Survey Of Conditions Research Articles

Occupational Characteristics and Health Status of Vietnamese Male Migrant Workers in the Republic of Korea

BackgroundThe objective of this study is to identify the working conditions and health status of Vietnamese male migrant workers in Republic of Korea, in comparison to the Korean general population. MethodsWe conducted our survey through the Migrant People Center, and we received completed questionnaires from 87 male Vietnamese migrant workers. The questionnaire employed was identical to those used in the Korean Working Conditions Survey and the 2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The collected data from the Vietnamese migrant workers was then compared with the Korean reference population using indirect age-standardization. ResultsVietnamese male workers demonstrated a higher prevalence of health problems including hearing problems (age-standardized prevalence ratio (aSPR) 13.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.07–20.4), skin problems (aSPR 13.49, 95% CI: 8.07–20.4), and low back pain (aSPR 8.40, 95% CI: 6.50–10.69). Elevated exposure to workplace hazards such as chemicals (aSPR 2.36, 95% CI: 1.51–3.51), organic solvents (aSPR 2.22, 95% CI: 1.44–3.28), handling of heavy objects (aSPR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.24–2.21), and high temperatures (aSPR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.46–2.57) was observed among them. Additionally, they faced a higher risk of no personal protective equipment (aSPR 2.53, 95% CI: 1.26–4.52) and a greater prevalence of unmet medical needs (aSPR 7.14, 95% CI: 4.74–10.32). ConclusionOur findings highlight the elevated workplace hazards, health problems, and unmet medical needs among Vietnamese male workers compared to the Korean reference population. These findings underscores the urgency for enhanced scrutiny over working conditions and protective equipment provision, coupled with efforts to improve healthcare accessibility and worker education.

Aridity and soil fertility, not species richness, interact to affect temporal stability of primary productivity along a natural gradient in northern China

There is mounting evidence from experimental studies that drought and nutrient enrichment can interact to impact the biodiversity and productivity of terrestrial ecosystems. Whether such interactive effect influences plant diversity and the temporal stability of community productivity of natural ecosystems is unknown. To fill this knowledge gap, we combined a field survey of plant diversity and soil conditions with remote sensing temporal estimates of primary productivity in grasslands along a natural gradient in northern China. We found that aridity and soil ammonium (NH4+‐N) interacted to influence temporal stability of NDVI. That is, the relationship between ammonium and temporal stability of NDVI shifted from positive to negative due to increased standard deviation of NDVI with increasing aridity. Species richness was not related to temporal stability because it influenced the mean and standard deviation of NDVI proportionally. As a result, soil fertility outweighed the contribution of species richness to temporal stability. Our study demonstrates the synergistic effect of aridity and soil fertility, but not species richness, on temporal stability along a large natural gradient. Predicting how environmental drivers affect diversity and the stable provisioning of ecosystem services in real‐world ecosystems therefore requires a better understanding of the complex interactions among environmental drivers.

A Comprehensive Evaluation Study for the Maintenance Management System of Roadways: A Review

Pavement infrastructure is essential and must be protected with limited resources. For decades, industrialized nations have used Pavement Management Systems (PMS) and pavement distress assessment to examine network and project-level pavement conditions. Pavement condition models can anticipate pavement degradation, schedule maintenance, and create multi-year rehabilitation plans based on historical data. Pavement condition surveys are done annually or biannually to calibrate pavement condition models and reduce network maintenance costs. This study highlights road system deficiencies to meet traffic demand, improper systematic methods of maintaining networks, budget constraints for decision makers, deficiencies in road geometrics, poor construction and maintenance practices, the need for proper planning and resource management, and improper planning. The technique comprises a theoretical element of PMS and a review of performance evaluation studies. A PMS lets users export data in an easy-to-understand manner, helping them manage their roadways better. Manual pavement distress surveys need certified raters.

Characteristics and Socio-Demographic Distribution of Precarious Employment Among Korean Wage Workers: A Proposition of Multidimensional Approach Using a Summative Score

IntroductionThere is a growing global interest in the issue of precarious employment. We aimed to analyze the characteristics and socio-demographic distribution of precarious employment using a summative score approach. MethodsTo operationalize precarious employment, we utilized data from the Korean Working Conditions Survey and focused on three distinct dimensions: employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and a lack of rights and protections. By constructing a summative scale ranging from -16 to 2, with lower scores indicating higher precariousness, we measured employment precariousness among Korean wage workers. To compare employment precariousness according to survey participant characteristics, we employed the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test. ResultsWe analyzed a weighted number of 38,432 workers. The overall sample showed a median (Q1, Q3) summative scale score of -3 (-6, -1). The median summative score was lower for women compared to men (men: -2; women: -5; p < 0.001), as well as for young or older workers compared to middle-aged workers (young: -4; middle-aged: -2; older: -5; p < 0.001). Similarly, workers with lower educational levels (middle school or below: -8; high school: -5; college or above: -2; p < 0.001) and non-white collar workers (blue collar: -5; service/sales worker: -6; white collar: -2; p < 0.001) experienced higher levels of employment precariousness. ConclusionOur findings indicate that certain vulnerable groups, such as women, young or older adults, workers with low educational attainment, and caregiving or low-skilled elementary workers, are disproportionately exposed to high employment precariousness. Active policy interventions are needed to improve the employment quality of vulnerable groups.

Cholera and COVID-19 pandemic prevention in multiple hotspot districts of Uganda: vaccine coverage, adverse events following immunization and WASH conditions survey

BackgroundBetween March, 2020 and December, 2021 due to cholera and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemics, there were 1,534 cholera cases with 14 deaths and 136,065 COVID-19 cases with 3,285 deaths reported respectively in Uganda. This study investigated mass vaccination campaigns for the prevention of the two pandemics namely: oral cholera vaccine (OCV) and COVID-19 vaccine coverage; adverse events following immunization (AEFI); barriers and enablers for the vaccine uptake and assessed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in the six cholera and COVID-19 hotspot districts of Uganda.MethodsA household survey was conducted between January and February, 2022 in the six cholera hotspot districts of Uganda which had recently conducted OCV mass vaccination campaigns and had ongoing COVID-19 mass vaccination campaigns. The survey randomly enrolled 900 households with 4,315 persons of whom 2,085 were above 18 years. Data were collected using a data entry application designed in KoBoToolbox and analysed using STATA version 14. Frequencies, percentages, odds ratios, means, confidence intervals and maps were generated and interpreted.ResultsThe OCV coverage for dose one and two were 85% (95% CI: 84.2—86.4) and 67% (95% CI: 65.6—68.4) respectively. Among the 4,315 OCV recipients, 2% reported mild AEFI, 0.16% reported moderate AEFI and none reported severe AEFI. The COVID-19 vaccination coverage for dose one and two were 69.8% (95% CI: 67.8–71.8) and 18.8% (95% CI: 17.1–20.5) respectively. Approximately, 23% (478/2,085) of COVID-19 vaccine recipient reported AEFI; most 94% were mild, 0.6% were moderate and 2 cases were severe. The commonest reason for missing COVID-19 vaccine was fear of the side effects. For most districts (5/6), sanitation (latrine/toilet) coverage were low at 7.4%—37.4%.ConclusionThere is high OCV coverage but low COVID-19 vaccine and sanitation coverage with high number of moderate cases of AEFI recorded due to COVID-19 vaccines. The low COVID-19 vaccine coverage could indicate vaccine hesitancy for COVID-19 vaccines. Furthermore, incorporation of WASH conditions assessment in the OCV coverage surveys is recommended for similar settings to generate data for better planning. However, more studies are required on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Relationship between insomnia and working from home among Korean domestic workers: results from the 5th Korean working condition survey

BackgroundSocial distancing has been increasingly implemented following the COVID-19 pandemic and more people have been working from home. Consequently, the screen time has increased, which can disrupt the natural sleep-wake cycle and delay sleep onset. Given that studies on the health of employees who work from home remain insufficient, particularly with respect to the risk of sleep disorders including insomnia, this study aimed to assess the relationship between working from home and insomnia among workers using data from the 5th Working Conditions Survey conducted in Korea.MethodsOf 30,108 wage workers, we enrolled 818 employees who worked from home and 4,090 employees who worked from the office, a 1:5 pair sample based on sex and occupational group. Personal and occupational characteristics, working from home, and insomnia were included in the analysis. Age, education, employment status, working years, working hours per week, work-life balance, self-perceived health, depression, and anxiety were all adjusted as potential confounding variables. Conditional logistic regression analysis was performed using working from home as an independent variable and insomnia as a dependent variable to determine the correlation between working from home and insomnia.ResultsWorking from home was associated with sleep onset latency disorder, OR = 3.23 (95% CI: 2.67–3.91), sleep maintenance disorder, OR = 3.67 (95% CI: 3.02–4.45), and non-restorative sleep, OR = 3.01 (95% CI: 2.46–3.67); working from home had a statistically significant relationship with all three types of insomnia.ConclusionsWithin the limits of the study, these findings can be used as a fundamental basis for the implementation of policies and guidelines to prevent insomnia in workers who work from home.

Occupant thermal comfort and indoor environmental conditions in Mies van der Rohe’s S. R. Crown Hall

ABSTRACT There is little empirical data in the published literature on occupant thermal comfort in buildings from the Modern Movement in architecture. We present a field survey of occupant thermal comfort and indoor environmental conditions in Mies van der Rohe’s modern S. R. Crown Hall (1956) on the campus of Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL. Surveys were deployed to 557 student participants on four separate days, including two days in the cooling season and two days in the heating season, to assess their perceptions of thermal comfort throughout the space. Indoor air temperature, relative humidity and mean radiant temperature were measured concurrently in several locations throughout the space. Occupants reported high levels of dissatisfaction with comfort in the space (percent dissatisfied ranging 37%–54%), with somewhat counterintuitive results for this building type. Overcooling was apparent during warm weather and a combination of both over- and under-heating occurred during cold weather, contrary to what was expected in this building with a high thermal transmittance enclosure. There was also high spatial variability in comfort responses and measured indoor environmental conditions. Findings highlight the need to develop contextual approaches to meeting occupant comfort needs in this building while preserving architectural aesthetics/intent.

Computer Vision-based Analysis of Buildings and Built Environments: A Systematic Review of Current Approaches

Analysing 88 sources published from 2011 to 2021, this article presents a first systematic review of the computer vision-based analysis of buildings and the built environment. Its aim is to assess the potential of this research for architectural studies and the implications of a shift to a cross-disciplinarity approach between architecture and computer science for research problems, aims, processes, and applications. To this end, the types of algorithms and data sources used in the reviewed studies are discussed in respect to architectural applications such as a building classification, detail classification, qualitative environmental analysis, building condition survey, and building value estimation. Based on this, current research gaps and trends are identified, with two main research aims emerging. First, studies that use or optimise computer vision methods to automate time-consuming, labour-intensive, or complex tasks when analysing architectural image data. Second, work that explores the methodological benefits of machine learning approaches to overcome limitations of conventional analysis to investigate new questions about the built environment by finding patterns and relationships among visual, statistical, and qualitative data. The growing body of research offers new methods to architectural and design studies, with the article identifying future challenges and directions of research.

Assessment of the technical condition of the Sukhumi Lighthouse, Abkhazia using passive seismic standing waves method

The results of a geophysical survey of the technical condition of the lighthouse are presented. The stress–strain state, the residual resource, the tension of the fastening cables, the fixation of piles in the ground (rigid/non-rigid), and the immersion depth of the historical study object, the Sukhumi Lighthouse built in 1861 were determined. The passive seismic standing method based on the extraction of the natural vibrations of the object from noise records, as well as the tapping method, based on the recording of a reflected seismic wave passing along the structure were used to solve the above problems.

FAMILY SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AT THE EARLY OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN INDONESIA

Families in Indonesia experienced changes and economic pressures in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is very important to know the full picture of family resilience in Indonesia, especially in the economic aspect. This study analyzes economic changes, coping strategies, and their effects on subjective family welfare at the pandemic's start. Data were collected through a Family Condition Survey, carried out specifically through online media, for 14 days in 34 provinces. The unit of analysis in this study is the family, that is married couples who have or do not have children, with a total sample of 20,680 respondents. This study conducted univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses using Cross Tabulation, Chi-Square Test and Binary Logistic Regression with Odds Ratio. The results of the study show that there are worsening economic changes, such as working conditions, finances and food adequacy. In this case, environmental factors are the family's socioeconomic and financial conditions (education, income, employment), which are still the main factors and significantly influence the subjective well-being of the family. However, the subjective welfare of families in Indonesia is still quite good; most families are still happy, remain grateful, and communicate well. Coping strategies in managing family finances, such as saving and using savings, are the most widely used. However, these efforts are constrained by low family income and increased additional needs during the pandemic. There is a need for further research that can fully describe post-pandemic family economic coping strategies in the last 12 months.

Pendampingan Branding Product Tahu, Tempe, Toge dan Digital Marketing di Desa Gunung Kendang

the purpose of this service is to provide knowledge about Product Branding and Marketing Digitalization of Tofu, Tempe Toge Products to the Gunung Kendang Community. So far, product packaging has not provided maximum hygiene and marketing, especially in the previous product packaging which still used plastic bags which were not good for health. So that assistance is needed for development in product packaging, and digitalization of marketing in an effort to increase the economy and product marketing. The methods for implementing the community partnership program service activities include; Methods of interviews, questionnaires, site condition surveys and area analysis, communication with the head of the RT Gunung Kendang and discussions with people who produce Toge, Tempe and Toge in identifying needs and supporting facilities in the production process, and determining digital marketing concepts. Through this mentoring activity produced several achievements, namely; Tofu, tempe and bean sprout business actors in Gunung Kendang Village can provide products with more attractive packaging designs, are more durable and more hygienic.&#x0D; &#x0D;

Analysis of the Damage Level of the Road Pavement Surface with the Surface Distress Index (SDI) Method as a Basis for Road Maintenance

Pavement is the main structure of road construction where the pavement management system is required to determine the condition of the road pavement structure. Factors that can affect road pavements are weather, traffic, construction implementation, pavement design, and maintenance. Each layer of pavement has a design life and with increasing pavement design life, the road condition will gradually decrease until it reaches a level that must be repaired. The research was carried out by observing the condition of the damaged road pavement, using the Surface Distress Index (SDI) method, based on the SDM 03/RCS guideline regarding the 2011 road condition survey. In this study, a Surface Distress Index (SDI) value of 5.25 was obtained for Jalan Bilo-Tambun Tolitoli Regency. From the value of road conditions based on the SDI criteria, it was found that the road conditions were in good condition and the recommendation for handling the road was to receive routine maintenance

Maternal Employment and Child Malnutrition in Ecuador.

This paper estimates the causal impact of maternal employment on childhood malnutrition status in Ecuador to understand the trade-off between the time mothers devote to work and the time they dedicate to child-caring activities. We use the instrumental variables (IV) approach and exogenous cantonal variation in maternal labor market conditions to account for the potential endogeneity of mothers' employment. The analysis employs the Ecuadorian National Health and Nutrition Survey 2018 and the Living Conditions Survey 2014. The IV estimations indicate that maternal employment increases the probability of having stunted children by between 4.2 and 18.1 percent, while no significant effect is found in the case of children suffering from wasting, being underweight, or being overweight. The effect of maternal employment on stunting is stronger among mothers with high education and living in high-income households. Inconclusive effects of mothers' overweight status are reported. The results are robust to several robustness checks. Overall, our findings suggest that the additional income that a working mother may obtain (the income effect) does not offset the loss of time available for direct childcare (the time constraint) in terms of child health status, and this effect is even more apparent for more affluent and more educated mothers. Government interventions, including effective conditional cash transfers and/or in-kind family policies, intended to reduce the cost of raising children among vulnerable families appear to be aligned with our findings.

Metrological assessment of a robotic total station for use in post-earthquake emergency conditions

Abstract. The paper provides synthetic indications regarding the measuring performances of procedures for using a robotic total station (RTS) in emergency situations, such as the survey of the structural conditions of buildings and the assessment of the safety level for rescue operations after the occurrence of an earthquake. Particular attention is paid to operative aspects that could impact on the performance of the system in this situation; specifically considered is the effect of the layout of the measurement setup and of the number of monitoring points, depending on the geometry of the site and of the considered buildings, because the criticality of emergency conditions imposes geometrical solutions which are far from having optimal solutions. The analysis is carried out with reference to two different buildings, which have different characteristics from the point of view of height and distance from the instrument, and that implies different geometrical constraints for the instrument during the acquisition of the monitoring points. The methodology allows the evaluation of the repeatability, reproducibility, and detection limit of a RTS, in field conditions, referring to a 1-year observation period, with reference to different quantities, like positions of the monitoring points and the inclination of walls and façades. In particular, the analysis of the geometrical characteristics of reduced configurations of the monitoring points has highlighted interesting aspects in view of defining a simplified procedure, which is also suitable for speeding up the acquisition of reliable data in emergency conditions.

Estimating the Number of Unemployed Months for Individuals in Turkey with the Poisson and Negative Binomial Regression Models

Unemployment is one of the greatest economic and social problems in Turkey, as well as it is in many other countries in the world. Unemployment is often explained by macroeconomic factors. However, demographic and individual characteristics also have an effect on the unemployment duration of individuals, in addition to the macroeconomic factors. The present study aims to find the factors that have an effect on the duration of unemployment of individuals in Turkey with count data regression models. Therefore, the present study examined Poisson Regression (PR) and Negative Binomial Regression (NBR) models, which are used in cases that the dependent variable is count data. The study also aims to determine the model with the best fit to the dataset among the estimated models. In the study, the number of months in which individuals were unemployed was modeled, using the data obtained from the Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC) micro dataset of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) in 2019. 62713 people aged 15 and over participated in the SILC, of which 5889 reported that they were unemployed for one month or more. A model with the best fit and with the independent variables of marital status, education status, and general health status was determined among the seven models determined by the forward selection method. It has been determined that the model that best fits the dataset among the predicted models is the NBR model according to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).&#x0D; Key Words: Count data, Poisson Regression Model, Negative Binomial Regression Model&#x0D; JEL Classification: C10, C46, D30

Exploring the employment determinants of job insecurity in the French working population: Evidence from national survey data.

Studies are lacking on the employment determinants of job insecurity, that may be helpful to determine highly exposed groups and to assess the feasibility of constructing job-exposure matrices (JEMs) for this occupational exposure. The objectives were to explore the employment determinants of job insecurity in a nationally representative sample of the French working population. The study was based on the cross-sectional data of the 2013 national French working conditions survey including a sample of 28,293 employees, 12,283 men and 16,010 women. Job insecurity was assessed using one single item related to the fear of job loss in the next 12 months. Gender, age, and educational level were studied as well as the following employment variables: temporary/permanent work contract, full/part time work, job seniority, occupation, economic activity of the company, public/private sector, and company size. The associations with job insecurity were studied using bivariate and multivariate analyses. One quarter of the study sample was exposed to job insecurity, without any difference between genders. Lower age and lower educational levels were associated with job insecurity. Employees who had a temporary work contract, lower job seniority, who were working in low-skilled occupational groups, in manufacturing (for both genders) and construction (among men), and in the private sector had a higher prevalence of exposure to job insecurity. The two major employment variables associated with job insecurity were temporary work contract (prevalence ratios>2) and private sector (prevalence ratios>1.4) for the whole sample and for both men and women. Our findings suggested that intervention/prevention measures could be oriented towards specific highly exposed groups of the working population, especially those exposed to temporary work contract and/or working in the private sector. Our study also underlined that constructing JEMs for job insecurity may be possible and could be a useful tool for large-scale occupational health studies.

Does employment status matter for job quality? A cross-national perspective.

Dual labour market theory raises questions about the relationship between non-standard employment and job quality. While scattered empirical evidence exists, there is a paucity of systematic evidence on the relationship between workers' employment status and job quality. The authors investigated the relation between workers' employment status (e.g., open-ended, long- and short-term fixed contracts, economically dependent and independent solo self-employment, and self-employment with employees) and important dimensions of job quality (JQ) (e.g., employment prospects, physical work environment, skills and discretion, and working times quality). Cross-national variation in that relation and causes of that variation (e.g., country-level unemployment rate and labour market efficiency) were also investigated. Hierarchical regression modelling was applied using a sample of 34,094 workers from the European Working Conditions Survey 2015. The study highlighted a negative association between fixed-term contracts and JQ. For self-employed workers (except economically dependent self-employed workers) a generally positive association was observed. In this study, also positive associations were found between labour market efficiency at the country-level and some JQ indicators. National unemployment rates were negatively associated to most JQ indicators. Non-standard employment contracts exhibited poorer job quality than open-ended contracts. Stronger labour market organization centred around indicators of both flexibility and equity related to more beneficial job quality for all employment statuses, thereby promoting more labour market inclusivity.

The spatial and economic relationship between labour informality and homicides in Cali, Colombia

AbstractMotivationIn the analysis of the relationship between the labour market and crime, the variable that comes from the labour market is generally the unemployment rate. However, there are labour market characteristics that are more significant than unemployment, such as labour informality, in the context of violent crime in low‐income and middle‐income countries.PurposeThis article aims to estimate the spatial and economic relationship between homicides and labour informality by neighbourhood in Cali, the city with the highest homicide rate currently and historically in Colombia.Methods and approachUsing administrative data and a unique survey of formal and informal labour market conditions, we estimate a Spatial Durbin Model to capture the spatial endogeneity of the relationship between homicides and the labour market in the city's neighbourhoods.FindingsThe main results show evidence of the positive spatial and economic relationship between labour informality and homicides in the city's neighbourhoods. In addition, the bulk of this effect occurs in some hillside settlement neighbourhoods with characteristics associated with acute labour informality.Policy implicationsWe propose a social and economic development programme to improve the conditions of the informal labour market and therefore achieve a reduction in homicides in specific areas, such as city hot spots found in our spatial results.

Child Poverty in Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia: The Role of Poverty Persistence and Social Transfers

ABSTRACT We use a dynamic correlated random effects probit model with endogenous initial conditions for three poverty measures to assess child poverty persistence after controlling for structural household characteristics and economic variables. The empirical analysis is based on the 2015–2018 longitudinal sample of the Survey of Income and Living Conditions for Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Results show strong poverty persistence regardless of poverty measure, with much stronger effects observed for Croatia and Serbia than for Slovenia. Social transfers have more than twice the capacity to lift children out of poverty in Slovenia compared to the other two countries.

Convergence in working conditions

Purpose This paper aims to explore the existence of convergence in non-monetary working conditions in Europe resorting to widely used definitions of this phenomenon and composite indexes of job quality. Design/methodology/approach The analysis relies on composite indexes, widely used in previous literature, for 207 regions in six different areas of job quality drawing on the microdata of the European Working Conditions Survey from 1995 to 2015. This study assesses the occurrence of convergence both in terms of dispersion of job quality outcomes (sigma-convergence) and, especially, regarding the existence of a catch-up process (beta-convergence). Findings This study finds evidence of both types of convergences in all the domains, with the exception of skills and discretion and prospects dimensions according to the sigma-convergence approach. The results do not suggest substantial differences between the 15 European Union countries before the 2004 enlargement and the new Member States and are robust to a wide range of changes in the sample and different econometric specifications. Originality/value Tot he best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first rigorous and systematic attempt of addressing the existence of convergence in non-monetary working conditions, applying formal and widely accepted definitions of this phenomenon. It contributes to our knowledge on this topic providing strong evidence of convergence in job quality. Those results can be of interest for scholars in Economics and other Social Sciences.