Informal Agents Research Articles

Analisis Penerapan Fungsi Manajemen Poac Dalam Pelaksanaan Acara Ephics 2.0

Event management is the application of project management that is specifically engaged in the process of making and developing personal events or group events, associations, formal agencies and informal agencies with varying scales. In event management, there is time management, management, and human resources (HR) involved, resulting in a function that is responsible for planning, organizing, controlling, and evaluating elements. In supporting learning on campus, students are required to carry out an event commonly called Entrance of Portal to Hospitable International Competitions & Seminars (EPHICS). The event is an application of the theory learned in class. As a form of student creativity in realizing the management of Event Management in the Hospitality Sector. The implementation of the EPHICS 2.0 program is the result of the collaboration of students of the D4 Convention & Event Management Study Program together with D4 Hospitality Management through recruitment activities as a support in the concept of study program collaboration, with the involvement of students who play the role of organizers directly at the EPHICS 2.0 event, a forum is created as a place for creativity that has the potential to get a lot of attention from the community. In this study, the author wants to conduct research in analyzing the POAC Management Function in the Implementation of EPHICS 2.0 Events

Impact Analysis of Formal Agencies on Price Realisation and Farmers’ Income in Odisha

The present study examined the factors influencing paddy farmers’ decision to choose the formal agency (government and cooperatives) as their primary disposal destination. It assessed the impact of this choice on price realisation and household income in Odisha. The analysis revealed that paddy output disposal to formal agencies improves price realisation and farmers’ income by ?3.31 per kg and ?16518 per annum as compared to informal agencies, respectively. The choice of formal agencies was determined by several factors, namely land size, marketed surplus, awareness about MSP, education, social status, and access to technical advice. The study emphasizes expanding the outreach of the existing Paddy-Procurement Automation System (P-PAS) system of its procurement in Odisha to enable the farmers to receive better prices for their produce and improve household income.

AMBIVALENCE AND SUBVERSION IN MISSIONARY NARRATIVES

Postcolonial studies have focused much of their attention on critiquing imperialism and its repercussions. In this process charges have been levelled not only against the imperialists, who are the primary agents in establishing this colossal exploitative enterprise, but also on informal agents like missionaries who were also present at the scene during that period This study aims to analyse the persistent debate over the part played by the missionaries in the consolidation of the empire. It has been a postcolonial refrain that missionary writings played a significant role in creating a larger than life image of the missionaries as pioneer risk takers and conveniently othering the natives and representing them as barbarians passively awaiting rescue and relief. Consequently, the relation between missionaries and the empire has been the subject of much debate and deliberations, hence this paper examines this charge by analysing select missionary writings to prove whether these incriminate them or stand antithetical to colonialism as a digressive mechanism.For this purpose the paper closely scrutinizes Native Life in Travancore and The Land of Charity: A Descriptive Account of Travancore and its People, with Especial Reference to Missionary Labour – which are ethnographic accounts penned by an LMS missionary Samuel Mateer, to investigate whether or not missionary writings extend as imperialist discourses. The argument affected is that, these texts display ambivalence and hence, cannot be labelled as unequivocally imperialist. The surfacing of multiple conflicting impulses in these writings, problematise a simplistic categorisation of it as a pure imperialistic discourse.

In the Era of Uncertainties - Middle Power Politics in a Multipolar World

The Asia-Pacific region has transformed from a colonial past to an emerging economic power hub, thus bringing fluidity to its definition. The Asia Pacific region is a powerhouse of economic, technological, demographic, and social growth, drawing the attention of several scholars to the distinctive hotbed of great power competition and the emergence of a multipolar world order. The article studies the rise of middle powers by understanding the nature of their foreign policy behaviour by re-examining the regional security complexes of the Asia-Pacific region. In trying to bridge the imbalance of power and regionality, the author argues that the geopolitical flux in the security environment has severe implications for regional integration and cooperation. Countries in the Asia-Pacific region intend to constructively engage in widening their multi track diplomacy through multi-layered alignments with numerous formal and informal agencies and thus create multiple centres of power, influence, and order. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN-plus continue to present themselves as indispensable in order to promote converged strategic hedging, scilicet, pursuing bilateral, minilateral, and multilateral efforts on the chessboard of geostrategic competition of- Low Politics, including supply chains, trade production, cooperation on public health, and infrastructure development; and High Politics, implying defence partnerships and military modernisation agreements. Nonetheless, strategic hedging is not a preferred option for competing powers as it provides these middle power agencies (in bilateral, minilateral, and multilateral) with space, a platform, and channels for pragmatic, cooperative, yet cautious partnerships. However, the region has a myriad of options for tackling the complex nature of ASEAN consensus and self-help governance, thus overlooking its functions of regional security diplomacy and aptitudes of prioritising and advancing the member states internationally.

COVID-19 and Vietnam-Laos Cross-Border Migration: Impacts and Solutions

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great harm and difficulties to workers, especially migrant laborers. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that migrants, particularly those employed through informal agencies, lost their jobs, and were not entitled to social protection policies, including labor migration from Vietnam across the Laos border to the DPR or other countries. The article is based on a survey of over 300 quantitative samples and in-depth interviews with 28 experts in order to focus on case studies of Vietnamese migrants crossing the Vietnam-Laos border in Nghe An, Ha Tinh. Thereby the study assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers across the Vietnam-Laos border in terms of employment, income, etc. From that, some solutions are proposed to restore livelihoods and stabilize the lives of migrant workers.

Multi-Level Housing Governance in Rural Settlement: Transformation of Two Vernacular Houses in Zhejiang Province of China

Vernacular houses are a dynamic complex that assemble multi-dimension variables of time, space, and people. Two governance systems, which are the officials and the people, control the village on different levels, and the spheres of their influences are distinct during different socio-economy periods. In this paper, a multi-level analytical framework is used to regroup information. Three agents are engaged in modeling the issue that each plays a different role in different levels of construction. This paper takes the two cases, the Old Tang House (OTH) and the Sishuishanzhuang Chen House (SSCH) in the Xiaqiao Village (under bridge village) in Zhejiang Province of China to study the transformation process of housing settlement in three building levels. The methods of morphology and typology are used to illustrate and disintegrate the process of housing transformation. Then, a further reading of space is conducted to explain how the hidden agents influence and control the transformation. As a result, a clear hierarchy of governance approaches is proved that the larger the scale of observed space, the higher the order of governance power. What happens in settlement level are always controlled by formal governance, meanwhile, in architectural level are controlled by more informal agents from individuals.

Victims of Gender-Based Violence at One-stop Crisis Centers of Bangladesh

One-stop Crisis Centers (OCCs) are established to provide comprehensive care to the survivors of gender-based violence in Bangladesh. A qualitative document analysis of the case studies from the OCCs was done to understand the help seeking and context of the survivors at the centers with the theoretical lensing of Socio-ecological model and Victim blaming explanations. Spousal violence and child sexual abuse were found most common violence types in the case studies. Help seeking was delayed in general and initiated by urgent medical needs. Help seeking was majorly achieved with help of informal agents like neighbors and parents. Proper channeling of the community can improve help seeking among the victims of Violence against Women in Bangladesh.

The Recommender-in-Chief: The President as Informal Agent of Constitutional Amendment

The Recommender-in-Chief: The President as Informal Agent of Constitutional Amendment

Security cooperation in the Pacific Islands: architecture, complex, community, or something else?

Abstract In the 2018 Boe Declaration, Pacific Islands Forum leaders recognized that the region is facing ‘an increasingly complex regional security environment’ and committed to ‘strengthening the existing regional security architecture’. Given uncertainty about the existence and nature of this architecture, we address the question: is there a security architecture in the region, or does security cooperation take a different shape? We find that security cooperation in the Pacific Islands does not constitute a security architecture, as there is no ‘overarching, coherent and comprehensive security structure for a geographically-defined area’. We also find that the region is neither a security complex nor a community, due to the extensive involvement of metropolitan powers and external partners. Instead, we argue that security cooperation in the Pacific Islands is best described as a patchwork of bilateral, minilateral, and multilateral, formal and informal agencies, agreements, and arrangements, across local, national, regional, and international levels

Information Needs in Higher Education Institutions: Stock Valuation or Decision-Making?

Numerous higher education institutions apply a full costing system in their accounting model due to the imposition of formal agents (governments/funding institutions), or by suggestion of informal agents (associations). This paper analyzes whether the rationale applied by these agents to justify the use of the full costing rather than the direct/variable system is consistent with the theoretical bases underlying both costing systems. Methodologically, we review the mainstream literature that explores the links between the management accounting model and the use of its informative outcomes for the decision-making in higher education institutions. We conclude that there exists a gap between the theory-based statements and the information needs of these institutions. Remarkably, the full costing system falls short of adequateness for these institutions, which need information for their managerial decision-making process rather than for other industries’ decisions such as stock valuation. Thus, this paper contributes to a critical view on the use of full costing systems and calls for redirecting current practices towards other more effective partial costing systems. Our findings have implications for academic, managers and policymakers interested on the implementation and improvement of managerial accounting in public higher education institutions.

Young children’s perceptions of emergency online English learning during the Covid-19 pandemic: evidence from Kazakhstan

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores the English learning experiences of 30 Grade 5 students from three mainstream schools in Kazakhstan during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was informed by Benson et al.'s (2011) four-dimensional model of language learning beyond the classroom: (a) location (physical vs. virtual), (b) formality (formal vs. informal agents), (c) locus of control (other-directed vs. self-directed goals) and (d) pedagogy. Data were collected through online individual interviews and students' drawings. The data suggest that the participants' English teachers used mainly Zoom and WhatsApp platforms for delivering the online classes. The participants were critical of their English teachers' practices, particularly, the overuse of WhatsApp, the scarcity of co-operative activities and delays in responding to inquiries. Consequently, 16 participants (53%) were receiving face-to-face and virtual private tutoring in English (PT-E). Although face-to-face PT-E may be unsafe during the pandemic, PT-E was a parental strategy to free themselves from the burden of tracking their children's progress. The participants acted agentively, not only reflecting on the disadvantages of online education but also on its benefits, including its being more convenient and able to help them improve their self-reliance and technology skills. The pedagogical implications and areas for further research are suggested.

Extension needs of vegetable growers

The present study on “Extension Needs of Vegetable Growers” was conducted in the year 2021-2021 in Akola district of Maharashtra state. The exploratory research design of social research was used. In all, 120 respondents were selected by random sampling method. The data were collected by personally interviewing the respondents with the help of structured interview schedule. The data collected were carefully examined, classified, quantified and tabulated. Frequencies, mean, standard deviation, spearman rank correlation and multiple linear regression were employed for interpreting the results. The findings of the present study revealed that, nearly half of the respondents 55.83 per cent belonged to middle age group, i.e. between 36 to 54 years. High proportion of the respondents 46.66 per cent were educated upto secondary school category (10th standard). Nearly half 42.50 per cent of the respondents had medium family size category (5-6 members). Most of the respondents 52.50 per cent had annual income between Rs. 1,00,000/- to 2,00,000/-. High proportion of the respondents 40.83 per cent possessed small category of land holding (1.01 to 2.00 ha). Nearly half 74.16 per cent of the respondents had 0.40 to 1.60 ha area under vegetables. Nearly three fourth 63.33 per cent of the respondents had 11 to 27 years of experience in vegetable cultivation. nearly half of the respondents 50.00 per cent belonged to medium category of social participation. Majority 54.16 per cent of the respondents had medium source of information. Over half 57.50 per cent of the respondents had medium level of innovativeness. Nearly three fourth 80.00 per cent of the respondents had medium category of risk orientation.In case of extension needs of respondents, majority of the respondents 66.67 per cent most needed information about export facilities provided by government and 62.50 per cent information about phyto sanitary measures. High proportion of the respondent 30.83 per cent had daily contact with Gram Sevak among formal agencies, followed by 40.00 per cent progressive farmers among informal agencies, whereas 60.83 per cent of respondents had daily contact with television among mass media. The majority of respondents 60.00 per cent prefer farm as suitable place of contact. Higher number 41.66 per cent of the respondents prefer farm and home visit as best extension method. The 40.83 per cent of the respondents believed that, gender of extension agent doesn’t matter. Majority of the respondents 70.00 per cent had medium extension needs i.e. between 33.34 to 66.66 per cent. Important constraints faced by the respondents were price fluctuation 80.00 per cent followed by 70.00 per cent had problem about electricity, whereas 66.66 per cent 64.16 per cent and 60.83 per cent of respondents faced problems regarding fertigation, exploitation by middle men and lack of market knowledge, respectively and these were ranked as I, II, III, IV and V, respectively.

Internal migration industries: Shaping the housing options for refugees at the local level

In this article, we focus on ways in which ‘internal migration industries’ shape the housing location of refugees in cities. Based on empirical studies in Halle, Schwerin, Berlin, Stuttgart and Dresden, we bring two issues together. First, we show how a specific financialised accumulation model of renting out privatised public housing stock to disadvantaged parts of the population has emerged that increasingly targets migrant tenants. With the growing immigration of refugees to Germany since 2015, this model has intensified. Second, we discuss how access to housing is formed by informal agents. While housing is almost inaccessible for households on social welfare, the situation is even worse for refugees. This situation has given rise to a new ‘shadow economy’ for housing that offers services with dubious quality for excessive fees. Bringing these two issues together, we argue that housing provision to refugees has become a new business opportunity. This has given rise to a broad variety of ‘internal migration industries’ that provide the housing infrastructure, but also control access to housing. This not only results in new opportunities for profit extraction, but actively shapes new patterns of segregation and the concentration of refugees in particular types of disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

How much for an inclusive and solidary selective waste collection? A Brazilian study case

ABSTRACT Waste management and recycling need to be more inclusive, integrating informal agents such as Waste Pickers. In many Global South countries, Waste Pickers’ Organisations (WPOs) have their work recognised at country levels. Despite Brazilian policies’ achievements, WPOs have faced many challenges, one being their financial sustainability. This paper presents a financial diagnosis and analysis of the solidary and inclusive selective collection in a Brazilian city that supports a WPO since 2010. The SoCo Tool allows to quantify and understand the impacts and benefits of selective collection. Results show an operational cost of US$ 47.00/tonne performed by the WPO or US$ 20.632,80 (2016), meaning a 37% cost reduction for the local authority. ACLAMA is a small, but efficient WPO, with a high average productivity per worker and a low rejects rate compared to other case studies. Concerning occupational health, results showed that these aspects could be improved, as well as social benefits for the workers of ACLAMA. We raise the discussion that surviving on materials’ sales are not enough and a greater financial participation from the municipality and producers in the form of payment for urban cleaning services could help to bear costs for these social benefits and other operational improvements, such as more investments in sorting machinery and equipment. Municipal waste management with the inclusion of organisations of waste pickers presents a real possibility for achieving productive cooperated organisation, income generation for several families, environmental gains to reach a more humane and sustainable society.

EXPLORING THE SOCIOCULTURAL IMPEDIMENTS TO FEMALE IN GETTING HIGHER EDUCATION IN PUKHTUN SOCIETY

Purpose of the study: This study was designed to explore the socio-cultural impediments to females getting higher education in pakhtun society.
 Methodology: A cross-sectional quantitative research method was conducted in district Dir lower Pakistan. A well-structured interviewed schedule (encompassing all the study attributes) was used for primary data collection from 375 female respondents after the pre-test procedure. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics(x2 test) to ascertain the association between dependent (female higher education) and independent (sociocultural impediments) variables.
 Principal Findings: Based on the study results, a significant association (P=0.000) was found between the dependent variable and sociocultural attributes; the prevalence of patriarchal norms (P=0.00), preferences of early marriages (P=0.00), fear of sexual harassment (P=0.00), parents carelessness (P=0.00), Parda (veiling for women and protecting their honour) and lack of decision-making power (P=0.00) impedes women from getting their higher education.
 Applications of this study: Early marriage is a symbol of female exploitation under the man-made unwritten codes of conduct (Pukhtoonwali) which, should be banned through formal (legislation) and informal agencies (familial and religious) level; with a collaboration of educating female to ensure dethroning the partisan character in the form of patriarchal norms, which women faced since the dawn of the history. A slogan or any other campaign through mass media and print media is the order of the day. The government should ensure to play their role on macro and micro level to eliminate the negative stigmatization of women generally while in getting higher education particularly.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: This study is an attempt to insight into the socio-cultural barriers to female attainment of higher education in pukhtun society through perceptional based study along with quantitative research designs to measure the association between the variables as mentioned above with an amalgamation of an addition to the existing stock of knowledge in the field of sociology of education.

It takes a village: examining social capital effects of parental and community agency involvement on school delinquency

ABSTRACT Research indicates the importance of parental and community agency involvement for the reduction of adolescent delinquent behavior. However, few studies specifically examine the role of parental involvement within the physical school context, and many neglect to examine this issue based on school administrator perceptions. This study, a cross-sectional secondary data analysis of the 2008 School Survey on Crime and Safety, examines the impact of parental and community agency involvement in schools on student delinquency among a representative sample of 2,331 schools. Findings show that parental involvement in schools is predictive of decreased delinquency, while formal community agency involvement in schools by agencies such as law enforcement and social services is predictive of increased delinquency. Results suggest that based on school administrator perceptions, stimulating parent involvement in schools may reduce delinquency and serve as a preventative measure, allowing schools to rely less on reactive punishment. Furthermore, additional work should be done to determine how the involvement of both formal and informal community agencies impact student behavior.

The true solution for every difficulty: Maria of Austria, Spanish patroness in the Empire, Imperial patroness in Spain

ABSTRACT A close relative and counsellor of five emperors and two kings of Spain, Maria of Austria (1528–1603) symbolised the personal union of the House of Austria during the second half of the sixteenth century. She acted as regent of Spain, consort queen of Bohemia, empress, and as dowager empress continued her political activities while ostensibly secluded in a convent. Mainly through non-institutional channels, Maria was the spinal column of the dynasty. Her active role shows the real nature of Renaissance diplomacy and international relations which was much more based on personal and informal contacts than on formal embassies. The successive Spanish and Imperial ambassadors she dealt with were considered her de facto personal servants. Reconstructing diplomacy as a family business carried out through informal agents and networks prompts new questions on political goals and programmes as well as on decision-making and soft-power strategies.

Accessing Private Rental Housing in the Absence of Housing Information in Ghana

While housing research in the developed world illustrates rental information channels, little is known about the situation in developing countries. This study examines the channels of information that are used in the private rental housing market by renters using Kumasi metropolis in Ghana as a case study. Using qualitative research methods involving interviews, findings show that unlike the developed world where rental information is readily available online, renters rely on a network of friends, relatives, co-worshippers and informal agents to find rental properties. A personal search is also common amongst renters. The use of these channels of information is founded on the absence of publicly available rental data. It is suggested that the rental space be regulated as a starting point to ensuring more formality and a better flow of information in the rental market.

Through the Looking Glass: Televised Politics in Contemporary Populist Italy

AbstractThis article evaluates the role of political mediation played by national and local television networks within the social peripheries of Naples, Southern Italy. In the context of contemporary Italian populism, the management of this medium by simultaneously public and private —as well as formal and informal— power‐holders, such as the neoliberal state and the Camorra (a powerful criminal organization) have increasingly replaced civil society's historical role of mediation between centers and peripheries. The direct participation of the subaltern in the production and circulation of explicitly populist televised content is now strongly promoted and yet informally monitored by the Italian state authorities. The regimes of media production and social representation emerging from these mediatic processes have not triggered crises of cultural hegemony—exercised by the Italian neoliberal “establishment” over the lower classes—but instead furthered the sovereignty of the state and amplified its ability to arouse the political imaginary of both its most marginalized citizens and “middle‐class” cultural operators. Simultaneously, however, these regimes have also spawned new modes of socioeconomic mobility and forms of “political society,” which reproduce the mediacratic features of Italian state power among a plethora of local informal agencies, including ostensible “public enemies” such as the Camorra.

Water flux management with low-cost iot technology for residences

Implementation of a low-cost water flux management System for residences. Applying bibliographic research for better comprehension of the concepts applied in the work, adopting quali-quantitative research through a survey aimed at a random audience, documentary research for information support on informal agencies and finally a case study to accomplish the construction of a profile of the average expenditure by a Brazilian family. The average water expenditure on Brazilian households exceeds the required amount stipulated by the World Health Organization to achieve sustainable usage, bad habits we maintain about water usage in our daily activities, get us even closer to a future shortage. The expense of water wastage, either by reading failure or clandestine connections, cost to the country a large amount of money. With the export, there is an excessive water consumption in large cities and a lack of control on the part of residents in moderating their use. With the implementation of this system, the resident will have the possibility to obtain the control, clearly over its residential consumption, besides a better awareness about how its actions affects the environment and consequently the people around it.