Invisible work, unseen hazards: the health of women immigrant household service workers in Spain

Backgroud: Household service work has been largely absent from occupational health studies. We examine the occupational hazards and health effects identified by immigrant women household service workers. Methods: Exploratory, descriptive study of 46 documented and undocumented immigrant women in household services in Spain, using a phenomenological approach. Data were collected between September 2006 and May 2007 through focus groups and semi-structured individual interviews. Data were separated for analysis by documentation status and sorted using a mixed-generation process. In a second phase of analysis, data on psychosocial hazards were organized using the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire as a guide. Results: Informants reported a number of environmental, ergonomic and psychosocial hazards and corresponding health effects. Psychosocial hazards were especially strongly present in data. Data on reported hazards were similar by documentation status and varied by several emerging categories: whether participants were primarily cleaners or carers and whether they lived in or outside of the homes of their employers. Documentation status was relevant in terms of empowerment and bargaining, but did not appear to influence work tasks or exposure to hazards directly. Conclusions:Female immigrant household service workers are exposed to a variety of health hazards that could be acted upon by improved legislation, enforcement, and preventive workplace measures, which are discussed.

A qualitative study about immigrant workers’ perceptions of their working conditions in Spain

Background: Spain has recently become an inward migration country. Little is known about the occupational health of immigrant workers. This study aimed to explore the perceptions that immigrant workers in Spain had of their working conditions.Methods: Qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study. Criterion sampling. Data collected between September 2006 and May 2007 through semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews, with a topic guide. One hundred and fifty-eight immigrant workers (90 men/68 women) from Colombia (n = 21), Morocco (n = 39), sub-Saharan Africa (n = 29), Romania (n = 44) and Ecuador (n = 25), who were authorised (documented) or unauthorised (undocumented) residents in five medium to large cities in Spain.Results: Participants described poor working conditions, low pay and health hazards. Perception of hazards appeared to be related to gender and job sector. Informants were highly segregated into jobs by sex, however, so this issue will need further exploration. Undocumented workers described poorer conditions than documented workers, which they attributed to their documentation status. Documented participants also felt vulnerable because of their immigrant status. Informants believed that deficient language skills, non-transferability of their education and training and, most of all, their immigrant status and economic need left them with little choice but to work under poor conditions.Conclusions: The occupational health needs of immigrant workers must be addressed at the job level, while improving the enforcement of existing health and safety regulations. The roles that documentation status and economic need played in these informants' work experiences should be considered and how these may influence health outcomes.

Informe de Salud Laboral. España, 2006

El objetivo principal de este Informe de Salud Laboral, España 2006, esayudar a definir y evaluar las políticas en seguridad y salud en el trabajo ennuestro país. Para ello, con la mejor información disponible, se ha descrito elcontexto sociolaboral en el que se insertan las condiciones de trabajo, así comolos principales daños a la salud, fundamentalmente las lesiones, relacionadas conestas condiciones de trabajo.Entre sus resultados destaca que aunque las muertes por lesionestraumáticas por accidentes de trabajo producidas in itínere o en desplazamientodisminuyen entre 1994 y 2004, como también se observa en las que ocurren enlos centros de trabajo, esta disminución no es tan pronunciada. Asimismo, elriesgo de morir por un accidente de trabajo se concentra de manera particularen las Comunidades Autónomas del noroeste de España.

Campaña gráfica para nueva marca de vinos Enjoy Me

La presente memoria desarrolla la campaña gráfica de un nuevo producto comercializado exclusivamente online. Esto implica la creación del naming, imagen gráfica de la nueva marca y definición de un concepto que declinará en las diversas piezas gráficas desarrolladas para el lanzamiento y difusión del nuevo producto. El producto a desarrollar es un vino de alta calidad, que únicamente se comercializa online. Este vino tiene Denominación de Origen de Calidad del Priorato, en Tarragona y está elaborado con métodos biodinámicos, que otorgan al vino unas altas cualidades naturales y ecológicas. Por esta razón, el presente proyecto contiene un doble interés, desde el punto de vista de comunicación gráfica y por otro lado, vinícola ecológico, puesto que documentaremos el trabajo con información de este sector.

Domain growth in binary mixtures at low temperatures

We have studied domain growth during spinodal decomposition at low temperatures. We have performed a numerical integration of the deterministic time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation with a variable, concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient. The form of the pair-correlation function and the structure function are independent of temperature but the dynamics is slower at low temperature. A crossover between interfacial diffusion and bulk diffusion mechanisms is observed in the behavior of the characteristic domain size. This effect is explained theoretically in terms of an equation of motion for the interface.

Effects of domain morphology in phase-separation dynamics at low temperature

We present numerical results of the deterministic Ginzburg-Landau equation with a concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient, for different values of the volume fraction phi of the minority component. The morphology of the domains affects the dynamics of phase separation. The effective growth exponents, but not the scaled functions, are found to be temperature dependent.

Front and domain growth in the presence of gravity

Front and domain growth of a binary mixture in the presence of a gravitational field is studied. The interplay of bulk- and surface-diffusion mechanisms is analyzed. An equation for the evolution of interfaces is derived from a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation with a concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient. Scaling arguments on this equation give the exponents of a power-law growth. Numerical integrations of the Ginzburg-Landau equation corroborate the theoretical analysis.

Diffusion on a solid surface: anomalous is normal

We present a numerical study of classical particles diffusing on a solid surface. The particles motion is modeled by an underdamped Langevin equation with ordinary thermal noise. The particle-surface interaction is described by a periodic or a random two-dimensional potential. The model leads to a rich variety of different transport regimes, some of which correspond to anomalous diffusion such as has recently been observed in experiments and Monte Carlo simulations. We show that this anomalous behavior is controlled by the friction coefficient and stress that it emerges naturally in a system described by ordinary canonical Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics.

Sorting on periodic surfaces

Particles moving on crystalline surfaces and driven by external forces or flow fields can acquire velocities along directions that deviate from that of the external force. This effect depends upon the characteristics of the particles, most notably particle size or particle index of refraction, and can therefore be (and has been) used to sort different particles. We introduce a simple model for particles subject to thermal fluctuations and moving in appropriate potential landscapes. Numerical results are compared to recent experiments on landscapes produced with holographic optical tweezers and microfabricated technology. Our approach clarifies the relevance of different parameters, the direction and magnitude of the external force, particle size, and temperature.

Sancho, et al. Reply

A Reply to the Comment by Jing-Dong Bao and Yan Zhou.

Dispersionless transport in a washboard potential

We study and characterize a new dynamical regime of underdamped particles in a tilted washboard potential. We find that for small friction in a finite range of forces the particles move essentially nondispersively, that is, coherently, over long intervals of time. The associated distribution of the particle positions moves at an essentially constant velocity and is far from Gaussian-like. This new regime is complementary to, and entirely different from, well-known nonlinear response and large dispersion regimes observed for other values of the external force.

Phase separation dynamics under stirring

Phase separation dynamics in the presence of externally imposed stirring is studied. The stirring is assumed independent of the concentration and it is generated with a well-defined energy spectrum. The domain growth process is either favored or frozen depending on the intensity and correlation length of this advective flow. This behavior is explained by analytical arguments.

External Fluctuations in Front Propagation

We study the effects of external noise in a one-dimensional model of front propagation. Noise is introduced through the fluctuations of a control parameter leading to a multiplicative stochastic partial differential equation. Analytical and numerical results for the front shape and velocity are presented. The linear-marginal-stability theory is found to increase its range of validity in the presence of external noise. As a consequence noise can stabilize fronts not allowed by the deterministic equation.

Interfacial instability induced by external fluctuations

The dynamics of an interface separating the two coexistent phases of a binary system in the presence of external fluctuations in temperature is studied. An interfacial instability is obtained for an interface that would be stable in the absence of fluctuations or in the presence of internal fluctuations. Analytical stability analysis and numerical simulations are in accordance with an explanation of these effects in terms of a quenchlike instability induced by fluctuations.