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Communication and coordination as drivers of safety behaviours and outcomes in coal-fired power plants

Effective communication and coordination are vital for promoting safety in high-risk industries. While widely regarded as key drivers of safety behaviour, their direct and indirect effects on safety outcomes such as workplace accidents, near misses, fatalities, and lost-time injuries are not well understood, particularly in coal-fired power plants. The study investigates the influence of communication and coordination practices on safety behaviour and their subsequent impact on actual safety outcomes in Malaysian coal-fired power plants. 340 participants from five coal-fired power plants in Peninsular Malaysia participated in a quantitative cross-sectional survey. Stratified random sampling was employed to ensure balanced managerial and non-managerial staff representation. A systematic questionnaire with 60 items was used to gather data. It was divided into four sections: safety outcomes (accidents, near misses, fatalities, and lost-time injuries), safety behaviour dimensions (compliance, involvement, motivation, and knowledge), and demographic data. Five-point Likert scales modified from previously approved instruments were used to measure each issue. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS version 3.3.3 was used to analyse the data. The model was evaluated using a two-stage approach to assess formative and reflective constructs. The analysis showed that communication and coordination practices significantly enhanced safety compliance and participation. Among these, safety compliance had a statistically significant negative relationship with adverse safety outcomes. Mediation analysis confirmed that safety compliance played a key role in linking communication and coordination to safety outcomes, indicating that improvements in communication and coordination reduce incidents primarily by fostering better adherence to safety procedures. The results highlight the importance of collaboration and communication as proactive strategies for influencing employee behaviour and lowering unfavourable safety outcomes. One important mediating component surfaced was safety compliance, confirming that management’s coordination and communication efforts work best when they promote constant adherence to safety regulations. In order to foster a culture of safety and operational excellence, organisations in high-risk industries should prioritise establishing transparent, organised communication channels and methodical coordination efforts. These strategies can reduce accidents, injuries, and lost-time incidents while producing quantifiable increases in participation and compliance.

This robot hand detaches and walks by itself

Diversity and ecological roles of hidden viral players in groundwater microbiomes

Abstract Groundwater ecosystems harbor diverse microbial communities adapted to energy-limited, light-deprived conditions, yet the role of viruses in these environments remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed 1.24 terabases of metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data from seven wells in the Hainich Critical Zone Exploratory (CZE) to characterize groundwater viromes. We identified 257,252 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) (≥ 5 kb), with 99% novel at order, family and genus levels against global ocean, freshwater and/or other publicly available datasets. In silico host predictions suggest that vOTUs primarily targeted Proteobacteria, Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) bacteria, and DPANN archaea, which reflects abundant and active groundwater microbial members. Patterns of virus-host abundance ratios, CRISPR-spacers, and prophage screening suggest the potential for multi-layer interactions involving CPR/DPANN lineages, their hosts, and viruses. Additionally, we identified 289 KEGG metabolic modules, 31.1% of which were targeted by 3378 vOTUs encoded auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) linked to carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling. These findings provide a baseline for exploring how viruses influence microbial community dynamics, metabolic reprogramming and nutrient cycling in groundwater.

Dual-directional CIM-based non-volatile SRAM for instant-on/off energy-constrained edge AI devices

Infection prevention practices and associated factors among healthcare professionals in West Gojjam Zone public Hospitals Northwest Ethiopia, 2023

Background Inadequate adherence to infection prevention and control standards places millions of patients and healthcare workers at risk of infectious diseases worldwide, including healthcare acquired infections. Effective infection prevention and control measures and interventions have been done after the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, there is no data that shows infection prevention and control practice of healthcare professionals in West Gojjam zone hospitals. Objective To assess infection prevention practice and associated factors among healthcare professionals in West Gojjam Zone public hospitals. Methods A mixed institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare professionals in West Gojjam Zone public hospitals from March 10 to April 10, 2023. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 454 participants. A structured self-administered questionnaire, key informant interview guide, and observational checklist were used to gather the information. The collected data was entered into Epi-data 4.6 and exported into SPSS version 27 for analysis. For quantitative data, bivariate and multivariate generalized estimating equation analysis was computed, considering p < 0.05 to be statistically significant at the final model. The qualitative data was transcribed, translated, coded, and analyzed thematically. Finally, the qualitative data triangulated with quantitative data. Result Four hundred thirty-four (95.6%) healthcare professionals participated in the study. The overall infection prevention practice of healthcare professionals in West Gojjam zone hospitals was 32.7% (95% CI: 28.29%−37.15%). Knowledge of participants (1.95, 95% CI: 1.19–3.19), attitude (AOR = 1.96, 95%CI: 1.24–3.12), profession of midwives (AOR = 0.467, 95%CI: 0.24–0.92), and working in Adet, Dembecha, Durbete, Feresbet, Finote Selam, and Liben hospitals, respectively, were the significant factors of infection prevention practice and training. Infrastructure, budget, supplies, and attitude were the challenges of infection prevention supplemented by the qualitative data. Conclusion The study revealed that overall infection prevention practice was poor. Participant’s knowledge, participant’s attitude, and participant’s profession were significant factors for infection prevention practice, and there was variation in infection prevention practice between hospitals. The identified modifiable factors are the area of intervention to improve infection prevention practices.

Author Correction: Ocean fronts and eddies force atmospheric rivers and heavy precipitation in western North America

An exploratory investigation into the microbial and cyanobacterial presence on skin epibiotia and orofacial lesions in estuarine common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) through metabarcoding

Synthesis of new benzothiazole derivatives with in-depth In-vitro, In-vivo anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer activities

Benzothiazoles (BTZ) possess various medicinal benefits and in this study, we have synthesized benzothiazole derivatives by substituting its side chains, and analyzed its spectral analysis along with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. In-vitro antioxidant activity of the benzothiazole derivatives indicated strong antioxidant potential of 3b , 3d and 3e which were then evaluated for their anti-inflammatory potential in mice’s paw edema and ethanol-induced gastric ulcer (GU). The compounds demonstrated strong anti-inflammatory ability in paw edema as well as ethanol-induced gastric ulcer. This was further confirmed by H&E staining and suppressed inflammatory mediators as tumor necrotic factor (TNF-α), nuclear factor B (p-NFkB), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). The antioxidant ability was assessed by measuring catalase (CAT), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels in both edema and ulcer models. Additionally, gastric lesions were detected in the ulcer and low Ulcer index confirmed anti-ulcer ability. These results suggest new benzothiazoles which can be further analyzed through clinical studies.

China is betting on ‘optical’ computer chips — will they power AI?

High-throughput methods leveraging robotics and computer vision for the development of therapeutic phage cocktails

Abstract We present the high-throughput automated screening techniques that are being used to develop bacteriophage-based therapeutic products currently under investigation in human clinical trials to combat urinary tract infections 1 . By integrating modern liquid handling robotics, standardized phenotypic assays, and computer vision-based enumeration, we established a platform capable of reproducibly screening large collections of phages against clinically derived bacterial strain panels. This approach enabled systematic assessment of phage-bacteria interactions at scale, facilitating the identification and optimization of phage cocktails with broad in vitro activity. Although bacteriophage therapy has long been investigated as a strategy for treating bacterial infections, few frameworks exist for developing phage combinations in a reproducible and scalable manner. The methods outlined here address this gap and aim to support the broader development of therapeutic assets available to combat antibiotic resistance.

Clinico-pathologic characteristics of sub-epithelial tumor (SET) like gastric cancers

Correction: Measuring novelty in science with word embedding

Daily briefing: Why we enjoy things more when they’re hard to get

Nested spatiotemporal theta–gamma waves organize hierarchical processing across the mouse visual cortex

Climate warming is shifting northern aquatic ecotones

Correction: Predicting unsafe behaviour from the objective assessment of fatigue manifestation among scaffolders: Evidence from a Quasi-experimental simulation study

Can academia handle my religious faith?

Tenascin C+ myofibroblasts exacerbate vascular neointimal hyperplasia by propagation of nerve-macrophage interactions in mice

Optimal cluster-based energy efficient routing scheme for QoS aware IoT-enabled wireless body area network

High-dimensional phenotyping reveals novel macrophage-like and hybrid subsets within murine splenic conventional dendritic cells

Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) are pivotal antigen-presenting cells (APCs) with critical roles in immune regulation, yet their subset classification remains ambiguous due to phenotypic overlap with macrophages and monocytes, particularly in the spleen. This study employed multi-parametric flow cytometry and clodronate liposome (CL) depletion to systematically re-evaluate splenic CD11c high MHCII high cDCs in C57BL/6 mice. We identified three novel subsets: (1) a tissue-resident T-cell zone macrophage (TZM)-like population (F4/80 inter-low CX3CR1 + MERTK + ) constituting 0.59% of cDC2s with >10-fold CL-depletion resistance ( p  < 0.0001); (2) a resident F4/80 high APC subset (CCR2 ⁻ Ly6C⁻) accounting for 2.7% of cDC2s with CL-sensitivity; (3) unconventional CD4⁺CD8α⁺ hybrids present in 2.57% of cDC2 and some cDC1s. These findings demonstrate unprecedented cDC plasticity driven by microenvironmental signals, revising conventional classification frameworks and proposing new targets for DC-based immunotherapies in autoimmunity and cancer. Our phenotypic mapping provides a foundational framework for future functional investigations into these novel subsets.