Rafael Curado, Pedro Gonçalves, Maria R. Marques
et al.
Identifying the plant species comprising a pasture, among other aspects, is crucial for assessing its nutritional value for grazing animals and facilitating its effective management. Traditionally, it requires labor-intensive visual inspection. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a solution for automatic classification, yet robust datasets for training such models in natural, uncontrolled environments are scarce. This data descriptor presents a dataset of 741 images collected in pasture lands in the Centre of Portugal using standard cameras at a height of 50 cm. A semi-automated annotation pipeline was employed, utilizing a Faster R-CNN model followed by manual verification and refinement. The dataset contains 1744 annotations across four categories: ‘Shrubs’, ‘Grasses’, ‘Legumes’, and ‘Others’. It includes diverse morphological variations and captures real-world challenges such as occlusion and lighting variability. This dataset serves as a benchmark for training object detection models in agricultural settings, facilitating the development of automated monitoring systems for precision agriculture. Such a mechanism could be incorporated into a mobile application, mounted on a drone, or embedded in an animal-worn device, enabling automated sampling and identification of the plant composition within a pasture.
Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies supports the digital transformation of production processes, making them more efficient. This study examines how digital infrastructure, digital skills, and the use of cloud technologies influence labor productivity in European Union countries. Using econometric methods, including linear regressions and fixed-effects panel regressions, the analysis highlights the important role digital skills play in boosting productivity. It also identifies the adoption of cloud solutions as a catalyst for process efficiency, while widespread high-speed internet coverage supports the connectivity of smart systems. However, variations in the development of digital infrastructure and workforce readiness across EU member states present challenges to overall labor productivity. The study concludes that strategic investments in automation and digital infrastructure, along with improving the workforce’s digital skills, are essential to making Industry 4.0 a key pillar of economic competitiveness. By examining how workforce digital skills and certain Industry 4.0 technologies affect labor productivity, this research adds valuable insights to the specialized literature.
This paper addresses the challenge of amplitude-unbounded false data injection (FDI) attacks targeting the sensor-to-controller (S-C) channel in cyber-physical systems (CPSs). We introduce a resilient tube-based model predictive control (MPC) scheme. This scheme incorporates a threshold-based attack detector and a control sequence buffer to enhance system security. We mathematically model the common FDI attacks and derive the maximum duration of such attacks based on the hypothesis testing principle. Following this, the minimum feasible sequence length of the control sequence buffer is obtained. The system is proven to remain input-to-state stable (ISS) under bounded external disturbances and amplitude-unbounded FDI attacks. Moreover, the feasible region under this scenario is provided in this paper. Finally, the proposed algorithm is validated by numerical simulations and shows superior control performance compared to the existing methods.
Dynamic simulation plays a crucial role in power system transient stability analysis, but traditional numerical integration-based methods are time-consuming due to the small time step sizes. Other semi-analytical solution methods, such as the Differential Transformation method, often struggle to select proper orders and steps, leading to slow performance and numerical instability. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel adaptive dynamic simulation approach for power system transient stability analysis. The approach adds feedback control and optimization to selecting the step and order, utilizing the Differential Transformation method and a proportional-integral control strategy to control truncation errors. Order selection is formulated as an optimization problem resulting in a variable-step-optimal-order method that achieves significantly larger time step sizes without violating numerical stability. It is applied to three systems: the IEEE 9-bus, 3-generator system, IEEE 39-bus, 10-generator system, and a Polish 2383-bus, 327-generator system, promising computational efficiency and numerical robustness for large-scale power system is demonstrated in comprehensive case studies.
This study proposes a unified multi-stage framework to reconstruct consistent monthly and annual labor indicators for all 33 Colombian departments from 1993 to 2025. The approach integrates temporal disaggregation, time-series splicing and interpolation, statistical learning, and institutional covariates to estimate seven key variables: employment, unemployment, labor force participation (PEA), inactivity, working-age population (PET), total population, and informality rate, including in regions without direct survey coverage. The framework enforces labor accounting identities, scales results to demographic projections, and aligns all estimates with national benchmarks to ensure internal coherence. Validation against official departmental GEIH aggregates and city-level informality data for the 23 metropolitan areas yields in-sample Mean Absolute Percentage Errors (MAPEs) below 2.3% across indicators, confirming strong predictive performance. To our knowledge, this is the first dataset to provide spatially exhaustive and temporally consistent monthly labor measures for Colombia. By incorporating both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of employment, the panel enhances the empirical foundation for analysing long-term labor market dynamics, identifying regional disparities, and designing targeted policy interventions.
The integration of a centrifugal extraction and pipeline transportation system to improve efficiency in shrimp harvesting management into closed-pond aquaculture systems represents a significant advancement in aquaculture technology. This study introduces and assesses the efficiency of the shrimp harvester compared to manual harvesting methods, examining key parameters such as shrimp harvester quality, shrimp harvester loss rates, and shrimp harvester speed. A particularly noteworthy aspect is the innovative transportation of shrimp through a pipeline, which enhances the transformative potential of this technology. Results indicate that the centrifugal shrimp harvester outperforms manual methods, achieving an impressive yield rate of 3338 kg/h with a minimal loss rate of 0.01%; the trend values for harvester capacity ranged from 0.501 to 1.884 tons of shrimp per hour at 240 rpm, 2.391 to 3.081 tons per hour at 270 rpm, and 3.338 to 3.816 tons per hour at 300 rpm. While this technology shows promise for increasing productivity and minimizing shrimp damage, further investigation is needed to evaluate its economic viability, including operational costs and labor expenses. The study highlights the transformative potential of the centrifugal shrimp harvester and emphasizes the need for ongoing research to ensure its practical application in real-world aquaculture settings. Overall, the centrifugal shrimp harvester is poised to revolutionize shrimp harvesting practices, contributing to more sustainable and efficient aquaculture production.
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. Employing a qualitative case study approach, the research was conducted in four villages across the sub-districts of Tanjung Sakti Pumi and 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 saseh system 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 accumulation under market penetration. Theoretically, this study contributes 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. The findings suggest that development policies should aim to reinforce these community-based systems to improve agricultural sustainability and social equity in rural Indonesia.
The aim of the work is to identify problematic issues of human resource potential in the domestic pharmacy segment from the point of view of pharmaceutical safety.
Materials and methods. The work used information search, critical and comparative analysis, online surveys, generalization and interpretation of results. The research materials were scientific publications on the researched issue, the results of an online survey of pharmacy employees during September – December 2024 using the Google Forms platform.
Results. A list of problematic issues of personnel management in the pharmacy segment of the pharmaceutical sector of the healthcare industry was identified: pharmacies employ persons who do not have the right to participate in the provision of pharmaceutical care, since they do not have a pharmaceutical education; neglect by pharmacy management of the norms of law when applying for a job, choosing a position and documenting employment; high staff turnover; formation of work shifts in violation of labor legislation recommendations; an increase in the number of unprofessional obligations based on violation of ethical norms of the profession. It was found that the personnel policy of pharmacies for the majority of pharmaceutical specialists is not understandable, opaque, formal and not implemented. This causes rapid professional burnout, deterioration of the psychological state and pushes pharmaceutical specialists to change their field of activity, and also affects the quality of pharmaceutical care provided to the population in pharmacies. It was established that the top management of the health care and education and science systems, against the background of partial attempts to solve problems with the critical situation in pharmaceutical education, today lacks strategic plans regarding the staffing of the pharmaceutical sector of the health care industry. The issue of developing and implementing the Concept of Pharmaceutical Safety in Ukraine is actualized.
Conclusions. Based on the data set of an online survey of pharmacy employees, an analytical study of problematic issues of personnel potential in the domestic pharmacy segment was carried out and, based on its results, the prospects for the creation and implementation of the Concept of Pharmaceutical Safety in Ukraine were considered.
Exploring the interactions and coupling effects in the Population–Land–Industry–Facility (PLIF) system can help maximize resource allocation and promote the synergistic development of systems. This study constructs an index system for the PLIF system in Hebei Province, employing coupling coordination degree and spatial autocorrelation methods to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of the system’s coordination. Furthermore, grey relational analysis is employed to examine the key factors influencing the coordination degree of the system. The results show the following: (1) The development levels of each subsystem and the overall development level of the PLIF system in Hebei Province have generally increased, but the overall level remains relatively low. (2) The PLIF system in Hebei Province exhibits a pattern of “low in the north and high in the south, high in the east and low in the west”, with most counties in a barely coordinated state and a generally high degree of coupling. (3) The main factors affecting the coordinated development of the PLIF system include population density, the proportion of the tertiary industry, and the degree of non-agriculturalization of rural labor force. The research results of this paper provide a reference for promoting the coordinated development of population, land, industry, and facilities in Hebei Province and facilitating the sustainable development of the region.
This article analyses the relationship between digital transformation and remote work (lavoro agile) in the Italian Public Administration through a case study conducted within a large public organisation over the period from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic to 2025. Starting from the identification of a gap in the existing literature, which has largely focused on theoretical or exegetical analyses of the phenomenon, the contribution adopts a socio-legal and transdisciplinary perspective aimed at observing labour law in its concrete dynamics of operation. The study is based on a multi-method research design integrating qualitative analysis (semi-structured interviews with senior managers and focus groups with HR function managers), documentary analysis (administrative acts, collective agreements and individual remote work agreements), and a reconstruction of the relevant legal framework. The findings show that remote work, although formally in place prior to the pandemic and largely unused in the previous phase, played a central role in accelerating digitalisation processes, acting as a driving factor of organisational transformation and consolidating itself as an ordinary mode of work performance. In contrast with the multifunctional role attributed to the institution by the legislator—also oriented towards improving public services, fostering organisational innovation and promoting management-by-objectives models—the analysis highlights how, in practice, remote work has been predominantly functionalised to objectives related to individual well-being and work–life balance. This outcome appears to be closely linked to the limited diffusion of a managerial culture consistent with the management by objectives approach referred to in statutory and collective bargaining sources. The article interprets these dynamics through the lens of path dependency, qualifying the pandemic period as a critical juncture capable of producing lock-in effects potentially replicable in other public administrations. From this perspective, the case study offers insights for a critical reflection on the future configuration of remote work in the Public Administration and on the conditions—particularly in terms of training and organisational development—necessary for the institution to fully express its transformative function in line with the objectives pursued by the legal system.
The paper examines the transformations occurring in the labor market under the influence of digitalization. A comparative analysis of the concepts of traditional, digital and platform labor economics is carried out, and the characteristics of the labor process are studied. The main vectors of digital transformation of the labor process are highlighted.
Marjan Petreski, Stefan Tanevski, Alejandro D. Jacobo
Using a Taylor rule amended with official reserves movements, we derive country-specific monetary shocks and employ a local projections-estimator for tracking gender-disaggregated labor-market responses in 99 developing economies from 2009 to 2021. Results show that women experience more negative post-shock employment responses than men, contributing to a deepening of the gender gaps on the labor market. After the shock, women leave the labor market more so than men, which results in an apparently intact or even improved unemployment outcome for women. We find limited evidence of sector-specific reaction to interest rates. Additionally, we identify an intense worsening of women-s position on the labor market in high-growth environments as well under monetary policy tightening. Developing Asia and Latin America experience the most significant detrimental effects on women's employment, Africa exhibits a slower manifestation of the monetary shocks-impact and developing Europe shows the mildest effects.
Since the “14th Five-Year Plan”, with the continuous deepening of the “three rural work”, the quality inspection and grading of potatoes have played a decisive role in the expansion of the potato industry and the development of the processing industry. Aiming at the problems of traditional manual potato quality classification, such as high labor intensity, low efficiency, easy to cause secondary damage, and inability to judge internal quality, this article elaborated on the research progress of domestic and foreign hyperspectral detection technology, near-infrared spectroscopy detection technology, machine vision detection technology, and ultrasonic detection technology in the application of internal and external quality detection of potatoes. Through research and analysis, the problems facing non-destructive detection technology for potato quality were proposed, and prospects for the selection of imaging systems, multimodal detection technology, algorithm optimization, and intelligent detection technology were discussed, which could provide a reference for in-depth research and practical application of non-destructive detection technology for potato quality.
Food processing and manufacture, Nutrition. Foods and food supply
The efficiency of tea bud harvesting has been greatly enhanced, and human labor intensity significantly reduced, through the mechanization and intelligent management of tea plantations. A key challenge for harvesting machinery is ensuring both the freshness of tea buds and the integrity of the tea plants. However, achieving precise harvesting requires complex computational models, which can limit practical deployment. To address the demand for high-precision yet lightweight tea bud detection, this study proposes the GLS-YOLO detection model, based on YOLOv8. The model leverages GhostNetV2 as its backbone network, replacing standard convolutions with depthwise separable convolutions, resulting in substantial reductions in computational load and memory consumption. Additionally, the C2f-LC module is integrated into the improved model, combining cross-covariance fusion with a lightweight contextual attention mechanism to enhance feature recognition and extraction quality. To tackle the challenges posed by varying poses and occlusions of tea buds, Shape-IoU was employed as the loss function to improve the scoring of similarly shaped objects, reducing false positives and false negatives while improving the detection of non-rectangular or irregularly shaped objects. Experimental results demonstrate the model’s superior performance, achieving an AP@0.5 of 90.55%. Compared to the original YOLOv8, the model size was reduced by 38.85%, and the number of parameters decreased by 39.95%. This study presents innovative advances in agricultural robotics by significantly improving the accuracy and efficiency of tea bud harvesting, simplifying the configuration process for harvesting systems, and effectively lowering the technological barriers for real-world applications.
The tax burden affects a number of areas, including the economic and financial behavior of both legal entities and individuals. The aim of the article is to classify EU countries into groups based on selected tax burden indicators. The sample consists of 27 states of the European Union and the indicators used include direct taxes, indirect taxes, social contributions, taxes on consumption, on labor, on capital and implicit tax rate. In addition, the aim of the article is achieved through correlation and cluster analysis. Through cluster analysis, a total of 4 clusters were created for the period 2009-2021. The countries that joined the EU at the latest belong to the group of countries characterized by a lower tax burden. In contrast, most of the states that joined the EU earlier belong to the group of countries with a higher tax burden. In general, it can be said that countries also cluster on the basis of geographical or political characteristics. Through the cluster analysis, it was proven that there are significant differences between the states in the tax area and harmonization is not taking place, and there is thus further scope for tax harmonization. The contribution of the article is in the current assessment of the tax burden in EU countries and their classification according to similar tax systems for their discussion.
Maximilian Meyer, Christian Gazzarin, Pierrick Jan
et al.
Understanding the heterogeneity of agricultural production systems is important both for the design of targeted and tailored policies and for providing effective extension services. In Switzerland, seasonal grazing of alpine pastures during summer is important for many farms, but also for biodiversity conservation. However, these so-called alpine summer farms are threatened by water scarcity due to climate change, the lack of skilled labor, and human–wolf conflict, resulting in the abandonment of farms and loss of biodiversity. Swiss agricultural policies govern alpine summer farms with uniform policy interventions through direct payments to address these challenges. However, these farms are highly heterogeneous in terms of socioeconomic and biophysical conditions, and we lack an understanding of their structure. We investigate the heterogeneous structure of Swiss alpine summer farms by using census data (N = 5900) and a mixed-methods approach combining unsupervised clustering techniques and expert assessment to generate a farm typology. Our methodological approach enriches the existing socioeconomic farm-level data with spatial data to depict the farms' infrastructure and biophysical environment. Our results suggest 6 types that differ in terms of organizational structure, herd composition, biophysical environment, and accessibility: (1) private dairy farms; (2) communal mixed cattle and dairy farms; (3) communal cattle farms; (4) remote farms; (5) small, private cattle farms; and (6) sheep farms. We also anticipate challenges for each cluster and discuss optimization and policy measures. This will help develop targeted policies tailored to specific alpine farm types, addressing both climate and farm structural change.
Marjan Petreski, Stefan Tanevski, Irena Stojmenovska
This paper examines how investment in environmentally sustainable practices impacts employment and labor productivity growth of firms in transition economies. The study considers labor skill composition and geographical differences, shedding light on sustainability dynamics. The empirical analysis relies on the World Bank-s Enterprise Survey 2019 for 24 transition economies, constructing an environmental sustainability index from various indicators through a Principal Components Analysis. To address endogeneity, a battery of fixed effects and instrumental variables are employed. Results reveal the relevance of environmental sustainability for both employment and labor productivity growth. However, the significance diminishes when addressing endogeneity comprehensively, alluding that any relation between environmentally sustainable practices and jobs growth is more complex and needs time to work. The decelerating job-creation effect of sustainability investments is however confirmed for the high-skill firms, while low-skill firms benefit from labor productivity gains spurred by such investment. Geographically, Central Europe sees more pronounced labor productivity impacts, possibly due to its higher development and sustainability-awareness levels as compared to Southeast Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
This study investigates the impact of integrating gender equality into the Colombian constitution of 1991 on attitudes towards gender equality, experiences of gender-based discrimination, and labor market participation. Using a difference-in-discontinuities framework, we compare individuals exposed to mandatory high school courses on the Constitution with those who were not exposed. Our findings show a significant increase in labor market participation, primarily driven by women. Exposure to these courses also shapes attitudes towards gender equality, with men demonstrating greater support. Women report experiencing less gender-based discrimination. Importantly, our results suggest that women's increased labor market participation is unlikely due to reduced barriers from male partners. A disparity in opinions regarding traditional gender norms concerning household domains is observed between men and women, highlighting an ongoing power struggle within the home. However, the presence of a younger woman in the household appears to influence men's more positive view of gender equality, potentially indicating a desire to empower younger women in their future lives. These findings highlight the crucial role of cultural shocks and the constitutional inclusion of women's rights in shaping labor market dynamics.
Pierre G. Tovihoudji, Pierre G. Tovihoudji, Firmin I. Akpo
et al.
Introduction: Maize-based production systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are largely based on family farming, which is characterized by low-input, nutrient-mining agriculture and practices. These systems usually promote soil degradation through loss of organic matter and erosion. The present study characterizes farms and main soil fertility management options in maize-based farming systems of the northern Benin.Methods: The study was conducted in the municipalities of Malanville, Banikoara and Bembèrèkè. We sampled randomly and interviewed 262 maize farmers, and the statistical analysis (distribution of means and frequencies, chi-square, ANOVA, etc.) was performed.Results and discussion: The results show that maize farming characteristics and socioeconomic conditions (land use and labor, production activities and land allocation, institutional arrangements on land, access to labor and capital, etc.) were diverse across locations and exhibited a wide variation within locations. Several practices were used for the management and sustainable maintenance of soil fertility in maize production systems in northern Benin: maize-legume intercropping, cotton-maize rotation, and mineral and organic fertilizers application. Most of farmers occasionally or regularly used mineral fertilizers (95.4%), followed by legume-cereal rotation/ intercropping (51.9%). Overall, 23.6% and 58.4% of farmers consistently used mineral fertilizer over the last 5 and 10 years, respectively. The amount of applied mineral fertilizer did not significantly vary between locations with an average (applied day after sowing, DAS) of 131.7 ± 13.7 (22 ± 8 DAS), 58.7 ± 9.6 (44 ± 5 DAS) and 164.7 ± 25.4 (38 ± 11 DAS) kg ha−1 for NPK, urea and Mix NPK + urea, respectively applied at, and days after sowing. Most farmers spread the fertilizer around the plants without covering with soil particles. Manure was applied exclusively to food crops through transporting and corralling (28.2%); and most farmers also used manure from their own livestock while few farmers used cattle corralling. Farmyard manure was mainly spread (100% of respondents) on the surface before plowing at the beginning of the rainy season. Maize farmers applied mineral fertilizer based on the level of initial soil fertility (naturally fertile or poor, degree of erosion etc.) and fertilizer purchase costs. Manure was not widely used as an alternative to chemical fertilizers; therefore, farmers need more strengthening and technical assistance on the production of organic fertilizers and manure storage. The findings are useful for policymakers on encouraging the successful implementation of sustainable soil fertility management strategies of maize-based farming systems in northern Benin.