The article is prepared within the framework of the topic of fundamental research and reflects the initial stage of comprehension of the problem related to the comprehension of the essence of the basic terms and concepts in the field of the problem of spiritual and moral education of children and youth.

The purpose of this publication is to systematise the research aimed at clarifying the essence of the basic concepts in the problem field under study. to present different approaches to the interpretation of the basic terms and concepts of ‘spirit’, ‘soul’, ‘spirituality’, ‘morality’; comparative and comparative characterisation of them and clarification of the key concept of the research ‘system of spiritual and moral education’.

It is stated that in philosophy and psychology there is a different understanding of spirituality: as religiosity, perception of the idea of God, development of intellectuality and integrity. It is emphasised that among the works that cover the nature of spirituality, there is no clearly delineated correlation of the concept of spirituality with the concept of morality, faith. As a result, the scientific community has included such phrases as ‘spiritual and moral characteristics of personality’, ‘spiritual and moral development of a person’, ‘cultural and spiritual characteristics of personality’. The author's variant of interpretation of the concept of ‘spiritual and moral education’ of a person is given.

The phenomenon “diversification” is treated in the article from a stand point of granting expanded opportunities in the sphere of educational services for students — future teachers of physical culture. The phenomenon “lifelong professional education” is analyzed in the article both as a result of positive command of personality’s self-organization and as a “growth point” for overcoming difficulties in the course of study and sport activity. The aim is specification of the factors which are positively influencing on diversification of lifelong professional education and determination of their content. The used methods are both traditional methods (system analysis, comparative analysis, grouping, generalization), and the methods, applied directly in this research, — content analysis and studying the integrated training by method of the "included" observation and supervision. The result of our research is the classification of the subfactors, forming an integral system, comprising micro-, meso-, and macro factors. The obtained results are being applied into practice of Volga region state university of physical culture, sport and tourism, while there is the developed infrastructure of the University, a competent teaching staff, and the expanded sphere of educational service. The article author came to the following conclusions: diversification of lifelong professional education is an advantage of the competitive universities, comprising the mentioned university, while diversification is aimed at multilevelness and multifunctionality which are implemented at the integrated training.

The article discusses the issues of organizing the process of teaching mathematics in order to form the personal results of students specified in the Federal educational program of basic general education. Contextual tasks were chosen as a means for developing personal results. The article discusses various approaches to defining the concept of “contextual task”, highlights the requirements for contextual tasks aimed at developing students’ personal results in the process of teaching mathematics and the principles that should be the basis for the development of such tasks (relevance, accessibility, individuality), given examples of contextual tasks in mathematics that are educational in nature, indicating the direction of formation of personal results in accordance with the federal educational program of basic general education (formation of a culture of health, labor and environmental education, formation of moral values, etc.). The stages of organizing mathematics teaching using contextual tasks with the aim of forming personal results of students (design, activity and reflective-evaluative) are identified, various ways of developing contextual tasks are proposed (composing tasks by the teacher and students during project activities), a scheme for working with a contextual task in the lesson mathematics and options for organizing lesson reflection, during which contextual tasks were solved aimed at developing students’ personal results.

The communication process between the teacher and students, in the process of mastering disciplines, is a flexible and developing system of interactions. Constant improvement and accessibility of information and communication technologies provide an opportunity to use social networks in the educational process, contributing to the development of innovative forms of teaching. The relevance of the work is due to the demand of the education system for digitalization and the emergence of new methods of communication in the system of information transfer between teachers and students. The work is devoted to the analysis of the preferences of modern students to communication tools using the Internet. And also, assessing the use of information and communication technologies of social networks in the framework of teaching general humanities disciplines in higher education. During the study, a survey of students was organized in key higher education institutions in the city of Smolensk.

Distance resources are currently undervalued in the educational sphere among full-time students. The key research method was a sociological survey (using a written questionnaire method). The data received by the authors as feedback from students at various universities in the Smolensk region allows us to draw conclusions about the potential of information and communication technologies in the field of higher education. The authors developed a questionnaire that included an overview of the key communication capabilities of the most popular social networks in the Russian Federation. A separate block in the questionnaire included a section for the wishes and suggestions of survey participants. As a result of the study, a comprehensive statistical base was obtained on students’ preferences for the use of information and communication technologies of social networks as part of the development of general humanities disciplines in higher education.

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the decision to introduce mobile learning occurs at the intersection of the interests of the customer and the needs of the audience. The task of the design stage is to present the future learning experience as accurately as possible, taking into account the functionality and specifics of mobile devices. Here, the HR manager’s function is to bring together information about technical constraints, the context of the learning workforce, learning needs, and map the user experience in detail. The practical significance of the study is that it will allow companies to develop effective employee training strategies.

The article examines the results of the work of students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of a pedagogical university with the textbook “Introductory and remedial phonetic course of the French language”, offered as part of the study of the course “Practical phonetics (French)” in the 1st year of the Faculty of Foreign Languages. The authors of the article identify two types of phonetic skills: auditory-pronunciation and rhythmic-intonation, which should be developed in students by the end of the first year. The article presents an analysis of the results of the level of formation of auditory-pronunciation and rhythmic-intonation phonetic skills of students in the control and experimental groups studying the phonetics of the French language. The study showed that the level of development of phonetic skills among first-year students who worked for a year using the textbook “Introductory and corrective phonetic course of the French language” was higher than that of students in the control group. This is due to the fact that the great advantage of the textbook is that almost all exercises and texts have audio recordings made by native speakers, which allows students to learn to pronounce French sounds as correctly as possible and master French intonation. At the end of the article, the authors confirm the effectiveness of using the textbook in the classes “Practical Phonetics (French)” at a pedagogical university.

Knowledge of various teaching technologies helps not only to improve the educational process, but also makes it possible to evaluate their application in various educational spaces. The authors of the article, based on an analysis of the features of case technology, propose to consider its advantages when teaching ethics in a higher education institution. Case technology allows you to combine theory with practice, apply theory in the context of real events, with its help it is possible to awaken students’ interest in studying the subject, and also actively acquire knowledge and develop skills through independently conducted collection, processing and analysis of information. The authors of the article developed a methodological scheme for working with a case study for ethics. The authors show that this methodological scheme can be applied in the context of teaching ethics at a university. The proposed methodological scheme for working with the case consists of six steps, mastering each of which allows students not to limit themselves to simply perceiving classical theories and reading philosophical texts, but to develop their own opinions on ethical issues. Case technology demonstrates a high degree of effectiveness, therefore it is recommended for use in the process of teaching an ethics course at a university. 

The article analyzes the influence and importance of the curator’s work in the successful adaptation of students at the university. The purpose of this article is to substantiate the implementation of curatorial work with students at the university as one of the conditions for successful adaptation of students at the university based on the implementation of facilitative learning aimed at independent and meaningful mastery of knowledge by students at the university. The article provides an analysis of the domestic and foreign experience of curation and facilitation training. The article presents the psychological and pedagogical requirements for a curator and a teacher-facilitator in Russian pedagogy: personal qualities, mastery of techniques and techniques of communication with students, methods of facilitation (speech influence). The advantages of curation based on facilitative learning are revealed. Based on the study of literature, questionnaires, and practical experience, a model of the curator’s activity was created. The functions (informative, organizational, communicative, controlling, creative), characteristics (purposefulness, motivation, effectiveness), stages of activity of the curator of the student group are highlighted and justified. In accordance with the effectiveness criterion, the levels of professional and pedagogical activity of the curator are revealed.

The results of the study can be used in the management of extracurricular and educational activities of the university and educational work with students by the university administration and teachers in practical classes, and in classes on the control of independent work at the university.

The article analyzes the role of the mechanism of perception in learning. The purpose of the work is determining the relationship between the level of development of perception and the effectiveness of students’ work on mastering information, and describing methods for the independent development of perception. The methods used include the system method; methods of formalization, abstraction, concretization, modeling of the learning process based on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. Among the empirical methods used were student questionnaires, observation of the academic work of the subjects, a survey, and an experiment. The result of the developed methodology is the conclusion that the purposeful development of perception ensures the completeness, integrity, consistency of the data obtained, as well as the connection of the apperception mechanism. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the substantiation and development of tasks for the evolution of perception with the further transfer of students to the mode of self-development of the cognitive sphere. The results obtained can be applied in the elaboration of classes in any discipline using educational texts. The authors of the article came to the conclusion that the transfer of students to self-education mode should be accompanied by the development of a perception mechanism, the full-fledged operation of which is a prerequisite for launching information processing processes.

The article is devoted to assessing the influence of the main factors-incentives influencing the innovative development of the economy of the Russian Federation.

The article presents is the model forecasting of innovative development of the economy of the Russian Federation. The methodology of the study is based on the use of methods of correlation and regression analysis and assessment of multicolinearity between factors. Using multifactor regression analysis, an economic-statistical model was calculated to predict the influence of incentive factors on the innovative development of the Russian economy, taking into account financial investments.

The justification for the choice of incentive factors and the assessment of their multicollaterality made it possible to select them for a regression model, which can be used for a model for predicting the innovative development of the economy of the Russian Federation. As a result of the calculations, it was concluded that fundamental research, scientific research and development, including in the field of economic development and investment in fixed capital for information, computer and telecommunications (ICT) equipment significantly influence the innovative development of the economy of the Russian Federation. These factors were used as the basis for a regression model for forecasting the innovative development of the economy of the Russian Federation. At the same time, financial investments have an average value of the correlation coefficient, so they were not included in the general model. The scope of application of the research results in the form of a forecasting method is all sectors of the economy.

In today's world, financial and marketing decisions by top management alone are not enough for any organization to achieve success. In recent years, the level of financial performance has been significantly influenced by the correct construction of the corporate brand of the enterprise and following the trends that have developed in society. It is necessary to create a corporate social responsibility program. The company is trying to check whether businesses are implementing a corporate social responsibility program. The article is devoted to the study of social and corporate responsibility and its impact on the promotion of the corporate brand of an enterprise. The article examines various approaches to the concept of corporate social responsibility, substantiates the importance of the practice of corporate social responsibility, its role in promoting the corporate brand and its connection with the organization's strategy. The image of one of the largest factories in the country is analyzed, recommendations are given for the development and implementation of PR tools that promote the corporate brand of the enterprise. The importance of corporate social responsibility and the corporate brand of the enterprise, as well as the relationship with the organization's strategies, is indicated. The author's findings can have a positive impact on the promotion of corporate brands of enterprises, the creation of corporate social responsibility programs at enterprises, as well as on the business reputation of companies in the future.

The article discusses the need to take into account the influence of external factors when planning the activities of domestic poultry farming organizations. The purpose of the work is to determine the composition of environmental factors influencing the activities of poultry enterprises in the region. The methods used include statistical and monographic. The author of the article came to the conclusion that the influence of environmental factors on the functioning of poultry farming organizations is not unidirectional; it can be both positive and negative; accordingly, some factors can provide certain opportunities for enterprises, while others can pose threats and restrictions for activities in the market, in addition, when analyzing the external environment, it is necessary to take into account that all groups of factors and their components are closely related to each other. The market for poultry products, from the point of view of market structure, can be characterized as a market of strict oligopoly. When analyzing the content of factors, it should be noted that the main problem of domestic enterprises in this industry has been and remains dependence on imported selection. Using the STEP analysis technique as an example, the Omsk region identified the main problems in the development of regional producers of poultry meat and eggs and proposed measures to adapt regional specialized agricultural organizations to the influence of environmental factors.

The article is devoted to the study of the economic feasibility of applying financial covenants, which can become a useful tool for managing company risks. Financial covenants are agreements between a company and its creditors or investors that set out specific financial terms and conditions that must be met to maintain the financial condition of the company. These agreements may include restrictions on debt levels, interest rates, dividend payments and other financial indicators. If a company has a high debt level, it may be necessary to maintain a certain debt-to-equity or revenue ratio. This can help prevent excessive use of borrowed funds by the company and increase the risk of default. By setting these limits and limitations, companies can manage their risks more effectively. The purpose of the study is to localize the scientific and practical aspects of the impact of risks of violations of financial covenants on the company’s economic security indicators and recommendations for their identification based on monitoring methods. Financial covenants can also help ensure that a company makes informed financial decisions. The subject of the study is companies that attract external sources of financing using the mechanism of financial covenants. The subject of the study is a mechanism for monitoring and disclosing information within the framework of internal monitoring of compliance with the requirements of financial covenants. In the course of the research, methods of description, analogy, formalization and monitoring were used. The article reveals the basic approaches to the formation of a mechanism for applying financial covenants to manage the company’s risks. The economic feasibility of using monitoring decision-making is substantiated. The conditions for leveling the risk of internal financial control of the use of coverants are reasoned. The mechanism under discussion will expand the scope of possible application of covenant management as risk management methods in the activities of companies that are recipients of external financing.

The article analyzes the directions of development in correlation with the economic content of measures of information and consulting support of agricultural, processing enterprises and other subjects of agro-industrial complex. The purpose of scientific research is to determine the elements of structural and functional model of effective interaction of consulting support structures in agribusiness, allowing to form a unified system of consulting, coordination, educational and marketing support, as well as operational access to information for economic entities in the sectors of agrarian production. In the course of the work the abstract-logical method, system analysis, agricultural statistics techniques were used. The main empirical base of the study is the data on measures to support the agrarian sector of the Omsk Oblast economy. The result of the preparation of the scientific article is a structural and functional model of effective interaction between state and non-state subjects of agrarian business support, including expert support, marketing and educational support, infrastructural and resource support. Based on the resource capabilities of the proposed model, the prospective directions are identified and the forecast of indicators of the effectiveness of information and consulting support of the subjects of agro-industrial complex of the Omsk region is calculated, the result of which can be applied as one of the comprehensive target indicators of the effectiveness of gratuitous consulting support of agribusiness.

High-quality personnel training is currently gaining the greatest interest among employers. The business community requires not only the knowledge, skills and abilities of graduates, but their comprehensive implementation in the form of professional competencies. The purpose of the work is a content analysis of employer vacancies on job search sites for the presence of precise formulation of the professional competencies of accounting and analytical workers in accordance with the requirements of the professional standard "Accountant”. The article also examines how, under current conditions, the competency-based approach is implemented in the educational services market, and considers the role of professional competencies in the development of competitive labor market actors. The methods used include the method of text research - content analysis, as well as the method of classification and statistical analysis. The results obtained can be used by employers to unify the requirements to professional competencies of potential employees in job advertisements on job search sites.

Small towns are not currently the subject of increased attention from research scientists. At the same time, considering the increasing problems of socio-economic differentiation of regions, the development of small towns is an important component for achieving successful indicators in the regional economy. The article examines the small towns of the Novgorod Region, one of the regions of the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation. Despite the traditional steps being taken to develop municipal districts and districts of the Novgorod region, budget investments in the integrated development of rural areas, the population in small towns in the region is declining, including due to migration outflow to the largest urban agglomerations of the Russian Federation. In order to avoid the development of negative consequences in the future, new approaches are needed to consolidate the population in small towns, different from the management practices of medium and large administrative entities. As one of the tools for solving the problem under study, the authors of the article propose the development and implementation of a regional state program aimed at the integrated development of small towns in the Novgorod region. The successful implementation of such a program will contribute to the sustainable development of municipalities and attract new people to small towns, which will have a positive impact on the socio-economic development of the entire Novgorod region.

One of the key conditions for the implementation of procurement of goods, works, and services to meet the needs of municipal customers is to ensure competition between suppliers, contractors, and performers during tenders. The study is devoted to the analysis of the state of competition in municipal procurement in Omsk. The purpose of this article is to consider the essence, relevance and significance of the issue of ensuring competition in municipal procurement. The concept of the principle of ensuring competition is revealed, an analysis of the current situation with the implementation of municipal procurement by budgetary institutions of the city of Omsk is carried out from the point of view of assessing the level of competition in the field of municipal procurement at the beginning of 2024.

Based on the analysis, the most common problems of ensuring competition during the procurement procedure are identified in practice and, most importantly, the reasons that encourage customers to enter into transactions with a single supplier (contractor, performer) and the reasons for the low activity of suppliers (contractors, performers) are indicated. In addition, proposals have been developed, the implementation of which will ensure the necessary level of competition during municipal procurement in the city of Omsk.

When conducting the study, the opinions of Russian scientists on the need to ensure competition in the municipal procurement market were taken into account. The article specifically focuses on the issue of the influence of government authorities (the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (hereinafter referred to as FAS Russia), the Government of the Omsk Region) on the development and provision of a competitive environment. The Action Plan («road map») to promote the development of competition in the Omsk region for 2019-2025 was reviewed, and results on the state and development of competition in the product markets of the Omsk region by the end of 2022 were presented.

The complexity and specificity of the regional economy, focusing on profitable production of goods and services, requires systematization of the conceptual foundations for the development of the regional market of high-tech products through the search for external and internal sources of increased competitiveness, compliance with technological and environmental standards of products. The purpose of the study is to develop methodological tools for the procedure of choosing options for technological cooperation in order to develop the regional market of high-tech products, in the context of the priorities of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation. In preparing the article, the methods of argumentation, comparison, analysis of documents and the PERT method, a scenario-modular approach were used. The basis of the theoretical results is the content of the main elements of the choice of the application of technological cooperation in the production and sale of high-tech products. The procedure for selecting high-tech products is justified, which includes a number of stages that reveal goals and objectives, identify sources of information and data to obtain an analytical base, assess the resource potential and available production capacities of regional economic entities, providing for the use of the advantages of technological cooperation. The achieved results are the basis for the development of a roadmap that takes into account the identified inconsistencies in the development of products, as well as the need to reduce the cost of manufacturing products. The article indicates the expediency of taking into account individual time costs and equipment loading, based on the products selected for production. It is concluded that the roadmap is a complex process of interrelated elements that are aimed at achieving the set goal, and should reflect the specifics of production in the regional market of high-tech products.

This study notes that China's research and development of the digital yuan system is aimed at creating the cash needs of the population in combination with financial infrastructure. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the development of measures for conducting operations with the digital yuan of the People's Bank of China in modern conditions. The subject of the study is the problems of developing a digital yuan system.

The purpose of the study is to study the Chinese digital currency in the context of digitalization. The deduction method was used to study the basics of the introduction of the digital yuan digital currency in the country, the analysis method was used to disclose transactions with the digital yuan by banks, and the systematization method was used to determine a number of indicators. The numbers solidify China as a leader among countries developing their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) — digital tokens issued by central banks — although implementation is still in the early stages. E-CNY, as the digital yuan is called, has so far been used mainly for domestic retail payments. The total number of e-RMB transactions reached 950 million, with 120 million wallets opened. However, the electronic yuan in circulation accounts for only 0.16% of China's M 0 money supply, or cash in circulation. Now the e-CNY balance is only two tenths of 1% of M0, so the balance is very small, but with this balance we support a large number of transactions, which means high speed and greater efficiency. Chinese state-owned banks participated last year in a cross-border transaction trial developed by the Bank for International Settlements.

The topic of ecosystem conservation and the value of ecosystem services plays a prominent role in scientific discussions on climate change. A key place in this belongs to specially protected natural areas (SPNA), which are a kind of anchors of landscapes and contribute to the preservation of ecosystems in a changing climate. In recent years, there has been a change in the development system of protected areas and their gradual integration into the socio-economic space. This requires comprehensive work with goals, risks and target audiences, which involves the use of strategic communications.

The article examines the importance of strategic communications in the management of specially protected areas, as well as modern challenges for the conservation of a unique natural environment. The authors explore changes in approaches to the functioning of protected areas themselves and possible vectors of development. Finally, the authors propose a strategic communication model to achieve the key goal of conserving biodiversity and ecosystems. Methods that were used to conduct the study: description, comparison, analysis, classification and forecasting.

In this work, researchers determine the degree of influence of strategic communications on the PA management system, the role of strategic communications in management decision-making, as well as tools to minimize existing risks. The article also presents the results of an analysis of special legislation on protected areas, official program documents, examines various vectors of development that can have a significant impact on the protected area system as a whole, and the authors determine the place and role of strategic communications in this process.

Urbanized crop production is at the stage of its formation and initial development, therefore, for its stable functioning and ensuring competitiveness in the agricultural market, it is necessary to implement various measures of financial and organizational support from state and regional authorities. This article examines the organizational and economic mechanism for the formation of a local market for urbanized crop production products in the Novosibirsk region. The purpose of the work is to develop theoretical and practical provisions for the formation of tools and mechanisms that promote the growth and development of the local market for urban crop production products in the region. The methodological basis of the study was such methods as monographic, analysis and synthesis, bibliographic analysis, abstract-logical methods. The results obtained can be useful in developing long-term programs for the development of local markets in the region, and can also be used by government bodies of all levels, scientific institutes, and educational institutions. The authors of the article came to the following conclusions: financial support measures should be created in the form of various grants and subsidies from federal and regional authorities aimed at developing innovative agricultural methods, as well as increasing the competitiveness of urban crop production in the food market.

This article discusses the features of management consulting, the role and importance of consulting services for business in the Russian Federation, as well as the essence and significance for the management system of modern organizations in connection with the current economic and business environment in this market. One of the key problems faced by consulting agencies in our country is the departure of most of the foreign clients who actively used the services of these companies. It should be noted that due to sanctions restrictions, Russian agencies are now unable to provide services to American and European companies, at the same time, many foreign companies that conducted consulting business in the territory of the Russian Federation have ceased their activities. The article analyzes the results of management consulting for small businesses in the Russian Federation. The key role of consulting companies in providing assistance in solving various management problems and the importance of management consulting in general for Russian commercial companies are described. At the end of the article, a conclusion is made about the further development of trends in the field of consulting and the possibility of mutually beneficial cooperation between representatives of management consulting with commercial client organizations.

Regional aspects of the development of the sphere of paid services in the context of the federal districts of the Russian Federation determine the finding of an imbalance between consumers and producers. The purpose of the work is to analyze the indicators of the market of services provided to the population of the Russian Federation for a fee in 2018-2022, according to the existing statistical methodology. The scientific methods used include: comparisons, groupings, averages, index, graphical, tabular representation of data. The article examines the structure of paid services in the Russian Federation, the dynamics of indicators of the market of services provided to the population. The author, based on the V. Ryabtsev coefficient, evaluated the structural differences when using the coefficient value intervals. The results can be used by specialists of the state or municipal administration in the development of strategic solutions in the field of interaction with enterprises in the field of paid services.

The article reveals the processes of digitalization of society. The author pays attention to the features of digitalization of law. The specifics of the artificial intelligence system as an integral element of digital transformation are considered. The author has identified current problems in the field of legislative regulation of the legal status of artificial intelligence and proposed recommendations for resolving them.

The right of a citizen to an image from the point of view of legislative regulation is relatively new for the domestic law and order. Therefore, the application of the legal norms introduced by Federal Law No. 231 of December 18, 2006 raises a number of questions both in theory and in practice. One of them is how a person can determine the nature of the event held by the organizer in order not to violate the right to image citizens who find themselves at the venue of the relevant event, while fixing and distributing their images. Purpose: based on the analysis of the norms of current legislation, doctrinal sources, and law enforcement practice, to propose an approach to determining the nature of the event as private or public. Methods: general scientific and private scientific research methods were used: formal and dialectical logic, methods of description, comparison, interpretation, legal-dogmatic and method of interpretation of legal norms. Results: it has been established that both in theory and in law enforcement practice, difficulties arise in characterizing events as public. For civil law purposes (art. 152.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) the concept of a public event covers any events accessible to an indefinite number of people, held in public or other places. Conclusions: accessibility and freedom of attendance is one of the important signs of a public event. The private or public nature of the event must be determined by its organizers.

The article considers the issue of concluding an employment contract with the head of the organization. The purpose of the work is to analyze the current legislation on the issue of concluding an employment contract with the director of the company. The methods used include analysis, induction, and deduction.

The relevance of the research topic is due to the specifics of the regulation of the work of the head of the organization at the present time. And of course, we can say that the means and methods of legal regulation of the work of the president of the organization have become more effective, more advanced than those that existed before. And, of course, the merit of the legislator is the appearance in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation of Chapter 43 "Peculiarities of regulating the work of the head of the organization."

The author of the article came to the conclusion that the current legislation needs to be changed. At the end, the author of the article offers specific formulations of proposals for amending the current Labor Code of the Russian Federation, namely: to prescribe that it is not required to conclude an employment contract with the sole director of the company, who is the only participant (founder), member of the organization, owner of its property, since in fact it is a fiction and is concluded by the director himself the same person, i.e. the same person acts on the part of the employee and the employer, in connection with which the author proposes to limit himself to an order on the assignment of a duty to perform a certain labor function.