Daily Hours Research Articles

Physical Education Classes with different durations, and their contribution to Daily Physical Activity Recommendations of Adolescents in Porto, Portugal

Objective: For many adolescents, physical education classes (PE) provide the most relevant opportunity to be engaged in physical activity (PA). Although the evidence suggested low levels of PA in PE few studies have focused their investigation on the contribution of PA performed during PE to daily PA. So, the purpose of this study was to analyze PA levels of adolescents in Porto, Portugal during daily school hours when they attended PE (PED) with 45 min of duration (PED45), PE with 90 min of duration (PED90), school days without PE (NPED) and weekend days (WD). Methods: This study was conducted in four Portuguese public schools with 441 students (253 girls) volunteers, aged between 10 to 18 years (14.31 ± 2.70). PA was assessed using an Actigraph accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Independent and general linear model repeated measures were used to assess differences between PA according to NPED, PED45, PED90 and WD. A logistic regression was used to investigate the contribution of PE to the compliance of adolescents’ daily PA recommendations. Results: PED45 contributed, on average, 16.9% for the daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and PED90 accounted for 32.2%. All students engaged in more MVPA on PED than NPED or WD (p<0.05). PE classes were associated with higher odds to accomplished the recommended 60 min of daily MVPA (OR = 2.66, 95% CI = 2.01-3.53). Conclusion: This study suggested that PE increased the daily MVPA levels and played a considerable role in providing PA to accomplish PA guidelines. Keywords: Accelerometer, Physical Activity; Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity; Physical Education; Adolescents.

Seasonal and Circadian Variation of Non-Volatile Metabolites in Lippia alba Leaves.

The present study describes the seasonal and circadian variations of the major compounds from Lippia alba leaves. SPSS was used to identify, quantify, and associate the variations in the secondary metabolites of this species through HPLC/DAD analysis of the leaves hydroethanolic extracts of six selected L. alba specimens. For the circadian study, the samples were collected at four different daily hours in each year's season. For the seasonal study, the samples were collected monthly from the same individuals for two consecutive years (2018 and 2019). These samples were analyzed and quantified using a validated HPLC method for flavonoids, iridoids, and phenyl ethanoid glycoside. Mussaenoside, acteoside, and tricin-7-O-diglucuronide showed a moderate positive correlation between their biosynthesis and the precipitation index, while epi-loganin had a moderate negative correlation. Acteoside showed a moderate positive correlation between the minimum registered temperature and its production. Compared with previous studies, a drastic reduction (about 95 %) in the production of tricin-7-O-diglucuronide compared with previous study and this difference could be attributed to the plant's aging. Thus, the data demonstrated that lower temperatures and high rainfall could favor the production of the major L. alba active compounds (acteoside and tricin-7-O-diglucuronide) and that older plants harm their production.

Innovative approaches for accurate ozone prediction and health risk analysis in South Korea: The combined effectiveness of deep learning and AirQ+

Short-term exposure to ground-level ozone (O3) poses significant health risks, particularly respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and mortality. This study addresses the pressing need for accurate O3 forecasting to mitigate these risks, focusing on South Korea. We introduce Deep Bias Correction (Deep-BC), a novel framework leveraging Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), to refine hourly O3 forecasts from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Our approach involves training Deep-BC using data from 2016 to 2019, including CMAQ's 72-hour O3 forecasts, 31 meteorological variables from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, and previous days' station measurements of 6 air pollutants. Deep-BC significantly outperforms CMAQ in 2021, reducing biases in O3 forecasts. Furthermore, we utilize Deep-BC's daily maximum 8-hour average O3 (MDA8 O3) forecasts as input for the AirQ+ model to assess O3's potential impact on mortality across seven major provinces of South Korea: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Daejeon, Ulsan, and Sejong. Short-term O3 exposure is associated with 0.40 % to 0.48 % of natural cause and respiratory deaths and 0.67 % to 0.81 % of cardiovascular deaths. Gender-specific analysis reveals higher mortality rates among men, particularly from respiratory causes. Our findings underscore the critical need for region-specific interventions to address air pollution's detrimental effects on public health in South Korea. By providing improved O3 predictions and quantifying its impact on mortality, this research offers valuable insights for formulating targeted strategies to mitigate air pollution's adverse effects. Moreover, we highlight the urgency of proactive measures in health policies, emphasizing the significance of accurate forecasting and effective interventions to safeguard public health from the deleterious effects of air pollution.

Exploring the path to job satisfaction among women in the Middle East: a contextual perspective

Purpose This study aims to explore the factors that influence job satisfaction among women in Jordan and contribute to the growing interest in women’s workplace happiness in the context of the Middle East. Design/methodology/approach The authors used an explanatory sequential mixed-method approach. During the first phase, 250 female respondents were surveyed from the private sector in Jordan. The authors analyzed the impact of various employment-related attributes and other variables, including educational level, position, work experience, daily work hours, income level, relationships with colleagues and supervisors and internal career opportunities on job satisfaction. During the second stage, the authors interviewed 23 supervisor female respondents and conducted a thematic analysis to explore in more depth the determinants of job satisfaction of females working in the private sector in Jordan. Findings The quantitative findings of this study indicate that job satisfaction is positively influenced by education level and income, while notably, it was negatively impacted by work experience and daily work hours. Relationships with colleagues and supervisors, as well as internal career opportunities, positively affect job satisfaction. The qualitative findings of the study indicate that positive corporate culture, developing subordinates, financial independence, self-worthiness, work-life balance, internal career opportunities and factors that spillover from the personal life domain contributed highly to job satisfaction. Practical implications The findings of this study can help employers in gaining a deeper understanding of the needs and behaviors of female workers in the Middle East, potentially resulting in decreased job turnover and heightened productivity. Originality/value This study offers valuable insights into the cultural dynamics at play and sheds light on the psychology of the Arab female workforce. Given the limited research on job satisfaction among women in the Middle East and the Arab world, this study holds significant importance for practitioners.

The Relationship Between the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Insomnia Severity and Sleep Duration in Academicians

Introduction: Academicians, who frequently spend long hours in front of computer screens, may have lifestyles and sleep habits that differ from those of other professional groups and could entail a higher risk of diabetes. Aim: This study aimed to ascertain the association between insomnia severity, sleep duration among academicians, and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 125 individuals working as academicians at a state university between January and March 2020. Data collection tools included a Survey form, the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score, and the Insomnia Severity Index. Data analysis involved percentages, means, standard deviations, Pearson correlation, and regression tests. Results: Among the academicians, 23.2% were at moderate risk and 12.0% were at high risk of diabetes. Additionally, 39.2% were below the insomnia threshold. Significant positive correlations were found between the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score and variables such as Insomnia Severity Index, age, body mass index, waist circumference, and daily sleep hours; a significant negative correlation was noted with daily sleep hours (p < 0.05). Regression analysis revealed a significant negative relationship between daily sleep hours and type 2 diabetes Risk (β = -1.25, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results demonstrated a clear and significant link between the severity of sleep deprivation, sleep duration, and diabetes risk among academicians. Therefore, adopting preventive strategies that emphasize lifestyle changes, including adequate sleep, is crucial for preventing diabetes development among academicians

Physical activity cut-points for older adults using the Zio XT onboard accelerometer

IntroductionThe Zio® XT continuous ambulatory electrocardiographic monitor (Zio) contains an accelerometer that can help quantify an individual’s physical activity in the free-living environment.Purpose(1) To estimate activity cut-points to estimate daily time spent performing very light, light, or moderate to vigorous physical activity (VLIPA, LIPA, MVPA) for the Zio accelerometer. (2) To describe how Zio’s 24-h wear protocol affects estimates of daily MVPA relative to a waist-worn accelerometer’s waking-wear protocol.MethodsThree hundred eighty one participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study wore a waist-mounted ActiGraph GT3X (except while sleeping or water-based activities) and a Zio (24-h) simultaneously for three to seven days. For each person-minute, physical activity was summarized as the Mean Amplitude Deviation (MAD) for the Zio and Vector Magnitude Counts (VMC) for the GT3X. Cut points previously used in ARIC were mapped from GT3X VMC to Zio MAD using a conditional two-sample quantile–quantile approach.ResultsEvenson VMC cut-points for the GT3X (VLIPA≥76, LIPA≥903, MVPA≥2075 counts/min) were mapped to MAD for Zio (9.04, 28.2, and 58.1 mili-g). Daily hours spent in each intensity category were each strongly correlated (ICC > 0.7) between summaries produced by Zio and GT3X when restricting estimates to overlapping wear time. Zio and GT3X-estimated MVPA had high agreement (ICC = 0.77) when using device-specific wear time, but Zio measured one hour more of daily LIPA and VLIPA (95% CI = 0.83, 1.07 hrs/day).ConclusionsWe recommend the use of our cut-points for clinical research with Zio accelerometry in populations of older adults.

A novel economic and technical dispatch model for household photovoltaic system considering energy storage system in “Duhok” City/Iraq as a case study

Photovoltaic (PV) systems harnessing solar power to generate electricity have gained widespread adoption worldwide due to clean innovations. The geographic position of the Kurdistan region, north of Iraq, is very favourable for the photovoltaic power generation system. In Duhok City, the average daily hours of sunshine per year are 8.5 h; this is a good point, which makes installing photovoltaic systems more interesting because the performance of PV systems depends mainly on solar radiation. This study analyses the design of a PV system that supplies electricity to households in Duhok City during the period when there is no general electricity considering the economic and technical dispatch aspects. The system is to be designed to power the household for 10 h (Grid-connected PV system) since it is assumed that the general electricity supply only lasts for 10 h per day. The system will be an alternative source of electricity to the local generators. The full design of the proposed system is implemented, so that the data on the electrical load and site radiations of a specific household at the site under consideration are collected during the design stages. Further, the technician's and economic evaluations are considered as well during each step of analysis and selection for system components. The cost estimate was based on the following data: the electrical load of the house is 6239.1 Wh/day, the electricity cost is $0.005 per Wh and the total investment amount is $3475. The ultimate outcomes, when juxtaposed with the local expenses of diesel generators and PV solar systems, indicate that within 4.5 years, PV solar systems will recoup their initial costs, providing a clean and noise-free energy source thereafter.

Depressive Symptoms among Psychiatric Nurses in a Hospital: An Analytical Research.

Psychiatric nurses are vulnerable to the menace of negative emotions due to the nature of their work and the closed environment in which they work. In this study, we aimed to investigate the incidence and influencing factors of depression among psychiatric nurses. A cross-sectional survey method was adopted to investigate 64 nurses working in the psychiatric department of a hospital from June 2022 to June 2023. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) questionnaire was administered to all included respondents, who were divided into depressed group (>4 points) and non-depressed group (≤4 points) according to the BDI scores. General sociological and disease-related characteristics of these two groups were measured, and items with significant differences were analyzed by logistic regression to derive factors that have an impact on the occurrence of depression among psychiatric nurses. Twelve psychiatric nurses in the surveyed hospital exhibited signs of depressive symptoms, with a rate of 18.75%. The univariate analysis unveiled differences between the depressed group and the non-depressed group in terms of daily sleep time, weekly working hours, professional title, working pressure, physical exercise, length of service, and physical condition. Further analysis through logistic regression revealed that daily sleep time, weekly working hours, and physical condition were factors affecting the occurrence of depression among psychiatric nurses. The vulnerability of psychiatric nurses to depression, which are potentially influenced by daily sleep hours, weekly working hours, and physical condition, deserves clinical attention so that countermeasures can be developed for early intervention.

Suicide and depressive symptoms possible correlates among a sample of Egyptian physicians: observational cross-sectional study (online survey)

BackgroundCompared to other occupations, physicians are more susceptible to depression and suicide. Suicide among physicians in some countries reached up to 1.5- to threefold higher than the general population. However, this rate was not homogenous in all countries. Most of the Egyptian studies were related to the stressful pandemic event, but the actual prevalence of depression among physicians is still under research. To the best of the researcher's knowledge, no other study has been conducted to evaluate the risk of suicide among Egyptian physicians.AimThe study aimed to screen for depressive symptoms and suicide among Egyptian physicians and to investigate the correlates associated with suicide ideations.MethodsThis cross-sectional survey included Egyptian physicians recruited online by Google Forms. Depressive symptoms were screened using the Beck Depression Scale (BDI-II), while suicidal ideas were assessed using the Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS). ResultsSix hundred sixty Egyptian physicians completed the survey following a two-week pilot study between January 10 and July 16, 2023. The average age was 39.1 years, and 71.4% were married. 49.1% were medical specialists. The median daily working hours were eight, and 27.7% of the physicians attended night shifts. 22.3% had a psychiatric illness, and 34.3% had a chronic disease. Younger and single physicians of both sexes were more prone to suicide risk (p-value = 0.019 and 0.021, respectively). Those with psychiatric or chronic medical disorders had a higher suicidal risk (p-values < 0.001 and 0.004, respectively). Physicians with fewer academic degrees and those who work longer hours or night shifts had more depressive symptoms (p-values < 0.001 and 0.009, respectively). The risk of depression and suicide is almost the same in all medical specialties. The SIDAS suicide score and the Beck depression score revealed a statistically significant association (r = 0.288, p-value < 0.001).ConclusionSuicide risk is higher among younger, single physicians of both sexes, as well as those with psychiatric or chronic medical disorders. More depressive symptoms are seen in physicians who have more extended hours or night shifts and who have fewer academic degrees. Almost all medical specialties carry the same risk of depression and suicide. Longitudinal research is recommended for regular follow-up of suicidal thoughts and depressive symptoms.

Stress and occupational burnout levels among Palestinian dentists, and associated factors: A cross-sectional study in 2023

IntroductionStress and burnout rank among the foremost dentistry-related concerns. Understanding stress and burnout among Palestinian dentists is crucial for developing targeted interventions and support systems. The study aimed to assess stress levels among dentists in Palestine, identify factors contributing to stress, and determine the relationship between stress and burnout in this professional group. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted, employing a self-administered questionnaire to gather data from 271 dentists from March to June 2023. The Maslach burnout inventory was utilized to measure burnout across emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment dimensions, while the 10-item perceived stress scale was employed to measure stress levels. ResultsThe findings revealed that 81% of Palestinian dentists reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress. Emotional exhaustion was a prominent aspect of burnout, with 48% of participants reporting high levels. The multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrated a significant association between stress scores and female participants (p = 0.001), daily sleeping hours (p = 0.016), as well as emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment burnout subscales (p ≤ 0.001 for both). ConclusionThe study revealed high-stress levels among Palestinian dentists, which were associated with sex and daily sleep hours. Furthermore, burnout was prevalent among dentists, particularly in terms of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment, which were strongly associated with increased stress levels. The results underscore the need for targeted interventions and support mechanisms tailored to factors facing dentists, especially among females and those who receive inadequate sleep. The relationship between burnout and stress levels highlights the intricate connection between these phenomena.

Investigation of the energetic and exergetic performance of hybrid rotary desiccant-vapor compression cooling systems using different refrigerants

In this study, a desiccant-based hybrid cooling system supported by a vapor compression system and a heat recovery unit (rotary heat wheel) was analyzed from energetic and exergetic perspectives during the daily working hours of an office building in Istanbul to meet the desired comfort conditions. We focus on the impact of different refrigerants; namely R32, R1234yf, R290, R134a, R600a, R245fa, and R717, on hybrid rotary desiccant-vapor compression systems. While the highest electricity consumption was obtained in the system using R1234yf, the lowest electricity consumption was achieved with R717. However, with the effectiveness of the desiccant wheel, the best results were obtained for R1234yf with those pertinent to R717 at the other extreme. Considering the total electricity consumption of the system, the highest energetic and exergetic performance parameters were achieved with the use of R717 as the refrigerant. Compared to R1234yf, the daily average energetic performance parameters obtained with R717 increased by 22.3 % for COPr, 21.8 % for COPel, and 4.7 % for COPth. Similarly, compared to R1234yf, the daily average exergetic performance parameters in R717 presented increases of 13.6 % for COPx,el, 7.5 % for COPx,th, and 8.1 % for ηx.

Association of Ambulance Diversion Policy on EMS Transport and Ambulance Patient Offload Times: A Comparison of Three Strategies

Objectives Despite limited supporting data, hospitals continue to apply ambulance diversion (AD). Thus, we examined the impact of three different diversion policies on diversion hours, transport time (TT; leaving scene to arrival at the hospital), and ambulance patient offload time (APOT; arrival at the hospital to patient turnover to hospital staff) for 9-1-1 transports in a 22-hospital county Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system. Methods This retrospective study evaluated metrics during periods of three AD policies, each 27 days long: hospital-initiated (Period 1), complete suspension (Period 2), and County EMS-initiated (Period 3). We described the median transports and diversion hours, and compared the daily average and daily 90th percentile TT and APOT during the three study periods. Results Over the study period, there were 50,992 total transports in the county; Period 3 had fewer median transports per day than Period 1 (581 vs 623, p < 0.001), while Period 2 was similar to Period 1 (606 vs 623, p = 0.108). Median average daily diversion hours decreased from 98.1 h during Period 1 to zero hours during both Periods 2 (p < 0.001) and 3 (p < 0.001). Median daily average TT decreased from 18.3 min in Period 1 to 16.9 min in both Periods 2 (p < 0.001) and 3 (p < 0.001). Median daily 90th percentile TT showed a similar decrease from 30.2 min in Period 1 to 27.5 in Period 2 (p < 0.001), and to 28.1 in Period 3 (p = 0.001). Median average daily APOT was 26.0 min during Period 1, similar at 25.2 min during Period 2 (p = 0.826) and decreased to 20.4 min during Period 3 (p < 0.001). The median daily 90th percentile APOT was 53.9 min during Period 1, similar at 51.7 min during Period 2 (p = 0.553) and decreased to 40.3 min during Period 3 (p < 0.001). Conclusions Compared to hospital-initiated AD, enacting no AD or County EMS-initiated AD was associated with less diversion time; TT and APOT showed statistically significant improvement without hospital-initiated AD but were of unclear clinical significance. EMS-initiated AD was difficult to interpret as that period had significantly fewer transports. EMS systems should consider these findings when developing strategies to improve TT, APOT, and system use of diversion.

Energy exchange optimization for a building-to-building grid: A non-cooperative game-theory method

The growing demand for green energy solutions has led to an increase in innovative distributed energy generation (DEG) architectures, such as buildings with photovoltaic (PV) generation and energy storage systems (ESS). In these distributed grids, buildings with renewable energy generation capabilities can exchange surplus energy to optimize overall system efficiency, increase their profit, and reduce reliance on the main grid. This paper proposes a game-theory method to optimize energy exchange within a building-to-building (B2B) grid. The proposed method formulates the energy exchange problem as a non-cooperative game, where each building owner aims to maximize their welfare by strategically determining their energy trading decisions, including pricing. The game-theory approach considers energy supply and demand, ESS capacity, and cost considerations, including ESS degradation cost. The proposed approach is demonstrated through simulations, showing significant improvements in cost savings compared to building-to-grid (B2Grid) alternatives. Three cases are compared: (1) B2B grid without considering ESS, (2) B2B grid with ESS without considering the ESS degradation cost (ideal case), and (3) B2B grid with ESS considering the ESS degradation cost. The results show the potential of the proposed game-theory in optimizing energy exchange within the B2B grid with daily and operational hours saving of 2.12−6.37 % and 4.57−165.93 %, respectively.

A machine learning model for estimating daily maximum 8-hour average ozone concentrations using OMI and MODIS products

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a criteria air pollutants posing risks to organisms, and is expected to enhance formation due to climate change. Satellite-based measurements provide a promising approach to estimate ground-level air pollution on large scale. However, most applications of satellite-based measurements have been used for fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, while only a few have been used for O3. In this study, we incorporated satellite-based measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and MOderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) with meteorological variables and land-use data to estimate daily maximum 8-h average O3 at 1-km resolution in Taiwan during 2004–2020. The random forest model was used to impute the missing values of the satellite-based measurements. Additionally, the XGBoost model was leveraged to estimate daily O3 concentrations. Model performance was evaluated by the ten-fold cross-validation (CV), temporal and spatial validation, and the results were reported as the coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE). Our results showed that the 10-fold CV, temporal validated, and spatial validated R2 (RMSE) of the XGBoost model were 0.82 (7.71 ppb), 0.63 (11.09 ppb), and 0.68 (10.27 ppb), respectively. Our model performance was better in central and southern Taiwan. The top ten important predictors were date (relative importance = 12.15%), temperature (10.77%), meridional wind (10.71%), relative humidity (9.60%), zonal wind (8.14%), UV radiation (8.07%), total precipitation (6.35%), surface pressure (5.34%), surface O3 volume mixing ratio (4.93%), and boundary layer height (4.69%). The spatial distribution of O3 estimates showed that daily maximum 8-h average O3 concentrations were higher in the suburban and mountainous areas near the central and southern Taiwan. This reveals that sensitive populations should still pay attention to the secondary pollutants even when outside the urban areas. The O3 estimates can be further leveraged to evaluate the short-term and long-term effects of O3 on human health.

An examination of the usefulness of a quantitative appraisal method in nursing human resource management in primary hospital operating rooms: An example of integrated collaborative scheduling.

In recent years, China medical and health services have made great development. However, the management of nursing human resources in operating room of primary hospitals still faces a series of challenges. In the nursing work of operating room, high-quality nursing human resource management is important for improving the efficiency of operating room and ensuring the safety of patients. From January 2022 to December 2022, comprehensive collaborative scheduling and quantitative scoring evaluation methods were carried out in our hospital, and relevant data were collected. The flexible scheduling combined quantitative scoring performance appraisal system and the traditional scheduling plus average distribution performance appraisal system were statistically analyzed and compared in terms of annual surgical cases, annual overtime hours, annual back work hours, annual compensatory rest hours, and average daily working hours. This study was based on 30 medical staff (27 females and 3 males) in the operating room of a primary hospital. The annual operation volume increased by 387 cases compared with before, and the attitudes of patients to the service attitude and preoperative waiting time were significantly improved, reaching more than 95%. In addition, in the survey of surgeons, it was found that their satisfaction with preoperative preparation and operation time was significantly higher than that of the traditional scheduling method, and reached more than 95%. In the survey of nursing staff, it was found that the satisfaction with the traditional scheduling method was about 80%, and the satisfaction directly reached 100% after the comprehensive collaborative scheduling system. Based on the above survey, the satisfaction of nurses, doctors and patients with the new comprehensive collaborative scheduling system has improved compared with before. After the implementation of the comprehensive collaborative scheduling system, the annual surgical volume has increased significantly, and the average daily working hours of nursing staff have decreased. Comprehensive collaborative scheduling is an effective method of nursing human resource management in operating room, which can effectively improve the work efficiency of nurses and the satisfaction of patients, doctors and nurses. In practice, this method needs to be continuously explored and refined to adapt to different application scenarios and requirements.

Quantifying the contributions of meteorology, emissions, and transport to ground-level ozone in the Pearl River Delta, China

Ozone pollution presents a growing air quality threat in urban agglomerations in China. It remains challenge to distinguish the roles of emissions of precursors, chemical production and transportations in shaping the ground-level ozone trends, largely due to complicated interactions among these 3 major processes. This study elucidates the formation factors of ozone pollution and categorizes them into local emissions (anthropogenic and biogenic emissions), transport (precursor transport and direct transport from various regions), and meteorology. Particularly, we attribute meteorology, which affects biogenic emissions and chemical formation as well as transportation, to a perturbation term with fluctuating ranges. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was utilized to implement this framework, using the Pearl River Delta region as a case study, to simulate a severe ozone pollution episode in autumn 2019 that affected the entire country. Our findings demonstrate that the average impact of meteorological conditions changed consistently with the variation of ozone pollution levels, indicating that meteorological conditions can exert significant control over the degree of ozone pollution. As the maximum daily 8-hour average (MDA8) ozone concentrations increased from 20 % below to 30 % above the National Ambient Air Quality Standard II, contributions from emissions and precursor transport were enhanced. Concurrently, direct transport within Guangdong province rose from 13.8 % to 22.7 %, underscoring the importance of regional joint prevention and control measures under adverse weather conditions. Regarding biogenic emissions and precursor transport that cannot be directly controlled, we found that their contributions were generally greater in urban areas with high nitrogen oxides (NOx) levels, primarily due to the stronger atmospheric oxidation capacity facilitating ozone formation. Our results indicate that not only local anthropogenic emissions can be controlled in urban areas, but also the impacts of local biogenic emissions and precursor transport can be potentially regulated through reducing atmospheric oxidation capacity.

Striking a Balance by Exploring the Impact of Duty Time on Life Harmony in Saudi Arabia's Manufacturing Sector

This study aimed to analyze the impact of duty time on the employees’ life harmony in the Saudi Manufacturing Sector. Having a proper working time policy is vital to attract and retain talented individuals. However, the unfavorable increase in duty time creates a significant challenge to individual and family in this sector. In particular, the researcher observed the impact of duty time on employees’ family needs and how it relates to the employee’s satisfaction. In this context, quantitative and qualitative analyses approaches were used to address the research objectives. Accordingly, 578 employees from this sector had participated in the survey questionnaires. Moreover, 30 employees working in panel boards manufacturing factory were purposely selected to participate in face-to-face interviews for the qualitative part. Findings showed that majority of the participants believed that duty time and working hours policy are significantly impact their ability to satisfy their family needs. The increase in duty time is responsible for nearly 13.12 percent of the negative impact on employees’ life harmony. Callously, increasing one-hour in daily working hours causes a negative impact on employee life harmony could reach to three hours daily which is roughly 37 percent from the employee’s income. Moreover, the Company revenue might be impacted negatively by 11.152 percent. However, findings highlight the importance of balancing employee well-being with productivity and financial considerations within organizations.

Characterizing residential sector load curves from smart meter datasets

Understanding how and when residential electricity is used throughout the day is integral to the successful implementation of potential residential demand management strategies. Our analysis characterizes the daily hourly load profiles of approximately 160,000 residential electricity customers across the Southern California Edison (SCE) service area during the period spanning 2015 to 2016 and 2018 to 2019 across weekends, weekdays, seasons, and climate zones. We find that total daily electricity usage was highest in the hottest months of the year compared to milder months, particularly for households located in the hottest climate zones. The most energy-consumptive hours occurred during the mid-afternoon during the hottest months, in contrast to early evening high consumption in cooler months. We find that customers with average daily consumption at or above the 80th percentile cumulatively consume over 40% of electricity during the hottest months of the year residential load, while the bottom half of customers cumulatively consume <25% of the total residential load. The disparities in electricity usage across SCE households are higher in the mid-day, especially in milder months across all regions, and in mild climate zones compared to hotter climate zones since loads are not as dependent on high HVAC loads.

High-resolution climate data reveal an increasing risk of warming-driven activity restriction for diurnal and nocturnal lizards.

Widespread species experience a variety of climates across their distribution, which can structure their thermal tolerance, and ultimately, responses to climate change. For ectotherms, activity is highly dependent on temperature, its variability and availability of favourable microclimates. Thermal exposure and tolerance may be structured by the availability and heterogeneity of microclimates for species living along temperature and/or precipitation gradients - but patterns and mechanisms underlying such gradients are poorly understood. We measured critical thermal limits (CTmax and CTmin) for five populations of two sympatric lizard species, a nocturnal gecko (Chondrodactylus bibronii) and a diurnal skink (Trachylepis variegata) and recorded hourly thermal variation for a year in three types of microclimate relevant to the activity of lizards (crevice, full sun and partial shade) for six sites across a precipitation gradient. Using a combination of physiological and modelling approaches, we derived warming tolerance for the present and the end of the century. In the present climate, we found an overall wider thermal tolerance for the nocturnal species relative to the diurnal species, and no variation in CTmax but variable CTmin along the precipitation gradient for both species. However, warming tolerances varied significantly over the course of the day, across months and microhabitats. The diurnal skink was most restricted in its daily activity in the three driest sites with up to six daily hours of restricted activity in the open (i.e. outside refugia) during the summer months, while the impacts for the nocturnal gecko were less severe, due to its higher CTmax and night activity. With climate change, lizards will experience more months where activity is restricted and increased exposure to high temperatures even within the more sheltered microhabitats. Together our results highlight the importance of considering the relevant spatiotemporal scale and habitat for understanding the thermal exposure of diurnal and nocturnal species.

Benefits of sleep on reduction of injury and illness in Division I female soccer players

Injuries in soccer athletes continues to rise and there is a cause for concern. Collegiate athletes have physically demanding workloads and struggle to sleep an adequate amount each night. A potential association is how sleep could play a role in an athletes’ injury. 24 NCAA DI women’s soccer athletes were utilized during the Fall 2019 season. Athletes self-reported their daily hours slept and the athletic trainer tracked and classified athletes’ injury and illness status: no-injury, medical attention injury, or time loss injury. K-mean clustering was utilized to classify the athletes into 3 groups: injury/illness-free group (n=12), mild-to-moderate injury/illness group (n=7), and heavy injury/illness group (n=5). Sleep was statistically significantly lower in the heavy-injury group than other groups and small effect sizes were detected (d31 = .282, p &lt; .001; d32 = .278, p &lt; .001). Based on the data, it appears hours slept plays a factor in female soccer athletes’ risk of injury.