Optimization of Components with Topology Optimization for Direct Additive Manufacturing by DLMS.

This paper presents a novel design methodology that validates and utilizes the results of topology optimization as the final product shape. The proposed methodology aims to streamline the design process by eliminating the need for remodeling and minimizing printing errors through process simulation. It also eliminates the repeated export and import of data between software tools. The study includes a case study involving the steering column housing of a racing car, where Siemens NX Topology Optimization was used for optimization, and verification analysis was conducted using the NX Nastran solver. The final solution was fabricated using AlSi10Mg via direct metal laser sintering on a 3D printer and successfully validated under real conditions. In conclusion, this paper introduces a comprehensive design methodology for the direct utilization of topology optimization, which was validated through a case study, yielding positive results.

Volunteering Improves Employee Health and Organizational Outcomes Through Bonding With Coworkers and Enhanced Identification With Employers.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the consequences of employee volunteering and possible psychological mechanisms that produce these effects. METHODS: Using data from more than 50,000 responses to Britain's Healthiest Workplace survey, we employed structural equation modeling to investigate the effects of people volunteering. RESULTS: Net of a number of controls, people who volunteered reported better self-reported health, less risk of depression, and higher levels of engagement and satisfaction. These results were partly explained by volunteering creating higher levels of interpersonal social bonding and greater identification with their employers. CONCLUSION: Employers Employers should sponsor volunteer activities and provide workplace flexibility, because employees who volunteer have greater individual wellbeing and also higher levels of pro-employer outcomes such as engagement and job satisfaction.

Descriptive Study of Employee Engagement With Workplace Wellness Interventions in the UK.

OBJECTIVE: To explore sequential steps of employee engagement in wellness interventions and the impact of wellness interventions on employee health. METHODS: Using previously collected survey data from 23,667 UK employees, we tabulated intervention availability, awareness, participation, and associated health improvement and compared engagement by participation and risk status. RESULTS: Employees' awareness of wellness interventions at their workplaces was often low (mean 43.3%, range 11.6%-82.3%). Participation was highest in diet/nutrition initiatives (94.2%) and lowest in alcohol counseling and smoking cessation interventions (2.1%). Employees with health risks were less likely than lower-risk employees to report awareness, participation, and health improvements from wellness interventions addressing the relevant health concern. CONCLUSION: Employers and policymakers should consider variation in intervention engagement as they plan and implement wellness interventions. Engaging employee populations with higher health risks requires a more targeted approach.

Do Multicomponent Workplace Health and Wellbeing Programs Predict Changes in Health and Wellbeing?

Organizations typically deploy multiple health and wellbeing practices in an overall program. We explore whether practices in workplace health and wellbeing programs cohere around a small number of archetypal categories or whether differences between organizations are better explained by a continuum. We also examine whether adopting multiple practices predicts subsequent changes in health and wellbeing. Using survey data from 146 organizations, we found differences between organizations were best characterized by a continuum ranging from less to more extensive adoption of practices. Using two-wave multilevel survey data at both individual and organizational levels (N = 6968 individuals, N = 58 organizations), we found that, in organizations that adopt a wider range of health and wellbeing practices, workers with poor baseline psychological wellbeing were more likely to report subsequent improvements in wellbeing and workers who reported good physical health at baseline were less likely to report experiencing poor health at follow-up. We found no evidence that adopting multiple health and wellbeing practices buffered the impact of individuals' workplace psychosocial hazards on physical health or psychological wellbeing.

Estimating the global economic benefits of physically active populations over 30 years (2020-2050).

OBJECTIVES: We assess the potential benefits of increased physical activity for the global economy for 23 countries and the rest of the world from 2020 to 2050. The main factors taken into account in the economic assessment are excess mortality and lower productivity. METHODS: This study links three methodologies. First, we estimate the association between physical inactivity and workplace productivity using multivariable regression models with proprietary data on 120 143 individuals in the UK and six Asian countries (Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Sri Lanka). Second, we analyse the association between physical activity and mortality risk through a meta-regression analysis with data from 74 prior studies with global coverage. Finally, the estimated effects are combined in a computable general equilibrium macroeconomic model to project the economic benefits of physical activity over time. RESULTS: Doing at least 150 min of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, as per lower limit of the range recommended by the 2020 WHO guidelines, would lead to an increase in global gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.15%-0.24% per year by 2050, worth up to US$314-446 billion per year and US$6.0-8.6 trillion cumulatively over the 30-year projection horizon (in 2019 prices). The results vary by country due to differences in baseline levels of physical activity and GDP per capita. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing physical activity in the population would lead to reduction in working-age mortality and morbidity and an increase in productivity, particularly through lower presenteeism, leading to substantial economic gains for the global economy.

Employee Engagement in the NHS: A Secondary Data Analysis of the NHS Healthy Workforce and Britain's Healthiest Workplace Surveys.

Staff health and wellbeing is an important area for employers. Leading a healthy life, both physically and mentally, helps the individual health of employees, but also benefits employers through boosting productivity in the workplace. The Five Year Forward View strategy, published by NHS England in 2014, underscores the importance of staff health and wellbeing as a crucial factor in improving the performance of the NHS and chief executive Simon Stevens announced a number of new initiatives and policy developments aimed at improving health and wellbeing within the workforce in 2015. RAND Europe conducted an independent study to examine the factors associated with engagement among NHS employees as part of a project with the Health Foundation, a charity committed to bringing about better health and healthcare in the UK. RAND Europe analysed data from the NHS Healthy Workforce Survey, conducted in 2016 across 35 UK NHS organisations, as well as VitalityHealth's Britain's Healthiest Workplace (BHW) survey in 2016, which involved RAND Europe's analysis of the survey results. The views expressed in the study are the authors' own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Health Foundation.

Individual, Workplace, and Combined Effects Modeling of Employee Productivity Loss.

OBJECTIVE: Systematically and simultaneously investigate a wide range of influences on workplace productivity loss. METHODS: Data were collected from 31,950 employees in the UK. Influences of employees' socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle, commuting, physical and mental health, well-being, and job and workplace environment were assessed using structural equation models, allowing systematic decomposition of the complex network of influences and creating new, deeper insights. RESULTS: Mental health, physical health, job characteristics, and support from organization are the most important (direct or indirect) determinants of employees' productivity. 93% of the indirect influences are mediated through mental and/or physical health. Some influences that appear as strong predictors in simple models lose most of their explanatory power in more complex models with additional explanatory variables. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for a more tailored strategy to improve employees' wellbeing as well as the overall organizational, work, and management culture.

The economic implications of later school start times in the United States.

Numerous studies have shown that later school start times (SST) are associated with positive student outcomes, including improvements in academic performance, mental and physical health, and public safety. While the benefits of later SST are very well documented in the literature, in practice there is opposition against delaying SST. A major argument against later SST is the claim that delaying SST will result in significant additional costs for schools due to changes in bussing strategies. However, to date, there has only been one published study that has quantified the potential economic benefits of later SST in relation to potential costs. The current study investigates the economic implications of later school start times by examining a policy experiment and its subsequent state-wide economic effects of a state-wide universal shift in school start times to 8.30AM. Using a novel macroeconomic modeling approach, the study estimates changes in the economic performance of 47 US states following a delayed school start time, which includes the benefits of higher academic performance of students and reduced car crash rates. The benefit-cost projections of this study suggest that delaying school start times is a cost-effective, population-level strategy, which could have a significant impact on public health and the US economy. From a policy perspective, these findings are crucial as they demonstrate that significant economic gains resulting from the delay in SST accrue over a relatively short period of time following the adoption of the policy shift.

Why Sleep Matters-The Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep: A Cross-Country Comparative Analysis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States has declared insufficient sleep a "public health problem." Indeed, according to a recent CDC study, more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis. However, insufficient sleep is not exclusively a US problem, and equally concerns other industrialised countries such as the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, or Canada. According to some evidence, the proportion of people sleeping less than the recommended hours of sleep is rising and associated with lifestyle factors related to a modern 24/7 society, such as psychosocial stress, alcohol consumption, smoking, lack of physical activity and excessive electronic media use, among others. This is alarming as insufficient sleep has been found to be associated with a range of negative health and social outcomes, including success at school and in the labour market. Over the last few decades, for example, there has been growing evidence suggesting a strong association between short sleep duration and elevated mortality risks. Given the potential adverse effects of insufficient sleep on health, well-being and productivity, the consequences of sleep-deprivation have far-reaching economic consequences. Hence, in order to raise awareness of the scale of insufficient sleep as a public-health issue, comparative quantitative figures need to be provided for policy- and decision-makers, as well as recommendations and potential solutions that can help tackling the problem.