Luisa Petrocchi-Bartal, Katijah Khoza-Shangase, Amisha Kanji
Globally, many countries have promulgated extensive, contextually relevant disability legislative policies for children with hearing impairment/d/Deafness (HI/d/D). The alignment of policies with their implementation, with robust monitoring, is essential for effective early intervention (EI) and early education (EE) outcomes. The study’s purpose was to review current South African EI and EE regulations, acts, and policies in relation to children with HI/d/D from birth to age six. An adapted Arksey and O’Malley framework with inductive thematic analysis was applied to synthesise and evaluate relevant information. Documentation was sourced between 1993 and 2023 from the official South African government portal and Google online searches using keywords. While 7976 documents were initially identified with the broad search and 1249 with a refined category search, only 17 met the specific inclusion criteria for policies referencing hearing impairment in early intervention and education. Seventeen documents were selected for study inclusion, with sixteen mentioning HI/d/D and multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral, family-centred, culturally sensitive considerations superficially. One document from the Department of Health (DoH) specifically addressed early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI). Three main themes emerged, including Partnerships, Participation and Integration, Screening, Identification and/or Intervention, and Education/Special Education. Greater engagement with South African EI and education policies is essential to strengthen implementation, especially across sectors and at the community level. Mandating EHDI guidelines is critical to improving service delivery and ensuring smoother transitions between health, education, and social services for children with hearing impairment.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
How labor markets adjust immediately after minimum wage hikes remains an open, policy-relevant question. This paper studies short-run minimum-wage effects in Japan's spot labor market using Timee data and a wage-bin difference-in-differences design. We find a 2\% employment decline in affected bins, driven by reduced vacancy creation rather than worker supply. Effects are more negative where the minimum-wage bite is higher and in low-wage occupations. Using job descriptions and amenity information, we document reallocation across job types: postings shift toward greater amenity provision and experienced-worker targeting, while female-targeted descriptions become less common, suggesting short-run labor-demand adjustments may foreshadow longer-run reallocation.
As the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds are blurring, the effects of digital transformation have become evident in all aspects of our lives. This transformation drastically alters the standard ways of working and lifestyles and paves the way for the emergence of new concepts and phenomena. In this context, digital nomads have become increasingly prominent as people who work and travel simultaneously with the motto “earn while travelling”. The aim of this study is to examine the phenomenon of digital nomadism based on the example of Turkish Digital Nomads. By determining the lifestyles and working conditions of Turkish digital nomads, the changing expectations and emerging new dynamics in working life are discussed. For the study, a qualitative research method was used and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 digital nomads between July and September 2024. The data obtained from the interviews were analysed by descriptive analysis method using the qualitative data analysis software MAXQDA. According to the results obtained from the research, it was observed that digital nomadism was adopted as an important lifestyle among the participants in terms of both experiencing new cultures and redefining the work-life balance thanks to the freedom and flexibility it offers to individuals. As a result, standard forms of work are being questioned and issues such as work-life balance, job security and social rights need to be reconsidered.
Industrial relations, Social insurance. Social security. Pension
Shantanav Chakraborty, Siddhartha Das, Arnab Ghorui
et al.
Extracting work from a physical system is one of the cornerstones of quantum thermodynamics. The extractable work, as quantified by ergotropy, necessitates a complete description of the quantum system. This is significantly more challenging when the state of the underlying system is unknown, as quantum tomography is extremely inefficient. In this article, we analyze the number of samples of the unknown state required to extract work. With only a single copy of an unknown state, we prove that ergotropy approaches zero in the asymptotic limit, rendering work extraction nearly impossible. In contrast, when multiple copies are available, we quantify the sample complexity required to estimate extractable work, establishing a scaling relationship that balances the desired accuracy with success probability. Our work develops a sample-efficient protocol to assess the utility of unknown states as quantum batteries and opens avenues for estimating thermodynamic quantities using near-term quantum computers.
This paper presents quasi-experimental research examining the effect of both local and state anti-discrimination laws on sexual orientation on the labor supply and wages of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) workers. To do so, we use the American Community Survey data on household composition to infer sexual orientation and combine this with a unique panel dataset on state and local anti-discrimination laws. Leveraging variation in law implementation across localities over time and between same-sex and different-sex couples, we find that anti-discrimination laws significantly narrow gaps in labor force participation and employment for men in same-sex couples relative to men in different-sex couples, and also increase their percentile rank in the wage distribution. Our analysis reveals mostly null effects for female same-sex couples; however, in metropolitan areas these laws significantly reduce their employment compared to women in different-sex couples. One explanation for the reduced labor supply is that female same-sex couples begin to have more children in response to the laws. Finally, we present evidence that state anti-discrimination laws significantly and persistently increased support for same-sex marriage. This research shows that anti-discrimination laws can be an effective policy tool for reducing labor market inequalities across sexual orientation and improving sentiment toward LGB Americans.
We use the quantum work statistics to characterize the controlled dynamics governed by a counterdiabatic driving field. Focusing on the Shannon entropy of the work probability distribution, $P(W)$, we demonstrate that the thermodynamics of a controlled evolution serves as an insightful tool for studying the non-equilibrium dynamics of complex quantum systems. In particular, we show that the entropy of $P(W)$ recovers the expected scaling according to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for the Landau-Zener model. Furthermore, we propose that the entropy of the work distribution provides a useful summary statistic for characterizing the need and complexity of the control fields for many-body systems.
Introduction: Physical factors found in the workplace can have an impact on occupational health and safety; one example of these physical factors is high noise intensity. One of the workplaces that have high noise intensity is a steel manufacturing company. The purpose of this study is to determine the noise risk based on noise mapping and analyse efforts that have been made in the Continous Tandem Cold Mill area in a steel company in Cilegon. Methods: The method used in this study was descriptive method. The variables used were the results of noise intensity measurements. The data were collected by means of literature study, field observation and noise measurements. The data obtained were then analysed using a descriptive method and were used as a basis in developing noise mapping. Results: Based on noise mapping, the welder area has the highest noise intensity of 91.1 - 94 dBA. Efforts to control noise intensity that have been carried out in the company are administrative control and personal protective equipment. Conclusion:From the results of noise intensity measurements in the Continous Tandem Cold Mill area of a steel company in Cilegon, it can be concluded that the measurement point is 76% - 100% and that the noise measurement points exceed the threshold value stipulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Manpower of the Republic Indonesia Number 5 of 2018. However, the steel company in Cilegon has made several efforts to reduce the noise intensity.
Keywords: noise, noise mapping, steel company
Aim of the work — review the literature and essays on working conditions, the health status of healthcare workers and their degree of occupational risk in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the documents of WHO, ILO, the European Union, etc., a review of the literature and essays on the problem of assessing the professional risk of healthcare workers in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as protection and prevention measures. A pandemic is a problem of public health and occupational medicine since healthcare workers are at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic for the health and life of the population and are themselves at extreme risk. On issues of labor protection and the health of healthcare workers, most women, there are a lot of works; there is ILO Nursing personnel Convention No. 149: Recognize their contribution, address their needs (1977), ratified by Russia. The profession is characterized by the exposure to biological agents, stress, physical loads, etc., causing physical health problems (including reproductive and newborn health), disorders of mental health and social well-being. The weakening of immunity towards the end of the working day was observed among employees of the sanitary and epidemiological surveillance services, maternity hospitals, as well as ambulances and burn centers. In general, the working conditions of the main professions of healthcare workers in the literature are assessed as harmful (classes 3.2–3.3) according to the criteria of Guidelines R 2.2.2006-05, and in an epidemic under conditions of increased loads, stress, the use of PPE and other, their working conditions can be assessed as very harmful and extreme (classes 3.4–4). The official statistics on the morbidity and mortality of healthcare workers is absent, although the media note their elevated rates. Among the preventive measures, vaccination, a regimen of work and rest, multivitamins, and others are recommended; workplaces ought to be organized as to avoid work nearby and opposite each other. It should be borne in mind that PPE, while protecting, can simultaneously create new risks (ILO, 2001). Strengthening the safety and health of healthcare workers in such emergencies is already recognized in Russia as a priority and provided with increased social protection.
Katja Vähäsantanen, Eija Räikkönen, Susanna Paloniemi
et al.
Although professional agency has become an increasingly crucial issue in work organizations, investigators lack a brief instrument to measure it. This paper introduces a short measure to explore professional agency at work. Our aim was to shorten the original 17-item Professional Agency Measure, while also exploring its usability for cross-validating questionnaire datasets, and investigating the relationship between professional agency and work engagement. Three dimensions of professional agency emerged, with three items per dimension, across the domains of healthcare, real estate services, and information technology (all within Finland). All the dimensions (Influencing at work, Participation at work, and Negotiating professional identity) showed good reliability. The results further revealed that these dimensions of agency are distinct from, but closely and positively linked to work engagement. In particular, our research offers a reliable, short measure of professional agency that is relevant across professional domains in the Nordic context.
The second law of thermodynamics states that work cannot be extracted from thermal equilibrium, whose quantum formulation is known as complete passivity; A state is called completely passive if work cannot be extracted from any number of copies of the state by any unitary operations. It has been established that a quantum state is completely passive if and only if it is a Gibbs ensemble. In physically plausible setups, however, the class of possible operations is often restricted by fundamental constraints such as symmetries imposed on the system. In the present work, we investigate the concept of complete passivity under symmetry constraints. Specifically, we prove that a quantum state is completely passive under a symmetry constraint described by a connected compact Lie group, if and only if it is a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE) including conserved charges associated with the symmetry. Remarkably, our result applies to non-commutative symmetry such as $SU(2)$ symmetry, suggesting an unconventional extension of the notion of GGE. Furthermore, we consider the setup where a quantum work storage is explicitly included, and prove that the characterization of complete passivity remains unchanged. Our result extends the notion of thermal equilibrium to systems protected by symmetries, and would lead to flexible design principles of quantum heat engines and batteries. Moreover, our approach serves as a foundation of the resource theory of thermodynamics in the presence of symmetries.
Este artigo apresenta e convida a uma reflexão crítica sobre a questão hídrica no Nordeste brasileiro, a partir de um estudo de caso no Estado da Paraíba. O artigo apresenta alguns resultados parciais de uma das etapas da pesquisa de campo realizada no mês de julho de 2018, que buscou investigar o “novo caminho das águas” na Paraíba, a partir dos impactos decorrentes da construção do Canal das Vertentes Litorâneas, chamado “Canal Acauã-Araçagi”, considerada a principal obra hídrica do Estado, que visa ao aproveitamento das águas do Eixo Leste da Transposição do Rio São Francisco na Paraíba.
Special aspects of education, Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand
Gabriela dos Reis Sampaio, Ricardo dos Santos Batista
Apresentação do Dossiê "Os mundos do trabalho e suas interfaces com a ciência, a saúde e a doença”, organizado por Gabriela dos Reis Sampaio (UFBA) e Ricardo dos Santos Batista (UNEB)
Police officers may have attitudes that are more traditional than the general public, perhaps impacted by a unique "working personality", but recent evidence suggests that more conservative individuals may be drawn to policing (LeCount, 2017). In this article I draw from the life course perspective to evaluate the degree to which two mechanisms explain police gender attitudes, selection into policing or socialization while on the job. I examine gender attitudes relating to division of labor in the home and women's disadvantage in the labor market, comparing police to non-police using the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972. Following employment patterns for respondents at the start of their policing career (age 18 to age 25), I find more support for occupational socialization than selection. A fixed effects model shows that men who became police officers shifted to become more traditional in their gender attitudes in comparison to other men while the average person in the cohort became less traditional. Women who entered policing in the mid-1970s were less traditional than other women and police status was not significantly related to their attitudes. While attitudes do not necessarily predict behavior, the results suggest that experiences in police work can enhance traditional gender attitudes. Policy recommendations are discussed.
Introduction: The processing of marble stone produces air pollution in the form of dust. Dust emission is generated from cutting, scraping, and polishing processes. The type of dust emission is Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5). The dust level and exposure period can cause lung problems and respiratory complaints. The study aims to determine the factors related to the pulmonary function’s status of workers at UD X, Campurdarat Sub-district, Tulungagung District. Metods: This research used cross-sectional research design and quantitative approach. The sample of this study was 32 people consisting of 26 workers exposed to dust and 7 workers unexposed to dust. The independent variables include were gender, age, working period, education level, smoking habit, and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Results: In general, the pulmonary function of workers at UD X was quite good. Conlusion: The smoking habit and the use of PPE had a relationship with the pulmonary function of workers at UD X, Campurdarat Sub-district, Tulungagung District.
Keywords: internal factor of worker, pulmonary function, workers
Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves--even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood. Through the voices of drivers from marginalized communities who spend eleven- to fourteen-hour days hauling America's commodities in treacherous weather and across mountain passes, Semi Queer reveals the stark differences between the trucking industry's crushing labor practices and the perseverance of its most at-risk workers.