Septri Widiono, Jheni Juwita Sari Melia, Ketut Sukiyono
et al.
Land tenancy and labor relations are two agrarian institutions that shape the organization of agricultural activities at the production level and often influence production performance. This study explores the patterns of land tenancy and labor relations among rice-farming communities in Lahat Regency, South Sumatra,through the lens of the reciprocity economic perspective. Employinga qualitative case study approach, the research was conducted in four villages across the sub-districts of Tanjung Sakti Pumiand Lahat Selatan. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the tenant farmers, landowners, extension officers, and community leaders. Findings reveal two dominant sharecropping systems: an equal 1:1 distribution and a sasehsystem with a 2:1 share. These informal and unwritten arrangements are based on kinship ties, mutual trust, and local norms. They provide stable land access for landless farmers and maintain production continuity, despite limited institutional support. Labor relations are equally embedded in cultural practices such as gotong royong(mutual aid), where families and neighbors contribute unpaid or semi-paid labor during peak agricultural periods. Compensation may include food, rice, or low wages, depending on the relationship and labor type.However, they reveal underlying tensions between tradition and social transformation, in which evolving reciprocity practices may increasingly function as mechanisms of surplus accumulationunder market penetration.Theoretically, this studycontributes to rural sociology by demonstrating how informal systems of tenancy and labor persist as rational and adaptive responses to socio-economic constraints, while also highlighting their potential vulnerability to erosion under agrarian pressures.Thefindings suggest that development policies should aim to reinforce these community-based systems to improve agricultural sustainability and social equity in rural Indonesia.
Hanaa M. Abdelhaleem, Elsayed M. AbouElleef, Manal Gad
This study presents a comprehensive cost model for the installation of pressurized pipeline systems, addressing the limitations of traditional surface irrigation methods. Utilizing a bottom-up approach, the model incorporates critical components such as materials, labor, and equipment, resulting in a calculated unit price of $236.50 per square meter for golf course irrigation systems.Beyond financial insights, this research establishes the pivotal role of efficient irrigation systems in advancing smart city initiatives. By integrating water-saving technologies and digital monitoring systems, the proposed model aligns with the principles of resource efficiency and environmental conservation. It supports the development of resilient urban green spaces while addressing global challenges such as water scarcity and climate change. This work bridges the gap between innovative cost estimation and sustainable urban planning, providing actionable tools for policymakers and stakeholders to achieve the vision of smart, sustainable cities.
Abstract Agriculture in Tanzania faces the dual challenge of ensuring food security and improving rural incomes, yet many smallholder farmers remain trapped in low-return monocropping systems that undermine soil health and long-term sustainability. Agroforestry has been promoted as a viable alternative, but evidence on its financial performance compared to monocropping remains limited. This study examines the comparative profitability of agroforestry specifically the Acacia albida–pigeon pea intercrop and continuous monoculture systems in Kilombero District, Tanzania. The analysis focuses on cost structures, revenue generation, and overall financial sustainability. A cross-sectional research design was adopted, involving 394 households selected through purposive and random sampling methods. Data were analyzed using gross margin analysis and linear multiple regression models to assess profitability determinants. Results show that the Acacia albida–pigeon peas agroforestry system outperforms continuous monocropping in terms of financial returns. Agroforestry yielded higher total revenue (152.3 USD) and gross margin (76.6 USD) compared to continuous monocropping (133.4 USD and 50.1 USD, respectively). Additionally, profitability and efficiency ratios indicate superior economic viability for the agroforestry system, demonstrated through higher total revenue, gross margins, and profitability ratios. While factors such as source of finance and labor type significantly influenced continuous monocropping profitability, no significant profitability determinants were identified for agroforestry. The study highlights the financial and ecological advantages of integrating Acacia albida with pigeon peas, reinforcing the role of agroforestry in promoting sustainable livelihoods and resilience among smallholder farmers in Tanzania.
[Significance]With the rapid development of robotics technology and the persistently rise of labor costs, the application of robots in facility agriculture is becoming increasingly widespread. These robots can enhance operational efficiency, reduce labor costs, and minimize human errors. However, the complexity and diversity of facility environments, including varying crop layouts and lighting conditions, impose higher demands on robot navigation. Therefore, achieving stable, accurate, and rapid navigation for robots has become a key issue. Advanced sensor technologies and algorithms have been proposed to enhance robots' adaptability and decision-making capabilities in dynamic environments. This not only elevates the automation level of agricultural production but also contributes to more intelligent agricultural management.[Progress]This paper reviews the key technologies of automatic navigation for facility agricultural robots. It details beacon localization, inertial positioning, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) techniques, and sensor fusion methods used in autonomous localization and mapping. Depending on the type of sensors employed, SLAM technology could be subdivided into vision-based, laser-based and fusion systems. Fusion localization is further categorized into data-level, feature-level, and decision-level based on the types and stages of the fused information. The application of SLAM technology and fusion localization in facility agriculture has been increasingly common. Global path planning plays a crucial role in enhancing the operational efficiency and safety of facility aricultural robots. This paper discusses global path planning, classifying it into point-to-point local path planning and global traversal path planning. Furthermore, based on the number of optimization objectives, it was divided into single-objective path planning and multi-objective path planning. In regard to automatic obstacle avoidance technology for robots, the paper discusses sevelral commonly used obstacle avoidance control algorithms commonly used in facility agriculture, including artificial potential field, dynamic window approach and deep learning method. Among them, deep learning methods are often employed for perception and decision-making in obstacle avoidance scenarios.[Conclusions and Prospects]Currently, the challenges for facility agricultural robot navigation include complex scenarios with significant occlusions, cost constraints, low operational efficiency and the lack of standardized platforms and public datasets. These issues not only affect the practical application effectiveness of robots but also constrain the further advancement of the industry. To address these challenges, future research can focus on developing multi-sensor fusion technologies, applying and optimizing advanced algorithms, investigating and implementing multi-robot collaborative operations and establishing standardized and shared data platforms.
Vladyslav Nechakhin, Jennifer D’Souza, Steffen Eger
Structured science summaries or research contributions using properties or dimensions beyond traditional keywords enhance science findability. Current methods, such as those used by the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG), involve manually curating properties to describe research papers’ contributions in a structured manner, but this is labor-intensive and inconsistent among human domain-expert curators. We propose using Large Language Models (LLMs) to automatically suggest these properties. However, it is essential to assess the readiness of LLMs like GPT-3.5, Llama 2, and Mistral for this task before their application. Our study performs a comprehensive comparative analysis between the ORKG’s manually curated properties and those generated by the aforementioned state-of-the-art LLMs. We evaluate LLM performance from four unique perspectives: semantic alignment with and deviation from ORKG properties, fine-grained property mapping accuracy, SciNCL embedding-based cosine similarity, and expert surveys comparing manual annotations with LLM outputs. These evaluations occur within a multidisciplinary science setting. Overall, LLMs show potential as recommendation systems for structuring science, but further fine-tuning is recommended to improve their alignment with scientific tasks and mimicry of human expertise.
Ina Säumel, Jorge Alvarez, Leonardo R. Ramírez
et al.
South American grasslands, socio-ecological systems used heavily for a long time, are currently experiencing dramatic land-use changes due to implementation of large-scale afforestation and agro-industrial cash crops. Applying the conceptual framework of “Multifunctional and sustainable productive landscapes” to Uruguay, we explored the impacts on rural ecosystems and communities based on a long-term monitoring network by assessing species richness of plant and terrestrial arthropods and socio-economic data from national census. We found that silvi- and agricultural industry established mainly at the expense of extensively grazed grasslands and local family farms with traditional techniques, accompanied by a deregulation of the rural labor market, depopulation and aging of rural society. Governmental nature protection efforts increase the native forest cover and establish nature protection areas focusing mainly on forests. We also discuss pathways of land-use change in recent decades and related discourses of local stakeholders.
Nutrition. Foods and food supply, Food processing and manufacture
<i>Background and Objectives</i>: The concept of sustainability in healthcare is poorly researched. There is a perceived need for new theoretical and empirical studies, as well as for new instruments to assess the implementation of new labor practices in the field. Such practices address unmet social needs and consolidate the sustainable development systems which promote health equity. The objective of the research is to design an innovative reference framework for sustainable development and health equity of healthcare facilities, and to provide a practical validation of this framework. <i>Materials and Methods</i>: The research methods consist of designing the elements of the new frame of reference, designing an indicator matrix, elaborating indicator content, and assessing the reference framework. For the assessment stage, we used sustainable medical practices reported in the scientific literature as well as a pilot reference framework that was implemented in healthcare practice. <i>Results</i>: The new reference framework suggested by the present study is composed of 57 indicators organized in five areas: environmental responsibility, economic performance, social responsibility, institutional capacity, and provision of sustainable healthcare services. These indicators were adapted and integrated into the seven basic topics of the social responsibility standard. The study presents the content of the indicators in the field of labor practices, as well as their evaluation grids. The innovative format of the evaluation grids aims to describe achievement degrees, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The theoretical model was validated in practice through its implementation at the Emergency Hospital in Targu Mures. <i>Conclusions</i>: The conclusions of the study reflect the usefulness of the new reference framework, which is compatible with the requirements in the healthcare field, but differs from other existing frameworks, considering its objective regarding the promotion of sustainable development. This objective facilitates the continuous quantification of the sustainability level, the promotion of sustainable development strategies, and sustainability-oriented approaches on the part of interested parties.
The BRICS grouping represents an inter-state association of five major emerging national economies whose political influence is mobilized to encourage economic development and inclusivity. However, without an internalized commitment to domestic socio-economic vulnerabilities, the platform lacks the legitimacy needed to compel buy-in from a larger audience. It is a fruitless endeavor to labor under the assumption that socio-economic inequality is abnormal. Even so, there is an amicable, yet unrealistic tendency to assume that all imbalances can and must be corrected by the government. Currently, the global health crisis spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic presents the opportune moment to examine the ideological impact of socialism on disparate social and economic policy outcomes. Because of the complexity of our social contexts, it remains necessary to consult and test the validity of ideological claims before establishing them as uncontested truth. This study makes the case that socio-economic inequality can be traced to policy issues where ideological assumptions have been esteemed over empirical evidence. Using a qualitative approach, the case of South Africa will be used to assess the relationship between ideology and socio-economic policymaking by examining the effect of social justice remedies as the answer to inequality. To change economic behavior and outcomes, one must endeavor to understand the dominant thinking and belief system as promulgated by far left ideologies such as socialism. The findings indicate the centrality of redistribution as the unanimous victor able to ensure roughly equal economic outcomes for all social groups. An assumption with disastrous and even counterproductive consequences. Since ideologies are largely closed systems of thought, they conceal socio-economic realities which can only be addressed when policy preferences are revisited and re-evaluated.
Digital labor, as a new theoretical form of "audience commodity theory" in the digital media era, represents a new form of production and labor. This paper explores the unique features of digital labor in labor form, labor products and labor time, and combining Marx's theory, it further reveals the alienation and exploitation of human social relations, emotional value and social class in the process of digital labor, and finally makes suggestions on the unequal relationship between platform and workers in the process of digital labor.
F. B. Tebueva, V. O. Antonov, M. Y. Kabinyakov
et al.
The development of modern monitoring systems for emergency zones is associated with a negative trend of environmental changes, which is expressed in the activation of adverse, dangerous natural phenomena and processes and, accordingly, in an increase in the frequency and scale of natural disasters, the escalation of natural disasters into man-made and natural disasters. The growth of technological progress in the field of robotic, satellite and unmanned aviation systems makes it possible to monitor the development of emergencies to assess the state of the environment and man-made objects.
The purpose of this article is to define the role and importance of human beings and their weaknesses in the information security system of an organization. All people make mistakes that can sometimes have serious consequences. The working hypothesis presented in this article was expressed in the belief that human beings are the weakest link in the organization's information security. According to the "2014 Cyber Security Intelligence Index", as much as 95% of all security incidents are related to human errors. For organizations, such situations are usually very costly, as they concern people who have access to the most sensitive data. As the study cited in the article shows, the awareness of threats in information systems among the respondents is low. The ongoing changes in the availability of information are associated with the need to constantly improvement its protection. Not only systemic, but also protection resulting from human competences. That is why it is worth focusing on him and considering possible methods of expanding his competences and continuous learning.
Management. Industrial management, Management information systems
Andres I Vecino-Ortiz, Juliana Villanueva Congote, Silvana Zapata Bedoya
et al.
<h4>Background</h4>Contact tracing is a crucial part of the public health surveillance toolkit. However, it is labor-intensive and costly to carry it out. Some countries have faced challenges implementing contact tracing, and no impact evaluations using empirical data have assessed its impact on COVID-19 mortality. This study assesses the impact of contact tracing in a middle-income country, providing data to support the expansion and optimization of contact tracing strategies to improve infection control.<h4>Methods</h4>We obtained publicly available data on all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Colombia between March 2 and June 16, 2020. (N = 54,931 cases over 135 days of observation). As suggested by WHO guidelines, we proxied contact tracing performance as the proportion of cases identified through contact tracing out of all cases identified. We calculated the daily proportion of cases identified through contact tracing across 37 geographical units (32 departments and five districts). Further, we used a sequential log-log fixed-effects model to estimate the 21-days, 28-days, 42-days, and 56-days lagged impact of the proportion of cases identified through contact tracing on daily COVID-19 mortality. Both the proportion of cases identified through contact tracing and the daily number of COVID-19 deaths are smoothed using 7-day moving averages. Models control for the prevalence of active cases, second-degree polynomials, and mobility indices. Robustness checks to include supply-side variables were performed.<h4>Results</h4>We found that a 10 percent increase in the proportion of cases identified through contact tracing is related to COVID-19 mortality reductions between 0.8% and 3.4%. Our models explain between 47%-70% of the variance in mortality. Results are robust to changes of specification and inclusion of supply-side variables.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Contact tracing is instrumental in containing infectious diseases. Its prioritization as a surveillance strategy will substantially impact reducing deaths while minimizing the impact on the fragile economic systems of lower and middle-income countries. This study provides lessons for other LMIC.
Among other things, the introduction of new pay systems in Russian federal institutions (2008) resulted in rapid growth of the variable part of wages. In the early 2010s, in numerous institutions this figure exceeded 50 %, and it still remains at an unreasonably high level. It is known, from the history of labor relations, that violation of balance between fixed (salary) and variable parts of wages leads to a reduction in motivation levels of employees and, as a consequence, to deterioration in productivity indicators and labor quality. In OECD countries, at the legislative level, the concepts of base and full rates of pay are introduced, and the number and size of incentive and compensation payments are optimized. The rates of base pay are regularly reviewed, taking into account changes in consumer prices and the cost of living. This practice allows a reasonable balance to be maintained between fixed and variable parts of wages. At the level of institutions, competency standards are being developed that ensure optimal differentiation in the size of the fixed part of wages and minimize the possibility of making incentive payments to employees simply for the performance of their job duties. The purpose of the article is to develop proposals for solving the problem of imbalance in the structure of wages of employees at Russian federal institutions, based on modern foreign practice in this area.
The factors and opportunities for development of digital ecosystems in developing countries have been analysed. The purpose of the study is to summarize the practice of digitalization of emerging markets and to develop an approach to research of the potential for digital entrepreneurship development in these countries. It has been shown, that there are still many economic constraints that prevent developing countries from integrating effectively into the digital economy. It has been proven, that the effect of digital transformation vectors assists redefining the economic policy of developing countries. Such policy should become trans- and multidisciplinary, more iterative and flexible. In particular, investment promotion methods, rules of origin and other geographical specifications, labor and social policies of the states should be interpreted in a new way. Finally, economic policy should take into account, that many markets are being reoriented to platforms (which, for example, may involve a review of public service delivery policies to take advantage of platforms). It has been substantiated, that the development of digital entrepreneurship in developing countries was largely due to the quality of digital ecosystems, which can be presented as innovation centers, but it is hampered by the uneven development of digital start-ups between countries. It has been concluded, that even with opportunities to build digital platforms and ecosystems in developing countries, their companies can`t scale widely to overseas markets, and catching-up platforms have almost no potential to reach global platforms in the long term. The main factors, limiting the comparative size of platforms and the potential of global platforms in developing countries are weak local economic and business environment, low reliability of payment systems, low technological potential, problems with efficient logistics.
Klaus F. Zimmermann, Costanza Biavaschi, W. Eichhorst
et al.
This paper focuses on the determinants of the labor market situation of young people in developed countries and the developing world, with a special emphasis on the role of vocational training and education policies. We highlight the role of demographic factors, economic growth and labor market institutions in explaining young people's transition into work. We then assess differences in the setup and functioning of the vocational education and training policies in major world regions, as an important driver of differential labor market situation of youth. Based on our analysis we argue in favor of vocational education and training systems combining work experience and general education and give some policy recommendations regarding the implementation of education and training systems adapted to a country's economic and institutional context.