This paper extends the Acemoglu-Restrepo task exposure framework to address the labor market effects of agentic artificial intelligence systems: autonomous AI agents capable of completing entire occupational workflows rather than discrete tasks. Unlike prior automation technologies that substitute for individual subtasks, agentic AI systems execute end-to-end workflows involving multi-step reasoning, tool invocation, and autonomous decision-making, substantially expanding occupational displacement risk beyond what existing task-level analyses capture. We introduce the Agentic Task Exposure (ATE) score, a composite measure computed algorithmically from O*NET task data using calibrated adoption parameters--not a regression estimate--incorporating AI capability scores, workflow coverage factors, and logistic adoption velocity. Applying the ATE framework across five major US technology regions (Seattle-Tacoma, San Francisco Bay Area, Austin, New York, and Boston) over a 2025-2030 horizon, we find that 93.2% of the 236 analyzed occupations across six information-intensive SOC groups (financial, legal, healthcare, healthcare support, sales, and administrative/clerical) cross the moderate-risk threshold (ATE >= 0.35) in Tier 1 regions by 2030, with credit analysts, judges, and sustainability specialists reaching ATE scores of 0.43-0.47. We simultaneously identify seventeen emerging occupational categories benefiting from reinstatement effects, concentrated in human-AI collaboration, AI governance, and domain-specific AI operations roles. Our findings carry implications for workforce transition policy, regional economic planning, and the temporal dynamics of labor market adjustment
This commentary explores how the platform economy shapes labour market responses during times of crisis, with a focus on gendered experiences. Drawing on cases of economic crisis, natural disasters, and refugee displacement, it examines how digital labour platforms offer flexible work opportunities while also reinforcing existing inequalities. Women face distinct constraints (such as caregiving responsibilities, limited mobility, and economic insecurity) that hinder their employment opportunities and earnings potential. These constraints are more pronounced during crises, when access to stable income and safe working conditions becomes more difficult. While platform work can serve as a lifeline, it is not a guaranteed solution, and its benefits are unevenly distributed. The commentary calls for gender-responsive policies and new research to understand how digital infrastructures mediate labour experiences across different crisis contexts. Such research can inform inclusive strategies that promote resilience and equity in platform-based work, particularly for marginalized and displaced populations.
As sidewalk delivery robots become increasingly integrated into urban life, this paper begins with a critical provocation: Is robot labor labor? More than a rhetorical question, this inquiry invites closer attention to the social and political arrangements that robot labor entails. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork across two smart-city districts in Seoul, we examine how delivery robot labor is collectively sustained. While robotic actions are often framed as autonomous and efficient, we show that each successful delivery is in fact a distributed sociotechnical achievement--reliant on human labor, regulatory coordination, and social accommodations. We argue that delivery robots do not replace labor but reconfigure it--rendering some forms more visible (robotic performance) while obscuring others (human and institutional support). Unlike industrial robots, delivery robots operate in shared public space, engage everyday passersby, and are embedded in policy and progress narratives. In these spaces, we identify "robot privilege"--humans routinely yielding to robots--and distinct perceptions between casual observers ("cute") and everyday coexisters ("admirable"). We contribute a conceptual reframing of robot labor as a collective assemblage, empirical insights into South Korea's smart-city automation, and a call for HRI to engage more deeply with labor and spatial politics to better theorize public-facing robots.
Human cognition naturally engages with abstract and fluid concepts, whereas existing reasoning models often rely on generating discrete tokens, potentially constraining their expressive capabilities. Recent advancements aim to address this limitation by enabling large language models (LLMs) to generate soft, abstract tokens, thus facilitating reasoning within a continuous concept space. In this paper, we investigate the Soft Thinking capabilities of various LLMs through a systematic analysis of their internal behavior using a suite of probing techniques. Contrary to the prevailing belief that Soft Thinking supports parallel exploration of diverse reasoning paths, our findings reveal that LLMs behave as single-threaded reasoners--they predominantly rely on the token with the highest probability in the soft input to predict the next step. This behavior induces a greedy feedback loop that suppresses alternative reasoning paths and undermines the benefits of transmitting richer information via Soft Tokens. To address this Greedy Pitfall, we propose Stochastic Soft Thinking, which introduces stochasticity to break free from this Greedy Pitfall. Our experiments demonstrate that incorporating randomness--particularly with the Gumbel-Softmax trick--can alleviate the limitations of vanilla approaches and unleash the potential of Soft Thinking, resulting in superior performance across eight reasoning benchmarks. We further demonstrate that Stochastic Soft Thinking exhibits stronger exploration potential compared to conventional COT. Our findings deepen the understanding of continuous reasoning and establish the foundation for future work on improving Soft Thinking with Reinforcement Learning.
Sentagi Sesotya Utami, Winny Setyonugroho, Moch Zihad Islami
et al.
Introduction: Ship-to-shore (STS) crane operators strive for efficiency in their work, but they must take a hard look at their high-risk jobs. It is necessary to learn how to improve occupational safety and health. This study aims to investigate the problems faced by STS crane operators working in container ports and to understand the importance of fit-for-work monitoring procedures, particularly for individuals working in high-risk industries such as STS operators. Methods: This study used a qualitative approach, and data were collected through interviews and observations of STS operators and in-house clinic staff. Nine STS operators, two in-house clinic staff, and two safety, health, and environment (SHE) staff were interviewed. Results: This study found that container terminal companies emphasise two critical aspects for STS operators: productivity and occupational safety and health. STS operators face health problems, including physical and psychological problems, due to the fast-paced work system, sleep patterns, daily activities, and thoughts that are difficult to control. Employees have coping mechanisms to deal with fatigue, and stakeholders have effectively communicated the company's safety and health culture. Most stakeholders in a container terminal company want a fit-for-work monitoring system to make the business efficient and sustainable. Conclusion: The STS industry faces a significant problem with operator fatigue, which can negatively impact safety and productivity. This issue requires a comprehensive strategy, including legislation to regulate working hours and shift patterns, technology to combat fatigue, and operator education and training.
Tiago Fávero de Oliveira, Breno Apolinário da Silva
O objetivo deste estudo é analisar como a mudança tecnológica altera processos produtivos e educativos. O texto aponta que, apesar do apelo de modernização e inovação, a difusão de tecnologias de inteligência artificial altera a relação entre linguagem e pensamento, produzindo uma educação tecnobancária cujos efeitos geram submissão, dominação, exploração e universalização de um pensamento único. O artigo parte das análises de Marx sobre a maquinaria e se desenvolve apontando alterações, contradições e desafios sobre o tema. Ao final, são apresentados caminhos para o enfrentamento da questão no sentido de gerar uma educação comprometida com os interesses de emancipação da classe dominada.
Palavras-chave: Educação tecnobancária; Inteligência Artificial; Educação.
Special aspects of education, Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand
For the cultural history of industrialized nations, particularly in the economies of the Global North, the period between 1890 and 1930 is associated with modernisms, as successive cultural movements that were formally innovative, highly subjective, yet also self-reflexive of their institutional and social functions. These movements proclaimed themselves as avant-garde; as cultural vanguards that visualize, materialize, and sound out abstract ideas in new artistic forms and practices. Many modernisms, from Futurism to social realism, regarded the human body as a performative projection plane for expansive ideas about movement and mobility, often conflating social reform with physical freedom, and mass action with political agency.
AbstractA survey of recent works of labor and environment reveal the centrality of hybridity to analyses of human and nonhuman natures. These are most apparent in analyses of labor, technology, and nature. While ways of knowing nature amongst the powerful have been oriented toward the ever-greater domination of workers and nonhuman nature, interspecies entanglements and solidarity erupt through the marginal, overlooked spaces. Taken together, the books included in this review suggest a way toward finding alternative, more just futures for living alongside nonhuman nature.
Ryan J. McNeilly, Jennifer A. Schwanekamp, Logan S. Hyder
et al.
Abstract Background Since the introduction of copper based, lead-free frangible (LFF) ammunition to Air Force small arms firing ranges, instructors have reported symptoms including chest tightness, respiratory irritation, and metallic taste. These symptoms have been reported despite measurements determining that instructor exposure does not exceed established occupational exposure limits (OELs). The disconnect between reported symptoms and exposure limits may be due to a limited understanding of LFF firing byproducts and subsequent health effects. A comprehensive characterization of exposure to instructors was completed, including ventilation system evaluation, personal monitoring, symptom tracking, and biomarker analysis, at both a partially enclosed and fully enclosed range. Results Instructors reported symptoms more frequently after M4 rifle classes compared to classes firing only the M9 pistol. Ventilation measurements demonstrated that airflow velocities at the firing line were highly variable and often outside established standards at both ranges. Personal breathing zone air monitoring showed exposure to carbon monoxide, ultrafine particulate, and metals. In general, exposure to instructors was higher at the partially enclosed range compared to the fully enclosed range. Copper measured in the breathing zone of instructors, on rare occasions, approached OELs for copper fume (0.1 mg/m3). Peak carbon monoxide concentrations were 4–5 times higher at the partially enclosed range compared to the enclosed range and occasionally exceeded the ceiling limit (125 ppm). Biological monitoring showed that lung function was maintained in instructors despite respiratory symptoms. However, urinary oxidative stress biomarkers and urinary copper measurements were increased in instructors compared to control groups. Conclusions Consistent with prior work, this study demonstrates that symptoms still occurred despite exposures below OELs. Routine monitoring of symptoms, urinary metals, and oxidative stress biomarkers can help identify instructors who are particularly affected by exposures. These results can assist in guiding protective measures to reduce exposure and protect instructor health. Further, a longitudinal study is needed to determine the long-term health consequences of LFF firing emissions exposure.
Con motivo y ocasión del número cien de Sociología del Trabajo, se revisan las aportaciones e influencias más sobresalientes en el estudio de las mujeres y los trabajos, de sus experiencias como trabajadoras dentro y fuera de los hogares. Un recorrido escogido y discontinuo que reconstruye una amplitud de problemas y desafíos en torno a los cuidados, la conciliación de la vida personal y familiar, los impactos de las transformaciones productivas, el género y su intersección con la clase, la etnicidad y la edad en la esfera laboral, el alcance de las políticas de igualdad, etc. a la luz de la renovación teórica del feminismo, desde su esfuerzos de redefinición de conceptos esenciales como el trabajo que permitieron renovar y crear nuevas formas de abordar e interpretar la compleja realidad del trabajo de las mujeres.
Abstract:This article examines how the field of labor and working-class history has conceptualized class and assesses theories of class that can help us develop maximally illuminating concepts. Labor historians, particularly those whose work employs a transnational, gender, or racial lens of analysis, have advanced our understanding of how working people's lives are shaped by class. By connecting that scholarship to class theory, the article argues for reconceptualizing class to focus on the complex ways capitalism generates class relationships, embedding race, gender, and other historical dynamics within its formative parameters. It relies on work by Tithi Bhattacharya and Stuart Hall to articulate a specific vision of class relations under capitalism. Finally, the article concludes with praxis by applying Hall's and Bhattacharya's insights to the challenges academic knowledge workers face today amid the crisis of higher education, which is growing more pressing as a result of the economic disaster related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes by addressing how our conceptualizations of class could shape efforts to build broad solidarities among knowledge workers in higher education.
Khaerani Suci Lestari, Aditya Fadilah Muhamad, Arif Susanto
et al.
Introduction: In the era of the Covid-19 pandemic, psychosocial issues as part of health and safety have become a popular mental health issue, particularly among gold and copper miners. This situation has led some companies to fire their unskilled and unproductive workers to minimize the production costs. However, there is no specific regulation for the workers that could be a barrier of this unpredicted situation. This condition mostly becomes a negative stressor for the workers at the jobsite. At some point, it develops to a critical health and safety condition known as risky and unhealthy behavior that brings to fatality. The aim of this research is to analyze the psychosocial risk factors that adversely affect the psychology of copper and gold mining workers during the pandemic. Method: This is a cross-sectional study with COPSOQ III, used to identify factors contributing to workers’ psychology, while Dolan & Arsenault’s questionnaire was used to analyze stress symptoms, with a Cronbach α value of 0.83-0.84. Results: Multivariate tests were conducted on the variables of work experience, body mass index, marital status, emotional demands, vertical trust, and organizational justice. Significance values were obtained for the variables of work experience (0.590 body mass index (0.517), marital status (0.122), emotional demands (0.187), vertical trust (0.000), and organizational justice (0.119). Of the six variables, only vertical trusthad a significant value. Conclusion: Psychological risk factors on copper and gold mining workers during the pandemic are only influenced by a vertical trust.
Keywords: COPSOQ III, leadership, pandemic, psychosocial, vertical trust
Travel restrictions and social distancing measures make it difficult to observe, monitor or manage physical fieldwork. We describe research in progress that applies technologies for real-time remote observation and conversation in on-road vehicles to observe field work on a farm. We collaborated on a pilot deployment of this project at Kreher Eggs in upstate New York. We instrumented a tractor with equipment to remotely observe and interview farm workers performing vehicle-related work. This work was initially undertaken to allow sustained observation of field work over longer periods of time from geographically distant locales; given our current situation, this work provides a case study in how to perform observational research when geographic and bodily distance have become the norm. We discuss our experiences and provide some preliminary insights for others looking to conduct remote observational research in the field.
The rapid spread of COVID-19 interacted with long-unfolding economic trends to set a global tinder box aflame. Over the past thirty years, the world's workforce has increasingly found employment in low-wage, low-productivity jobs in the global services sector. The pandemic lockdowns hit these sorts of activities the hardest. Opportunities to work evaporated, spreading both poverty and hunger around the world. The same rise in global service sector employment shares, which amplified the pandemic lockdown's destructive effects, will now slow the pace of the recovery. The transition to a services-based economy has accelerated, due to what José Antonio Ocampo and Tomasso Faccio call “too much excess capacity and too little certainty about future demand,” which have depressed levels of investment and ushered in a period of economic stagnation. COVID-19 will make these tendencies worse. Weak economic recoveries will further entrench an economic order in which employers pay little attention to workers’ demands, deepening employment insecurity and economic inequality. The future for labor looks bleak. What that means for the future of working people remains an open question. Their fight for dignity, in the midst of the pandemic and post-pandemic eras, will prove decisive.
Christine Coméra, Christel Cartier, Eric Gaultier
et al.
Abstract Background Food-grade TiO2 (E171 in the EU) is widely used as a coloring agent in foodstuffs, including sweets. Chronic dietary exposure raises concerns for human health due to proinflammatory properties and the ability to induce and promote preneoplastic lesions in the rodent gut. Characterization of intestinal TiO2 uptake is essential for assessing the health risk in humans. We studied in vivo the gut absorption kinetics of TiO2 in fasted mice orally given a single dose (40 mg/kg) to assess the ability of intestinal apical surfaces to absorb particles when available without entrapment in the bolus. The epithelial translocation pathways were also identified ex vivo using intestinal loops in anesthetized mice. Results The absorption of TiO2 particles was analyzed in gut tissues by laser-reflective confocal microscopy and ICP-MS at 4 and 8 h following oral administration. A bimodal pattern was detected in the small intestine: TiO2 absorption peaked at 4 h in jejunal and ileal villi before returning to basal levels at 8 h, while being undetectable at 4 h but significantly present at 8 h in the jejunal Peyer’s patches (PP). Lower absorption occurred in the colon, while TiO2 particles were clearly detectable by confocal microscopy in the blood at 4 and 8 h after treatment. Ex vivo, jejunal loops were exposed to the food additive in the presence and absence of pharmacological inhibitors of paracellular tight junction (TJ) permeability or of transcellular (endocytic) passage. Thirty minutes after E171 addition, TiO2 absorption by the jejunal villi was decreased by 66% (p < 0.001 vs. control) in the presence of the paracellular permeability blocker triaminopyrimidine; the other inhibitors had no significant effect. Substantial absorption through a goblet cell (GC)-associated pathway, insensitive to TJ blockade, was also detected. Conclusions After a single E171 dose in mice, early intestinal uptake of TiO2 particles mainly occurred through the villi of the small intestine, which, in contrast to the PP, represent the main absorption surface in the small intestine. A GC-associated passage and passive diffusion through paracellular TJ spaces between enterocytes appeared to be major absorption routes for transepithelial uptake of dietary TiO2.
Leonardo Moura Lima Calmon de Siqueira, Laumar Neves de Souza
O presente artigo objetiva questionar a proposta de investimento em capital humano como uma solução para o iminente desemprego estrutural decorrente da adoção das novas tecnologias da robótica e da inteligência artificial publicada em 2018 pelo Banco Mundial. Tendo por base (1) a análise empírica do mercado de trabalho brasileiro a partir da perspectiva da evolução das credenciais educacionais da classe trabalhadora, (2) os impactos das novas tecnologias sobre o trabalho e (3) os desafios decorrentes das metamorfoses vivenciadas pela classe-que-vive-do-trabalho, o artigo conclui ser oportuna a reflexão sobre uma alternativa de política pública educacional que tenha por propósito o desenvolvimento de uma compreensão crítica da sociedade brasileira, levando em consideração não apenas a formação para o trabalho, mas, também para a atuação social e política.
Special aspects of education, Labor. Work. Working class
Milene Carrara Carmo Garcia, Michelle Marques do Vale, Jhonatan Carlos Terencio Ribeiro
et al.
Este relato objetiva descrever as experiências vividas por duas estudantes de fisioterapia participantes da oficina de “Treinamento Funcional Terapêutico” do programa de extensão “Atividade Física Funcional e Recreativa para Terceira Idade” (AFRID), oferecido na Faculdade de Educação Física e Fisioterapia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, no primeiro semestre de 2019. Relata o planejamento das atividades físicas propostas aos idosos, como a rotina dos encontros realizados, assim como os objetivos esperados de cada etapa e exercício proposto e a reação e feedback tanto dos participantes quanto das estudantes. Ressalta também a importância da realização de projetos de atividade física orientada para a terceira idade objetivando a manutenção da capacidade física funcional e colaborando assim para a melhoria da qualidade de vida dos idosos. Além disso, o projeto contribuiu para a vivência, construção e aplicação de conhecimentos práticos acerca da fisioterapia aplicada à geriatria, as necessidades observadas nessa população no âmbito do exercício físico, assim como os benefícios e desafios encontrados.
Social Sciences, Labor in politics. Political activity of the working class