State-of-the-art climate models project a substantial decline in precipitation for the Mediterranean region in the future1. Supporting this notion, several studies based on observed precipitation data spanning recent decades have suggested a decrease in Mediterranean precipitation2, 3–4, with some attributing a large fraction of this change to anthropogenic influences3,5. Conversely, certain researchers have underlined that Mediterranean precipitation exhibits considerable spatiotemporal variability driven by atmospheric circulation patterns6,7 maintaining stationarity over the long term8,9. These conflicting perspectives underscore the need for a comprehensive assessment of precipitation changes in this region, given the profound social, economic and environmental implications. Here we show that Mediterranean precipitation has largely remained stationary from 1871 to 2020, albeit with significant multi-decadal and interannual variability. This conclusion is based on the most comprehensive dataset available for the region, encompassing over 23,000 stations across 27 countries. While trends can be identified for some periods and subregions, our findings attribute these trends primarily to atmospheric dynamics, which would be mostly linked to internal variability. Furthermore, our assessment reconciles the observed precipitation trends with Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 model simulations, neither of which indicate a prevailing past precipitation trend in the region. The implications of our results extend to environmental, agricultural and water resources planning in one of the world’s prominent climate change hotspots10. Our assessment of a 27-country weather station dataset in the Mediterranean region revealed long-term stability in precipitation over 150 years, along with substantial short-term variability on annual to decadal scales driven by atmospheric circulation; these findings align with the precipitation trends seen in CMIP6 models.

Abstract Work intensification is a psychosocial risk that has been increasing in recent decades and may have been accentuated after the COVID-19 pandemic. Its effects on health are negative, but they can be moderated by contextual and personal factors. The aim of this study was twofold: to analyze the effect of work intensification on workers’ stress, anxiety, and depression and to explore the role of workplace curiosity in these relationships. The study design was cross-sectional, and a total of 766 Spanish workers (58.9% female) with different occupations completed the survey. The results showed that work intensification was associated with the symptomatology of stress, anxiety, and depression, with a medium effect size. Women workers showed higher work intensification, but its association with mental health was equally strong for both genders. Workers with higher levels of the workplace curiosity dimension “stress tolerance” showed less impaired mental health in the presence of work intensification. However, workers with higher levels of the workplace curiosity dimension “deprivation sensitivity” showed more symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression when faced with high work intensification. The results were discussed in terms of their contributions to the field of study of work intensification, the future research they could inspire, and the prevention and intervention measures they could motivate.

BACKGROUND The Intensification of Job Demands Scale (IDS) is a multidimensional instrument designed to capture the phenomenon of work intensification that characterizes modern Western societies. However, in Spain the instrument has not been validated to assess this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the IDS adaptation with a heterogeneous sample of Spanish workers. METHOD The sample consisted of 722 Spanish workers (57.8% female, 42.2% male) who completed a survey between January and April 2022. RESULTS A five-factor correlated model, as in the original IDS, had an optimal fit with 15 items, and displayed invariance across gender, level of education, and organizational tenure. Reliability coefficients were all satisfactory, and scale adaptation showed evidence of convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. CONCLUSIONS The Spanish adaptation of the IDS is a valid, reliable measure for analyzing the phenomenon of work intensification and intensified job demands in Spain.

The effectiveness of the e-tax system in encouraging tax compliance has been largely unexplored. Thus, the current study aims to examine the interrelationship between technological predictors in explaining tax compliance intention among certified tax professionals. Based on the literature on information system success and tax compliance intention, this paper proposed an expanded conceptual framework that incorporates convenience and perception of reduced compliance costs as predictors and satisfaction as a mediator. The data were collected from 650 tax professionals who used e-Filing and 492 who used e-Form through an online survey and analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The empirical results suggest that participants’ perceived service quality of e-Filing services and perceptions of reduced compliance costs positively influence users’ willingness to comply with tax regulations. The latter predictor is also, and only, significant among e-Form users. The empirical results also provide statistical evidence for the mediating role of satisfaction in the relationship between all predictors and tax compliance intention. This study encourages tax policymakers and e-tax filing providers to improve their services to increase user satisfaction and tax compliance.

Introduction With the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work was increased all over the globe. As a consequence, workers had to adapt their communication behaviors to smoothly coordinate work in their flexible teams (i.e., when team members divide work between the office and their homes). Drawing on relational coordination theory, we constructed and validated a scale to capture the most relevant team communication behaviors. Methods We employed interviews and focus groups to construct the scale, refined the scale based on three samples with employees working flexibly and finally validated the scale with 130 teams from diverse organizations. Results Our scale comprises three dimensions: focused communication, knowledge sharing and spontaneous communication. All three dimensions showed convergent validity with team planning and discriminant validity with time-spatial flexibility. Also, predictive validity with collective efficacy and team viability was achieved for focused communication and knowledge sharing. Spontaneous communication only predicted collective efficacy, but not team viability. Discussion We conclude that the TCS is a reliable and valid measure for assessing team communication and contribute by focusing on behaviors.

Abstract Frequent changes in fiscal policies are the main cause of credit risk. To prevent households from increasing their non-performing loans, the government can use various policies and instruments. One of these tools is tax regulations, with a particular focus on the value-added tax. This paper examines whether tax policies have affected non-performing household loans in Turkey over the period from 2017 to 2021. To acquire meaningful empirical results, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration model have been applied. The results of analysis indicated that the effect of tax regulations on non-performing household loans is quite strong. It can be demonstrated that the strength of the income effect generated by tax cuts might be robust.