Working Time Reduction Research Articles

Agricultural Machinery Adequacy for Handling the Mombaça Grass Biomass in Agroforestry Systems

The current scenario of Agroforestry Systems (AFS) worldwide lacks specific machinery, resulting in practically all operations being carried out manually. This leads to a significant physical effort for small-scale farmers and limits the implementation of AFS to small areas. The objective of the study was to evaluate the suitability of existing machines for performing agroforestry tasks. This research utilizes Descriptive Statistics and Exponentially Weighted Moving Average methods to evaluate the data and compare the treatments, where different machines are used to cut Mombaça grass (Megathyrsus maximus Jacq): (i) costal brushcutter (CBC); (ii) tractor-mounted rotary brushcutter (RBC); and (iii) mini grain reaper machine (GRM). The experiments were conducted in Jaguariúna, São Paulo, Brazil. GRM is recommended for achieving greater biomass production, reducing raking time, and minimizing operational costs. CBC is suitable for smaller areas due to its affordability and slow operation, which requires significant physical effort. RBC is recommended for reducing working time, physical effort, and personnel costs, making it suitable for larger-scale contexts.

Working less for more? A systematic review of the social, economic, and ecological effects of working time reduction policies in the global North

The increasingly studied effects of working time reductions (WTR) on social, economic, and ecological sustainability depend on how these reductions are conceptualized in terms of implementation level, form, extent and accompanying wage compensation. Very little research on WTRs considers more than one sustainability dimension or explores different conceptualizations of WTRs. We thus seek in this article to differentiate the effects of diverse conceptualizations of WTR policies within and across all three sustainability dimensions by conducting a systematic review of longitudinal and (quasi-)experimental research on the ecological, social, and economic effects of WTRs. The studies we reviewed on social sustainability (n = 18) suggest that WTRs have generally well-substantiated positive effects on well-being, health, and work-family conflict. Regarding economic effects (n = 14), however, the findings are mixed: WTRs appear to have small, positive employment effects and unclear productivity effects, on one hand, as well as negative career-trajectory effects, on the other. The only study reviewed concerning ecological sustainability suggests that WTRs have a positive effect on the environment. Research on different conceptualizations of WTRs is scarce but suggests that WTRs might be most beneficial when implemented with a substantial reduction in working hours, on the national or organizational level, in the form of fewer rather than shorter working days, and accompanied by progressive wage compensation. Based on these findings, we also outline a research agenda to address the knowledge gaps in this important field of study.

COVID-19 and Artisan Labourers in Urban Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria: A Study on Resilience

This article examines the sociology of work in an unstable environment produced by COVID-19 with emphasis on sustenance of employment among urban artisan labourers in Owerri, Imo State. It interrogates the resilience of this occupational type in the face of such disruptive shock as COVID-19. it aims to understand the ways in which COVID-19 Pandemic has affected the ability of artisan labourers to secure employment and value for their labour. A sample of 180 respondents was randomly selected from six different artisan labour market locations for the study. Survey method was used since there is a need for data from the artisan workers themselves. The nonparametric methods of analysis namely; Spearman’s rank correlation was adopted to analyze collected data. Results show significant erosion of employment potentials with 50 percent reduction in number that had a 7-day work week, reduced work time, unaffected earning potentials, engagement with higher number of short-term contracts per capita, 50% reduction in number that never did short term work, conscription of greater number of household members and eroded buying power of compensation packages and sundry rewards for work. This shows that though Nigeria was not one of the most affected countries, it has, however experienced reverberations from the most affected countries. The results compel the advocacy that persons in the informal sector may have to benefit from government programmes for the formal sector such as pension schemes.

Unemployment and early retirement among patients with epilepsy – A study on predictors, resilience factors and occupational reintegration measures

The primary aim of this study was to identify predictors and resilience factors for unemployment and early retirement in patients with epilepsy of working age based on data from a multicenter German cohort study performed in 2020 (n = 456) by using multivariate binary logistic regression analysis. A second aim was to assess the assumed working ability of patients as well as the use of occupational reintegration measures. The unemployment rate was 8.3%, and 18% of patients had retired early due to epilepsy. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis identified the presence of a relevant disability and frequent seizures as significant predictors of unemployment and early retirement, while seizures in remission were the only resilience factor associated with job retention. Regarding occupational incapacity, at the time of the survey, most of the patients in early retirement or unemployment were fit for work in their original or extended occupational setting. The proportion of patients with recent epilepsy-related occupational retraining (0.4%) or job changes (0.9%) was low, and only 2.4% reported an epilepsy-related reduction in work time. These findings underline the persistent disadvantage of patients with epilepsy in the professional field and the urgent need for effective, comprehensive work reintegration measures that must be made accessible for all patients.

Evaluating the Performance of an Arduino-Controlled Wood Scaling Machine

The aim of this quantitative study was to evaluate the performance of an Arduino-controlled wood scaling machine, designed to improve the cutting process for woodwork and furniture production. The machine was developed with the goal of achieving accuracy, precision, and consistency in wood cutting, while also reducing the need for time-consuming grinding and polishing. The wood cutter machine was composed of a circular saw, relay, conveyor, and control module, with the added feature of an Arduino for automated scaling. The study found that the machine's performance was more reliable, effective, and safer than other wood cutting machines, and its use could lead to faster, better, and more accurate cuts. The wood scale cutter machine was also designed to be more affordable while maintaining a standard quality that would ensure its longevity for years. The results of this study offer an innovative and improved wood cutting tool that could compete in the market and benefit workers by reducing working time and increasing productivity.

Implementation of Lean Six Sigma to Reduce Work Time Waste in the Goods Transportation Department

Lean Manufacturing is a manufacturing concept to seek to suppress waste or also known as waste. There are 7 wastes in Lean that need to be eliminated, which include: excessive production, inefficient material transportation, waiting time, value that has no added value, inventory, movement and defective products. Value stream mapping will be used in this study to identify waste and explore activities that have the potential to become wasteful. Opportunities for existing waste will be reduced so as not to result in waste. Research is expected to produce processes that are more efficient so as to reduce activities that do not have added value. That way it can overcome the company's problem that is often late in delivery.

An Overview of Possibilities of Increasing the Permissible Speed of Underground Suspended Monorails for Transporting People in the Conditions of Polish Underground Mining

The permissible speed of suspended monorails in underground mines is determined by the internal regulations of each country and depends on the type of transportation. In the case of passenger transportation, the maximal driving speed in Polish underground mining regulations is 2 ms−1. Regarding the higher permitted driving speed in other countries, it is reasonable to consider changes to these regulations that would raise the permitted speed limit. Increasing the permissible travel speed would improve the efficiency of mining operations because of the significant reduction in the inefficient working time of miners traveling on the monorail from the shaft to their place of work. However, at the same time, an increase in the permissible speed of travel results in higher values of forces and accelerations affecting both the crew riding the train and the underground working infrastructure (the suspended route, slings, and arches yielding support). The results of the series of works carried out at the KOMAG Institute of Mining Technology to assess the impact of increasing the speed on the safety of both the crew and the mine infrastructure are presented in this article. For this purpose, several numerical simulations were conducted, considering the emergency braking of the suspended monorail during which the overloads are the greatest. The result of the simulations was the analysis of the effects of driving and emergency braking of the suspended monorail with increased travel speed on the following: the overloads acting on the crew being transported and the forces acting on the suspended monorail route, including the forces in each sling. Next, a potential solution for improving safety was developed. The development of the algorithm for an innovative method of sequential emergency braking of the monorail in the case of passenger transportation was one of the important solutions.

A brief review of the application of microextraction by packed sorbent for antibiotics analysis from biological, food, and environmental samples

Abstract Currently, sample preparation is the most laborious part of the analytical process, requiring the most time and being susceptible to the most errors. In this context, numerous investigations have focused on the miniaturization of these techniques to reduce work time, costs, and errors. In this regard, microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) is a simple, fast, and robust sample preparation technique suitable for easy automation in several analytical systems and is applied to a wide variety of samples. Antibiotics are among the most commonly used drugs; however, their extensive and inappropriate use has garnered significant attention in the environment, human health, and food safety. This brief review is intended to provide an overview of recently reported antibiotic extraction methods based on MEPS, with a special interest in those applied to the analysis of biological, environmental, and food samples. In addition, the sample pretreatment step before extraction by the MEPS device was highlighted, as was the description of the sample-related steps within the MEPS procedure, such as extraction, washing, and elution.

MP20-15 VALIDATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DIAGNOSTIC SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PROSTATE NEEDLE BIOPSY

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 Apr 2023MP20-15 VALIDATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DIAGNOSTIC SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR PROSTATE NEEDLE BIOPSY Naoto Tokuyama, Akira Saito, Bin Shen, Ryu Muraoka, Takuya Ishida, Takeshi Kashima, Ryo Iseki, Kunihiko Yoshioka, Takashi Arakawa, Masahiko Kuroda, and Yoshio Ohno Naoto TokuyamaNaoto Tokuyama More articles by this author , Akira SaitoAkira Saito More articles by this author , Bin ShenBin Shen More articles by this author , Ryu MuraokaRyu Muraoka More articles by this author , Takuya IshidaTakuya Ishida More articles by this author , Takeshi KashimaTakeshi Kashima More articles by this author , Ryo IsekiRyo Iseki More articles by this author , Kunihiko YoshiokaKunihiko Yoshioka More articles by this author , Takashi ArakawaTakashi Arakawa More articles by this author , Masahiko KurodaMasahiko Kuroda More articles by this author , and Yoshio OhnoYoshio Ohno More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003245.15AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The incidence rate of prostate cancer has been increasing in Asia. The number of prostate needle biopsies is also increasing for early detection and treatment. However, prostate cancer has some borderline lesions which are difficult to diagnose, that may become the burden on pathologists. Although there were some studies of artificial intelligence (AI) to support prostate cancer pathological diagnosis worldwide, there were few large-scale validations using data from Asian patients. We have developed a simple diagnostic support system that can be used immediately in clinical practice based on Asian data. METHODS: A dataset of 12,230 hematoxylin-eosin stained prostate needle biopsy specimens was converted to digital images by whole slide image scanner, and annotated about cancer sites and Gleason patterns by pathologists. From these data sets, a cancer diagnosis and Gleason score discrimination system was created by deep learning. For the external validation, we obtained other 12,230 data sets from Shin-yurigaoka General Hospital, and confirmed the discrimination accuracy of cancer or non-cancer, and Gleason score based on International society of urological pathology (ISUP) grade. RESULTS: As a result of external validation, a high detection rate of 99.85% was achieved for the sensitivity and 69.62% for specificity by a needle unit. About 1 in 1000 needles was misdiagnosed. Most of these were cancerous ducts smaller than 1 mm or small ducts in the inflammatory background. Aggregating the results based on a patient, the cancer detection rate was 100%. On the other hand, the discrimination rate for ISUP grade was following, ISUP1:58.5%, ISUP2:31.1%, ISUP3:33.6%, ISUP4:25.9%, and ISUP5:81.9%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the external validation showed that the discrimination of cancerous areas could be diagnosed with high sensitivity, which may prevent the misdiagnosis of cancerous areas and contribute to the reduction of the pathologist's working time. However, the Gleason score was not sufficiently discriminated due to inter-observer variability. Therefore, pathologist's visual inspection was considered essential for Gleason score evaluation. Source of Funding: None © 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 209Issue Supplement 4April 2023Page: e281 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Naoto Tokuyama More articles by this author Akira Saito More articles by this author Bin Shen More articles by this author Ryu Muraoka More articles by this author Takuya Ishida More articles by this author Takeshi Kashima More articles by this author Ryo Iseki More articles by this author Kunihiko Yoshioka More articles by this author Takashi Arakawa More articles by this author Masahiko Kuroda More articles by this author Yoshio Ohno More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

Формирование организационно-технологического механизма повышения технологичности производства работ при капитальном ремонте зданий

Introduction. Modern methods of executing total building renovation are based on the principles of flow and scientific methods of labour organisation, developed with due regard for the specific features of certain types of repair and construction works technologies. The following labour-intensiveness and duration of work, material-intensiveness, cost and production cost of constructions are considered as the main indicators of work production technology in the course of overhaul repair. Each of these indicators has corresponding reserves, which are identified and used to improve the manufacturability of production of each type of work, as well as on the building as a whole. Materials and methods. The article is based on the method of assessing the effectiveness of various options to reduce the duration of work, which directly affects the change in technological parameters. A ranking among contractors has been carried out to identify the reserves for increasing labour productivity, as well as to identify bona fide contractors for customers. Results. The developed methodology of evaluation of manufacturability of overhaul works allows contractors to justify for customers the proposals on reduction of terms and cost of overhaul works. The use of the developed organizational and technological mechanism in practice of interaction of all participants of capital repair process will allow not only to achieve the highest indicators, but also will serve as a basis for actualization of normative documents on total building renovation. Conclusions. The method of efficiency estimation of different variants of work time reduction and related changes of technological parameters according to Wald, Savage and Hurwitz criteria allowed to establish the most preferable construction-technological solution. The developed rating assessment of contractors will, on the basis of achieved results, enable to reveal reserves of increasing labour productivity in the course of repair-construction works and to encourage these organizations to be more preferable in carrying out competitive procedures of selecting contractors by the customer. The identified reserves of reducing the duration of overhaul works are used as a basis for the formation of measures to improve the manufacturability of works.

Narrowing women’s time and income gaps: An assessment of the synergies between working time reduction and universal income schemes

This paper departs from the hypothesis that policies targeting time poverty have the potential to reduce the gender income gap through the redistribution of time use between women and men. To this purpose, we compare two policy mixes and assess the synergies between working time reduction and two universal income schemes: a basic income and care income programme. While the former provides every individual with an equal monetary benefit, the latter ties monetary benefits to the amount of unpaid and care work performed by individuals. We assess the impact of these policy mixes by applying Eurogreen, a macrosimulation model tailored to Italy. Results suggest that while working time reduction directly drives a reduction of the aggregate amount of time spent by women in unpaid work, this does not imply a reduction in time poverty. The universal income schemes – and in particular the care income – promote a reduction of gender inequality in terms of income by sustaining women’s total income, but leave the wage gap between women and men unchanged.

Ethical Impacts, Risks and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Business Consulting: A New Modelling Approach Based on Structural Equations

Artificial intelligence (AI) affects all aspects of a business, significantly contributing to problem-solving and introducing new operational processes within companies. Interest in AI is growing due to its capacities regarding the efficiency of operations, reduced working time, and quality improvements. However, to ensure proper development, businesses should also address the ethical effects generated by AI technologies. This research aims to identify AI’s ethical impact and associated challenges in the business consulting industry and the consultants’ perspective on AI’s future implementation in their specific sector. The methodology is based on the design of a structural equation modelling using data collected through a survey addressed to business consultants. The results highlight that ethical concerns are positively correlated with the identified harmful consequences of AI, such as high implementation costs, the possibility that this technology will lead to job losses, or a lack of human interaction and creativity. The consultants’ perspective on the future aspects of AI’s use in business consulting is negatively impacted by the following ethical outcomes: discrimination, invasions of privacy, denial of individual autonomy, unjustifiable results, and disintegration of social connection.

Integrate computation intelligence with Bayes theorem into complex construction installation: a heuristic two-stage resource scheduling optimisation approach

The cost control challenge in construction and installation projects has always been a critical concern for construction entities. The complexity of task collaboration among various equipment and nodes during the installation process leads to extended construction duration, resulting in increased construction costs. To address this issue, this paper proposes a heuristic two-stage optimal deployment approach called MERD. The MERD approach incorporates intelligent computing principles from computer science into the resource scheduling of the construction process, modelling the installation scheduling problem into a combinatorial optimisation problem. Designing the probability method based on Bayes theorem, the MERD approach carries out an installation provisioning mechanism to optimise personnel and device allocation in the selected area. As a result, the MERD approach minimises construction hours and reduces labour costs in the construction process. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the MERD approach in reducing work time and cost in engineering projects.

Post-growth transition, working time reduction, and the question of profits

The ecological macroeconomics literature has developed models, which outline the transition from today's growth-dependent economies to post-growth systems where output can be stabilized to limit resource consumption while good living conditions and high employment are ensured. Working time reduction plays a pivotal role in those transitional strategies to relax the trade-off between economic growth and unemployment. This analysis contributes to the research by developing a macroeconomic model where, in contrast to the existing models, a sufficient profit rate is the precondition of any private-sector economic activity. It is shown that under such assumptions working time reduction is not enough to stabilize output but is a threat to macroeconomic stability. To make the post-growth transition successful, working time reduction must go along with supporting economic policies and macroeconomic governance including public investment, which controls the private-sector profit rate to avoid instability and unemployment.

Working time reduction and employment in a finite world*

AbstractWe study the consequences of a working time reduction (WTR) in a growth model with efficiency wages and an essential natural resource (natural capital), and in which technical progress cannot reduce the resource content of final production to zero. We show that if natural capital is scarce enough, a WTR increases the long‐term levels of the hourly wage and employment. A numerical analysis of the transitory impacts of a WTR confirms that when natural capital is scarcer, a WTR increases employment more and the hourly wage less, with a less negative initial impact on output.

Critical discourse analysis on the reduction of working time in galician newspapers: broadening perspectives from decolonial feminism

Resumen Introducción Se está produciendo una crisis de los cuidados reforzada por diversos aspectos, entre ellos, las políticas neoliberales. La reducción de jornada es un derecho para favorecer la conciliación. Sin embargo, este fenómeno todavía no ha sido explorado desde Terapia Ocupacional Social. Objetivo Ahondar en el fenómeno de la reducción de jornada laboral en mujeres mediante el análisis de medios de comunicación desde una perspectiva feminista decolonial y de la Terapia Ocupacional Social. Método Se utilizó el Análisis del Discurso Crítico desde una perspectiva feminista decolonial, como enfoque metodológico para analizar los discursos, el lenguaje y los significados transmitidos en los medios de comunicación. Se ha empleado la base de datos Factiva para localizar las noticias. La búsqueda fue realizada el 2 de mayo de 2020 de forma conjunta por las autoras. Se han incluido 50 noticias de periódico. Resultados Este trabajo visibiliza situaciones de violencia institucional, negación de derechos de las mujeres, privación de libertad, injusticias y desigualdades. Se entretejen reflexiones desde la Terapia Ocupacional Social y el feminismo decolonial. Conclusiones La Terapia Ocupacional Social llama por un constante cuestionamiento sobre los espacios (locales y situados, en este caso Galicia) y acciones de práctica, lo que implica cuestionar las estructuras opresivas de dominación (estructura del estado en la articulación de la ley de reducción de jornada y en los discursos sociales construidos). La reducción de jornada es un ejemplo más de cómo nuestros haceres cotidianos son mediados por relaciones de poder patriarcales y coloniales.

Research on factors affecting highways passing through mountain and mountain areas

In this article, flood floods affecting automobile roads and natural disaster relapse on maps using geoinformation systems. The flood consists of forecasting the arrival. The impact of floods on highways was considered from the studied factors. Flood (Flood current) - a stagnant mud or mud rock stream consisting of a mixture of water and rock fragments that suddenly appear in the basins of small mountaineers. How to increase productivity, increase movement, increase the duration of movement, reduce work time), reduce the impact of a natural disaster. Floods threaten settlements, railways, highways, and other structures. This regional model was developed specifically for Uzbekistan and offered an extremely high spatial and temporal resolution of the data. This is necessary for realistic and meaningful simulations.

The contribution of Horticulture 4.0 innovations to more sustainable horticulture

Robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and sensor-based solutions offer the opportunity to meet the current challenges in horticulture. To accelerate the integration of these technologies in the horticultural sector, the German Ministry of Agriculture established the funding priority Horticulture 4.0. Twelve research and development (R&D) and a networking and transfer project are funded to ensure international competitiveness and increase sustainability. This paper focuses on potential digital applications to be implemented in horticultural farms and analyses the technologies at the meta level by literature review and qualitative research. First, the 4.0 technologies based in the R&D projects are classified according to Industry 4.0 visions and systemized by degree of digital assistance. Six projects focus on a complete automation of production steps in horticulture, four of them on intelligent pest management. Thus, a use case “Digital insect trap” was established with automated detection and counting of insect pests and a digital assistance system for pest management. The results of these analyses provide a basis for future research on technology assessment. The impacts of this use case on sustainability of horticultural production are identified. There are various technical and economic effects on farm management, e.g. investment costs, reduced working time, live pest monitoring without delay and pest management on a broader data base. Less use of pesticides and more biodiversity in field and orchard cultivation are identified as potential ecologic effects. There are no indications that the employment in horticultural farms is affected, but the safety of employee's work place when using autonomous systems could be identified as social effects.

Cadastral Surveys Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning - Accuracy and Economy

Due to the wide range of possible applications, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has long since found its way into monument protection and construction. The advantage of this technology is the resulting 3D image of the surroundings including all visible objects as a 3D point cloud. At the office, all necessary information can be derived from the data set using specialized software. In order to test the suitability of TLS to create partition plans according to the Ordinance on Cadastral Surveying (VermV), a case study was conducted using both, a total station and a TLS. Both recordings were evaluated and compared for accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and legality. The accuracy of a TLS mainly depends on the care taken in the evaluation. Deviations occur if geometries are misinterpreted, however, such mistakes can be corrected in the office. From an economic point of view, the TLS requires 14% less total working time. The workload is shifted from the field to the office, with a 68% reduction in field work time. This leads to a reduction in costs and less disruption in the surveyed area. The use of a TLS is legally covered by the VermV. A major advantage of the technology is the recording of the entire environment suited for documentation, preservation of evidence, and added value for planners. However, the decision on the use of a TLS needs to be done case-based.

The Effect of the Use of Residues (Metallic Shavings) in the Formulation of Self-Compacting Concrete in Fresh and Hardened State

Self-Compacting Concretes (SCCs) have brought promising insight into the concrete industry to generate environmental impact and reduce costs. the absence of SCC vibrations generates a significant reduction in noise pollution in urban areas, ease of implementation, possibility of concreting heavily reinforced areas or areas with complex geometry and obtaining better quality concrete on the one hand, reduction of working time on site, of personnel during installation and reduction of the costs of industrial processes, on the other hand. Metal chips resulting from the modification of metal parts obtained by turning present problems of environmental pollution and storage. The recycling of this waste in the construction industry is an adequate solution for the production of concrete and can improve some of its properties. An experimental study to study the properties of SCC containing metal shavings with the study of the properties of SCC in the fresh state: flow, L-box and sieve stability. Properties in the hardened state of concretes: compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The metal waste in the form of shavings, incorporated in a dosage of 0.5% of concrete volume in the mixtures of SCCs produced, which makes it possible to evaluate the effect of the addition of metal shavings on the characteristics of SCCs in the state fresh and hardened and to recover metal waste, the results confirm the advantage of adding metal shavings in the fresh state the SCCs studied keep their characteristics of self-plasticity, in the hardened state the results show an improvement in the compressive strength of the SCCs studied.