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(Un-)scientifically Spun: Narratives, Belief Updating, and Pro-Environmental Behavior
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In an experiment conducted with 2346 US residents, we examine the effect of content (positive/ negative/ inconclusive) and style (scientific/unscientific) of narratives about emissions on belief updating and pro-environmental behavior. We use the Work for Environmental Protection Task (WEPT) by Lange and Dewitte (Behave Res Methods 54:133–145, 2022) as a proxy for pro-environmental behavior. Narratives are constructed using the natural language processing chatbot ChatGPT. We find that negative narratives significantly increase concern regarding emissions, while positive narratives significantly decrease concern, with the latter effect being significantly larger in terms of absolute value. For inconclusive narratives, the effect on beliefs depends on prior beliefs: Subjects with low prior beliefs increase their concern, whereas subjects with high prior beliefs decrease their concern. Moreover, we find that the unscientific style has a stronger effect on belief updating than the scientific style. Neither content nor style affects pro-environmental behavior significantly.Q54;D83;D9
The Puzzle of the Absent-Minded Driver is Not about Absent-Mindedness, but about Indexical Belief
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This paper does not add a novel solution or a novel justification for an existing solution of the puzzle of the absent-minded driver. Rather it wants to set existing solutions into the right perspective. It argues that the puzzle is not about absent-mindedness at all, but about indexically presented indistinguishable alternatives. It identifies a common assumption as one about the relation between beliefs about indexical and non-indexical propositions. So, this is what is involved in the puzzle. This assumption entails the favorite solution of the puzzle and is stated as a general a priori symmetry principle for indexical propositions.C7
Sequencing and scheduling in disassembly shops: a review of problem formulations and solution approaches
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End-of-life product recovery is mandatory for some industries and presents opportunities and challenges for (re-)manufacturers. Disassembly planning models can help decision-makers save costs and make processes more sustainable. In a disassembly facility dealing with various product types and utilizing specialized workstations with different equipment, multiple decisions arise regarding the priority of jobs and the time-wise allocation of tasks to resources. This work presents an overview of the literature on sequencing and scheduling decisions in the disassembly shop. Since the models under review do not uniformly classify within the existing taxonomy of disassembly problems, the term disassembly shop floor scheduling (DSFS) is used. In total, 58 research articles are identified and classified systematically by searching and analyzing the literature. After discussing the different problem formulations and solution approaches, the review outlines important directions for further research, including job shop-type disassembly and the consistent use of benchmark instances for DSFS
Fachliche und konzeptionelle Weiterentwicklung des DVL-Punktemodells als Grundlage der GAP-Förderung ab 2028: Vorschläge für eine inhaltlich-konzeptionelle Erweiterung und Optimierung
No full textDie vom Deutschen Verband für Landschaftspflege entwickelte "Gemeinwohlprämie" (GWP) soll Agrarzahlungen stärker an Umweltleistungen koppeln. Sie folgt fünf Prinzipien: (1) öffentliches Geld für öffentliche Leistungen, (2) Verbesserung des Zustandes der adressierten Umweltgüter / ökologische Wirksamkeit, (3) Freiwilligkeit / hoher Freiheitsgrad, (4) Einkommenswirksamkeit, (5) Einfachheit. Die Honorierung der Betriebe erfolgt über ein Punktesystem. Ausgehend vom bestehenden Maßnahmenkatalog werden Vorschläge gemacht, wie dieser erweitert werden sollte, um möglichst konsistent und zielgerichtet die unterschiedlichen Umweltgüter zu adressieren. Ferner wird untersucht, wie eine regionale Differenzierung des Maßnahmenkatalogs ausgestaltet sein könnte und welche Rolle die GWP in einem Modell übernehmen könnte, das die 1. und 2. Säule der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik in der Ausgestaltung von 2023 bis 2027 umfasst. Dabei reflektiert der Bericht den Stand der GAP und die Diskussionen um deren Weiterentwicklung bis zum Januar 2025. Die Analyse zeigt, dass viele Agrarumwelt- und Klimamaßnahmen integriert werden können, ohne die Grundprinzipien der GWP zu verändern; andere Interventionen würden die Komplexität erhöhen. Auch die Honorierung der Standards des guten landwirtschaftlichen und ökologischen Zustands (GLÖZ) und des ökologischen Landbaus sind grundsätzlich anschlussfähig. Eine Erweiterung des Maßnahmenkatalogs um die Schutzgüter Boden und Tierwohl sowie acht neue Maßnahmen werden vorgeschlagen. Für eine effektive und effiziente Ausgestaltung sind regional differenzierte Prämien und Auflagen sinnvoll. Bezüglich der Weiterentwicklung der GWP werden im vorliegenden Thünen Report eine Reihe von Fragen aufgeworfen. Diese betreffen das Gemeinwohlverständnis der GWP, das Maßnahmenangebot, die Honorierung der Maßnahmen, die Fristigkeit der Maßnahmen und die Rollenverteilung zwischen Bund und Ländern. Empfohlen werden die Beibehaltung des à-la-carte-Ansatzes, eine vorsichtige Prüfung der Einführung von Schwellenwerten und die strikte Trennung zwischen leistungsorientierter Punktelogik (GWP) und dem Ausgleich für erhöhten Aufwand und Einkommensverluste der AUKM. Mehrjährige Öko-Regelungen sind in der 1. Säule kaum realisierbar; ein säulenübergreifendes Budget müsste auf EU-Ebene geschaffen werden. Als pragmatischste Governance-Option sehen die Autoren ein "Regionalbudget 1. Säule" an. Unabhängig von der Systemintegration könnte das GWP-Punktemodell auch in der 2. Säule genutzt werden und Transparenz, Ambition und Akzeptanz erhöhen.The 'public goods bonus' (PGB) developed by the German Association for Landscape Conservation is intended to link agricultural payments more closely to environmental performance. It follows five principles: (1) public money for public services, (2) improvement of the condition of the environmental goods addressed / ecological effectiveness, (3) voluntariness / high degree of freedom, (4) income effectiveness, (5) simplicity. Farms are rewarded via a points system. Based on the existing catalogue of measures, proposals are made as to how this should be expanded in order to address the various environmental goods as consistently and purposefully as possible. Furthermore, the study examines how the catalogue of measures could be differentiated at regional level and what role the PGB could play in a model that encompasses the both pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy in its 2023-2027 form. The report reflects the status of the CAP and the discussions surrounding its further development until January 2025. The analysis shows that many agri-environmental and climate measures (AECM) can be integrated without changing the basic principles of the PGB; other interventions would increase complexity. Rewarding standards of good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC) and organic farming are also fundamentally compatible. An expansion of the catalogue of measures to include soil and animal welfare as protected resources, as well as eight new measures, is proposed. Regionally differentiated payments and requirements are advisable for effective and efficient implementation. This report addresses a number of questions regarding the further development of the PGB. These relate to the PGB's understanding of common goods, the range of measures offered, the remuneration of measures, the duration of measures and the division of roles between the federal government and the states. The report recommends retaining the à la carte approach, carefully considering the introduction of thresholds, and strictly separating performance-based point logic (PGB) from compensation for increased costs and income losses incurred (AECM). Multi-annual eco-schemes pose marked challenges in the Pillar 1 framework; a cross-pillar budget would have to be created at EU level. The authors consider a 'Pillar 1 regional budget' to be the most pragmatic governance option. Regardless of system integration, the GWP points model could also be used in Pillar 2, increasing transparency, ambition and acceptance
Specializing large language models for process modeling via reinforcement learning with verifiable and universal rewards
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Process models are central artefacts in business process management: they drive analysis, automation, simulation, and compliance checking. Yet creating and maintaining high-quality models is labor-intensive and requires expertise in both the domain and formal notations such as Petri nets or BPMN. At the same time, many organisations already document their processes informally through textual work instructions, guidelines, and tickets. Automatically generating formal process models from such natural-language descriptions would therefore accelerate modeling, keep model repositories aligned with documentation, and provide stronger support for downstream uses such as conformance checking and digital twins. In this work, we study process model generation in a narrow, technical sense: given a textual process description, the model must produce a complete, executable process model. This generative capability can then be used both to propose models from scratch and as a building block for process modeling assistance and model completion. Large Language Models (LLMs) pretrained on generic text often struggle with this task, producing syntactically invalid or behaviorally incorrect process models. To address this limitation, we apply Reinforcement Learning (RL) to specialize a pretrained LLM specifically for process model generation. Our RL approach combines automatically verifiable rewards, based on structural checks and behavioral footprints, with universal judgments provided by an LLM-as-a-Judge. We created a dataset of 1312 textual process descriptions with corresponding reference models to support Supervised Fine-Tuning and RL. Experiments demonstrate that RL significantly reduces invalid model generations, improves behavioral correctness, and allows control over model complexity. On the ProMoAI benchmark, the resulting checkpoint approaches the performance of state-of-the-art proprietary models while producing fewer invalid generations
Kontexte, Bedingungsgefüge und Ermöglichungen einer menschengerechten Arbeitsgestaltung
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Der Beitrag zeigt auf, welche Ziele und Rahmenbedingungen zur Entstehung des Konzeptes der menschengerechten Arbeitsgestaltung führten, warum diese Forderung trotz Verankerung im Arbeitsschutzgesetz oft nicht umgesetzt wird und welche Lösungsmöglichkeiten zur Umsetzung und Weiterentwicklung des Konzepts bestehen. Der Beitrag geht zurück auf Aktivitäten der Arbeitsgemeinschaft menschengerechte Arbeitsgestaltung insbesondere auf dem A+A Kongress 2023, bei dem die Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft gemeinsam mit dem BMAS das Thema der Basisarbeit beleuchtet und einen Workshop zur menschengerechten Arbeitsgestaltung ausrichtete. Praktische Relevanz : Der Beitrag zeigt Lösungsmöglichkeiten auf, das Arbeitsschutzgesetz und die Prävention hinsichtlich der Anforderungen einer menschengerechten Gestaltung der Arbeit besser umzusetzen. @This article highlights which aspects were necessary for the development of the concept of humane work design in the context of the humanization of work. It describes why these aspects are often not implemented despite being anchored in the Occupational Safety and Health Act and suggests design solutions for a better implementation. This article draws on various activities of the Working Group on Humane Work Design (AMAG), particularly the A+A Congress 2023, where the Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft (society for work-science), together with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, addressed the topic of basic work and organized a workshop on humane work design. Practical Relevance : The article discusses reasons and shows possible solutions for better implementing the Occupational Safety and Health Act with regard to the requirements of human-friendly work design
The proposed design of the digital euro: A critical analysis
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We analyse the Commission’s draft regulation for the establishment of the digital euro (DE). While well-intentioned, the design proposed by the Commission exhibits serious flaws. In particular, both the offline and the online versions of the DE show clear disadvantages compared with cash and online commercial bank money, respectively—for example, severe limitations on the store-of-value function of digital euros and strict holding limits unknown in current forms of money. There is essentially no discernible benefit to customers. Privacy remains comparable to current private payment systems, yet concerns persist about potential user re-identification at the central level. Competition, innovation, and trust are greatly undermined by the use of proprietary rather than open-source software. The enforcement of mandatory acceptance places competing means of payment at a disadvantage, even when technologically superior. The DE also distorts competition between banks and non-banks, as DE issuance and basic services are costly and unprofitable for banks. Banks may therefore resort to issuing a DE-based stablecoin that would be superior to the DE for both customers and banks, thereby undermining the ECB’s control over monetary policy. We show how these flaws can be addressed and outline an improved design for a European CBDC based on open software and elements of blockchain technology.E42;E58;E5
Virtual Reality als Wegbereiter für inklusivere Bewerbungsgespräche mit autistischen Menschen – ein Prototyp
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Autistische Personen sind trotz zum Teil hoher Qualifikationen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt systematisch benachteiligt, insbesondere durch stigmatisierende Bewertungsmuster in klassischen Bewerbungsgesprächen. Zudem stellt diese Form der sozialen Interaktion für viele autistische Personen eine erhebliche Belastung dar und führt zu Anpassungsdruck mit negativen gesundheitlichen Folgen. Ausgehend von kommunikationstheoretischen Grundlagen sowie den Konzepten Virtuell Assistierte Aktivitäten und Transformierte Soziale Interaktionen wird in diesem Artikel ein Virtual-Reality-Ansatz zur inklusiveren Gestaltung von Bewerbungsgesprächen untersucht. Hierfür wird ein gestaltungsorientierter Forschungsansatz verfolgt, auf dessen Grundlage die Problemstellung identifiziert, Gestaltungsziele abgeleitet und ein Prototyp entwickelt wurde. Der entwickelte Prototyp ermöglicht unter anderem sensorische Reizreduktion, algorithmisch aufrecht gehaltenen Blickkontakt und asymmetrisch individualisierbare virtuelle Umgebungen. Dadurch sollen negative Ersteindrücke reduziert, die soziale Komplexität gesenkt und die situative Leistungsfähigkeit autistischer Bewerber:innen gesteigert werden. Im Rahmen eines Workshops auf dem Autism Works Employment Summit 2025 wurde dazu erstes positives Feedback aus der Praxis eingeholt. Wir verstehen die vorgeschlagene Lösung als Diskussionsstarter im Dialog mit relevanten Stakeholdern und als ergänzendes Element zu bestehenden Auswahlverfahren mit dem Potenzial, diskriminierende Verzerrungen abzubauen. @Autistic individuals face systematic disadvantages in the labor market, despite often possessing high qualifications, particularly due to stigmatizing evaluation patterns in traditional job interviews. Moreover, this form of social interaction represents a significant source of stress for many autistic individuals, frequently leading to pressure to conform and associated negative health outcomes. Building on communication theory and the concepts of Virtually Assisted Activities and Transformed Social Interaction s, this article explores a Virtual Reality approach to making job interviews more inclusive. A design-oriented research approach is employed to identify a problem statement, derive solution objectives, and develop a prototype. The resulting prototype offers features such as sensory stimulus reduction, algorithmically maintained eye contact, and asymmetrically customizable virtual environments. These elements aim to reduce negative first impressions, lower social complexity, and enhance the situational performance of autistic applicants. Initial positive feedback from autistic job seekers and practitioners was obtained during a workshop at the Autism Works Employment Summit 2025 . The proposed solution is conceived as a starting point for dialogue and discussion with relevant stakeholders and as a complementary tool to be integrated with existing application processes, with the potential to mitigate discriminatory biases
The leverage self-delusion: perceived wealth and cognitive sophistication
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Existing evidence suggests that individuals often misperceive the value of their wealth. We examine the existence, direction, and magnitude of these misperceptions through a laboratory experiment. Our findings indicate that variations in the leverage ratio (the ratio of liabilities to assets) influence how individuals rank financial profiles, even when net wealth remains constant. Most subjects perceive a given net worth as greater than its true value, and this misperception becomes more pronounced in financial profiles with lower leverage ratios. We further explore how cognitive sophistication and behavioral/economic attitudes shape wealth misperception. Experimental evidence shows that misperception is associated with lower cognitive sophistication and inattentive thinking. Moreover, it correlates with greater impatience, lower debt aversion, and higher marginal propensities to consume following positive (transitory) income shocks.C91;D91;G5
National Life Expectancy Lags Behind Benchmark Progress and the Role of Smoking: An International Comparison
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Countries with low mortality show uneven success in improving longevity. Smoking—still a dominant health risk—is a major determinant of these divergent trajectories. Our study aims to determine: a) the continuing influence of smoking on national mortality trends, and b) the extent to which other factors are preventing countries from realizing their health potential. Using mortality data from 20 low-mortality countries (1950–2019), we quantify life expectancy and age-specific mortality differences as calendar years behind the current longevity frontier, defined as record smoking-eliminated life expectancy. We find that current life expectancy largely reflects smoking-eliminated records from two decades ago, with a notable gender paradox across most countries: men are moving closer to the optimal health benchmarks, while women are drifting further away, although men still bear a greater burden of past smoking. While longevity leaders differ from laggards mainly in mortality at advanced ages, laggards show also extensive developmental delays throughout most of the working ages and the second half of life. Our results highlight the diminishing effect of smoking and the role of additional adverse factors in delayed mortality improvement. However, the positive effects from smoking declines have not yet been fully realized, as evidenced by the still comparatively high reduction in development delays after eliminating smoking. Nevertheless, the realization of further health potential largely depends on countries’ ability to manage health in old age, including the increasing burden of chronic disease