Abstract This article examines the large and modern sugar factories established in Egypt in the 1870s as multi-phased production sites that combined coerced peasant labor with the deployment of state of the art steam technology. These factories possessed the capacity to produce 7.5% of global sugar output from sugarcane at the time. Yet their scale, combined with their reliance on forced labor, have been neglected in Egypt’s labor historiography. The article argues that the forms of resistance enacted by coerced workers on these worksites co-shaped the emergence of peasant wage labor in subsequent decades. Drawing on the analytical perspectives of sugar history and Global Labor History (GLH), it demonstrates how wage labor took shape on industrial worksites in rural regions—challenging earlier labor histories that treat urban wage labor as the starting point of modern Egypt’s labor history. In doing so, it shows that rural labor strikes predated the conventional periodization of labor strikes and working-class formation in Egypt’s cities during the 1880s–90s. Finally, this global microhistory argues that the materiality and temporality of sugar production, when combined with the resources-demanding and labor-intensive technology of the factories, complicate Egypt’s late nineteenth-century position as a commodity frontier for Europe’s industrial capitalism.
El artículo busca identificar las características de los diferentes métodos de elaboración del protocolo familiar en empresas de familia, propuestos por diversos autores. Se realiza una revisión narrativa de la literatura. Se consultaron cuatro bases de datos académicas, dos fuentes especializadas y una biblioteca física, se identificaron diecisiete trabajos de los cuales se incluyen seis en esta revisión. Se observa que los métodos coinciden en iniciar el proceso con una etapa diagnóstica, razón por la que se centra el análisis en su desarrollo. Las restantes fases varían en número, contenido, actores y herramientas, sin diferencias en los temas abordados, sino en su tratamiento y profundización. Entonces, se reconoce la etapa diagnóstica como necesaria y relevante en este proceso, tanto para la familia como para el consultor. Se realiza una propuesta para el reconocimiento del estado de situación del sistema empresa-familia-patrimonio, en el abordaje de la protocolización.
Labor. Work. Working class, Economic growth, development, planning
No início do século XX, com a descoberta de caucho no sul do Pará, a missão religiosa de Nossa Senhora de Conceição do Araguaia, fundada em 1897 por missionários dominicanos franceses, teve sua dinâmica completamente transformada graças às constantes chegadas de migrantes vindos de várias regiões do Brasil para o trabalho na exploração gomífera. Nesse cenário, os grupos indígenas da região, em especial os Mebêngôkre (Kayapó), participaram ativamente deste processo, comercializando a sua produção, mas também trabalhando na exploração da borracha. As pesquisas acerca das experiências indígenas durante esse período são escassas e, fiando-se nos discursos dos próprios missionários dominicanos, percebem os indígenas enquanto vítimas indefesas dos interesses dos caucheiros. Diante disto, lançando mão de relatos de viajantes e de um conjunto documental produzido pelos missionários dominicanos, o presente artigo tem como objetivo refletir acerca da agência dos Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) durante o período de exploração da borracha no sul do Pará a partir do ano de 1904.
Arie Arizandi Kurnianto, Faten Amer, Muhammad Zaky Amiyoso
et al.
Introduction: Occupational health and safety are important for professionals managing an organization’s workplace accident insurance efforts because their work influences productivity. Therefore, this study will compare the associated health and burnout related to work in case managers and administrators. Methods: A longitudinal design was adopted. This study used year-over-year surveys of 158 employee professionals with 79 case managers and 79 administrators over a two-year time frame. They measured occupational health with the questionnaires Work Ability Index (WAI) and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). Occupational health was subsequently studied using linear regression and mixed-effects models. Results: Case managers tend to have higher work ability (mean WAI score: 45.08), but they suffer from more personal burnout (mean PB score: 33.0), presumably because they work directly with injured workers. In contrast, administrators are experiencing lower but more stable levels in their work ability (mean WAI score: 37.78) and with higher levels of client-related burnout (mean CRB score: 53.0). Further, work ability deteriorates as age increases, especially among case managers, and is negatively associated with high BMI, low sleep and long sick leave. Employees with a BMI > 30 had 12% lower WAI scores (p<0.01), and those sleeping < 6 hours per night had 15% lower work ability index. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the need for targeted interventions to alleviate occupational burnout and improve work ability, particularly through occupation-specific workplace interventions. The study also suggests that implementing stress management programs, health promotion initiatives, and workflow optimizations may improve occupational health outcomes.
Marios Constantinides, Himanshu Verma, Shadan Sadeghian
et al.
The way we work is no longer hybrid -- it is blended with AI co-workers, automated decisions, and virtual presence reshaping human roles, agency, and expertise. We now work through AI, with our outputs shaped by invisible algorithms. AI's infiltration into knowledge, creative, and service work is not just about automation, but concerns redistribution of agency, creativity, and control. How do we deal with physical and distributed AI-mediated workspaces? What happens when algorithms co-author reports, and draft our creative work? In this provocation, we argue that hybrid work is obsolete. Blended work is the future, not just in physical and virtual spaces but in how human effort and AI output become inseparable. We argue this shift demands urgent attention to AI-mediated work practices, work-life boundaries, physical-digital interactions, and AI transparency and accountability. The question is not whether we accept it, but whether we actively shape it before it shapes us.
Janik Schüttler, Rosalba Garcia-Millan, Michael E. Cates
et al.
We revisit the elementary problem of moving a particle in a harmonic trap in finite time with minimal work cost, and extend it to the case of an active particle. By comparing the Gaussian case of an Active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle and the non-Gaussian run-and-tumble particle, we establish general principles for thermodynamically optimal control of active matter beyond specific models. We show that the open-loop optimal protocols, which do not incorporate system-state information, are identical to those of passive particles but result in larger work fluctuations due to activity. In contrast, closed-loop (or feedback) control with a single (initial) measurement changes the optimal protocol and reduces the average work relative to the open-loop control for small enough measurement errors. Minimum work is achieved by particles with finite persistence time. As an application, we propose an active information engine which extracts work from self-propulsion. This periodic engine achieves higher information efficiency with run-and-tumble particles than with active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particles. Complementing a companion paper that gives only the main results [arXiv:2407.18542], here we provide a full account of our theoretical calculations and simulation results. We include derivations of optimal protocols, work variance, impact of measurement uncertainty, and information-acquisition costs.
AbstractThe article analyzes a period when public officials withdrew children from the labor market and assigned them to the school system. While existing research delves into the reasons behind this process, focusing on sociopolitical reforms, economic factors and changing concepts of childhood, there is limited understanding of how working-class families responded. The article aims to fill the gap by examining the social impact on families when their children were barred from factory work by political-administrative authorities, shedding light on class formation and political subjectivation. Inspired by Jacques Rancière’s book Proletarian Nights the article specifically investigates the Swiss canton of Aargau, where the clash between industrial child labor and liberal school reforms around 1830 provides a unique perspective. The conflict prompted the mobilization of proletarian families, compelling them to organize, unite politically and collectively advocate for their children to rejoin the labor market.
Aníbal Quijano ha dejado aportes sustanciales sobre teorías, apuestas y *cuestiones abiertas* para las ciencias sociales, pero, sobre todo, para los *movimientos de la sociedad* y la búsque de *horizontes de sentido alternativos*. La actitud de insumiso vital, en la teoría y en la práctica, que, con acierto, mencionara Danilo Quijano, sintetiza mucho de su legado: insumisión contra todo tipo de poder y de opresiones, del color político o ideológico que fuese. Uno de sus textos clásicos es “Colonialidade do poder, eurocentrismo e América Latina, publicado en portugués por CLACSO - Consejo Latinoamericanos de Ciencias Sociales, en 2005, y que adjuntamos a los lectores de la Revista Trabalho Necessário (TN 47).
Special aspects of education, Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand
A síntese aqui apresentada é resultado da trajetória de pesquisa realizada no Doutorado em Tecnologia e Sociedade, na Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, sob orientação do professor Domingos Leite Lima Filho. O trabalho de investigação junto a um Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia nasce a partir da minha inserção como docente do ensino Básico, Técnico e Tecnológico, acompanhamento dos processos de desenvolvimento do Projeto Político Pedagógico, e das dinâmicas vivenciadas no espaço do campus, no qual fui inserida como docente.
Special aspects of education, Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand
Clayton Bromley, Alexander Moore, Amar Saini
et al.
Contemporary state-of-the-art video object segmentation (VOS) models compare incoming unannotated images to a history of image-mask relations via affinity or cross-attention to predict object masks. We refer to the internal memory state of the initial image-mask pair and past image-masks as a working memory buffer. While the current state of the art models perform very well on clean video data, their reliance on a working memory of previous frames leaves room for error. Affinity-based algorithms include the inductive bias that there is temporal continuity between consecutive frames. To account for inconsistent camera views of the desired object, working memory models need an algorithmic modification that regulates the memory updates and avoid writing irrelevant frames into working memory. A simple algorithmic change is proposed that can be applied to any existing working memory-based VOS model to improve performance on inconsistent views, such as sudden camera cuts, frame interjections, and extreme context changes. The resulting model performances show significant improvement on video data with these frame interjections over the same model without the algorithmic addition. Our contribution is a simple decision function that determines whether working memory should be updated based on the detection of sudden, extreme changes and the assumption that the object is no longer in frame. By implementing algorithmic changes, such as this, we can increase the real-world applicability of current VOS models.
The hiring process by private employers has faced important changes in the last 30 years, which led companies all over the world, especially the larger ones, to employ various technological tools in this area. For some time, some phases of the hiring process – which is better understood as a sequence of logically coordinated steps through which employers progressively gain insight about prospective employees and decide who to take into further consideration – have been automated through tools based on artificial intelligence. Once the ever-changing AI applications in this field are classified using a generally applicable scheme, it will be possible to focus on the Italian and international market for the software used to automate the hiring process. This kind of technology makes room for numerous legal implications: in particular, concerns about the right to data protection, the right to not be discriminated and, more generally, the right to work seem reasonably founded.
Pakistan is ranked 5th in terms of population with 232 million people, while 338 million people are predicted by 20501. As one of the country’s major challenges, health care is managed on two levels: the provincial level and the federal level. Health care budgets are allocated 19.5 billion in fiscal year 2022-23, about 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but less than the amount recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)2.
As a key component of healthcare, physical rehabilitation includes habilitating children born with different abilities, restoring normal physical function after stroke, regaining normal physical function after musculoskeletal injuries, cardiorespiratory, sports, geriatric, speech, gynecological, and achieving physical independence through prosthetic and orthotic devices 3. The benefits of regular physical activity and physical fitness are also associated with decreased chronic disease risk, preventing tenderness, promoting longevity and enhancing the quality of life 4.
According to statistics, there were 27-34 million people with different abilities in Pakistan in 2014, while globally 15% of the total population had disability 5. In terms of stroke prevalence per capita, Pakistan has the highest rate. The number of stroke cases reported in Pakistan each day is approximately 1000, resulting in 400 deaths daily, while the remaining 600 cases are managed through medical management and rehabilitation 6. The prevalence of cerebral palsy in Pakistan is approximately double (i.e., 4 children per 1000) than globally (2-3 children per 1000).
In physical rehabilitation, research is vital to reporting key statistics about prevalence and incidence, identifying risk factors, adapting and developing diagnostic tools, testing for reliability and validity, and assessing whether existing treatment techniques are effective, as well as developing new protocols, guidelines, and treatment techniques.
Research mentorship and supervision are key challenges in rehabilitation research in Pakistan, even though the first rehabilitation institution was established in the 1950s 7. Research in rehabilitation has expanded in the last two decades with the launch of MS/M.Phil and Ph.D. programs in universities. In various universities, faculty and MS/M.Phil and Ph.D. level students started doing research and publishing papers, but there was a lack in research mentorship/supervision. In the beginning, foreign faculty were engaged in some universities. However, today some supervisors with Ph.D. qualifications are available and supervise projects of Ph.D. level students.
Researchers in the rehabilitation sciences face another challenge when it comes to accessing literature. There are a majority of quality research journals that are not open access to students and institutions, and they require paid subscriptions. Since these journals charge subscription fees and publication charges, they restrict access to quality literature, publication of reports, and publication of research 8.
Providing funding for research projects in rehabilitation sciences professions has always been a challenge. The total budget for the financial year 2022-23 was 9,000 billion PKR, and there was only 44 billion PKR allocated to higher education. In total, only 04% of the budget is allocated for higher education 2. The higher education commission of Pakistan chartered 247 universities and degree-awarding institutions. There are approximately 58,000 university teachers and 2 million university students. HEC funds research projects through the National Research Program for Universities (NRPU), Technology Development Fund (TDF), Local Challenge Fund (LCF), Grand Challenge Fund (GCF), Rapid Technology Transfer Grant (RTTG), Technology Transfer Support Fund (TTSF), and Innovative and Collaborative Research Grant (ICRG) 9.
Lack of latest equipment, research laboratories, and specialized research centers in the country especially in the universities and degree awarding or higher education affiliated institutions. There is a lack of the latest and modern diagnostic equipment, tools, and therapeutic equipment, as technology evolving very fast in the last two decades, and very sophisticated equipment is now been available in the portal form.
The way forward is to focus on research-related specialized faculty training and support to enroll faculty members in research-based MS/M. Phil and Ph.D. level degrees in physical rehabilitation, especially in top-ranked universities in technologically developed countries. HEC and universities must facilitate the faculty member, MS/M.Phil and Ph.D. level students for access to research databases and high-impact factor research journals. The state must increase the annual budget for higher education as per the recommendation of the WHO and plan to develop well-equipped research laboratories and research centers in the universities and affiliated teaching hospitals.
REFERENCES
• Info W. Population of Pakistan (2020 and historical). https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/pakistan-population/ (accessed 3/10/2023 2023).
• Finance Division GoP. Federal Budget Publications 2022-23. 2022. https://www.finance.gov.pk/fb_2022_23.html (accessed 3/10/2023 2023).
• Jesus TS, Papadimitriou C, Bright FA, Kayes NM, Pinho CS, Cott CA. Person-centered rehabilitation model: framing the concept and practice of person-centered adult physical rehabilitation based on a scoping review and thematic analysis of the literature. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2022; 103(1): 106-20.
• Anderson E, Durstine JL. Physical activity, exercise, and chronic diseases: A brief review. Sports Medicine and Health Science 2019; 1(1): 3-10.
• JAMIL K. World Health Organization Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021: challenges and perspectives for physical medicine and rehabilitation in Pakistan. J Rehabil Med 2017; 49: 10-21.
• Hashmi M, Khan M, Wasay M. Growing burden of stroke in Pakistan: a review of progress and limitations. International journal of stroke 2013; 8(7): 575-81.
• Malik AN, Anwar S, Siddiqi FA. Research Barriers & facilitators of Physical Therapists of Pakistan. Rawal Medical Journal 2016; 41(3): 369-72.
• Batool U. REHABILITATION RESEARCH BARRIERS IN PAKISTAN: soi: 21-2017/re-trjvol02iss02p58. The Rehabilitation Journal 2018; 2(02): 58-9.
• Higher Education Comission P. RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAMS. 2022. https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/RnD/Pages/Research-Grants.aspx (accessed 3/10/2023 2023).
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Therapeutics. Psychotherapy
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.
Verena Biener, Snehanjali Kalamkar, John J Dudley
et al.
Recent commercial off-the-shelf virtual and augmented reality devices have been promoted as tools for knowledge work and research findings show how this kind of work can benefit from the affordances of extended reality (XR). One major advantage that XR can provide is the enlarged display space that can be used to display virtual screens which is a feature already readily available in many commercial devices. This could be especially helpful in mobile contexts, in which users might not have access to their optimal physical work setup. Such situations often occur in a public setting, for example when working on a train while traveling to a business meeting. At the same time, the use of XR devices is still uncommon in public, which might impact both users and bystanders. Hence, there is a need to better understand the implications of using XR devices for work in public both on the user itself, as well as on bystanders. We report the results of a study in a university cafeteria in which participants used three different systems. In one setup they only used a laptop with a single screen, in a second setup, they combined the laptop with an optical see-through AR headset, and in the third, they combined the laptop with an immersive VR headset. In addition, we also collected 231 responses from bystanders through a questionnaire. The combined results indicate that (1) users feel safer if they can see their physical surroundings; (2) current use of XR in public makes users stand out; and (3) prior XR experience can influence how users feel when using XR in public.
Ethan Q. Simmons, Roshan Sajjad, Kimberlee Keithley
et al.
Can quantum mechanical thermodynamic engines outperform their classical counterparts? To address one aspect of this question, we experimentally realize and characterize an isentropic thermodynamic engine that uses a Bose-condensed working fluid. In this engine, an interacting quantum degenerate gas of bosonic lithium is subjected to trap compression and relaxation strokes interleaved with strokes strengthening and weakening interparticle interactions. We observe a significant enhancement in efficiency and power when using a Bose-condensed working fluid, compared to the case of a non-degenerate thermal gas. We demonstrate reversibility, and measure power and efficiency as a function of engine parameters including compression ratio and cycle time. Results agree quantitatively with interacting finite temperature field-theoretic simulations that closely replicate the length and energy scales of the working fluid.
Saverio Ricci, David Kappel, Christian Tetzlaff
et al.
Different real-world cognitive tasks evolve on different relevant timescales. Processing these tasks requires memory mechanisms able to match their specific time constants. In particular, the working memory utilizes mechanisms that span orders of magnitudes of timescales, from milliseconds to seconds or even minutes. This plentitude of timescales is an essential ingredient of working memory tasks like visual or language processing. This degree of flexibility is challenging in analog computing hardware because it requires the integration of several reconfigurable capacitors of different size. Emerging volatile memristive devices present a compact and appealing solution to reproduce reconfigurable temporal dynamics in a neuromorphic network. We present a demonstration of working memory using a silver-based memristive device whose key parameters, retention time and switching probability, can be electrically tuned and adapted to the task at hand. First, we demonstrate the principles of working memory in a small scale hardware to execute an associative memory task. Then, we use the experimental data in two larger scale simulations, the first featuring working memory in a biological environment, the second demonstrating associative symbolic working memory.
<p class="first" id="d1724287e83">This article seeks to characterise teleworking in public administration during the
COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on a study that aimed to collect the perceptions of Portuguese
public servants about this phenomenon. Findings show that, in general, perceptions
of workers and managers about teleworking are more positive than negative. It seems
that teleworking in public administration has succeeded despite perceptions of insufficient
equipment supply and some stigmatisation of teleworkers. The article also sought to
investigate whether the perception of the potential advantages and disadvantages of
teleworking, with special emphasis on work-life balance, varies according to the workers’
gender and number of dependents. The study found that this was indeed the case. However,
there were also differences relating to workers’ motivation. The study found that
a significant proportion of Portuguese public servants felt more motivated when performing
their activities as teleworkers.
</p>
Helge Hoel, Duncan Lewis, Anna Einarsdottir
et al.
Previous studies of workplace bullying have not investigated whether Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) employees experience bullying in similar or different ways to their heterosexual counterparts. This study reports on how and to what extent sexuality or sexual orientation influences the experience of workplace bullying and whether openness about sexual orientation elevates risks and shapes exposure to bullying. Using a large and rigorously compiled sample of the British working population comprising 500 non-heterosexuals and 722 heterosexuals (N = 1,222) and applying latent Class Cluster Analysis, a similar behavioural pattern of bullying for LGB employees emerged as for heterosexuals, although LGB employees were 1.34 times more likely to be bullied, and not being open about their sexual orientation elevated the risk of bullying. LGB employees were also more likely to be exposed to intrusive, sexualized behaviours and behaviours of an exclusionary nature. Altogether, this suggests that prejudices and stereotyping towards LGB people persist. Whilst being open about their sexual orientation did not make LGB people more likely to become a target of bullying as hypothesized, those who only reveal their sexual orientation when asked, were significantly more likely to be exposed to negative acts than those who were totally open. This indicates that non-disclosure does not prevent others at work making assumptions of sexual orientation, indicating that stereotyping of LGBs plays a greater part in disclosure than has previously been acknowledged.
Sofie Østergaard Jaspers, Dorte Raaby Andersen, Iben Louise Karlsen
et al.
The aim of this study was to investigate which contextual aspects and mechanisms are decisive in the implementation of an integrated, tailored intervention to prevent violence and threats of violence from patients or inmates towards employees in psychiatric units and in prisons and detention centers. Based on a standardized implementation degree assessment of fidelity, reach and dose delivered, we selected two workplace cases from each sector, one with a high and one with a low implementation degree. Using a realist evaluation framework, we conducted a thematic analysis of the four selected workplace cases to identify prevalent contextual aspects and mechanisms underlying the implementation degree. We found that prioritization, synergy with parallel change processes, and intervention fit, were decisive mechanisms for the successful implementation of the intervention. We also found that lack of resources (staff instability, insufficient time, poor mental resources) and resource-demanding parallel change processes, were contextual aspects that “blocked” all mechanisms. That is, when resources were not available, none of the mechanisms for implementing the intervention was activated. Our findings point to the importance of investigating the role of contextual aspects when assessing the effectiveness of organizational interventions.
In the era of digital transformation, new technological foundations and possibilities for collaboration, production as well as organization open up many opportunities to work differently in the future. The digitization of workflows results in new forms of working which is denoted by the term Work 4.0. In the context of Work 4.0, digital assistance systems play an important role as they give users additional situation-specific information about a workflow or a product via displays, mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, or data glasses. Furthermore, such digital assistance systems can be used to provide instructions and technical support in the working process as well as for training purposes. However, existing digital assistance systems are mostly created focusing on the "design for all" paradigm neglecting the situation-specific tasks, skills, preferences, or environments of an individual human worker. To overcome this issue, we present a monitoring and adaptation framework for supporting self-adaptive digital assistance systems for Work 4.0. Our framework supports context monitoring as well as UI adaptation for augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR)-based digital assistance systems. The benefit of our framework is shown based on exemplary case studies from different domains, e.g. context-aware maintenance application in AR or warehouse management training in VR.