pyware – Are you being watched? -- Date Posted: 13th August 2010 11:05
by Published on 14th August 2010 11:09
Categories:
- Society
Are you being spied on? Spyware is one of the fastest-growing internet threats and I have had several nasty incidents of infection of my PC’s with this sort of malware. According to many sources spyware infects up to 80-90% of all PCs. These unobtrusive, malicious programs are designed to bypass firewalls and anti-virus software without the user’s knowledge and install themselves. Once embedded in a computer they wreak havoc on the system’s performance while gathering your personal information. How do these programs get in? Typically a PC gets infected with spyware in three ways:
- Downloading a free ware program or file from sharing site.
- Pop ups asking you to optimize some feature of your PC like security.
- Attack programs on websites that are designed to force an installation.
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Canada's Oil Sands Face Significant Financial and Environmental Risks
by Published on 8th August 2010 13:45
Categories:
- Business News
New Report: Canada's Oil Sands Face Significant Financial and Environmental Risks as Great as Those in BP Spill Long-Term Growth Plans on Collision Course With New Regulations, Climate Change May 17, 2010 BOSTON - While public attention is focused on widespread environmental and financial damage from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a new Ceres report released today shows that the environmental and financial risks of producing oil in Canada's vast oil sands region may be even greater. Alberta’s oil sands are already the world's largest energy project—with $200 billion in funds committed from the world’s leading oil producers, including BP, ExxonMobil and Shell.* However, these producers face numerous environmental, production and distribution challenges that will grow as the oil sands industry pushes to boost production amid tighter regulations and resource constraints, concludes the Ceres-commissioned report authored by RiskMetrics Group[/URL]. Oil sands companies in Alberta are already producing 1.3 million barrels a day, and their goal is to triple production by 2030. "The risks for companies involved in developing Canada's oil sands are arguably greater than those in the Gulf of Mexico," said Ceres president Mindy Lubber, whose group commissioned the report, Canada's Oil Sands: Shrinking Window of Opportunity[/URL]. "The energy-and water-intensive nature of oil sands, combined with climate change regulations, permitting obstacles and other challenges, are a recipe for diminishing revenues and returns if not properly managed." The report recommends that oil sands companies move quickly to examine and respond to these multiple challenges facing the industry and that investors press the companies for such action, too. Investors have already filed shareholder resolutions on the oil sands topic with Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips. The Shell resolution will be voted on at tomorrow's annual corporate meeting in London ...
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Call for nominations: DOP practitioner of the year awards 2010
by Published on 7th July 2010 20:47
Categories:
- Announcements
BPS Division of Occupational Psychology Practitioner of the Year Awards 2010. The aim of the awards is to acknowledge and encourage excellence in applied research in the workplace, both in terms of scientific rigour - including theory base and research design - and meaningful application. Nominees should be Chartered and full members of the DOP. Self nominations and third-party nominations are both accepted. The nominee must have conducted a piece of work in the last two years individually or as part of a team that; showed good understanding of a real world problem, produced measurable outcomes for the client organisation, demonstrated methodological rigour in its approach, demonstrated ethical practice, applied and/or contributed to the knowledge base.
Deadline for nominations Monday 16th August 2010
For further information, please go to:
http://www.bps.org.uk/dop/psychologists/awards/2010-awards-event$.cfm
Deadline for nominations Monday 16th August 2010
For further information, please go to:
http://www.bps.org.uk/dop/psychologists/awards/2010-awards-event$.cfm
Why burden students with more debt? -- Date Posted: 24th June 2010 09:32
by Published on 27th June 2010 12:27 Number of Views: 751
Categories:
- Society
Industry Leaders and Conservatives contemplate commercial rates for student loans I was a little annoyed by the recent call by the industry leaders and the Conservative policy of selling the student loan book which will mean in practice students paying the equivalent of a commercial rate of interest for their loans at University. Currently the rate of interest for a student loan is set at around the rate of inflation – so assuming inflation gets back to a more normal rate over the next few years the long term loan rate will settle at around 3 to 5%. Although this seems high it is the cheapest way to borrow money to pay for a course and in effect a student will be paying back at purchase power parity. The value of the money paid back is at the same purchase value at the money drawn now. Actually the interest rate due on loans fell to a negative number – 0.4% recently so at least in theory the principal was being reduced but the government fixed the minimum rate at 0% which sounds great but means that in these deflationary times the loan principle remains fixed and not reduced in line with the notional purchasing power. ...
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Scary health messages can backfire
by Published on 25th May 2010 11:27
Categories:
- Society
A short while ago there was a shocking advert on British TV that used slow motion to illustrate the bloody, crunching effects of a car crash. The driver had been drinking. Using these kind of scare tactics for anti drink-driving and other health issues makes intuitive sense. The campaigners want to grab your attention and demonstrate the seriousness of the consequences if their message is not heeded. However, a new study makes the surprising finding that for a portion of the population, scare tactics can back-fire, actually undermining a message's efficacy. Steffen Nestler and Boris Egloff had 297 participants, 229 of them female, average age 35, read one of two versions of a fictional news report from a professional medical journal. The report referred to a study showing links between caffeine consumption and a fictional gastro-intestinal disease 'Xyelinenteritis'. One version was extra-scary, highlighting a link between Xyelinenteritis and cancer and saying that the participant's age group was particularly vulnerable. The other version was lower-key and lacked these two details. Both versions of the article concluded by recommending that readers reduce their caffeine consumption. ...
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The cure for procrastination? Forgive yourself!
by Published on 4th May 2010 20:26 Number of Views: 689
Categories:
- Business Articles
There are so many things you'd rather be doing than what you ought to be doing and what happens is that you delay doing what you ought. All the evidence shows that this procrastination is bad for you, for your productivity, your school grades, for your health. But still we keep putting things off. Until. Tomorrow. Now Michael Wohl and colleagues have proposed a rather surprising cure - self-forgiveness. That's right, forgive yourself for you have procrastinated, move on, get over it and you'll be more likely to get going without delay next time around. Wohl's team followed 134 first year undergrads through their first mid-term exams to just after their second lot of mid-terms. Before the initial exams, the students reported how much they'd procrastinated with their revision and how much they'd forgiven themselves. Next, midway between these exams and the second lot, the students reported how positive or negative they were feeling. Finally, just before the second round of mid-terms, the students once more reported how much they had procrastinated in their exam preparations. ...
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The Five Intercultural Negotiation Skills -- Date Posted: 17th December 2009 10:36
by Published on 19th April 2010 09:18
Categories:
- Outsourcing
Intercultural Negotiation As the world becomes increasingly connected, people both at home and in travels abroad, must consider the important issue of intercultural negotiation.* This post is a primer for use by readers in learning about this issue. The Intercultural Dimension: All cultures have their own preferred styles and strategies for dealing with and managing conflict.* Yet it is quite difficult to be culture-specific when discussion how to deal effectively with cross-cultural conflicts.* Nevertheless, there are some general skills involved in cross-cultural negotiation and conflict management that can be highlighted. A basic requirement for effective conflict management and negotiation is to know as much as possible about the other culture(s).* Although experiential knowledge is preferable, research of the culture, norms, values, history, society etc. can be very helpful.*The most significant feature of good cross-cultural relations, as most cross-cultural sources will indicate, involves avoiding stereotypes.* Although certain generalizations may be fairly assessed in regard to how certain cultures deal with conflict, individual differences should always be considered as paramount.* In fact, some cultural specialists suggest that all conflicts are intercultural to an extent, since each individual person has their own personal history and experience, their own set of beliefs, values and assumptions, and ultimately, their own set of “survival skills.” ...
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