scholarly journals Innovating for energy efficiency: Digital gamification in the European steel industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-437
Author(s):  
Dean Stroud ◽  
Claire Evans ◽  
Martin Weinel
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Steel Industry ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Innovation Activity ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Behaviour Modification ◽  
Technology Application ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
Technological Means ◽  
The Uk

The European steel industry, as an energy intensive industry, has significant concerns over energy efficiency and compliance with EU environmental regulations. Hence, across the industry, energy efficiency is a key area of innovation activity. However, responding to climate change measures and finding efficiency gains by technological means is becoming increasingly difficult and so managements are turning attention to modifying, that is, ‘greening’ worker behaviours. Here, we focus on an innovation that combines a digital technology application with a management strategy, that is, gamification for energy efficiency behaviour modification. Drawing on data from a project involving steel plants in Germany, Norway and the UK, we adopt an international comparative approach to examine the implications of differing industrial relations contexts for shaping steel firm engagement with ‘green’ innovations.

scholarly journals Public Service Media in a Digital Media Environment: Performance from an Audience Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Sehl
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

For decades, public service broadcasting has played an important role in the provision of news and information in many European countries. Today, however, public service media (PSM) are confronted with numerous challenges, including the need to legitimise their role in an increasingly digital media environment. Against this background, this study examines the audience perspective on the topic with an international comparative approach. It analyses the population’s assessment of, and attitudes towards, the performance of PSM. The aim is to identify what relevance is attributed to PSM by the public in the digital age and how they see PSM’s role in comparison to other more recent (digital) media offerings. An online survey was conducted in three specifically selected countries: Germany, France, and the UK. Overall, the findings show that respondents attribute a clear role to PSM and distinguish it from other media offerings in the increasingly digital media environment. They rate the information quality offered by PSM as higher than that of most other media offerings. Respondents are more likely to value social media platforms for entertainment purposes than PSM. The findings also reveal differences in the evaluation of PSM depending on PSM news use, interest in news, political interest, as well as on demographic variables. On the other hand, differences between the individual countries overall were surprisingly small, pointing to the fact that PSM across the countries sampled are—with deviations—perceived to be performing better than (most) other media, despite being confronted with changes and challenges in their environment.

scholarly journals Drivers of Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Overuse across Diverse Hospital Contexts—A Qualitative Study of Prescribers in the UK, Sri Lanka and South Africa

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Carolyn Tarrant ◽  
Andrew M. Colman ◽  
David R. Jenkins ◽  
Edmund Chattoe-Brown ◽  
Nelun Perera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Antimicrobial Stewardship ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Low Income ◽  
System Level ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Uk

Antimicrobial stewardship programs focus on reducing overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics (BSAs), primarily through interventions to change prescribing behavior. This study aims to identify multi-level influences on BSA overuse across diverse high and low income, and public and private, healthcare contexts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 46 prescribers from hospitals in the UK, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, including public and private providers. Interviews explored decision making about prescribing BSAs, drivers of the use of BSAs, and benefits of BSAs to various stakeholders, and were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Analysis identified drivers of BSA overuse at the individual, social and structural levels. Structural drivers of overuse varied significantly across contexts and included: system-level factors generating tensions with stewardship goals; limited material resources within hospitals; and patient poverty, lack of infrastructure and resources in local communities. Antimicrobial stewardship needs to encompass efforts to reduce the reliance on BSAs as a solution to context-specific structural conditions.

Net zero carbon: Energy performance targets for offices

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-369
Author(s):  
Robert Cohen ◽  
Karl Desai ◽  
Jennifer Elias ◽  
Richard Twinn
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Minimum Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Extensive Consultation ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
The Uk

The UKGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework was published in April 2019 following an industry task group and extensive consultation process. The framework acts as guidance for achieving net zero carbon for operational energy and construction emissions, with a whole life carbon approach to be developed in the future. In consultation with industry, further detail and stricter requirements are being developed over time. In October 2019, proposals were set out for industry consultation on minimum energy efficiency targets for new and existing commercial office buildings seeking to achieve net zero carbon status for operational energy today, based on the performance levels that all buildings will be required to achieve by 2050. This was complemented by modelling work undertaken by the LETI network looking into net zero carbon requirements for new buildings. In January 2020 UKGBC published its guidance on the levels of energy performance that offices should target to achieve net zero and a trajectory for getting there by 2035. This paper describes the methodology behind and industry perspectives on UKGBC’s proposals which aim to predict the reduction in building energy intensity required if the UK’s economy is to be fully-powered by zero carbon energy in 2050. Practical application: Many developers and investors seeking to procure new commercial offices or undertake major refurbishments of existing offices are engaging with the ‘net zero carbon’ agenda, now intrinsic to the legislative framework for economic activity in the UK. A UKGBC initiative effectively filled a vacuum by defining a set of requirements including energy efficiency thresholds for commercial offices in the UK to be considered ‘net zero carbon’. This paper provides all stakeholders with a detailed justification for the level of these thresholds and what might be done to achieve them. A worked example details one possible solution for a new office.

Dealing with austerity and migration in the northern European cleaning sector: Social partner strategies to strengthen wage floors

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sissel Trygstad ◽  
Trine P Larsen ◽  
Kristine Nergaard
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
National Differences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wage Regulation ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Industrial Cleaning ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Exerted Pressure

Industrial cleaning shares some common features across countries. Institutions for collective wage regulation are fragile, the market is highly price-sensitive and skewed competition has exerted pressure on wages and conditions. Increased cross-border mobility of labour and enterprises after EU enlargement brought new sources of competitive pressure, which was amplified by the subsequent economic crisis. We study changes in collective regulation in industrial cleaning in Denmark, Germany, Norway and the UK since the turn of the century, and find that the social partners have responded differently to the challenges. We discuss these responses in the light of national differences in industrial relations regimes and the regulatory tools available for the organized actors.

scholarly journals Household Energy Efficiency in the UK

1994 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
VANESSA BRECHLING ◽  
STEPHEN SMITH
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
The Uk

scholarly journals Cross-national comparisons of human resources for health – what can we learn?

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARL-ARDY DUBOIS ◽  
MARTIN MCKEE
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Human Resources For Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
International Health ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Generative Capacity ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Cross National

After a long period of neglect, the issue of human resources for health (HRH) has recently emerged as a core component on the international health agenda, with policy makers increasingly eager to learn from experience elsewhere. This article investigates systematically the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of cross-national comparisons of HRH policies and practices. It reviews the evidence in favour of using international comparative studies on HRH, discusses emerging opportunities for developing a cross-national research agenda to guide HRH policies in Europe, and highlights obstacles which may hinder the implementation of comparative studies on HRH. While demonstrating many opportunities offered by the comparative approach to improve understanding of human resources processes in the health sector, this article also emphasizes the dangers of simplistic pleas for the transfer of human resource policies without taking into account the context-specific factors and the generative capacity of the social actors in the design and implementation of policy changes.

Application of Energy Efficiency Optimization Technology in Steel Industry

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 82-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
En TANG ◽  
Yuan-jing SHAO ◽  
Xiao-gang FAN ◽  
Li-de YE ◽  
Jun WANG
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Steel Industry ◽  
Efficiency Optimization

Using psychopharmacology in the treatment of problem behaviours in dogs and cats

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Caroline Elizabeth Warnes
Keyword(s):  
Emotional States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Behaviour Modification ◽  
Active Medication ◽  
Problem Behaviours ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
The Uk

Behaviourally-active medication can play an important role in improving the welfare of cats and dogs in both the short and longer term. Drugs can be used to reduce fear, anxiety and panic in the short term, such as to help noise-sensitive dogs cope better with events such as firework displays, or to help fearful dogs and cats cope better with visits to the vets or groomers. Drugs can also play an important role in longer-term reduction of negative emotional states, particularly fear and anxiety, as long as they are used in conjunction with a comprehensive behaviour modification plan. This article outlines some of the behaviourally-active drugs most commonly used to treat dogs and cats in the UK, as well as some of the considerations needed for using medication as part of behaviour modification in cats and dogs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document