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This paper examines the daily practices of caring for COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, China, in early 2020 and the challenges that nurses faced. The paper shows that the affective contagion, especially among patients, introduced unexpected challenges for nurses in caring for COVID-19-infected patients. Nurses had to contend with the challenges of treating both physical and psychological problems in patients simultaneously. As a result, it was necessary for nurses to adapt to the different rhythm of COVID-19 wards to address these challenges and do so through taking on a range of general and specific nursing tasks and playing a diverse range of roles on the wards, from garbage collector to "psychological counselor." Thus, the paper brings attention to the experiences and demands of providing nursing care in an emergency pandemic context, in particular the necessity of responding to both the physical and the psychological needs of patients. These insights could better prepare health services in China and elsewhere in the world for responding effectively to potential future pandemics. • The affective contagion introduced unexpected challenges for nurses in COVID-19 wards. • Nurses adapt to the different working rhythm in COVID-19 wards than in "normal" wards. • A hierarchy of necessity emerged in the context of caring for COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For undisturbed loess with water sensitivity and dynamic vulnerability, which is often in a state of damage accumulation due to the influence of natural factors (the fluctuation of groundwater level, rainfall infiltration/evaporation, and seismic load), the impact of relevant engineering problems is significant, and the disaster-causing process is complex. Cyclic simple tests were used to illustrate the behaviour of the dynamic shear modulus of loess exposed to various factors of dry-wet(D-W) cycles and stress conditions (D-W cycles times N , lower limit water content w 1 , and consolidation stress σ v). Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we assessed the inherent damage mechanism under D-W cycles. The findings show that the D-W cycles considerably affect the dynamic shear modulus of undisturbed loess, with the strongest effect occurring during the first D-W cycles. Based on the Hardin hyperbolic model, the stress exponent n is a specific parameter of w 1. In addition, the relationship between N and G 0 / P a /(σ v / P a) n is a power function, and G 0 / P a /(σ v / P a) n drops as w 1 and N increase. The fitting parameters a of the dynamic shear modulus ratio normalization model are not sensitive to σ v / P a , D-W cycles times N , and lower limit water content w 1. Based on the dynamic shear modulus, a damage degree prediction method considering N , w 1 , and σ v is established. The results can provide a theoretical reference for earthquake disaster prediction in collapsible loess areas. [Display omitted] • Dry-wet cycles test, cyclic simple shear test, and SEM test were carried out. • The behavior of dynamic shear modulus under the coupled action of dry-wet cycles and dynamic load was investigated. • Method were proposed and verified to predict dynamic shear modulus under dry-wet cycles. • This study can provide reference for earthquake disaster prediction in loess area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]