Estimation of spatial high resolution temperature fields for the Tibetan Plateau and the adjacent lowlands based on an elevation and bias corrected ERA-Interim Data Set

Abstract HKT-ISTP 2013 B

Rising mean and extreme near-surface air temperature across Nepal

Owing to unique topographic and ecological diversity, central Himalayan state of Nepal is exposed to adverse impacts of climate change and associated disasters. However, countrywide historical assessment of mean and extreme temperature changes, a prerequisite for devising adequate adaptation strategies, is still lacking. Here, we present a comprehensive picture of mean and extreme temperature trends across Nepal over the 1980–2016 period, based on high-quality daily temperature observations from 46 stations. Our results suggest that besides winter cooling in southern lowlands, the country features a widespread warming, which is higher for maximum temperature (~0.04°C⋅year−1) than for minimum temperature (~0.02°C⋅year−1), over the mountainous region than in valleys and lowlands and during the pre-monsoon season than for the rest of the year. Consistently, we found a higher increasing trend for warm days (13 days⋅decade−1) than for warm nights (4 days⋅decade−1), whereas the rates of decrease for cold days and cold nights are the same (6 days⋅decade−1). Further investigations reveal that pronounced warming in maximum temperature over mountain regions can be attributed to less cloud cover and snowfall in recent decades during non-monsoon seasons as a result of positive geopotential height anomalies and strengthening of anticyclonic circulations in the mid-to-upper troposphere. Similarly, increased stability of lower atmosphere during winter and post-monsoon seasons caused prolonged and frequent periods of fog over lowlands, resulting in significant winter cooling there. © 2019 The Authors. International Journal of Climatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the Royal Meteorological Society

Reciprocal Associations between Parenting Challenges and Parents' Personality Development in Young and Middle Adulthood

Having children affects many aspects of people's lives. However, it remains unclear to what degree the challenges that come along with having children are associated with parents' personality development. We addressed this question in two studies by investigating the relationship between parenting challenges and personality development in mothers of newborns (Study 1, N = 556) and the reciprocal associations between (mastering) parenting challenges and personality development in parents of adolescents (Study 2, N = 548 mothers and 460 fathers). In Study 1, we found the stress of having a newborn baby to be associated with declines in maternal Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. Parenting challenges were also related to personality development in parents of adolescent children in Study 2, with parent–child conflict being reciprocally associated with decreases in Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability. Mastering parenting challenges in the form of high parenting self-efficacy, on the other hand, was found to be associated with increases in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability, and vice versa. In sum, our results suggest that mastering the challenges associated with the social role of parenthood is one of the mechanisms underlying personality development in young and middle adulthood

Understanding Technology as Situated Practice: Everyday use of Voice User Interfaces Among Diverse Groups of Users in Urban India

Abstract: As smartphones have become ubiquitous across urban India, voice user interfaces (VUIs) are increasingly becoming part of diverse groups of users’ daily experiences. These technologies are now generally accessible as a result of improvements in mobile Internet access, [-8.5pc]Biography is Required. Please provide. introduction of low-cost smartphones and the ongoing process of their localisation into Indian languages. However, when people engage with technologies in their everyday lives, they not only enact the material attributes of the artifact but also draw on their skills, social positions, prior experience and societal norms and expectations to make use of the artifact. Drawing on Orlikowski’s analytical framework of “technologies-in-practice” we engage in an interview-based exploratory study among diverse groups of users in urban India to understand use of VUIs as situated practice. We identify three technologies-in-practice emerging through enactment of VUIs on users’ smartphones: looking up, learning and leisure. We argue that – instead of asking why and how users appropriate VUIs – identifying different kinds of enactments of VUIs present researchers and practitioners with a more nuanced understanding of existing and potential use of VUIs across varied contexts