How Do German Manufacturers React to the Increasing Societal Pressure for Decarbonisation?

From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation in the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany, in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, most notably the automotive industry. Against this background, the present paper examines how German manufacturing companies react to rising societal pressure and emerging policies. It examines which measures the companies have taken or plan to take to reduce their carbon footprint, which aspirations are associated with this and the structural characteristics (company size, energy intensity, and sector) by which these are influenced. A mix methods approach is applied, utilising data gathered from approx. 900 companies in context of the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI), along with media research focusing on the announced decarbonisation plans and initiatives. We demonstrate that one-size-serves-all approaches are not suitable to decarbonise industry, as the situation and ambitions differ considerably depending on size, energy intensity and sector. Even though the levels of ambition and urgency are high, micro and energy intensive companies, in particular, are challenged. The present research uncovers a series of questions that call for attention to materialise the ambitions and address the challenges outlined.

University in an oil-dependent state economy: The future of Khuzestan higher education

Purpose of the study: The understanding of the complex world and the ability to imagine the futures is the basis for planning and decision-making. Therefore, in this research, the possible future of university in an Iranian oil-dependent economy is studied, and, the best direction for higher education in Khuzestan province is explored. — Methodology: A formative scenario writing research method is used in the current study. The participants were recruited from among Iranian higher education experts purposefully; a series of in-depth interviews including personal and focus group interviews have also been conducted to reach saturation. —Main findings: The results of the present research showed that two main factors affect Khuzestan higher education: dependency on the state economy and increasingly growing social expectation from the university. Khuzestan universities have better select one of these orientations: Conservative University, Enabler University, Adaptive University, and Developmental University. According to the findings of the study, developmental orientation is the preferred scenario for Khuzestan higher education. — Applications of this study: It is argued that the developmental university is the preferred scenario for the future of higher education in Khuzestan Province and a proposal suggests its actualization. — Novelty/originality of this study: The applied scenario-based innovative research attempts to reveal the socio-economic role of universities in societies having State-Economy such as Iran, shows all the possible main paths, and finally determines the preferred path for a specific period of time. The current probe can be directly used to lead higher education policymakers of the province and be indirectly employed to help individuals adopt general orientations in higher education, as well as students and researchers who are interested in higher education studies, especially in the field of Higher Education (HE) public policymaking. Finally identified and explained the developmental university that is compatible with Khuzestan higher education situations is another novelty of this research. Received: 29 March 2021Accepted: 21 June 2021

How do German Manufacturers React to the Increasing Societal Pressure for Decarbonisation?

From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation of the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, most notably the automotive industry. Against this background, it was examined how German manufacturing companies react to rising societal pressure and emerging policies. It is examined which measures the companies have taken or plan to take to reduce their footprint, which aspirations are associated with this and by which structural characteristics (company size, energy intensity, sector) these are influenced. A mix methods approach was applied, utilising data gathered from approx. 900 companies in context of the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI), along with media research focusing on decarbonisation plans and initiatives announced. We demonstrate that one-size-serves-all approaches are not suitable to decarbonise industry as the situation and ambitions differ considerably depending on size, energy intensity and sector. Even though the level of ambition and urgency is high, particularly micro and energy intensive companies are challenged. The research uncovers a series of questions that call for attention to materialise the ambitions and address the challenges outlined.

Vocal Imitation and Linguistic Processing of Super Mario Theme Music by Yorùbá Gamers

An aspect of gaming culture among Yorùbá millennials is the linguistic interpretations of the background music that accompanies the popular video game called Super Mario. The themes of the interpretations are comparable to those of music texts at traditional Yorùbá events. Drawing on the Yorùbá tradition, the account is that the gamers assumed that the background music of the game has a similar function as the music at traditional Yorùbá events. The choice of words in the interpretation is conditioned by the situational contexts where the music is heard in the video game. The results of acoustic analyses show that the interpretations are also determined by mapping the pitch trajectories of the music melodies to the tones of the gamers’ language. Notably, the results of this study suggest that the linguistic processing of music may not only involve phonetic iconicity (Steinbeis and Koelsch, 2011) but situational context and social expectation.

Impact of the Energy Sector on the Quality of the Environment in the Opinion of Energy Consumers from Southeastern Poland

Limiting CO2 emissions has been adopted as a contemporary challenge and introduced into numerous global and regional policies. The measures taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions largely relate to the decarbonization of the economy. Changes in the Polish energy sector are a huge challenge because the energy mix is dominated by the energy derived from coal combustion. Decarbonizing the energy sector will require significant financial resources. Therefore, several questions arise: What is the social attitude to the planned changes? How do residents treat the issue of greenhouse gases? Do they perceive the relationship between energy production and the quality of the natural environment? What are their expectations regarding the transformation of the energy sector? The aim of this study was to identify the opinion of the inhabitants of southeastern Poland on changes in the energy sector and its impact on the quality of the natural environment. The study was conducted at the turn of 2020 and 2021. The survey was partial and carried out using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interview) method; 1539 questionnaire forms were filled in and the sample was randomly selected. The study confirms the following research hypotheses: 1. There is social support for the view that climate change is currently one of the greatest threats to modern civilization. 2. There is a social belief that the quality of the natural environment in southeastern Poland is good compared to other regions of Poland and Europe. 3. Increasing the share of energy based on renewable energy sources is socially expected. 4. There is a social expectation of nuclear energy. It can therefore be concluded that the surveyed community accepts the direction of changes in the energy sector.

User-Agent Bond in Generalizable Environments: Long-Term Risk-Reduction via Nudged Virtual Choices

Avatars or agents are digitized self-representations of a player in mediated environments. While using agents to navigate through mediated environments, players form bonds with their self-agents or characters, a process referred to as identification. Identification can involve automatic, but temporary, self-concept “shifts in implicit self-perceptions” (Klimmt et al., 2010, p. 323) of the media user by adopting or emphasizing the action choices on behalf of the social expectation of the avatar in the mediated environment. In the current study, we test the possibility that users' identification with video game avatars–a bond built between avatars and players- would account for subsequent behavior changes. We did so by using 3-month longitudinal data involving a narratively-based serious game: Socially Optimized Learning in Virtual Environments (SOLVE), a 3D-interactive game designed to reduce risky sexual behaviors among young men who have sex with men (n = 444). Results show that video game identification predicts both the reduction of risky sexual behaviors over time, and reduction in the number of non-primary partners with whom risky sex occurs. And when players identify with the game character, they tend to make healthier choices, which significantly mediates the link between video game identification and reduction of risky behaviors.

A Study on Motivation Orientations of English Learners in Management Major

Based on the motivation theory, this study aims to investigate the motivational orientations of the English learners from Management majors. 32 graduate students participated in the questionnaire and accomplished the interview in this research. Based on the statistics processed by SPSS, it is found that (1) instrumental orientation is significantly stronger than the integrative type; (2) among all the motivation items, the most three significant motivations are preparing for a future career, desiring to be a knowledgeable person and passing exams. Besides, based on the analysis of interview, a model of major-oriented, international and nested systems of instrumental motivation was constructed, indicating the interrelationship between motivational factors: globalization, social expectation, university policy, major needs and learner factors. It is expected that this study can provide some implications to English teaching to management students with the investigation of the systematic structure of their motivations.

Comparison of Peak Oxygen Consumption During Exercise Testing Between Sexes Among Children and Adolescents in Taiwan

Objective: Studies among Western children have observed that the peak oxygen consumption (peak V˙O2) of boys is higher than that of girls, and this difference increases as children progress through adolescence. However, the maturation process and social expectation toward Eastern boys and girls are much different from their Western counterparts. This study aimed to provide baseline information on cardiopulmonary fitness (CRF) of Taiwanese children and adolescents in relation to age and sex. We also evaluated the correlation between body mass and CRF and compared the CRF between non-obese and overweight/obese children.Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of children and adolescents aged 4–18 years in Taiwan. Participants were classified into four groups based on age (group 1, aged 4–6; group 2, aged 7–9; group 3, aged 10–13; and group 4, aged 14–18 years). All participants completed symptom-limited exercise test by treadmill and anthropometric measurements through bioelectrical impedance method.Results: In total, 897 (448 men, 449 women) participants were analyzed. Boys had higher peak V˙O2 (all p < 0.01) and peak metabolic equivalent (MET, all p < 0.05) than girls in all the four groups. Age significantly (P < 0.001) correlated with peak V˙O2 in all participants, boys, and girls, with coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.9349, 0.9433, and 0.9085, respectively. The peak V˙O2 (all p < 0.001) of all the groups and peak MET (all p < 0.05) of group 2–4 associated with BMI and FMI modestly to moderately. Non-obese children had higher peak MET in group 1 (p = 0.049) and group 2–4 (all p < 0.001) than overweight/obese children significantly.Conclusions: The difference in peak V˙O2 and anthropometry–body composition between sexes was observed earlier in children in Taiwan than those in Western countries. Non-obese children had better CRF than overweight/obese children and the difference presented since preschool age.

Gendered Power at Work: Constituting Moral Worth in a Hyper-Masculine Organizational Culture

How do powerful women in a hyper-masculine organization talk about power? To answer this question, we should explore both cultural contents and gendered politics that inform women’s discourse about social power. This article investigates how women morally evaluate their own and others’ power. Based on in-depth interviews with 34 women serving in senior military positions, I argue that they achieve a sense of self-worth and professional subjectivity through moral work. This symbolic work involves three main discursive strategies regrading power: (1) Drawing symbolic moral boundaries between themselves and the morally ‘degenerate’ military environment; (2) Using ‘performances of authenticity’ to constitute their moral worth; and (3) (Non-)apology to counter the accusation implicit in the social expectation that they must apologize for their power as women. These strategies allow these women to talk about power in moral terms, bring power closer to themselves, and at the same time claim moral subjectivity. By morally justifying the use of military power, they make the internalized ‘brass ceiling’ transparent. Thus, I argue that although women are agentic in constituting their worth, this is not necessarily done by way of ‘resistance’, but rather through discursive maneuvering that relies on the same oppressive discursive patterns designed to restrict their power. Accordingly, their efforts to constitute their selves and ‘do power’ are carried out within, rather than outside, the gendered moral logic of the organizational culture.