Quality of life in workers and stress: gender differences in exposure to psychosocial risks and perceived well-being

Background. Quality of working life is the result of many factors inherent in the workplace environment, especially in terms of exposure to psychosocial risks. Objectives. The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of life with special attention to gender differences. Methods. The HSE-IT questionnaire and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index were administered to a group of workers (74 males and 33 females). The authors also used Cronbach’s alpha test to assess the internal consistency of both questionnaires and the Mann–Whitney test to evaluate the significance of gender differences in both questionnaires. Results. The HSE-IT highlighted the existence of work-related stress in all the population with a critical perception regarding the domain “Relationships.” Furthermore, gender analysis highlighted the presence of two additional domains in the female population: “Demand” ( = 0,002) and “Support from Managers” ( = 0,287). The WHO-5 highlighted a well-being level below the standard cut-off point with a significant gender difference ( = 0.009) for males (18, SD = 6) as compared to females (14, SD = 6,4). Cronbach’s alpha values indicated a high level of internal consistency for both of our scales. Conclusions. The risk assessment of quality of working life should take into due account the individual characteristics of workers, with special attention to gender

The contribution of tropical cyclones to the atmospheric branch of Middle America's hydrological cycle using observed and reanalysis tracks

Middle America is affected by tropical cyclones (TCs) from the Eastern Pacific and the North Atlantic Oceans. We characterize the regional climatology (1998-2016) of the TC contributions to the atmospheric branch of the hydrological cycle, from May to December. TC contributions to rainfall are quantified using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) product 3B42 and TC tracks derived from three sources: the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), and an objective feature tracking method applied to the Japanese 55-year and ERA-Interim reanalyses. From July to October, TCs contribute 10-30% of rainfall over the west and east coast of Mexico and central Mexico, with the largest monthly contribution during September over the Baja California Peninsula (up to 90%). TCs are associated with 40-60% of daily extreme rainfall (above the 95th percentile) over the coasts of Mexico. IBTrACS and reanalyses agree on TC contributions over the Atlantic Ocean but disagree over the Eastern Pacific Ocean and continent; differences over the continent are mainly attributed to discrepancies in TC tracks in proximity to the coast and TC lifetime. Reanalysis estimates of TC moisture transports show that TCs are an important moisture source for the regional water budget. TC vertically integrated moisture flux (VIMF) convergence can turn regions of weak VIMF divergence by the mean circulation into regions of weak VIMF convergence. We discuss deficiencies in the observed and reanalysis TC tracks, which limit our ability to quantify robustly the contribution of TCs to the regional hydrological cycle

Confronti tra l'illuminazione led e le altre tecnologie di illuminazione in commercio

Nel presente studio si affronteranno le problematiche di applicazione legate alla scelta delle migliori tecnologie di illuminazione per differenti settori; da quello domestico a quello commerciale, da quello stradale a quello museale. Spesso l’innovazione tecnologica è sinonimo di strategie all’avanguardia per rendimenti ottimali che comportano, allo stesso tempo, un risparmio energetico delle risorse. La mera applicazione di tali sistemi, però, pone delle problematiche: non sempre, infatti, la complessità può comportare dei miglioramenti senza far sorgere questioni inerenti la giusta applicazione dei sistemi innovativi. In parte è il rispetto della normativa che detta l’obbligatorietà di alcune applicazioni rispetto ad altre, in parte le scelte sono dettate dalle necessità pratiche, in parte dalle scelte di tipo progettuale ed economico. Vari sono i fattori che entrano in gioco in campo illuminotecnico e grande risulta a volte lo scarto tra i prodotti messi in commercio e la loro applicazione, sembra quindi la progettazione lo strumento più importante per ottenere gli effetti attesi. La selezione dei sistemi avviene in maniera naturale, un po’ dettata dalle regole del mercato, un po’ dalle esigenze che nascono, considerando anche che trovare apparecchi che offrano caratteristiche illuminotecniche avanzate e presentano costi contenuti non è affatto un’impresa semplice. Nel corso della presente trattazione verranno analizzati principalmente i sistemi di illuminazione a led confrontandoli con sistemi tradizionali per comprendere se alcuni sistemi sono applicabili meglio a determinate funzioni rispetto ad altre. Fondamentale è anche l’adozione, da parte di alcune regioni italiane, di indicazioni per il contenimento dei consumi energetici, cosa che indirizza il progettista verso l’elaborazione di calcoli illuminotecnici specifici a seconda delle esigenze della committenza

Tropical cyclone track and structure sensitivity to initialization in idealized simulations: A preliminary study

In the absence of environmental steering, tropical cyclone (TC) motion largely reflects "beta drift" owing to differential planetary vorticity advection by the storm's outer circulation. It is known that model physics choices (especially those relating to convection) can significantly alter these outer winds and thus the storm track. Here, semi-idealized simulations are used to explore the influence of the initialization on subsequent vortex evolution and motion. Specifically, TCs bred from a buoyant "bubble" are compared to bogussed vortices having a wide variety of parameterized shapes and sizes matching observations. As expected, the bogussed storms commencing with the strongest outer winds propagated fastest and, as a result, huge structure-dependent position differences quickly appeared. However, the forward speed variation among the initially bogussed TCs subsequently declined as a progressive homogenization harmonized the initially supplied structural differences. The homogenization likely involved model physics such as microphysics. This result casts doubt on the ability of models to retain and propagate forward information supplied at the initialization by advanced data assimilation techniques or parameterized vortex wind profiles. Asymmetries in near-core convective heating emerged as an important structural aspect that survived the homogenization tendency. The bubble and bogussed TCs developed markedly different heating patterns, which appear to help explain why the artificially-established storms tended to move about three times faster than their bubble counterparts. The reasons for this are not presently understood fully

Influence of cloud-radiative forcing on tropical cyclone structure

The authors demonstrate how and why cloud-radiative forcing (CRF), the interaction of hydrometeors with longwave and shortwave radiation, can influence tropical cyclone structure through "semi idealized"integrations of the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model (HWRF) and an axisymmetric cloud model. Averaged through a diurnal cycle, CRF consists of pronounced cooling along the anvil top and weak warming through the cloudy air, which locally reverses the large net cooling that occurs in the troposphere under clear-sky conditions. CRF itself depends on the microphysics parameterization and represents one of the major reasons why simulations can be sensitive to microphysical assumptions. By itself, CRF enhances convective activity in the tropical cyclone's outer core, leading to a wider eye, a broader tangential wind field, and a stronger secondary circulation. This forcing also functions as a positive feedback, assisting in the development of a thicker and more radially extensive anvil than would otherwise have formed. These simulations clearly show that the weak (primarily longwave) warming within the cloud anvil is the major component of CRF, directly forcing stronger upper-tropospheric radial outflow as well as slow, yet sustained, ascent throughout the outer core. In particular, this ascent leads to enhanced convective heating, which in turn broadens the wind field, as demonstrated with dry simulations using realistic heat sources. As a consequence, improved tropical cyclone forecasting in operational models may depend on proper representation of cloud-radiative processes, as they can strongly modulate the size and strength of the outer wind field that can potentially influence cyclone track as well as the magnitude of the storm surge. © 2014 American Meteorological Society

Tropical cyclone track and structure sensitivity to initialization in idealized simulations: A preliminary study

In the absence of environmental steering, tropical cyclone (TC) motion largely reflects "beta drift" owing to differential planetary vorticity advection by the storm's outer circulation. It is known that model physics choices (especially those relating to convection) can significantly alter these outer winds and thus the storm track. Here, semi-idealized simulations are used to explore the influence of the initialization on subsequent vortex evolution and motion. Specifically, TCs bred from a buoyant "bubble" are compared to bogussed vortices having a wide variety of parameterized shapes and sizes matching observations. As expected, the bogussed storms commencing with the strongest outer winds propagated fastest and, as a result, huge structure-dependent position differences quickly appeared. However, the forward speed variation among the initially bogussed TCs subsequently declined as a progressive homogenization harmonized the initially supplied structural differences. The homogenization likely involved model physics such as microphysics. This result casts doubt on the ability of models to retain and propagate forward information supplied at the initialization by advanced data assimilation techniques or parameterized vortex wind profiles. Asymmetries in near-core convective heating emerged as an important structural aspect that survived the homogenization tendency. The bubble and bogussed TCs developed markedly different heating patterns, which appear to help explain why the artificially-established storms tended to move about three times faster than their bubble counterparts. The reasons for this are not presently understood fully

Global and Regional Characteristics of Radially Outward Propagating Tropical Cyclone Diurnal Pulses

The radially outward propagating, cloud top cooling, diurnal pulse (DP) is a prominent feature in tropical cyclones (TCs) that has important implications for changes in TC structure and intensity. By using an objective identification algorithm, this study characterizes DPs over various ocean basins and examines their environmental conditions and convective structures. DPs occur on 52% of TC days globally and the occurrence frequency exhibits significant regional variability. The Northwest Pacific (NWP) has the highest DP frequency (60%) and shares the largest fraction of DPs worldwide (34%). The median duration and propagation distance of DPs are 12-15 hr and 500-600 km, respectively. Although the mean propagation speed of DPs is 11-13 m s(-1), persistent DPs (lasting >15 hr) mostly propagate at speeds similar to internal inertial gravity waves (5-10 m s(-1)). Additionally, the longer the pulse duration, the stronger the pulse amplitude. Further, most DPs initiate in the inner core overnight, in phase with inner-core deep convection. Inner-core cold clouds, precipitation, and lightning are all markedly enhanced on DP days compared to non-DP days. Interestingly, the DP signal significantly weakens and becomes slower while propagating through the 200-400-km annulus during 09-12 local time (LT). Finally, DPs are more likely to occur over warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs), in low shear, and with a moist mid-to-upper troposphere. SST plays an important role in DP development over all basins, while shear and humidity are less important in the Northeast Pacific (NEP) and North Atlantic (NA) basins