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Firefighter satisfaction and happiness at work: how big is the effect?

Muthukumaran M, Mohd Nadzrul Safiq AR, Rosnah I, Nor Hisham M, Ashrul Riezal A, Ismail AG

Med J Malaysia, 2023 May;78(3):287-295.
PMID: 37271837

INTRODUCTION: Firefighter satisfaction plays a crucial role in overall workplace happiness. We seek to quantify the effect size of firefighters' satisfaction with happiness at work after adjusting for socio-demographic attributes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study used data from an online cross-sectional survey that was conducted from 24 June to 24 July 2021 in the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia. Firefighters were approached using the saturation sampling technique. They received online surveys via email through the Director of State and follow-up reminders through the Assistant Director of State Operations. A total of two filter questionnaires were employed i.e. type and duration of service. Firefighters stating that they were volunteer/auxiliary firefighters or had been in service for 2 years or less were excluded. In this study, data from 6041 out of 8581 firefighters were included for further analysis. The survey utilised the validated staff satisfaction index (SSI) and the happy career (HC) scale for in-service firefighters. SSI was a dual-dimension index consisting of welfare and protection against hazards at work, with 16 subdimensions. The HC is a five multi-dimensional items scale. Then, we used multiple linear regression to obtain the coefficient of determination while adjusting for age groups, gender, marital status, job grade, years of service and region of service.
RESULTS: A total of 6041 eligible data points were analysed in the study. The mean (±SD) age was 38.70 (8.97) years, of which 95.9% were male. The firefighters were in service for a median of 14 years (Q1, Q3: 8, 21). The firefighter reported higher life satisfaction (mean [SD] = 78.30 [9.15]) than happiness at work (mean [SD] = 77.22 [0.20]). The mean happiness scores differed significantly between years of service groups (p<0.001), region of service (p<0.001), marital status (p=0.029) and grade (p<0.001). Firefighters' satisfaction contributed 42.7% of workplace happiness (βadj=1.096 [95% CI: 1.064, 1.128]; p<0.001) after adjusting for frontline, married, the central region of service and male gender as control variables.
CONCLUSION: Firefighter satisfaction had a large effect size on happiness at work (42.7%). However, the interpretation of this effect size should be done with caution because happiness at work is inseparable from other life dimensions such as stability in matrimonial relationships and finances, involvement in leisure and religious activities and being mentally healthy.
Fulltext High stability resistive switching mechanism of a screen-printed electrode based on BOBZBT2 organic pentamer for creatinine detection

Khushaini MAA, Azeman NH, Ismail AG, Teh CH, Salleh MM, Bakar AAA, et al.

Sci Rep, 2021 Dec 07;11(1):23519.
PMID: 34876656 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03046-9

The resistive switching (RS) mechanism is resulted from the formation and dissolution of a conductive filament due to the electrochemical redox-reactions and can be identified with a pinched hysteresis loop on the I-V characteristic curve. In this work, the RS behaviour was demonstrated using a screen-printed electrode (SPE) and was utilized for creatinine sensing application. The working electrode (WE) of the SPE has been modified with a novel small organic molecule, 1,4-bis[2-(5-thiophene-2-yl)-1-benzothiopene]-2,5-dioctyloxybenzene (BOBzBT2). Its stability at room temperature and the presence of thiophene monomers were exploited to facilitate the cation transport and thus, affecting the high resistive state (HRS) and low resistive state (LRS) of the electrochemical cell. The sensor works based on the interference imposed by the interaction between the creatinine molecule and the radical cation of BOBzBT2 to the conductive filament during the Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) measurement. Different concentrations of BOBzBT2 dilution were evaluated using various concentrations of non-clinical creatinine samples to identify the optimised setup of the sensor. Enhanced sensitivity of the sensor was observed at a high concentration of BOBzBT2 over creatinine concentration between 0.4 and 1.6 mg dL-1-corresponding to the normal range of a healthy individual.
Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Environment: Current Surveillance and Effective Data Management of COVID-19

Nadzirah S, Mohamad Zin N, Khalid A, Abu Bakar NF, Kamarudin SS, Zulfakar SS, et al.

Crit Rev Anal Chem, 2023 Jun 26.
PMID: 37358486 DOI: 10.1080/10408347.2023.2224433

Since diagnostic laboratories handle large COVID-19 samples, researchers have established laboratory-based assays and developed biosensor prototypes. Both share the same purpose; to ascertain the occurrence of air and surface contaminations by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the biosensors further utilize internet-of-things (IoT) technology to monitor COVID-19 virus contamination, specifically in the diagnostic laboratory setting. The IoT-capable biosensors have great potential to monitor for possible virus contamination. Numerous studies have been done on COVID-19 virus air and surface contamination in the hospital setting. Through reviews, there are abundant reports on the viral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through droplet infections, person-to-person close contact and fecal-oral transmission. However, studies on environmental conditions need to be better reported. Therefore, this review covers the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in airborne and wastewater samples using biosensors with comprehensive studies in methods and techniques of sampling and sensing (2020 until 2023). Furthermore, the review exposes sensing cases in public health settings. Then, the integration of data management together with biosensors is well explained. Last, the review ended with challenges to having a practical COVID-19 biosensor applied for environmental surveillance samples.

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