Ergonomic assessment of postal workers´ pain symptoms and musculoskeletal risks related to parcel processing activity for delivery

The parcel delivery activity is carried out all over the world and workers in this sector have suffered from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) due to the strong demand for work generated by the recent increase in e-commerce. This study aimed to evaluate postal workers' pain symptoms, movements and identify MSDs risks related to the parcel processing activity for delivery, proposing preventive measures. A sample of thirty-two workers was evaluated with the application of sociodemographic and Nordic questionnaires and electrical bioimpedance. The motion capture sensors were used to evaluate right/left shoulder joints, segment C7-T1 (Cervical) and segment L5- S1 (Lumbar) of three postal workers (percentiles of anthropometric data: 5, 50, and 95) during four real work activities that are part of the parcel processing. The analyzed workers presented musculoskeletal complaints in practically all body regions, with a greater prevalence in shoulders, hands, lower back, and knees. According to the Body Mass Index (BMI), they were on average overweight (27.8 ± 3.7 kg/m2 ). In the movement analysis, we identified risks related to cervical protrusion, anterior trunk flexion, and shoulder flexion, in addition to repetitive movements. In some activities, the higher stature showed an increase in lumbar and cervical anterior flexion. The set of evaluations showed that the activity of processing orders for delivery offers musculoskeletal risks. We identify that ergonomic adaptations are necessary to adapt the heights of the work environment to the statures of the postal workers. Relevance to industry: The activity of processing orders for delivery is carried out practically all over the world generating jobs and income for its employees. Nonetheless, there are still situations of ergonomic disadvantage that can generate musculoskeletal risks. The findings elucidate ergonomic risks and provide useful information for future ergonomic interventions in the postal/delivery workplace environment.ECT -Eaga Charitable Trust(undefined

Testing a global standard for quantifying species recovery and assessing conservation impact.

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a "Green List of Species" (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species' progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species' viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics (conservation legacy, conservation dependence, conservation gain, and recovery potential). We tested the framework with 181 species representing diverse taxa, life histories, biomes, and IUCN Red List categories (extinction risk). Based on the observed distribution of species' recovery scores, we propose the following species recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate. Fifty-nine percent of tested species were considered largely or critically depleted. Although there was a negative relationship between extinction risk and species recovery score, variation was considerable. Some species in lower risk categories were assessed as farther from recovery than those at higher risk. This emphasizes that species recovery is conceptually different from extinction risk and reinforces the utility of the IUCN Green Status of Species to more fully understand species conservation status. Although extinction risk did not predict conservation legacy, conservation dependence, or conservation gain, it was positively correlated with recovery potential. Only 1.7% of tested species were categorized as zero across all 4 of these conservation impact metrics, indicating that conservation has, or will, play a role in improving or maintaining species status for the vast majority of these species. Based on our results, we devised an updated assessment framework that introduces the option of using a dynamic baseline to assess future impacts of conservation over the short term to avoid misleading results which were generated in a small number of cases, and redefines short term as 10 years to better align with conservation planning. These changes are reflected in the IUCN Green Status of Species Standard

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM