Mkopdu

16/04/2022

Biased interpretation.
By contrast, others suggest that even when information is attainable, people’s political and religious beliefs often clash with climate science facts, leading to a biased interpretation of climate facts in order to reconcile them with conflicting beliefs and thus reduce cognitive dissonance [19]. This phenomenon, known as motivated reasoning, has been shown to influence individual CCBs, mainly for political and religious motivations [3, 8, 20]. For instance, Hart and Nisbet [21] conducted an experiment where they presented Republican and Democratic voters in the United States with the same news story about possible climate change-related impacts on human health. Their study found that the impact of this information was interpreted differently along party lines: risk perception and support for green policies increased among Democrats, while the information produced a “boomerang effect” by reinforcing skeptical views among Republicans. Therefore, even when presented with the same information, this can be interpreted biasedly to avoid compromising political beliefs. Also, what people consider to be credible information vary depending on ideological proximity to the source, and other political variables, such as participation, trust in institutions and political perceptions also shape climate change beliefs [6, 22–24].

Religious beliefs are also important to CCBs formation, since they can make individuals interpret climate change facts in a way that avoids conflict with their beliefs. In Africa, some people attribute climate-related disasters such as droughts and floods to Allah (“Allah brings the rain. The one who causes the drought is Allah.”), Yahweh (“We gather in church and pray for rain. There is nothing we can do.”), or local deities (“whose anger can unleash flooding and destruction”) [16]. Therefore, individuals who believe in a deity are more likely to attribute climate change and its repercussions to that deity’s whim rather than to human activity [25]. Similarly, attending religious services has been linked to more incorrect CCBs [26]. However, these effects vary across religions [27, 28]. Thus, even when people have access to rigorous information and the ability to understand it, politically or religiously motivated reasoning can lead to incorrect beliefs.

Understanding climate change trough personal experiences.
A second psychological approach suggests that individuals perceive climate change as a distant phenomenon that is more likely to affect people living elsewhere and in the distant future [29]. This psychological distance from possible climate change risks often results in a lack of emotional responses to it [30, 31]. As a consequence, individuals try to make sense of the changing natural world around them using more available and emotionally salient cues, such as local climate shocks or extreme weather events and their consequences [29]. This so-called attribute substitution suggests that personal experiences often replace science-based evidence and climate change facts [3, 32]. Previous literature has found that individuals who experience extreme climate-related events such as hurricanes, floods, or temperature anomalies tend to perceive climate change as a greater risk [26, 33–38]. Even less extreme events, such as a hotter-than-usual day, can make people more aware of and concerned about climate change [39], and increase donations to environmental charities [40]. In other words, experiencing local climate shocks or extreme weather events can construct or reinforce climate change beliefs.

Climate change facts take a backseat.
A final argument postulates that individuals have more urgent daily concerns (e.g., “bread and butter” issues), which relegate climate science information and its possible consequences to the backburner [10, 11, 41–43]. In other words, CCBs are deemed less important than immediate day-to-day concerns. This does not suggest that people do not care about climate change and its consequences, but rather, they are seen as distant occurrences that can be dealt with when they disrupt or exacerbate more pressing matters [44].

Demographics.
Aside from the four previously discussed pathways that account for the climate change information and beliefs linkages, previous research also finds that gender, age, and race can play a role in shaping CCBs—yet a lack of consensus remains within the literature. When it comes to gender, some studies find that females are less aware of climate change than males but have higher risk perception [16, 18, 30, 45], while others find no statistical relationship between gender and climate change beliefs [8, 11, 46, 47]. Some studies have suggested that differences in the access to climate information could explain this difference [48]. Regarding age, many studies find that young people have more accurate climate change beliefs, however, this relationship is opposite in rural areas, where young rural dwellers are less aware of climate change [8]. Arguably, in rural areas agricultural experience gained with time provides knowledge about changes in the climate cycle [41, 49]. Finally, race only appears to have a consistent influence on climate change beliefs in North America, where non-white individuals show more concern and a higher risk perception than whites, a phenomenon known as “white-male effect” [7, 45, 50]. Nevertheless, this effect is not generally supported by cross-country evidence [8]. In conclusion, evidence about demographic effects on CCBs remains elusive, and these effects seem largely eclipsed by the aforementioned information approaches [8, 18].

The discussion above identifies multiple factors that shape individual climate change beliefs. However, little research has included African countries in their analysis [10, 11, 49]. Those that do often include a limited number of predictors, which in turn, limit the understanding of what predicts CCBs in the African continent. This study aims to fill these gaps within the literature

16/04/2022

The industrial internet, a new type of manufacturing automation that combines advanced machines, internet-connected sensors and big data analysis, will boost productivity and reduce costs in industrial production.

13/04/2022

Exploring relationships: Methods
The Our Lives project was designed to explore young people's relationships and s*xual decision-making in communities in the Northern Territory (Darwin, Alice Springs and two remote communities), Western Australia (Broome) and South Australia (Ceduna). The urban centres and towns are characterized by a highly transient population and a great deal of movement between these places and smaller regional towns and remote communities. The research involved 171 Indigenous young people aged between 16 and 25.

We wanted to explore how relationships were conceptualized by young people and how they worked. In order to gain a deep understanding of young people's perceptions of relationships and s*xual decision-making, it was important to avoid the impact of any social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985). Given the potentially sensitive nature of the topic, this study was designed to support young people's discussion about their own ideas, thoughts and feelings concerning relationships and intimacy, without necessarily revealing personal events or experiences that could be uncomfortable or sensitive. We developed a series of scenarios about different sorts of relationships, including one-night stands, marriage, planned consensual s*x and unplanned s*x under the influence of alcohol (see Appendix 1 for examples). The themes for these scenarios were developed out of our extensive ethnographic work with young people and work-shopped with young people themselves (see Chenhall et al., 2013; Senior and Chenhall, 2008). Following an adapted body mapping methodology (De Jager et al., 2016; Solomon, 2007), young people were asked to create a character in the scenario on a large piece of paper (see Chenhall et al., 2013 for examples of body maps).

Young people were approached through their high schools (usually through a health class, and through specific groups catering for them such as young mothers' groups and youth groups. This was essential to reach the older post-school age group). As a result of the targeted focus of these groups (such as young mothers' groups), our sample in this age group involved more young women than young men. The young people worked in self-selected groups with no more than six people each group. Eight sessions were held, with eight in Darwin, three in Ceduna, five in Alice Springs and five in Broome. The body mapping sessions occurred over a two-year period and required intensive liaison with schools and health services prior to their delivery. At a body mapping session, we always had a senior anthropologist providing oversight, with either a youth researcher and/or Indigenous research assistant conducting the workshops. The research assistants had extensive experience of working with young people, and the young people felt comfortable discussing the scenarios in their presence. A nurse was on hand if young people had specific health-related questions.

During the activity, the young people were each given a human-sized piece of canvas which had a simple outline of a body pre-drawn on it. They were asked to decorate the body of their character in response to the events outlined in the scenario. For example, in one scenario Sarah is getting ready to spend the weekend with Steve, where it will be her first s*xual experience. As they decorated their body maps, the group built the story and talked about how their particular character is feeling about their relationship. Young people were able to draw on their own experiences; however, this was depersonalized given that they were talking about scenarios that had been identified as meaningful and important by other young people. Young people commented that they were able to discuss more openly what the characters would be feeling without necessarily identifying specific details of their own experiences and without fear that they would be judged by their peers or the researchers.

This approach was chosen in preference to individual interviews in order to create a fun activity where young people could build ideas off those of their peers. As with any group activity, there is the chance that young people modified their responses to ensure that they remained within a set of desirable responses and in some cases young people may have used the opportunity to show off to their peers and thus exaggerated their responses (this may especially be the case with the young men). Despite this, the method still tapped into the beliefs about s*xuality and s*xual decision-making that characterized the group.

We worked with young people in a range of settings including schools and community groups, which had both young mothers' groups and youth groups. The process was a collaborative one, with researchers working alongside participants in the creation of the images, supporting a reflective process combining visual knowledge, group discussion and ethnographic knowledge (Pink, 2007). Young people were asked to work in small groups on their body map and self-selected who they wanted to work with. Usually they worked with members of their own gender, but we also had two mixed-gender groups. At the end of each session, the groups were asked to present their character and their story to the group, and the facilitators were able to steer the conversation towards the sorts of supports and services that might be available and encourage the young people to think about how they might support a friend in a similar situation. The facilitators were also able to challenge any beliefs that might have been problematic, such as the commonly occurring sentiment that young people were not vulnerable to s*xually transmitted infections (Senior et al., 2014). Ethical clearances for the project were granted by the Menzies School of Heath Research Human Ethics Committee.

The activity produced rich visual data as well as a multi-layered group narrative about how the character in their body map was thinking and feeling. The visual data was analysed in its own right; for example, how was the body portrayed, what words or labels were written upon it? However, it was also used to contextualize the verbal narrative that arose. Attention was paid to the dynamics of the group discussion where various issues arose related to power differences between group members, allowing for quieter individuals to raise their opinions and to respectfully solve disagreements when they occurred. It was also vital to keep a written log of observations, including documentation of how the groups worked together to create the image and develop their story, noting points of both consensus and disagreement. In close consultation with the visual narrative that was produced, at least two team members worked through each of the verbal narratives to identify key themes.

13/04/2022

It’s absurd to have to justify investing in our very survival — but here are five (more) reasons it’s a good business decision.

11/04/2022

eginning with his first novel in 1847, Anthony Trollope wrote at an incredible pace. Over the next 38 years, he published 47 novels, 18 works of non-fiction, 12 short stories, 2 plays, and an assortment of articles and letters.

Trollope achieved his incredible productivity by writing in 15-minute intervals for three hours per day.

His strategy is explained in Mason Currey’s book, Daily Rituals (audiobook):
“It had at this time become my custom,—and is still my custom, though of late I have become a little lenient of myself—to write with my watch before me, and to require of myself 250 words every quarter of an hour…

This division of time allowed me to produce over ten pages of an ordinary novel volume a day, and if kept up through ten months, would have given as its results three novels of three volumes each in the year…”

—Anthony Trollope

Trollope’s approach may seem simple on the surface, but there is more going on here than it may appear at first glance.

Let’s break down why this strategy allowed the author to be so productive and how we can use it in our own lives.

Anthony Trollope
Portrait of Anthony Trollope and his glorious beard. (Photographer: Napoleon Sarony)
If you want more practical ideas for breaking bad habits and creating good habits, check out my book Atomic Habits, which will show you how small changes in habits can lead to remarkable results.

The Problem With Big Projects
When it comes to getting things done, I have experienced the best results when I rank my priorities based on their true importance and do the most important thing first. Whenever possible, I believe this is the best strategy because it forces you to direct your energy to the tasks of highest value.

There is one common problem with this approach:

After ranking your priorities for the day, if the number one task is a really big project then it can leave you feeling frustrated because it takes a long time to finish.

For example, last week I was working on a project that took two days to complete. On Tuesday morning, when I began the task, I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish it that day. Even though I knew I would work all day without completing the task, I still found myself feeling frustrated by mid-afternoon. It was 4 p.m. and I had spent all day working on the most important task, yet the only thing I had to show for my work was an unfinished project. My to-do list was just as long as it was in the morning, even though I was spending my time in the correct way.

I was doing the right thing, but it can still be disheartening to be stuck on Task #1 when you've been working all day. These feelings of frustration are a possible downside of the prioritized to-do list.

Anthony Trollope, however, developed a solution to this common problem.

Tiny Milestones, More Momentum
Anthony Trollope was in the business of writing books and writing a book is a big project. It is not the type of task that you can complete in a day. In some cases, merely writing a chapter is too big a task for a single day.

However, instead of measuring his progress based on the completion of chapters or books, Trollope measured his progress in 15-minute increments. This approach allowed him to enjoy feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment very quickly while continuing to work on the large task of writing a book.

This is a big deal for two reasons:

Small measures of progress help to maintain momentum over the long-run, which means you’re more likely to finish large tasks.
The faster you complete a productive task, the more quickly your day develops an attitude of productivity and effectiveness.
I have found this second point, the speed with which you complete your first task of the day, to be of particular importance for maintaining a high productive output day after day.

Speed to Completion
Anthony Trollope didn’t have to wait three months to feel a sense of accomplishment from completing his book nor did he have to wait three days until he finished a chapter. Every fifteen minutes he could check his progress. If he wrote 250 words, he could mentally check that time block off his list and feel a sense of immediate accomplishment.

Trollope's 15-minute writing block was a well-designed progress meter that allowed Trollope to “get to finished” faster while still working on a big task. He received the long-term value of working on the most important things and the immediate payoff of finishing each little time block quickly.

You can employ a similar strategy for tasks besides writing, of course. For example, rather than measuring his progress on a bigger task like monthly revenue, Trent Dyrsmid tracked each sales call he made with a paper clip.

The basic idea is to design a way to get rapid feedback while working on bigger projects. The faster we get feedback that we are moving in the right direction, the more likely we are to continue moving that way.

Work for the long-term. Measure your progress for the short-term.

11/04/2022

China's mobile recycle market flourishes when more environmentally conscious people upgrade their devices to newer models each year, CCTV reported on Wednesday.

10/04/2022

Why I Write: Leadership at Scale
Look at this article. There isn't much to it. It is just a few words on a page.

But these words can be read by anyone, anywhere.

Last month, people from 150 different countries visited my little corner of the internet at JamesClear.com. Most people will be reading this in the United States (110,083 visitors last month), Canada, or the UK. But there are many other options too.

You could be reading from somewhere happy like Denmark (722 visitors last month), Costa Rica (109 visitors), or Bhutan (3 visitors).
You could be reading from somewhere dangerous like Iraq (42 visitors), Afghanistan (28 visitors), or Somalia (4 visitors).
You could be reading from somewhere with an amazing name. (Shout out to the 2 readers in Djibouti. Tell your friends!)
But wherever you are, we are connecting because I sat down and wrote these words and you're reading them. That's amazing, if you think about it.

In 10 years these words will still be here, waiting for whoever comes along. Writing has the power to inspire, to teach, to entertain, to lead, and to connect — and it can do those things long after the words have fluttered off my hands and onto the keyboard. I’ll never meet most of the people who read my articles. But they’ll know me through my words, and hopefully, the world will be slightly better because of it.

The Courage to Share
But, and this is the entire point of this article, these words could have easily never made it here.

For over a year, I didn’t have the courage to share my work. I wrote in a private document. I played it safe and tried to shield my words from criticism and judgment. Eventually, I decided that it was more important to contribute something to the world than it was to protect myself from criticism. I started to see being a writer as a way of being a leader by taking a stand for the things I believed in, sharing my mission, and rallying the people who believed the same things I believed.

We all have words inside of us — words that could change the world, words that could entertain and delight, words that could teach and improve — but these words can only unleash their power when shared. That’s why I write every week and it's why I believe that the world needs more people to find the courage to make their work public.

10/04/2022

The China-ROK (Huizhou) Industrial Park in Huizhou City, South China's Guangdong province, has seen project deals with a total investment of over 190.2 billion yuan ($30 billion), local authorities said Thursday.

08/04/2022

The Helsinki Bus Station Theory
Minkkinen was born in Helsinki, Finland. In the center of the city there was a large bus station and he began his speech by describing it to the students.

“Some two-dozen platforms are laid out in a square at the heart of the city,” Minkkinen said. “At the head of each platform is a sign posting the numbers of the buses that leave from that particular platform. The bus numbers might read as follows: 21, 71, 58, 33, and 19. Each bus takes the same route out of the city for at least a kilometer, stopping at bus stop intervals along the way.”

He continued, “Now let’s say, again metaphorically speaking, that each bus stop represents one year in the life of a photographer. Meaning the third bus stop would represent three years of photographic activity. Ok, so you have been working for three years making platinum studies of nudes. Call it bus #21.”

“You take those three years of work to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the curator asks if you are familiar with the nudes of Irving Penn. His bus, 71, was on the same line. Or you take them to a gallery in Paris and are reminded to check out Bill Brandt, bus 58, and so on. Shocked, you realize that what you have been doing for three years others have already done.”

“So you hop off the bus, grab a cab—because life is short—and head straight back to the bus station looking for another platform.”

“This time,” he said, “you are going to make 8×10 view camera color snapshots of people lying on the beach from a cherry picker crane. You spend three years at it and three grand and produce a series of works that elicit the same comment. Haven’t you seen the work of Richard Misrach? Or, if they are steamy black and white 8x10s of palm trees swaying off a beachfront, haven’t you seen the work of Sally Mann?”

“So once again, you get off the bus, grab the cab, race back and find a new platform. This goes on all your creative life, always showing new work, always being compared to others.”

“Stay on the Bus”
Minkkinen paused. He looked out at the students and asked, “What to do?”

“It’s simple,” he said. “Stay on the bus. Stay on the f*cking bus. Because if you do, in time, you will begin to see a difference.”

“The buses that move out of Helsinki stay on the same line, but only for a while—maybe a kilometer or two. Then they begin to separate, each number heading off to its own unique destination. Bus 33 suddenly goes north. Bus 19 southwest. For a time maybe 21 and 71 dovetail one another, but soon they split off as well. Irving Penn is headed elsewhere.”

“It’s the separation that makes all the difference,” Minkkinen said. “And once you start to see that difference in your work from the work you so admire—that’s why you chose that platform after all—it’s time to look for your breakthrough. Suddenly your work starts to get noticed. Now you are working more on your own, making more of the difference between your work and what influenced it. Your vision takes off. And as the years mount up and your work begins to pile up, it won’t be long before the critics become very intrigued, not just by what separates your work from a Sally Mann or a Ralph Gibson, but by what you did when you first got started!”

“You regain the whole bus route in fact. The vintage prints made twenty years ago are suddenly re-evaluated and, for what it is worth, start selling at a premium. At the end of the line—where the bus comes to rest and the driver can get out for a smoke or, better yet, a cup of coffee—that’s when the work is done. It could be the end of your career as an artist or the end of your life for that matter, but your total output is now all there before you, the early (so-called) imitations, the breakthroughs, the peaks and valleys, the closing masterpieces, all with the stamp of your unique vision.”

08/04/2022

Move electric with the all-new Mercedes-AMG EQE 43 4MATIC.



[Mercedes-AMG EQE 43 4MATIC | WLTP: Stromverbrauch kombiniert: 22,5–19,7 kWh/100 km | CO2-Emissionen kombiniert: 0 g/km | amg4.me/DAT-Leitfaden-electric]

Stromverbrauch und Reichweite wurden auf Grundlage der VO 2017/1151/EU ermittelt

08/04/2022

07/04/2022

The purpose of this Revised State of the Art Report (SOAR) is to provide more insight into the details
necessary to demonstrate from a business, profit and loss, and senior management perspective the benefits
of improved software management using software process improvement techniques. Software process
improvement has received much attention in recent years. However, it has been very difficult to translate
benefits achieved in one organization to another organization. The intent of this SOAR is to generalize
and model the cost benefits one can achieve from software process improvement. This revised SOAR
updates the original thinking by examining the business implications of many secondary benefits, such as
improved employee morale and higher customer satisfaction. A framework is established whereby the
current methods of performing software development can be compared to any proposed improvements.
This report demonstrates that sound application of software engineering methods by software managers:
♦ Reduces Development and Maintenance Costs. The cost of implementing software improvement
methods are heavily outweighed by the cost savings from reduced development costs, and the cost
savings resulting from less rework. The major reduction of development costs can be attributed to
improved software productivity.
♦ Improves Customer Satisfaction. Typical software development organizations release products with
15% of the defects remaining for the customer to find. No customer is happy with that many
problems. Some software process improvement methods reduce post-release defects to near zero.
Improving customer satisfaction is shown to result in repeat customer business and an improved
company image.
♦ Reduces Cycle Time. Improvement efforts can reduce typical schedule lengths by 30% to 40%. This
may translate to higher profit because it may allow organizations to beat the competition in getting
product to the field, it may result in more product purchased earlier than projected, or it may result in
schedule related bonuses for early delivery. Combining improved schedules with higher quality -
getting better products out sooner -is a winning combination as far as our customers are concerned.
♦ Increases Profitability. The return on investment for software improvement is very high. Many
organizations have reported a 7:1 ROI. This high ROI is achieved by reducing development costs,
rework costs, and turnover costs. Product sales increase from higher quality software, penalties turn
into bonuses, and repeat business increases. Furthermore, a risk analysis of doing software
improvements versus not performing the improvements highly favors performing the improvements.
♦ Improves Professional Staff. Software process improvement improves employee morale, and
increases the confidence of developers. It results in less overtime, less crisis, less employee turnover,
and an improved competitive edge. The reduction in employee turnover costs and retraining costs
could pay for the improvement costs alone.