The effect of urban development on local thermal climate is widely documented in scientific literature. Observations of urban–rural air temperature differences—or urban heat islands (UHIs)—have been ...reported for cities and regions worldwide, often with local field sites that are extremely diverse in their physical and climatological characteristics. These sites are usually described only as “urban” or “rural,” leaving much uncertainty about the actual exposure and land cover of the sites. To address the inadequacies of urban–rural description, the “local climate zone” (LCZ) classification system has been developed. The LCZ system comprises 17 zone types at the local scale (10² to 10⁴ m). Each type is unique in its combination of surface structure, cover, and human activity. Classification of sites into appropriate LCZs requires basic metadata and surface characterization. The zone definitions provide a standard framework for reporting and comparing field sites and their temperature observations. The LCZ system is designed primarily for urban heat island researchers, but it has derivative uses for city planners, landscape ecologists, and global climate change investigators.
The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where houses and wildland vegetation meet or intermingle, and where wildfire problems are most pronounced. Here we report that the WUI in the United ...States grew rapidly from 1990 to 2010 in terms of both number of new houses (from 30.8 to 43.4 million; 41% growth) and land area (from 581,000 to 770,000 km²; 33% growth), making it the fastest-growing land use type in the conterminous United States. The vast majority of new WUI areas were the result of new housing (97%), not related to an increase in wildland vegetation. Within the perimeter of recent wildfires (1990–2015), there were 286,000 houses in 2010, compared with 177,000 in 1990. Furthermore, WUI growth often results in more wildfire ignitions, putting more lives and houses at risk. Wildfire problems will not abate if recent housing growth trends continue.
Flow and work engagement are related concepts, and both are commonly applied and studied in the workplace. This review makes an attempt to define the potential differences and relationships between ...flow and engagement in the workplace. Based on a systematic review of the extant positive interventions designed to enhance flow and work engagement, meaningful differences between flow and work engagement interventions were found in terms of the mechanisms of the interventions, the types of interventions, and the intervention approach (i.e. personal vs. contextual and deficit-fixing vs. strengths-building). The review concludes that flow interventions can make important contributions above and beyond work engagement interventions. The findings illuminate the conceptual and empirical differences between flow and work engagement interventions, and suggest new directions for flow and engagement intervention research in the workplace.
A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments (PERMA) may be a robust framework for the measurement, management and ...development of wellbeing. While the original PERMA framework made great headway in the past decade, its empirical and theoretical limitations were recently identified and critiqued. In response, Seligman clarified the value of PERMA as a framework for and not a theory of wellbeing and called for further research to expand the construct. To expand the framework into organizational contexts, recent meta-analyses and systematic literature reviews showed that physical health, mindset, physical work environments and economic security could be seen as essential contextually relevant building blocks for work-related wellbeing and are therefore prime candidates to expand the PERMA framework for use within organizational contexts. Through expanding the original PERMA framework with these four factors, a new holistic approach to work-related wellbeing and work performance was born: the PERMA+4. As such, the purpose of this brief perspective paper is to provide a conceptual overview of PERMA+4 as holistic framework for work-related wellbeing and work performance which extends beyond the predominant componential thinking of the discipline. Specifically, we aim to do so by providing: (1) a brief historical overview of the development of PERMA as a theory for wellbeing, (2) a conceptual overview of PERMA+4 as a holistic framework for work-related wellbeing and work performance, (3) empirical evidence supporting the usefulness of PERMA+4, and (4) charting a course for the second wave of positive organizational psychological research.
One of the most recent influential constructs based on positive psychology is PERMA, a framework that articulates five major building blocks that contribute to well-being: positive emotions, ...engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. In 2020, 4 additional building blocks were added - physical health, mindset, environment, and economic security - expanding the framework into PERMA+4 to describe 9 building blocks that contribute to well-being and positive functioning. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine if the empirical evidence supports the assertion that PERMA and PERMA+4 are strongly associated and predictive of well-being and positive functioning. While strong associations were found in this review, most of the published empirical research on PERMA was found to be correlational, cross-sectional, and based on a variety of self-report surveys. Implications and recommendations for future research using rigorous experimental designs as well as opportunities for improving the measurements of PERMA and PERMA+4 are discussed.
Muscle cells (i.e. skeletal muscle fibers) are fully viable and functional when their excitation-contraction (EC) coupling machinery is intact. This involves intact membrane integrity with polarized ...membrane, functional ion channels for action potential generation and conduction, an intact electro-chemical interface at the level of the fiber's triad, followed by sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca
release, and subsequent activation of the chemico-mechanical interface at the level of the contractile apparatus. The ultimate end result is then a visible twitch contraction upon a brief electrical pulse stimulation. For many biomedical studies involving single muscle cells, intact and viable myofibers are of utmost importance. Thus, a simple global screening method that involves a brief electrical stimulus applied to single muscle fibers and assessment of visible contraction would be of high value. In this chapter, we describe step-by-step protocols to (i) obtain intact single muscle fibers from freshly dissected muscle tissue using an enzymatic digestion procedure and (ii) provide a workflow for the assessment of twitch response of single fibers that can be ultimately classified as viable. For this, we have prepared a unique stimulation pen for which we provide the fabrication guide for do-it-yourself rapid prototyping to eliminate the need for expensive specialized commercial equipment.
One of the most important units of analysis for positive organizational psychology research is leaders and future leaders in the workplace. Leaders often have a large responsibility for and influence ...on the well-being and performance of their followers. They also face the unique challenge of serving their followers and the organization while needing to maintain their own vitality and well-being. Vitality can provide a foundation of energy resources to a leader to serve at their full capacity. This study develops and empirically examines a new three factor scale to measure leader vitality which includes physical, psychological, and emotional components. In study 1, a total of 175 participants (including
n
= 128 leaders) completed the Leader Vitality Scale (LVS) and other positive psychology related measures. Exploratory factor analysis and then confirmatory factor analysis showed that the LVS is hierarchical with three distinct factors, with overall vitality as the higher-order factor. Correlational tests with two established vitality scales for general use showed that the LVS is positively related to existing scales, demonstrating convergent validity. In study 2, data was gathered from 92 top level leaders in the C-Suite (
n
= 25), vice presidents (
n
= 23), directors (
n
= 21), and managers (
n
= 23) of organizations across the United States. Results showed that LVS scores significantly correlated with life satisfaction, positive emotions, positive functioning at work, and psychological capital. Overall, these findings suggest that the LVS is a valid measure for assessing leader vitality, and can used in future studies of well-being and positive functioning at work.
Anxiety is a multifaceted force that can negatively impact the ability of evaluators to succeed in practice. In the evaluation literature, discussions concerning anxiety have primarily been limited ...to strategies to reduce stakeholder anxiety to encourage positive and productive working relationships with evaluators. This study was among the first to explicitly recognize and empirically assess the anxiety evaluators feel during practice. Using a mixed-methods design, a random sample of 109 American Evaluation Association members was surveyed. There was overwhelming agreement (96.30%) that evaluator anxiety is a commonly experienced phenomenon, often citing reasons such as lack of experience, imposter syndrome, unreasonable scope, and difficulties with stakeholder interactions as key contributors to increased anxiety. Evaluator anxiety varied across stages of the evaluation process, with some stages eliciting more anxiety than others. Further discussion and training concerning how to reduce evaluator anxiety could be useful in the preparation of evaluators.
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