Short-term Working Research Articles

Contribution to the Research on New Belgrade: The Unbuilt Projects and the Concepts of Nikola Dobrović

<p class="Abstract" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="sr-Cyrl-BA" style="mso-fareast-language: BS-LATN-BA;">Architect Nikola Dobrović is best known in Serbia for his only constructed building in Belgrade, the complex of the State Secretariat of National Defense (DSNO), better known as the General Staff, today an endangered cultural heritage and a crumbling building with an uncertain future. However, his short-term engagement as the head of the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Serbia from 1946-1947, and his later professorship at the Faculty of Architecture University of Belgrade, are equally significant for Belgrade and Serbia. Documents testifying to the post-war period of his work are scattered in several places: in the Urban Planning Institute of Belgrade, the Museum of Science and Technology, the Historical Archive of Belgrade, and the rare publications can only be found in a few libraries in Serbia. In the course of his short-term work on New Belgrade, Dobrović provided several conceptual projects and sketches for New Belgrade within the Urban Planning Institute: the perfomance square, road schemes and the urban planning solution of the zone between the Palace of the Federation and the Railway Station - today's Central Zone of New Belgrade. Finally, at different stages of his career, Dobrović also designed individual objects, such as the project for the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, which remained in the domain of 'paper architecture', unbuilt, and which provides an insight into the way he thought about the process of urban and spatial planning, through the positioning of builidngs which would've generated the character of their immediate and distant surroundings.</span></p>

“I can almost recognize its voice”: AI and its impact on ethical teacher-centaur labor

PurposeThis study builds on previous theoretical work that considered artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential for creating “teacher-centaurs” whose labor could be accelerated through the use of generative AI (Fassbender, in review). The purpose of this paper is to use empirical methods to study centaur teachers and the division of labor (Durkheim, 1893/2013) that arise from outsourcing teaching tasks to AI.Design/methodology/approachMultiple case study (Stake, 2006) was used to collect data on two secondary English teachers who were early adopters of generative AI. Data included semi-structured interviews as well as ChatGPT chat logs, which helped in describing how teaching approaches evolved using AI technology.FindingsResults showed that teachers used AI for planning, instruction and assessment. AI-augmented teaching practices allowed teachers to complete tasks with greater speed, which in turn increased stamina and short-term work–life balance. Given the novelty of AI, concerns about data privacy and academic integrity raised ethical questions.Originality/valueChatGPT’s rise to popularity in 2023 brought with it significant discussions about education, specifically how students would use AI primarily as a tool for plagiarism. This study takes a different focus, considering how early adoption of AI has begun changing teacher labor, offering implications for the future of the teaching profession.

Differing patterns of employment for university students: the role of family background, educational choices and access to benefits

ABSTRACT Student employment is on the increase in many European countries. It takes many forms, from full-time employment to various types of flexible work, which involves short-term, non-standard and informal work. Despite its relevance and complexity, the connection between higher education and concurrent employment has been only partially explored in scholarly debate. This paper investigates the differing patterns of employment for university students, focusing on the role played by parental background, educational choices (i.e. field of study and residential status) and access to benefits. The analyses apply to the Italian higher education system and are based on data collected through a survey carried out among students enrolled at the University of Bologna, which has a highly developed student grant system and a large number of away from home students. Using multinomial logistic regression, the paper shows that students native of Bologna from lower socio-economic backgrounds and enrolled in the humanities and social sciences are more likely than their peers to be in employment. The findings on Right to Study are hence particularly important from a policy perspective, as they highlight the different roles that scholarships and tuition fee waivers play in employment choices whilst at university.

Productivity losses from short-term work absence due to neoplasms in Poland

Previous evidence on productivity losses from neoplasms focuses mostly on the economic burden from mortality, covers single cancer diagnoses and neglects non-malignant neoplasms. This study aims to broaden this perspective by analysing losses resulting from work absence and all neoplasm diagnoses. The analysis applies the human capital method and social insurance data to estimate productivity losses attributable to neoplasm-related short-term work absence in Poland in the period 2012–2022. The productivity losses due to work absence attributable to all neoplasms in Poland were €583 million in 2012 (0.143% of gross domestic product) and they increased to €969 million in 2022 (0.164%). Around 60% of the losses were associated with cancers while the remaining part of the burden was due to non-malignant neoplasms. The neoplasms that led to the highest losses were benign neoplasms, breast cancer, colorectum cancer and prostate cancer. The cancer sites characterised by the greatest losses per absence episode were brain cancer, lung cancer and oesophageal cancer. For most of the neoplasms, we observed increasing losses in an 11-year period analysed. Investing in effective public health policies that tackle neoplasms has the potential to reduce both the health burden and economic losses resulting from these diseases.

Faktor-Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Profitabilitas Pada Perusahaan Sektor Usaha Industri Barang Konsumsi Yang Terdaftar Di Bursa Efek Indonesia

Business profit is the main goal of establishing a company by a group of individuals who run their business. Every year, the owner will set a profit target to be achieved so that management as directors try to optimize all assets owned by the company, both short-term and long-term assets. To achieve profit goals from business activities, the company will try to maintain short-term ratio stability, fast payments, inventory turnover, receivables turnover, DER system and working capital turnover so that every year the company operates well and stably and is relatively stable in the business as it runs. The aim of this research is to analyze the effect of the current ratio, quick ratio, inventory turnover, accounts receivable turnover, DER and partial working capital turnover as well as on the profitability of consumer goods industrial companies listed on the IDX. The basic group includes no less than 73 companies in the consumer goods industry, the sampling method is purposive sampling so that sample includes 37 companies and no less than 111 observations were made. Data analysis techniques are multiple linear regression, classical assumption testing and hypothesis testing. The research results show that the current ratio, debt ratio, inventory turnover, accounts receivable turnover, and DER ratio partially have a positive and significant effect on the profitability (ROA) of consumer goods companies listed on the IDX, while working capital circulation has no significant effect on the company’s profitability. Meanwhile, the current ratio, quick ratio, inventory turnover, receivables turnover, DER ratio and working capital turnover have a significant effect on the ROA of consumer goods companies on the IDX.There is a strong correlation between a company’s current metrics, short-term metrics, inventory turnover, receivables turnover, DER, working capital turnover and ROA. ROA can be explained by the Current ratio, Quick Ratio, Inventory Turnover, Receivables Turnover, DER and Working Capital Turnover. 55,5% the remaining 44.5% can be explained by other variables that have not been tested. 
 Keywords: Current ratio, Quick Ratio, Inventory Turnover, Receivables Turnover, DER, Working Capital Turnover, ROA

MANAJEMEN STRATEGI DALAM MENINGKATKAN DAYA SAING SD GMIT SE-KECAMATAN LOBALAIN, KABUPATEN ROTE NDAO

The Decreasing of public interest about the underdeveloped GMIT schools resulting in a decrease of interest continuing education. GMIT schools think of strategic steps to increase the competitiveness of institutions their education. The purpose of this is to analyze the strategic management of GMIT Elementary School in Lobalain District which was conducted to increase the schools’ competitiveness. The method used in this study is a qualitative method with a descriptive approach. The subjects in this study consist of 18 respondents consisting of 1 Principal and 2 teachers from each GMIT Elementary School in Lobalain District. The data collection techniques used is observation, interviews and documentation. The data analysis techniques that used are Analysis Interactive which is divided into 4 parts, namely data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results showed that strategic management has been implemented by school principals according to the implementation stages strategic management, namely observation, strategy formulation/strategy planning, implementation strategy, evaluation and control or supervision. This is done according to the conditions in each school. Efforts to increase the competitiveness of GMIT Elementary School in Lobalain District carried out in the form of observations in the internal and external environment to find out the strengths and the weaknesses of schools, preparing short-term and long-term work programs, implementing work programs and conducting regular evaluations.

Relationship between psycho-physiological indicators and task performance under various indoor space designs for telecommuting environment by introducing mixed-reality

The increase in telecommuting during COVID-19 and advances in digital technology have necessitated the establishment of guidelines for maximizing productivity through indoor space design for telecommuters. Additionally, understanding the physiological response of individuals working in indoor spaces has attracted attention. This study applied mixed-reality environment to alter the design of the indoor space in real-time, while monitoring the task performance and representative psycho-physiological indicators (electroencephalogram and heart rate variability) of 30 individuals with telecommuting experience. To this end, four tasks, including spatial memory, attention, execution, and working memory, were conducted, and the psycho-physiological data from these tests were statistically analyzed. The results revealed that the design of the indoor space did not affect the spatial memory; however, the parasympathetic nerves were stimulated in visually non-preferred spaces, thus reducing mental stress and leading to high efficiency in short-term work. According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, the working memory of an individual is generally efficient and physically stable over time if they adjust to a preferred or decision-making space. Thus, the future design of telecommuting spaces must consider the type of work being done, and guidelines for spatial design should be developed by recognizing the psycho-physiological status of users, while increasing efficiency.

The role of working memory in the comprehension of syntactically complex sentences in children with and without developmental language disorder: A literature review

Working memory (WΜ) components are investigated as correlates of complex sentence comprehension (cSC) in children, under the consideration of WM as a cognitive system of limited capacity. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between WM components and cSC in children of typical language development (TLD) as well as in children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), by systematically reviewing relevant studies. First, different tasks that are used to assess three distinct WM components are presented and task purity considerations on each of them are taken into account. Second, syntactically complex sentence types that are considered to constrain the already limited resources of WM are presented. Then, the systematic methods of the PRISMA-P protocol are followed. Based on them, six databases were thoroughly searched. After an initial screening stage and a final evaluation stage, twenty-eight studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Narrative synthesis was performed on the included studies. In TLD children, results on the role of verbal short-term memory (vST) and verbal working memory (vWM) in cSC are inconclusive, either supporting or questioning the capacity-limit approach. In DLD children, verbal working memory (vWM) has an important effect on cSC, rather than verbal short-term memory (vSTM). This suggests that a processing-execution component is important in DLD children’s cSC. For both children groups, a component serving as an interface between vSTM/vWM and long-term memory (vSTM/vWM-LTM) seems to play an important role; however, it is greatly understudied. Based on the results, future research directions and educational implications are suggested.

Cognitive disorders of patients with cerebrovascular disorders who suffered from COVID-19

The purpose of the research was to study the features of cognitive functions in COVID-19 patients with chronic cerebrovascular disorders. It has been discovered, that by all patients, who have recovered from COVID-19, moderate and severe cognitive impairments were identified. In this group of patients a significant progression of cognitive deficit was noted in compared to the group of patients without COVID-19. The main forms of disorders in COVID-19 patients with cerebrovascular pathology, were violations of attention and decreasing of information processing speed, and disorders of short-term working memory, instead long-term memory and recognition memory suffered much less. Our research demonstrated better sensitivity of the MoCA scale for detecting cognitive impairment in COVID-19 patients with cerebrovascular pathology. The majority of patients had cognitive impairment within 6 months after recovery from COVID-19, what indicated the necessity for long-term monitoring and timely treatment of these patients.

LONG-TERM PAID CARE WORKFORCE: SHORTAGE, BURNOUT, TRAINING, TURNOVER, WHAT’S NEXT?

Abstract Although the long-term care workforce has struggled historically with staff satisfaction, safety, and retention, the pandemic triggered increased turnover and higher levels of staff burnout. As a result, many residential care organizations are using agency staff at unprecedented levels. Given that continuity of care is central to high-quality person-centered care, and the workforce should have access to a physically and psychologically safe environment, it is imperative that the gerontological research and practical community understand the changing conditions experienced by this workforce in crisis and offers solutions at the workplace, industry, and policy levels. In this symposium, authors explore different facets of paid long-term care workforce to stimulate thought and discussion. One paper contrasts the well-being of the workforce to that of the residents during COVID-19. A second paper presents workforce management capabilities and strategies and posits essential questions for the capacity of management and leadership needs of the workforce. Two papers highlight the struggles that are presented as paid long-term care relies increasingly on contract, short-term workers. Paper three discusses how the use of the contract workforce does not support the provision of person-centered care for conditions like dementia. Paper four uses payroll-based journal data to delve into short and long-term use of contract workforce and discusses the nature of contract staffing, and considers how contract staffing may be disruptive to both the direct care worker and the nursing home environment. The discussant will draw out the policy and practice implications arising from the papers. This is a collaborative symposium between the Aging Workforce and Paid Caregiving Interest Groups.

The impact of virtual reality technologies on the health of employees

The article is a review of research on the impact of virtual reality on the functional state and human health. The relevance of the work is due to the growing interest in the use of virtual reality technologies in industry, education, medicine and other fields. At the same time, it is known that more than 80% of users have various side effects.
 The authors have analyzed more than 60 foreign literary sources in order to study the peculiarities of the negative effects of being in a virtual environment on human organisms.
 An analysis of scientific publications has shown that most of them are devoted to the study of cyber sickness, although researchers note other negative symptoms and effects caused by virtual reality: visual and muscle fatigue, acute stress and mental fatigue. We identified three groups of factors influencing the development of side effects: individual, hardware and software factors, and found that the characteristics of the visual display have the greatest impact on the user's condition.
 The disadvantage of most studies is the use of the questionnaire method, as well as the assessment of the impact of short-term work in extended environments on the human body.
 The issues discussed in this article form the directions for further research in the field of human interaction and the virtual environment.

The Precarity of Women’s Short-Term Migration: A Case Study from Nepal

This article explores precarity in short-term women’s migration using the case study of Nepal. Women migrate from Nepal for short-term contract work mostly in the domestic care sector. This research has used both focus group discussions and key informant interviews with returned and prospective migrants, as well as NGO staff and others supporting migration. A picture of the precarity of women’s short-term migration from Nepal to the Middle East has emerged, with the motivation for women’s migration being complex, and while it is primarily financial and for some an economic necessity, there are also broader implications, and the argument that migration can expand women’s choices and opportunities, and possibly be empowering. The research found that this applies to relatively few women migrants. Nepalese women face considerable risks, and migration is precarious due to restrictions and controls along each step of the migration pathway.

Basic Science and Pathogenesis - Part 2.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a known risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative disease later in life, including Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other forms of tauopathy such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and frontal-temporal dementia (FTD). Although several studies highlight the relationship between the severity and frequency of a TBI and the development of these tauopathies, the mechanism behind this association remains unknown. Proper meningeal lymphatic function is required for clearance of waste products and protein aggregates such as amyloid beta and tau from the brain parenchyma. While post-TBI inflammation is beneficial for clearing debris and promoting tissue repair, prolonged glial activation and decreased meningeal lymphatic drainage have been linked to worsened cognitive function. A mild TBI (mTBI) was delivered to three-month-old young adult mice overexpressing P301S mutant human tau (PS19) through the skull on the right inferior temporal lobe of the brain. Sham and TBI injured mice were tested on behavioral tests at 5 months of age. At 7 months of age, brains were examined for tau pathology and neuroinflammation using confocal microscopy. Four months after mTBI, the brains of TBI PS19 mice exhibit increased levels of microglia and astrocytes, and increased P-S202/T-205-Tau in the cortex and thalamus of the ipsilateral hemisphere compared to the contralateral side and to Sham PS19 controls. These findings correlate with our behavior study showing increased hyperactivity, risk-taking behavior, and impaired short term working memory. PS19 TBI mice also present larger ventricles than their uninjured controls suggesting a potential loss of white matter in the cortex and/or hippocampus. P-S202/T-205-Tau orginated from the cortex near the injury site can aggregate and promote the formation of more toxic tau that spreads to deeper regions of the cortex and in the thalamus primarily through the thalamocortical circuit. Also, microglia and astrocyte activation and production of inflammatory mediators has been associated with synapse pruning and engulfment of damaged neurons expressing 'eat me signals' leading to neurodegeneration.

The Impact of Short-Term Employment for Low-Income Youth: Experimental Evidence from the Philippines

Abstract We use a randomized field experiment to test the causal impact of short-term work experience on employment and school enrollment among disadvantaged, in-school youth in the Philippines. This experience leads to a 4.4 percentage point (79%) increase in employment eight to twelve months later. Although we find no aggregate increase in enrollment, we also do not find that the employment gains push youth out of school. Our results are most consistent with work experience serving as a signal of unobservable applicant quality, and these findings highlight the role of temporary work as a stepping stone to employment for low-income youth.

From co-location patterns to an informal social network of gig economy workers

The labor market has transformed with the advent of the gig economy, characterized by short-term and flexible work arrangements facilitated by online platforms. As this trend becomes increasingly prevalent, it presents unique opportunities and challenges. In this manuscript, we comprehensively characterize the social networks of gig economy workers in each of the 15 cities studied. Our analysis reveals a scaling relationship between networks and the city population. In particular, we note the high level of modularity of the networks, and we argue that it results from the natural specialization of couriers along different areas of the cities. Furthermore, we show that degree and betweenness centrality is positively correlated with income but not with tenure. Our findings shed new light on the social organization of the gig economy workers and provide valuable insights for the management and design of gig economy platforms.

Mathematics self-concept moderates the relation between cognitive functions and mathematical skills in primary school children

In this paper, we investigated the contribution of both cognitive and affective factors to mathematical skills. In particular, we looked at the protective role of self-concept for mathematical learning and performance. In a field study, we tested the relation of math self-concept and short-term visuo-spatial working memory to the mathematical abilities of second- grade primary school children in Italy (N = 105). Measures included the “Test for the evaluation of calculating and problem-solving abilities” (AC-MT 6–11), the backward Corsi blocks test (Battery for Visuo-Spatial Memory), and the mathematics self-concept sub-scale of the Self-Description Questionnaire-I (SDQ-I, Italian version). As expected, correlation and moderated regression analyses showed that mathematics self-concept and working memory both positively predict mathematical operations and numeracy, but not accuracy. Simple slope analysis confirmed our moderation hypothesis, with working memory predicting mathematical abilities at low levels of math self-concept, but not at medium and high levels. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Incidence and cost of COVID-19-related work absence based on social insurance data from Poland

Abstract Background COVID-19 pandemic and public health measures aimed at limiting the spread of the disease caused widespread work absence. This research aimed to identify the incidence of COVID-19-related short-term work absence and to estimate the cost associated with this absence. Methods The study used quarterly (Q) social insurance data from Poland (2020-2022). COVID-19-related absence was identified with four ICD-10 classification diagnoses: COVID-19; personal history of COVID-19; post-COVID-19 condition; and multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19. To identify work absence, the study relied on real-life, disease-specific data on the number of absence days from the Social Insurance Institution. Additionally, excess caregiving resulting from the pandemic was estimated based on all-cause caregiving days. To estimate the cost of work absence, the study relied on the human capital method. Results There were 15.2 million absence days resulting from four COVID-19-related diagnoses (2.1% of total all-cause absence days). Of these, COVID-19 caused 12.2 million absence days, followed by post-COVID-19 condition (2.9 million). Excess caregiving was a dominant pandemic-related work absence category, with 37.7 million work days lost. COVID-19 absence was concentrated in Q4-2020 and high in Q1-2021 and Q3-2022. On the other hand, the incidence of the remaining three diagnoses was the highest in Q1-2022. The total indirect cost of work absence was €4.3 billion, and 69.2% of this loss resulted from excess caregiving. For this cost category, 79.1% of costs were borne in Q2- and Q3-2020 when severe lockdowns were imposed. Conclusions The estimates show that COVID-19-related short-term absenteeism was a significant public health burden and translated to severe economic losses. The economic loss from caregiving resulted in more burden than the COVID-19 health-related absence. Key messages • There were 52.9 million work absence days from the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland until the end of 2022, resulting in an indirect cost of €4.3 billion. • Most (∼70%) of the pandemic work absence and its cost resulted from caregiving responsibilities, which applied to care for the sick and children unable to attend educational facilities.

Locations of objects are better remembered than their identities in naturalistic scenes: An eye-tracking experiment in mild cognitive impairment.

Retaining the identity or location of decontextualized objects in visual short-term working memory (VWM) is impaired by healthy and pathological ageing, but research remains inconclusive on whether these two features are equally impacted by it. Moreover, it is unclear whether similar impairments would manifest in naturalistic visual contexts. 30 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 32 age-matched control participants (CPs) were eye-tracked within a change detection paradigm. They viewed 120 naturalistic scenes, and after a retention interval (1 s) asked whether a critical object in the scene had (or not) changed on either: identity (became a different object), location (same object but changed location), or both (changed in location and identity). MCIs performed worse than CP but there was no interaction with the type of change. Changes in both were easiest while changes in identity alone were hardest. The latency to first fixation and first-pass duration to the critical object during successful recognition was not different between MCIs and CPs. Objects that changed in both features took longer to be fixated for the first time but required a shorter first pass compared to changes in identity alone which displayed the opposite pattern. Locations of objects are better remembered than their identities; memory for changes is best when involving both features. These mechanisms are spared by pathological ageing as indicated by the similarity between groups besides trivial differences in overall performance. These findings demonstrate that VWM mechanisms in the context of naturalistic scene information are preserved in people with MCI. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Performances of Pointing Phonological Memory Tasks between Children with and without Speech Sound Disorders

Objectives: A new phonological memory task using pointing responses was developed and the performance of each sub-task was compared between children with and without speech sound disorders (SSD). Methods: 16 children with SSD and 14 typically developing children (TD) performed pointing memory tasks, which consists of four sub-tasks—auditory short-term, auditory working, visual short-term, and visual working memory; and performances between groups and between each sub-task were compared. In addition, the correlation between the new task and the existing task (digit span task), vocabulary sizes and the accuracy of consonants was analyzed. Results: First, the SSD group showed significantly lower performance in the pointing memory tasks than the TD group. Second, both the SSD and TD groups showed significantly higher performance in auditory stimulation compared with visual stimulation, and in short-term memory than working memory. Third, in the case of the TD group, the performance of the auditory short-term memory task was much better, and there were no significant differences among the other three sub-tasks, while the SSD group showed a sequential decline in performances among the four sub-tasks. Finally, there was a high correlation between the new task and the existing task, vocabulary sizes, and the accuracy of consonants. Conclusion: The low performance in the phonological memory task of the SSD group is not due to weakness in articulation or in auditory processing, but to defects in phonological short-term/working memory itself. The results of this study provide meaningful information on the different performance patterns of phonological memory tasks according to stimulus modalities between the SSD and TD groups.

Pharmacological inhibition of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 prevents memory deficits and reduces neuropathology in APP/PS1 mice.

Extracellular proteolytic activity plays an important role in memory formation and the preservation of cognitive function. Previous studies have shown increased levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in the brain of mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and plasma of AD patients, associated with memory and cognitive decline; however, the exact function of PAI-1 in AD onset and progression is largely unclear. In this study, we evaluated a novel PAI-1 inhibitor, TM5A15, on its ability to prevent or reverse memory deficits and decrease Aβ levels and plaque deposition in APP/PS1 mice. We administered TM5A15 mixed in a chow diet to 3-month and 9-month-old APP/PS1 mice before and after neuropathological changes were distinguishable. We then evaluated the effects of TM5A15 on memory function and neuropathology at 9 months and 18 months of age. In the younger mice, 6 months of TM5A15 treatment protected against recognition and short-term working memory impairment. TM5A15 also decreased oligomer levels and amyloid plaques, and increased mBDNF expression in APP/PS1 mice at 9 months of age. In aged mice, 9 months of TM5A15 treatment did not significantly improve memory function nor decrease amyloid plaques. However, TM5A15 treatment showed a trend in decreasing oligomer levels in APP/PS1 mice at 18 months of age. Our results suggest that PAI-1 inhibition could improve memory function and reduce the accumulation of amyloid levels in APP/PS1 mice. Such effects are more prominent when TM5A15 is administered before advanced AD pathology and memory deficits occur.