How “Point Blindness” Dilutes the Value of Stock Market Reports

The stock index “point” is a focal component of financial news reports. While much attention is paid to changes in stock index point totals, few people realize that the value of a stock index “point” varies (and has recently declined). We call this perceptual phenomenon “point blindness” and explain its threat to investors. Simple changes in media presentations of stock index information can counter point blindness. These changes are easy to implement and can help audiences make better financial decisions. An experiment on over 2000 participants shows such changes significantly altering their perceptions of the stock market.personal finance; money illusion; behavioral finance; behavioral economics; communication; currencies

How “Point Blindness” Dilutes the Value of Stock Market Reports

The stock index “point” is a focal component of financial news reports. Though many reports draw attention to point changes in major indices, few people realize that the value of a stock index “point” changes frequently. We call this perceptual phenomenon “point blindness.” We examine causes of point blindness and then propose alternate ways of reporting stock market information to counter it. The alternatives are easy to implement and can help citizens draw important inferences about stock values. An experiment shows that alternate modes of presentation have significant effects on public perceptions of the stock market.stock market; stock index; financial reporting; news; real nominal relations

How “Point Blindness” Dilutes the Value of Stock Market Reports

The stock index “point” is a focal component of financial news reports. While much attention is paid to changes in stock index point totals, few people realize that the value of a stock index “point” varies (and has recently declined). We call this perceptual phenomenon “point blindness” and explain its threat to investors. Simple changes in media presentations of stock index information can counter point blindness. These changes are easy to implement and can help audiences make better financial decisions. An experiment on over 2000 participants shows such changes significantly altering their perceptions of the stock market.behavioral economics: personal finance; communication

A catalogue of bird bones: an exercise in semantic web practice

The vast databases of natural history collections are increasingly being made accessible through the internet. The challenge is to place this data in a wider context that may reach beyond the interests of scholars only. The North Atlantic Biocultural Organization and Icelandic Institute of Natural History are jointly developing a web based catalogue of bird bones, comprising digital images, and related information from the museum database. Linking the bird bone catalogue with the semantic web developed by STERNA will integrate the bird bone catalogue with diverse information on birds that is directed towards the general public

How “Point Blindness” Dilutes the Value of Stock Market Reports

The stock index “point” is a focal component of financial news reports. Though many reports draw attention to point changes in major indices, few people realize that the value of a stock index “point” changes frequently. We call this perceptual phenomenon “point blindness.” We examine causes of point blindness and then propose alternate ways of reporting stock market information to counter it. The alternatives are easy to implement and can help citizens draw important inferences about stock values. An experiment shows that alternate modes of presentation have significant effects on public perceptions of the stock market

Loonies Under Your Bed: Misdirected Attention and the Diluted Value of Stock Market Reports

Many people pay attention to media reports of the US stock market’s performance. Using a data-based thought experiment, we cast the market’s recent highs and lows in an unusually unattractive light. The result matters because the economic and political factors that make it relevant are likely to continue. Using research in economics and psychology, we explain why so many investors and media reports are blind to the unattractive interpretation. To mitigate the blindness’ harmful consequences, we propose an alternate way of presenting stock market information. The alternative is easy to implement and can help citizens draw important inferences from the attention they already pay to financial reports. The word “loonies” refers to Canadian dollars, which play a key role in our analysis. Loonies are not causal of any of the key relationships in our analysis, but provide a useful device for making a broader point about key US asset values

Puffins, Pigs, Cod, and Barley: Palaeoeconomy at Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Sandoy, Faroe Islands

This paper reports on the zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical remains from the initial season of excavations at the Norse period site at Undir Junkarinsfløtti in the Faroe islands. These remains represent the first zooarchaeological analysis undertaken for the Faroes and only the third archaeobotanical assemblage published from the islands. The excavated deposits are described and the key findings from the palaeoenvironmental remains highlighted within the context of the wider North Atlantic environmental archaeology of the Norse period

Puffins, Pigs, Cod, and Barley: Palaeoeconomy at Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Sandoy, Faroe Islands

This paper reports on the zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical remains from the initial season of excavations at the Norse period site at Undir Junkarinsfløtti in the Faroe islands. These remains represent the first zooarchaeological analysis undertaken for the Faroes and only the third archaeobotanical assemblage published from the islands. The excavated deposits are described and the key findings from the palaeoenvironmental remains highlighted within the context of the wider North Atlantic environmental archaeology of the Norse period

Zooarchaeology of the Scandinavian settlements in Iceland and Greenland: diverging pathways

The Scandinavian Viking Age and Medieval settlements of Iceland and Greenland have been subject to zooarchaeological research for over a century, and have come to represent two classic cases of survival and collapse in the literature of long-term human ecodynamics. The work of the past two decades by multiple projects coordinated through the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) cooperative and by collaborating scholars has dramatically increased the available zooarchaeological evidence for economic organization of these two communities, their initial adaptation to different natural and social contexts, and their reaction to Late Medieval economic and climate change. This summary paper provides an overview of ongoing comparative research as well as references for data sets and more detailed discussion of archaeofauna from these two island communities. Keywords: North Atlantic, zooarchaeology, Greenland, Iceland, climate change, human ecodynamic

Digitalized manufacturing logistics in engineer-to-order operations

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Advances in Production Management Systems. Production Management for the Factory of the Future. APMS 2019. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol. 566. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30000-5_71. The high complexity in Engineer-To-Order (ETO) operations causes major challenges for manufacturing logistics, especially in complex ETO, i.e. one-of-a-kind production. Increased digitalization of manufacturing logistics processes and activities can facilitate more efficient coordination of the material and information flows for manufacturing operations in general. However, it is not clear how to do this in the ETO environment, where products are highly customized and production is non-repetitive. This paper aims to investigate the challenges related to manufacturing logistics in ETO and how digital technologies can be applied to address them. Through a case study of a Norwegian shipyard, four main challenges related to manufacturing logistics are identified. Further, by reviewing recent literature on ETO and digitalization, the paper identifies specific applications of digital technologies in ETO manufacturing. Finally, by linking manufacturing logistics challenges to digitalization, the paper suggests four main features of digitalized manufacturing logistics in ETO: (i) seamless, digitalized information flow, (ii) identification and interconnectivity, (iii) digitalized operator support, and (iv) automated and autonomous material flow. Thus, the paper provides valuable insights into how ETO companies can move towards digitalized manufacturing logistics