Transitioning towards human–robot synergy in agriculture: A systems thinking perspective

Digital transformation has unveiled new prospects for increased performance and productivity in the agricultural sector to meet rising food security needs. Continuous industrialization and unexpected disruptions (e.g., workforce mobility restrictions due to the COVID‐19 pandemic) call for the adoption of agricultural robots. However, automated solutions could be associated with societal challenges in rural areas;unemployment growth has been perceived as a major threat that jeopardizes societal welfare, potentially hindering the implementation of digital technologies. In this context, human–robot synergistic systems could act as a promising socially viable alternative. Through systems thinking, this research investigates the complex interconnections and key feedback mechanisms of automation diffusion (conventional and human–robot interactive) under the socio‐economic perceptions (drivers and barriers) of agribusinesses and rural communities. Overall, this study contributes towards eliciting the mental models that underpin the transition from agricultural robots to human–robot collaboration by transforming automation‐related societal risks into opportunities for sustainable rural development.

Volatility changes in cryptocurrencies: evidence from sparse VHAR-MGARCH model

This study examines the volatility changes of 20 cryptocurrencies from January 2018 to May 2021 using sparse VHAR-MGARCH model. Our proposed model incorporates the high-dimensionality and time-varying conditional heterogeneity of cryptocurrency markets. We examined the time-varying spillover index, dynamic correlation structure, and connectivity between cryptocurrencies. Our empirical analysis clearly shows that there was a volatility shift on 13 March 2020, due to a market crash caused by COVID-19. This naturally divides the data into three periods: pre-crisis, during the crisis, and post-crisis regimes. The pre-crisis regime exhibited long-term cyclic fluctuations in the spillover index. However, after the market crash, the spillover index remained at a very high level with almost no interconnections between cryptocurrencies. The post-crisis regime showed quite a few irregular and sharp spikes in the spillover index, together with record-breaking prices and volumes.

Social media reconstructions of urban identity during the COVID‐19 pandemic

The COVID‐19 pandemic has profoundly affected people in urban areas. This article reports on a comparative empirical study of the pandemic in Guangzhou and Xi'an in 2021 and analyses how residents responded to social media during the crisis. Using Baidu's hot search time machine to search for hot topics related to the spread of disease during each outbreak of COVID‐19, we collected 35 and 41 hashtags for Guangzhou's and Xi'an's epidemics, respectively. Based on a thematic analysis of those hashtags, we considered how residents reconstructed expressions of urban identity in both cities. We found that China's unique official accountability system in local anti‐epidemic practices led to stricter forms of top‐down urban governance and that urban residents deployed forms of bottom‐up agency in response. Our work provides a refined agenda for geographers and other social scientists to examine the interconnections among urban resilience, urban social responses to major public crises, and urban culture.

Interconnections between Social and Economic Indicators in the Context of EU Resilience

The COVID 19 pandemic has once again exposed a number of important risks and problems for the world's economies. Although the present analyzes in the literature are more and more often aggregated between fields, emphasizing the capacity of digitalization and international relations to improve the transition to the circular economy, resilience speaks not only of positive aspects but also of vulnerabilities. Thus, the article deals with the link between vulnerabilities and capacities of the socio-economic domain at EU27 level. The study uses Eurostat data for the period 2011-2020, systematized in the panel form. The results once again demonstrate the need to strengthen public support for health and education, for research and development, in order to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities at EU27 level, demonstrating the need to correlate policy efforts with results.

Why Was the Pandemic Poorly Managed by the Government of India? A State-in-Society Approach

Administrative "success" or "failure" during the pandemic are hard to assess given uncertainties both of criteria and of data. But there can be no doubt about the mishandling of the pandemic at crucial junctures by the Indian government, or about the culpability of prime minister Narendra Modi himself. He has this in common with other "strongmen" of contemporary world politics, but Modi was unusually successful in turning the events of the pandemic to reinforce his dominance. The immediate political factors that influenced the Indian response had to do with political leadership and with the "decisionism" that characterised Modi's actions, but in the context of the pursuit of the goals of Hindu nationalism. This article explains the responses of the Indian government drawing on a framework based on the comparative analysis of Baum and her co-authors. It shows how the events of the pandemic reflect on India's politics and on the character of the Indian state, using a state-in-society approach suggested by the interlocking arguments of Migdal, Mann and Evans. This highlights and explains the very different responses of the major states of the country.

Exploring Multidimensional Poverty with Rural Women in Jamaica

Jamaica, an upper-middle-income country, is characterised by high poverty rates, with rural residents, particularly women, being the most impoverished. Despite acknowledgment of various vulnerabilities and deprivations inhibiting development, poverty is narrowly examined as consumption. This unidimensionalperspective leaves a critical gap in the poverty debate in Jamaica. This paper has contributed tofilling this gap. The author reviews consumption poverty, critical analyses changes in the poverty literature and then proposes multidimensionalpoverty as a broader informational base. This is to support evidence-based policy and a more nuanced conceptualisation and evaluation of poverty. Framed by Amartya Sen 's capability approach and situated in the context of women 's development, the study explored the experiences of 84 women from six rural communities in Jamaica. Analysis of qualitative data, collected through interviews, focus groups and observation, provides evidence of the economic, social, psychological and physical dimensions of poverty that permeate the women's lives. Interconnections between poverty dimensions offer insight into the nature of chronic poverty in rural Jamaica. The conclusion includes policy implications and suggestions forfuture research.

Oscilacije povjerenja i komunikacijski izazovi: liječnici kao medijske zvijezde u doba koronakrize u Hrvatskoj

Rad se bavi medijskom eksponiranošću medicinskih stručnjaka, a ujedno i osoba na rukovodećim funkcijama pojedinih državnih institucija – ministra zdravstva Vilija Beroša, ravnatelja Hrvatskog zavoda za javno zdravstvo Krunoslava Capaka i ravnateljice Klinike za infektivne bolesti "Dr. Fran Mihaljević" Alemke Markotić – tijekom epidemije bolesti COVID-19 u Hrvatskoj. U istraživačkom fokusu je prvih nekoliko mjeseci javnog djelovanja tih liječnika u okviru Nacionalnog stožera civilne zaštite i ispred zdravstvenog sustava, pri čemu se analizom medijskog narativa nastoji ispitati utjecaj njihove komunikacije s javnošću na stupanj povjerenja koje im građani poklanjaju u doba koronakrize. Na tragu Giddensova i Luhmannova promišljanja povjerenja u kasnoj/refleksivnoj modernosti te primjena njihovih teza u području istraživanja zdravstvene skrbi raspravljaju se utvrđene oscilacije povjerenja i komunikacijski izazovi. Pritom se, uz prepoznavanje međusobne povezanosti fenomena straha, rizika i povjerenja, upozorava na metaprocese medijatizacije i celebritizacije liječničke struke u specifičnim, kriznim društveno-političkim okolnostima.Alternate :This paper deals with the media exposure of medical experts in management positions in state institutions during the COVID-19 epidemic in Croatia – the Minister of Health, Vili Beroš, the director of the Croatian Public Health Institute Krunoslav Capak and the director of the Dr. Fran Mihaljević Clinic for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotić. The article focuses on the first several months of their work within the National Civil Protection Headquarters and as representatives of the healthcare system. The analysis of the media narrative is an attempt to investigate the influence of their public communication on the citizens' level of trust in them during the corona crisis. The article discusses oscillations in trust and communicative challenges identified in the analysis from the point of view of Giddens's and Luhmann's views of trust in late/reflexive modernity, by applying their ideas to the healthcare system. In addition to recognizing the interconnections between fear, risk and trust, the article points to the metaprocesses of mediatization and celebritization of doctors in sociopolitical crises.

Epidemiology as methodology: COVID-19, Ukraine, and the problem of whiteness

This article introduces epidemiology as a methodology for performing critical cultural studies and for excavating meaning in times of disparate global crises. I explore the interconnections between COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine to examine the interconnections between health, colonialism and whiteness. I introduce the term “epidemiology of whiteness” to illustrate how whiteness functions as an unexamined privilege that directly impacts population health.

Spatializing Social Networking Analysis to Capture Local Innovation Flows towards Inclusive Transition

The location of the local network of firms impacts, positively or negatively, their economic performance. The interactions between different sectors in a territory are still not easily observable. We test the complexity of the economic structure at a local level, given the availability of data at a very granular scale. This could greatly assist in observing sectors or/and locations that play a dominant role in the regional economy. Thus, in order to interpret the economic structure of a territory, we used cluster-based analysis. The analysis helps in evaluating the interconnections among sectors that constitute a cluster. A novel method of describing the territorial economic structure is presented by applying Social Network Analysis (SNA) within cluster-based analysis to characterize the importance of both location and economic interconnections. In this study, we focus on the industrial agglomerations in Calabria, Italy, to underpin the potential of the region’s industries by using social networking analysis metrics. This research put forward new interpretations of SNA metrics that describe regional economic compositions. Our findings reveal that territorial social networks are a potential instrument for understanding interactions in regional systems and economic clusters and might help in highlighting local industrial potentials. We believe that this study’s results could be considered as the initial steps for a pioneer data-driven place-based structural analysis model.

Sri Lanka in 2021: Vistas on the Brink

The Rajapaksa government consolidated its position with new laws, special task forces, and public-sector appointments. With the opposition wiped out, Sri Lanka now has a unipolar political landscape. Two successive waves of COVID-19 infections caused a rising death toll and necessitated severe lockdowns. The resulting economic problems exposed structural weaknesses in Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic constellation, with depleting foreign exchange and an acute debt burden. These interlocking crises triggered new forms of protest and a new convergence of previously disparate societal opposition.

Challenges of Pandemic-Related Border Closures for Everyday Lives of Poles and Czechs in the Divided Town of Cieszyn/Český Těšín: Integrated Functional Space or Reemergence of Animosities?

The article asks whether the divided town Cieszyn-Český Těšín can be considered a joint “living space” in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. It evaluates the impact of the pandemic on various aspects of the daily lives of the inhabitants and institutions of both parts of this divided town. Three main dimensions of cross-border integration were studied: cross-border flows, cross-border structures/institutions, and the feeling of togetherness, which represents an ideational dimension of cross-border integration. The research was based on studying narratives covering border closures in the divided town, the analysis of cross-borderness of existing Facebook groups acting in both parts of the divided town, and the results of an extensive questionnaire-based survey among its inhabitants. The border closures restricted cross-border flows, which hit cross-border commuters and damaged the quality of this divided town as a living place because it introduced uncertainty. However, the health crisis also showed the high level of mutual interconnections between the local inhabitants and a functional cross-border civic society. The local people and politicians tend to perceive the divided town as a joint living space. The level of cross-border integration highly exceeds the one usual in the “new EU.”