Suchergebnisse

The digital divide refers to the social and economic inequalities that arise among populations due to inclusion or exclusion in digital resources. In the United States, for example, one quarter of the population is still offline. As the digital age advances, public policy officials must determine where the gaps are, and how to maneuver closure of these gaps. Divided into sections ranging from defining the issues, geographic and multilevel trends, stakeholder perspectives, best practices, and future developments, this book explores how governments can bridge the digtial divide.

Written as a reference, but easily adaptable for classroom use, this book explains the importance of cyber security, why readers should care, and what threats to watch for. It also offers information on how to improve an operating environment and better safeguard the constituents organizations serve. Based on research that claims that cyber security policy is often set at less senior levels of corporations, and left to IT security professionals, this book explains why security should be addressed by senior level management. --

Wasser ist eine der wichtigsten Ressourcen. Jedoch schätzt man, dass sich das globale Wasserdefizit schon im Jahr 2030 auf ca. 40 Prozent belaufen wird. Klimawandel, veränderte Lebensweisen, und Bevölkerungswachstum verstärken das Nachfrage-Angebot-Defizit. Als Konsequenz leiden immer mehr Regionen unter Wasserknappheit. Eine reduzierte Wassernachfrage bedingt durch verstärktes Wassersparen kann das Problem verringern. Das Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es daher, zu einem besseren Verständnis der sozio-demographischen und psychologischen Determinanten von Wassersparverhalten beizutragen. Basierend auf drei Datensätzen aus Deutschland und Jordanien wurden die verschiedenen Facetten von Wassersparverhalten und deren Determinanten beleuchtet. Das Verhältnis zwischen Wassersparen und Umwelteinstellung, einem latenten Konstrukt, das kooperative, prosoziale und sogar moralische Tendenzen widerspiegelt, wurde konzeptionell untersucht. Zusätzlich wurde Wassersparen in Deutschland als ein Repräsentant für moralisches Verhalten verwendet. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden Umwelteinstellung und der Persönlichkeitsfaktor Ehrlichkeit-Bescheidenheit auf ihr Vermögen hin verglichen, moralisches Verhalten vorherzusehen. Eine ausführliche Analyse zur Bewertung einer Kampagne zur Förderung des Wassersparbewusstseins hat detaillierte Informationen zu ihren tatsächlichen Effekten gezeigt. Eine weitere Analyse hat sich auf die Determinanten von Wassersparverhalten in Jordanien konzentriert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Wassersparverhalten nicht durch Alter, Bildungsgrad und Einkommen beeinflusst wird, sondern eher durch die Ausprägung der Umwelteinstellung. Diese Dissertation liefert wertvolle Informationen für Forscher und Politiker. Die detaillierte Untersuchung von verschiedenen Wasserspardeterminanten birgt großes Potenzial für ein verbessertes Wassermanagement. ; Water is one of the most important resources. However, the global water deficit was estimated to reach about 40% by 2030. Climate change, changing lifestyles, and population growth increase the supply and demand gap further. As a consequence, more and more regions experience water scarcity. In that context, reduced household water demand due to enhanced water conservation could alleviate the problem or, at least, reduce the pressure on water resources. Thus, this thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the socio-demographic and psychological determinants of water conservation behavior. Based on three distinct datasets from Germany and Jordan, the manifold facets of water conservation and its determinants were examined. From a conceptual perspective, the relationship between water conservation and environmental attitude, a latent construct representing cooperative, prosocial, and even moral tendencies, were investigated. Furthermore, water conservation in Germany was used as a proxy for moral behavior. In that respect, environmental attitude and the personality factor Honesty-Humility were compared in order to determine, which factor constitutes the better predictor of moral behavior. Using original data from Jordan, a comprehensive impact evaluation of a water conservation awareness campaign revealed detailed information on its actual effects. Another analysis focused on a wide variety of water conservation determinants in Jordan. The results indicate that water conservation does not differ with respect to age, education, and income, but rather with different levels of environmental attitude. This thesis provides valuable information for researchers and policy makers alike. The detailed examination of various water conservation determinants offer a great potential for an improved management of household water demand.

Using two independent data sources—the intrafirm trade data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the related party trade data from the US Census Bureau—I construct and compare measures of US intrafirm exports and imports. I find that, in general, the two datasets provide similar measures of US intrafirm trade, particularly for exports. Understanding the differences that do exist in measurement will likely require study of the confidential micro data at both the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau.

Ecological interface design (EID) is a theoretical framework for designing human-computer interfaces for complex sociotechnical systems. Its primary aim is to support knowledge workers in adapting to change and novelty. This literature review shows that in situations requiring problem solving, EID improves performance when compared with current design approaches in industry. EID has been applied to industry-scale problems in a broad variety of application domains (e.g., process control, aviation, computer network management, software engineering, medicine, command and control, and information retrieval) and has consistently led to the identification of new information requirements. An experimental evaluation of EID using a full-fidelity simulator with professional workers has yet to be conducted, although some are planned. Several significant challenges remain as obstacles to the confident use of EID in industry. Promising paths for addressing these outstanding issues are identified. Actual or potential applications of this research include improving the safety and productivity of complex sociotechnical systems.

THE PROBLEM The fact that one has to justify a study of human behaviour in a natural setting, where humans ordinarily behave, as opposed to in a laboratory setting, is certainly extraordinary.