Evaluation of Physico-Mechanical Properties on Oil Extracted Ground Coffee Waste Reinforced Polyethylene Composite.

The current work discusses ground coffee waste (GCW) reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composite. GCW underwent two types of treatment (oil extraction, and oil extraction followed by mercerization). The composites were prepared using stacking HDPE film and GCW, followed by hot compression molding with different GCW particle loadings (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). Particle loadings of 5% and 10% of the treated GCW composites exhibited the optimum level for this particular type of composite, whereby their mechanical and thermal properties were improved compared to untreated GCW composite (UGC). SEM fracture analysis showed better adhesion between HDPE and treated GCW. The FTIR conducted proved the removal of unwanted impurities and reduction in water absorption after the treatment. Specific tensile modulus improved for OGC at 5 vol% particle loading. The highest impact energy absorbed was obtained by OGC with a 16% increment. This lightweight and environmentally friendly composite has potential in high-end packaging, internal automotive parts, lightweight furniture, and other composite engineering applications.

Psychological impact of repeated epidemic exposure on healthcare workers: findings from an online survey of a healthcare workforce exposed to both SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the psychological well-being of healthcare workers (HCWs) during this COVID-19 pandemic and examine the experiences of the subgroup of participants who were also HCWs during the 2003 SARS epidemic. DESIGN: Anonymous online survey adapted from a similar study conducted during the SARS epidemic, disseminated from July 2020 to August 2020. SETTING: Nine healthcare institutions across Singapore ranging from primary care, community care, tertiary care and specialised referral centres. PARTICIPANTS: Employees working in the participating healthcare institutions. RESULTS: Of 3828 survey returns, 3616 had at least one completed item on the questionnaire. Majority were female (74.7%), nurses (51.7%), foreign-born (53.2%) and not working in the tertiary care setting (52.1%). The median score on the Impact of Events Scale (IES) was 15 (IQR 23) and 28.2% of the sample scored in the moderate/severe range. 22.7% of the participants were also HCWs during SARS and more than half of them felt safer and better equipped in the current pandemic. 25.2% of SARS HCWs and 25.9% of non-SARS HCWs had moderate/severe IES scores (p=0.904). After adjusting for age, marital status, parity and length of work experience, racial minority groups and living apart from family were independent predictors of high IES regardless of prior SARS epidemic experience. Daily exposure to confirmed or suspect COVID-19 cases increased the odds of high IES for non-SARS HCWs only. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Overall, while 28% of HCWs in our study suffered from significant trauma-related psychological symptoms regardless of prior experience with the SARS epidemic, those with prior experience reported feeling safer and better equipped, finding the workload easier to manage, as well as having more confidence in their healthcare leaders. We recommend for more trauma-informed support strategies for our HCWs especially those from racial minority groups, who are foreign-born and isolated from their families.

A cross-sectional study of burnout and its associations with learning environment and learner factors among psychiatry residents within a National Psychiatry Residency Programme.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies have reported high burnout rates among residents, including psychiatry. There is a paucity of studies examining the relationship between burnout and learning context, stress levels, resilience, stigma in healthcare providers and coping methods concurrently within the same cohort. OBJECTIVE: We examined the rate of burnout among our psychiatry residents in a cross-sectional study and hypothesised that burnout is associated with poorer perception of learning environment, greater perceived stress, stigma levels, lower resilience and specific coping strategies during training. METHODS: Ninety-three out of 104 psychiatry residents (89.4%) within our National Psychiatry Residency Programme participated in the study from June 2016 to June 2018. Relevant scales were administered to assess the perception of learning environment, burnout, stress, resilience, stigma levels and coping methods, respectively. We performed comparisons of the above measures between groups (burnout vs no burnout) and within-group correlations for these same measures. RESULTS: Overall, 54.8% of the sample met criteria for burnout. Residents with burnout had poorer perception of the learning environment, greater stress levels (both p<0.001), were less willing to disclose/seek help and employed greater active-avoidance coping strategies. Within the burnout group, greater perceived stress was correlated with poorer perception of learning environment (rs=-0.549) and greater use of active-avoidance coping (rs=0.450) versus additional use of problem-focussed coping within the non-burnout group. CONCLUSIONS: Burnout was related to both environment and learner factors. These findings viewed within the transactional, sequential and imbalance models of burnout suggest the need to address stressors, beef up coping, provide continual support and develop resilience among our learners.