【推荐1】The effects of working while attending school or college

Youths working while in school or college seems like a tradition in many countries and the trend is growing. A recent study has found that 80% of students in some countries have at least a part time job during their study years.

Why do students look for employment?     1     Education costs are high, and college tuitions have grown considerably during the last few years. Moreover, parents also contribute less toward covering the education costs of their children, which means students must earn their own money while studying.

Having a job during school or college years affects the students’ personal and academic lives. First of all, employed students have less free time and, as a result, they can’t be around their family or friends as often as they would want. They lack sleep and are more stressed, and they may even develop health problems. Furthermore, student employment also impacts academic performance. A new research shows that students working more than 20 hours a week have lower grades than those who work less or not at all.     2    

However, the benefits of student employment are also notable. It seems that employed students tend to be more engaged in academic activities than those who do not work, probably because they have developed a higher sense of responsibility.

    3     Firstly, fresh graduates who already have work experience gained during their study years have better chances of landing a job. Employers usually prefer to hire a graduate with workplace experience, because they needn’t spend too much time and resources to train the new employee. Secondly, studies show that working learners are more likely to move into a managerial position soon after graduating.     4     As they try different jobs during their school years, they are more aware of their job preferences and target field, and thus far less confused than fresh graduates who have never worked.

To sum up, because of financial difficulties, many youths look for employment while attending school or college, and this can have positive or negative effects on their lives.

    5     In this way, employed students can gain noteworthy advantages in terms of career path after they graduate.

【推荐2】For generations, we’ve spent the first third of our lives acquiring the college degrees we need to find jobs. These degrees are the stamps on our professional passports that pave the way for the remaining two-thirds of our journey. However, the future of work won’t be about college degrees, it’ll be about job skills.

According to the World Economic Forum, over one billion jobs, almost one-third of all jobs worldwide, are likely to be transformed by technology in the next decade. We’ve already seen this happen. Think of the apps you use to shop, track orders and simply stay informed. The stores need to keep them up and running at all hours, day after day, all year round, meaning they need those who can analyze and secure customer data.

In these and other similar situations, people are the organizing force making sure technology works the way we want it to. This means a quick rise in new kinds of digital jobs. According to the Forum’s Jobs of Tomorrow report, there’ll be a rapid influx of roles at the forefront of the data and AI economy, as well as new roles in engineering, cloud computing and product development. These jobs need talent with relevant skills, and importantly these skills can be learnt even by those without college degrees.

Shifting our focus from degrees to skills will mean transitioning (过渡) to always-on skills-based education and employment organizations that acknowledge not just certification but fitness-for-job and employment as outcomes. In recent years, several companies have focused on continuous learning for the workforce — the trend will become stronger.

When it comes to skills, employers look for more than just technical skills. Companies want people with an eye for detail, creative problem-solving skills, a collaborative mindset and an ability to handle complex issues. These also are skills that can be learnt. Anyhow, lifelong learners with ever relevant skills will be in greater demand in the workplace.

【推荐1】Depending on the topic, people’s opinions can change from moment to moment or last a lifetime. The factors that make one opinion long-lasting and another short-lived, however are not always clear.

Past studies have shown that opinions based on hard facts and data can remain constant over time, but new research published in the journal Psychological Science finds that opinions based on feelings and emotions can also stand the test of time.

As part of their study the researchers asked more than 1000 people to what degree they believed opinions based on feelings or emotional reactions were more stable over time than those based on thinking and reasoned analysis. Only 15% expressed any belief that opinions based on emotion would be more stable over time

To test the role that emotion plays in forming long-lasting opinions, the researchers conducted seven independent studies involving more than 20,000 participants in various real-world situations.

The first survey, which was conducted the day after Christmas, measured feelings about recently received gifts. The participants were given a list of adjectives(形容词) to describe their opinions toward their gifts. Adjectives like “worthwhile” were associated with a practical reaction to the gift, while words like “delightful” were more strongly associated with an emotional reaction. One month later, the participants completed a follow-up survey to test the endurance(持久性) of their opinions. The results showed that the stronger the positive emotional reaction, the more likely that opinion remained fixed one month later.

In the final test, participants read one of two messages about an imaginary sea animal. One message contained broad-ranging facts about the animal (low-emotion condition). The other message was about a swimmer’s underwater interaction with the animal (high-emotion condition). The participants in the high-emotion condition showed significantly less change in their opinions across time.

“Emotionality is a predictor(预测因子) of long-lasting opinions which is unrecognized,” said Andrew Luttrell, a researcher at Ball State University. “These findings are important for understanding why some opinions are so difficult to change as well as how to create opinions that stick.”

【推荐2】Love the way you walk

Listen carefully to the footsteps, and you can work out who is walking about. The features commonly used to identify people are faces and fingerprints. But the way they walk is also a giveaway.

Researchers have used video cameras and computers to analyze people’s gaits (步法). But translating such knowledge into a practical identification system can be tricky. Cameras are often visible, require good lighting and may have their view blocked by other people. A team led by Dr. Ozanyan and Dr. Scully have been looking for a better way to recognize gait. Their answer: pressure-sensitive mats.

Such mats are nothing new. They have been part of security systems. But Ozanyan and Scully use a complicated version that can record the amount of pressure applied in different places as someone walks across it. The researchers turned to an artificial-intelligence system to recognize such patterns. In a study in 2018, they tested the system on a database of footsteps of 127 people. They found its error rate in identifying who was who was a mere 0.7%. And Scully says even without a database of footsteps, the system can determine someone’s sex and a subject’s age.

One application of the mat-based gait-recognition system might be in health care, particularly for the elderly. A mat placed in a nursing home or an old person’s own residence could monitor changes in an individual’s gait that indicates certain illnesses. That would provide early warning of someone being at greater risk of falling over. Gait analysis might also be used as a security measure in the workplace, monitoring access to restricted areas, such as parts of military bases, server farms or laboratories dealing with dangerous materials. Perhaps the most interesting use of the mats, though, would be in public places, such as airports.

【推荐3】Nearly two years after the COVID-19 outbreak, China has granted approval to its first antibody combination therapy for COVID-19 treatment, adding a tool to the world’s fight against the disease.

A team from Tsinghua University, along with the Shenzhen People’s Hospital, has accomplished the task in 20 months. It would usually take 10 years. “It can reduce the rate of hospitalization and death by 80 percent,” said Zhang Linqi, leader of the research team.

The new antibody drug is immediately effective after being used. Moreover, the therapy can protect people, especially those whose physical condition doesn’t allow vaccination (接种疫苗), from becoming infected (感染) by COVID-19 for around 9 to 12 months, said Zhang.

How does it work? When a virus infects a cell, it relies on an important type of protein: the spike proteins (棘突蛋白) on its surface. The spike proteins serve as a key to unlocking a cell. If a virus cannot enter a cell, it will disappear immediately. The job of our antibodies is to block the virus from entering cells. So its target is very precise. In addition, thanks to the coordination between the two antibodies, it is highly efficient in preventing the virus, according to Zhang. The qualities of the new drug make it especially useful for high-risk groups, such as frontline medical workers and people not suitable for vaccination due to various underlying health problems.

The new drug is expected to come to the market soon, but it’s not cheap. That’s because of limited production. Noting that China has used science and technology to fight COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak, Zhang said, “Science is the key to solving the issue. Science has shown its power in all sectors, from medical treatment, medicine and vaccine development to prevention and control measures.”

【推荐1】When you don’t have a car and need to get around, are you more likely to call for an Uber or Lyft, or a cab? Last Friday, Lyft—the ride-sharing company, went public as its stocks (股票) started trading on the market. Lyft has become the first big initial public offering of the “gig economy” age. While the company is not making profits yet, it is changing the meaning of work. What is gig economy and what makes it so appealing?

Gig works are independent contracts or part-time jobs such as Uber. In the gig economy, companies hire independent contractors instead of full-time employees. This is different from traditional companies where full-time workers hold a lifetime career. In the past, only small companies hired contractors, while today, employers like Amazon and Google rely on temporary workforce. These companies save costs as they are not legally required to provide healthcare benefits, retirement savings or paid time off to gig workers.

Gig work appeals to different people for different reasons. For some, it affords flexible timings and for others who are looking for full-time jobs, it provides a source of income to support themselves. Some people work a full-time job and supplement (补充) their salary with gig jobs such as driving for Uber or Lyft.

Joining the gig economy may be simple, but maintaining a steady career is easier said than done. Gig work comes with unsteady pay and workloads. You’re your own boss. It sounds fun, but when you have no self-control and an unsteady job, you might splurge all your money the first week and live on bread pieces for the rest of the month! Besides a strong sense of responsibility, gig workers have to stay up to date to get companies to hire them.

Despite the challenges gig workers face, nearly 60 million Americans are part of this workforce. As this number grows, we have to see how society and companies adapt to this new world of work!