics, while long-term IgA kinetics are understudied. Herein, kinetics of IgG and IgA levels against trimeric-Spike (S) and Receptor-Binding-Domain (RBD) were evaluated by in-house ELISAs in 146 two-dose vaccinated Greek healthcare workers (HCWs) in a 9-month period at six time points (up to 270 days after the first dose). The effect of a homologous booster third dose was also studied and evaluated. The peak of immune response was observed 21 days after the second dose; 100% seroconversion rate for anti-S and anti-RBD IgG, and 99.7% and 96.3% respectively for IgA. IgG antibody levels displayed higher increase compared to IgA. Declining but persistent anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels were detected 9 months after vaccination; IgG and IgA anti-S levels approached those after the first dose, while a more rapid reduction rate for anti-RBD antibodies led to significantly lower levels for both classes, supporting the need for a booster dose. Indeed, a homologous booster third dose resulted in enhanced levels of anti-S of both classes, whereas anti-RBD didn't exceed the peak levels after the second dose. Previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, flu vaccination, BMI<35 and the occurrence of an adverse event upon vaccination, were associated with higher IgG antibody levels over time, which however were negatively affected by age increase and the presence of chronic diseases. Overall, after concurrently using the S and RBD target-antigens in in-house ELISAs, we report in addition to IgG, long-term persistence of IgA antibodies. Regarding antibody levels, homologous mRNA vaccination gives rise to an effective anti-viral protection up to 9 months negatively correlated to age. Considering that COVID-19 is still a matter of public concern, booster vaccine doses remain critical to vulnerable individuals.

A Privacy-Preserving Crowd Flow Prediction Framework Based on Federated Learning during Epidemics

Predicting and managing the movement of people in a region during epidemics’ outbreak is an important step in preventing outbreaks. The protection of user privacy during the outbreak has become a matter of public concern in recent years, yet deep learning models based on datasets collected from mobile devices may pose privacy and security issues. Therefore, how to develop an accurate crowd flow prediction while preserving privacy is a significant problem to be solved, and there is a tradeoff between these two objectives. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving mobility prediction framework via federated learning (CFPF) to solve this problem without significantly sacrificing the prediction performance. In this framework, we designed a deep and embedding learning approach called “Multi-Factors CNN-LSTM” (MFCL) that can help to explicitly learn from human trajectory data (weather, holidays, temperature, and POI) during epidemics. Furthermore, we improve the existing federated learning framework by introducing a clustering algorithm to classify clients with similar spatio-temporal characteristics into the same cluster, and select servers at the center of the cluster as edge central servers to integrate the optimal model for each cluster and improve the prediction accuracy. To address the privacy concerns, we introduce local differential privacy into the FL framework which can facilitate collaborative learning with uploaded gradients from users instead of sharing users’ raw data. Finally, we conduct extensive experiments on a realistic crowd flow dataset to evaluate the performance of our CFPF and make a comparison with other existing models. The experimental results demonstrate that our solution can not only achieve accurate crowd flow prediction but also provide a strong privacy guarantee at the same time.

Revisiting PM2.5 pollution along urban-rural gradient and its coupling with urbanization process, a new perspective from urban pollution island analysis

Urbanization leads to widespread urban pollution island effect. Improving our understanding of this phenomenon and its coupling with urbanization is a matter of public concern. In this study, 13 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region experiencing various urbanization and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution were chosen for analysis. We proposed a two-dimensional Gaussian model to index the urban pollution island effect in terms of intensity (I) and footprint (F). Then, the dynamic of I and F in the case cities during 2000–2015 and their associations with urbanization factors, including Population (POP), Built-up area (BA), and Gross domestic product (GDP), were explored. We found: (1) During 2000–2015, most of the case cities suffered continuous deteriorated urban pollution island effect in both I and F. (2) POP, BA, and GDP all contributed as effective and significant influencers, but their relative contributions to I and F are different. (3) Cities at different urbanization levels not only suffered from their own unique PM2.5 pollution risks but were also subjected to varying causalities on urban pollution island effect. In the future, multi-index analysis of urban pollution island effect will greatly deepen the understanding of urban air pollution and provide comprehensive references for urban environmental regulation.

Working around: Job crafting in the context of public and professional accountability

Professionals are expected to justify their actions to clients, disciplinary committees and courts in multiple accountability systems. Although developed to reflect professional standards, is it possible that these systems induce proactive behaviours that counteract their goals and instead serve to protect the professional? This article examines the types of stimuli professionals acquire from the public and professional accountability contexts and how these stimuli motivate engagement in specific proactive behaviours. An interpretive grounded theory study was conducted; it included 31 in-depth interviews with physicians from eight hospitals. The study revealed that accountability systems trigger and motivate professionals to engage in self-serving, proactive job-crafting behaviours. Professionals simultaneously manage their perceived accountability pressures and their personal interests. Context-specific factors that motivate individuals to craft their jobs are identified, and we reveal four distinct stimuli–motivation–job-crafting patterns that are linked to specific performance episodes (i.e. work stages). Our findings emphasize the importance of taking specific work contexts (i.e. accountability) and work stages into account when studying job-crafting behaviours. This study contributes to understanding professionals’ motivations and behaviours in the context of accountability, which is essential, as the quality and safety of their work are matters of public concern.

Microbiological quality of street-vended foods sold in Thulamela Municipality of South Africa

The objective of the study was to examine the microbial quality of street-vended foods in Sibasa and Thohoyandou markets of Thulamela Municipality, South Africa. Gravy, salad, beef and chicken stews were randomly sampled from seven markets. Microbiological international standard methods were used for the Total plate counts, coliform bacteria, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, yeast and mould counts. The microbial counts (log10 CFU/g) of foods sold at Thohoyandou ranged from 2.0±2.08 to too numerous to count for Total plate count, 2.0±1.00 to 6.6±7.57 for Salmonella spp., 2.0±2.64 to 3.9±6.03 for S. aureus, 2.3±1.73 to too numerous to count for yeast. At Sibasa, microbial counts (log10 CFU/g) ranged from 2.1±6.24 to 6.9±5.30 for total plate count, 2.0±0.00 to 3.8±10.00 for coliform bacteria, 2.0±2.64 to 4.7±8.33 for Salmonella spp., 2.0±6.03 to 3.9±9.30, for S. aureus, 2.1±1.00 to 3.7±39.58 for yeast and 2.0±1.15 to 4.9±21.66 for B. cereus. Mould was not detected in all the foods sold at both locations. The total plate count was significantly different (P&lt;0.05) between salads and chicken stews. For Salmonella spp., significant differences (P&lt;0.05) were observed between salads and beef stews. For S. aureus, a significant difference was found in salads (P&lt;0.05). For yeast, significant differences (P&lt;0.05) were observed between salads and beef stews. The fact that most street-vended foods were contaminated with a range of microorganisms is a matter of public concern. Department of Health, South Africa should initiate a food safety program for the vendors to be trained in hygienic preparation of foods and good sanitation practices to better safeguard the health and wellness of consumers. There is also a need for Environmental Health Practitioners to mount a better monitoring system that would contain selling street-vended food that is unfit for human consumption.