The Cost of Plastics in Compost

In urban Blantyre, there is ample green-waste and widespread interest in compost, but the feedstock is often contaminated with plastics. If composting is going to become more widely implemented, it must be profitable and ideally, competitive with chemical nutrients, however the time and cost associated with plastics removal is currently a bottleneck to profitability. In this study we investigated the financial sustainability of compost production using a Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing method over 16-weeks to identify the types and duration of each activity required. Combining these data with capital and operating costs, we then modeled the profitability of the facility to identify cost-bottlenecks and to determine scenarios that would lead to improved profitability. The results show that it took 1 h 50 min of labor to produce 165-L (0.065 m3) bag of compost. A total of 12.3% of the active labor time was spent sorting out plastics from the organic waste before composting, during composting and from the finished product before packaging. Until similar work is published on the topic, these values cannot be evaluated as being either optimal or wasteful, but rather, serve as a baseline against which future interventions—e.g., source separation, especially at markets can be evaluated. Though based in Malawi, the documented and modeled costs can be converted and scaled by other entrepreneurs/agencies who are interested in estimating the financial feasibility of composting in their own context.

The effect of Hyoscine Butylbromide on the rate of vaginal delivery in cases of secondary arrest of cervical dilatation: A rondomized controlled clinical trial

Background For decades, health providers have worked to manage labor actively and safely, with the goal of shortening the duration of painful labor. Reduction of cesarean sections and maternal complication is also an important aspect of labor management. Antispasmodic are commonly administrating during labor in both developing and developed countries, although there is a paucity of scientific reports validating this. Hyoscine butylbromide is an effective antispasmodic drug. Therefore, We aim to assess efficacy of Hyoscine butylbromide on rate of vaginal delivery in cases of 2ry arrest of cervical dilatation. Objective To assess whether the intravenous injection of hyoscine butylbromide is effective in progress of labor in which cases with 2ry arrest of cervical dilatation. Patients and Methods The study included 100 pregnant women (PG, P1, P2, P3) conducted at Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital, the inclusion Criteria were: term uncomplicated singleton pregnancy in a spontaneous active labor, with cephalic presentation. The patient must be free from any medical disorder associated with pregnancy and free from any obstetric complication. Cases were subdivided into 2 groups: Study group: 50 patients received 40mg iv Hyoscine Butylbromide (as Buscopan 20mg\mrl) when the cervix >4cm dilated and was >50% effaced. Control group: 50 patients received 2ml saline as placebo. Results Significant increase in vaginal delivery rate (72%) in Hyoscine group; compared to Saline group (52%); with significant statistical difference (p = 0.04). Highly significant decrease in 1st and 2nd stage labor time in Hyoscine group; compared to Saline group; with highly significant statistical difference (p < 0.05 respectively). These results observed without significant difference as regards 3rd stage labor time and postpartum hemorrhage (p > 0.05), APGAR score and NICU admission (p > 0.05). Conclusion From the current study we can conclude that HBB 40 mg is safe and effective in increasing vaginal delivary rate in cases of 2ry arrest of 12 dilatation. It is effective in decreasing first and second stage of labor. It has no maternal or neonatal adverse effect. It is easy and available.

Nothing Re-Fused: Performing the Neo-Institution

In this paper, we outline the shape of a new institutional structure born of neo-liberal precariousness that we call the neo-institution. The neo-institution is immune to refusal, while at the same time an expert in extracting labor, time, knowledge, and attention. Because there is no way out of the aporia that is the neo-institution—no practical way to re-shape or refuse it—we propose to partly subtract ourselves from it by instigating another way to assemble. We advance the theoretical practice of stitching as a form of assembling that does not erase traces of labor and fight and that eludes any totalizing tendency. Understood as a way of assembling and writing, stitching is a practice of repairing, repurposing, and holding together. Finally, while fatigue, exhaustion, burnout, and depression are the inescapable result of neo-liberal precariousness, we praise the entropic ability of the body to refuse to be treated like refuse.

Well-Being, Poverty, and Labor Income Taxation: Theory and Application to Europe and the United States

In a model where agents differ in wages and preferences over labor time–consumption bundles, we study labor income tax schemes that alleviate poverty. To avoid conflict with individual well-being, we require redistribution to take place between agents on both sides of the poverty line provided they have the same labor time. This requirement is combined with efficiency and robustness properties. Maximizing the resulting social preferences under incentive compatibility constraints yields the following evaluation criterion: tax schemes should minimize the labor time required to reach the poverty line. We apply this criterion to European countries and the United States. (JEL H23, H24, I31, I32, J22)

Investigating the Asymmetric Core/Periphery Structure of International Labor Time Flows

This paper studies the core/periphery hierarchy of the capitalist world-economy in the current globalization era. The central and novel argument is that the network of international labor time flows reveals the core/periphery hierarchy of the world-economy with regard to the international division of labor. Based on the analysis of the labor time network of forty economies from the world input-output table, I find that the core/periphery structure of the world-economy has in large part remained unaltered for 1995-2009, though the asymmetry of international labor time flows decreased slightly between 2003-2009. Through regression analysis, I find that per capita income of a country is strongly associated with its command over global labor time. The regression analysis also lends evidence to the existence of oligarchic wealth. This wealth is not available to all countries, implying that the struggle of a country to improve its position in the capitalist world-economy tends to put downward pressure on the income of other countries.

Information resources as a source of development of the organization in the context of digitalization in the regions of Russia

Subject. This article discusses the issues related to the formation of information resources in an organization, which are necessary to increase the level of digitalization of its activities. Objectives. The article aims to identify problems related to the formation and management of quality information resources in the organization. Methods. For the study, we used the methods of systems, comparative, structural, and logical analyses. Results. The article identifies certain problems of the formation and use of quality information resources in the organization and proposes a method to sample labor time in the conditions of digital economy. The article also offers recommendations to build an effective system of information management and rational justification of labor standards, reducing social tensions. Conclusions. Effective information management will help form an innovative type of organization in the modern economy, reducing the costs of high-tech production processes.