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Digitalisation in sustainable manufacturing: a literature review
No full textThe purpose of this insight paper is to provide an overview of early studies implemented on examining the influence and impacts of Digitalisation in sustainable manufacturing, with the key focus towards the new Digital Supply Chain (DSC), through the implementation and adoptability of Industry 4.0 parameters within the context of sustainable manufacturing. There have been few literature that discusses the evolution and transformation of the transformation of traditional manufacturing methods through comparisons of conceptual models and state of art reviews of digitalisation and industry 4.0 with specific focus on digitisation within supply chain processes. Through early studies within literature, it was noted that there is a gap in linking Sustainable Manufacturing practices to the new elements and actors of industry 4.0 and its wider impacts on DSC. Hence, the authors aim to explore firstly, sustainable manufacturing and the practices adopted within supply chain, with specific case of food manufacturing sectors, before finally examining the literature concerning the focus of digitalisation in manufacturing processes
Co-creating real-world research skills
No full textThis case study considers a students-as-partners’ research project that aimed to develop technologically-driven tools to enhance teaching and learning in higher education. It focuses on how the project enabled student participants to gain real world research skills and experience. We present reflections from both a student and a staff perspective and propose START (Support, Time, Adapt, Risks, Trust) as an approach to engage students to gain real-world research skills. Support refers to providing support for skills gaps and learning in an applied setting. Time refers to providing time to settle into the project and develop confidence, including realistic timeframes and deadlines. Adapt refers to giving students the space to develop not only the required skills but also the tools to develop their own abilities and confidence through a supportive, flexible and open environment. Risks refers to taking risks for example in terms of roles, responsibilities and leadership. Trust refers to providing guidance and encouragement that will allow students to achieve on their own and take shared ownership
Perceptions of innovation based relationship marketing (PIRM) in the Sri Lankan retail banking sector
No full textThe aim of this research is to investigate Sri Lankan bankers’ “Perceptions of Innovation based Relationship Marketing” (PIRM). The PIRM model demonstrates how Sri Lankan bankers perceive product innovation, process innovation and organizational innovation to improve relationship marketing. This research used an exploratory mixed-methods design where a qualitative phase was followed by a quantitative phase. Firstly, sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with bankers from four Sri Lankan retail banks. Secondly, quantitative data were collected from 216 bankers in the same Sri Lankan retail banks. Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the PIRM model. Results from the qualitative phase showed that bankers mainly rely on three dimensions of innovation: a) product innovation, b) process innovation and c) organizational innovation that facilitate their relationship marketing approach. Results from the quantitative phase show that there is no statistically significant relationship between perceptions of product innovation (β = -0.161; p < 0.007) and perceptions of relationship marketing. Nevertheless, perceptions of process innovation marketing (β = 0.235; p < 0.002) and perceptions of organizational innovation (β = 0.363; p < 0.000) show positive relationships with perceptions of relationship marketing. Additionally, i) perceptions of relationship marketing mediates between perceptions of process innovation (β = 0.119; p < 0.007) and perceptions of SCA and ii) perceptions of relationship marketing mediates between perceptions of organizational innovation (β = 0.184; p < 0.001) and perceptions of SCA. For the contribution to the knowledge, bankers will apply the PIRM model that enables better customer retention and facilitate SCA. As one of the main limitations, the research was considered the perceptions of retail bank employees, nevertheless customers’ perceptions were not investigated. Future research may apply the PIRM questionnaire and model in other service industries for training and the development of employees
Making sense of globalization: understanding the trends, challenges and emerging opportunities in UK Higher Education.
No full textSustainability Performance of Rice Manufacturing in Nigerian Supply Chains
No full textThe global battle of climate change is considered paramount, and one of the potential solutions to this could be the integration of sustainable practices at every level of operations in both manufacturing and service sectors. Adoption of sustainable practices is now of high importance in every industry, and various researchers have identified and precept sustainability as what every industry could consider ensuring a better future for better environment and prosperity within most sectors. Meanwhile, consideration of these sustainable practices within significant areas like food manufacturing industry will play a big role in improving the global environmental challenges and positively impact the economic and social aspect of most nations. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate sustainable food manufacturing supply chain environment proposing a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the triple bottom line of sustainability. The study carries out a survey seeking opinions from the experts in the industry and implements the use of common mean method to analyse and evaluate sustainability performance. The study ranks the performance by evaluating the triple bottom line of sustainability using the level of importance associated with the identified indicators of general food industry. The result identifies the top set of key performance indicators peculiar to rice manufacturing in Nigeria
Remarkable Lives: Lizzie Hehir in conversation with Jerome Carson.
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Lizzie Hehir. Lizzie tells her own story and is then interviewed by Jerome.This series of papers used the case study approach. However, each paper is written collaboratively, using the person’s own words. The deeply individual nature of each person’s story, reminds us of the complexities of working in mental health.In her account Lizzie tells us of her long-term battles with self-harm. It was a struggle that she eventually won.Individual stories allow us to access people’s lived experience with mental illness. No diagnostic manual can ever truly categorise this uniqueness.Lizzie shows it is possible to overcome self-harm, though she still experiences something of the trauma she went through, when she has triggers.When we see burns victims we seldom approach them asking them how they sustained their injuries, but as Lizzie points out, many people feel able to ask people who have self-harmed about their injuries.Lizzie writes with conviction and humility. Now working in mental health she is able to reach out to others who are as troubled as she once was
Design of high-performance Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENGs) for energy harvesting applications
No full textThe growing concerns around the long-term viability of the fossil fuel-based energy and its associated environmental cost are necessitating new research paradigms for energy generation and harvesting. An attractive and effective way to respond to the current energy crisis is through the harvesting of ambient mechanical energy from our environment. The conventional mechanical energy harvesting technologies are highly dependent on either the use of rare earth magnetic materials, high precision microfabrication techniques or composed of brittle materials, which are required to be driven at very high resonant frequencies, not frequently encountered beyond an industrial setting. Recently, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG), based on the triboelectrification and electrostatic induction effects, have been demonstrated as a novel harvesting technique to collect and transform ambient mechanical energy into electric power. Unlike the other mechanical energy harvesters, the low-cost TENGs fabricated using commodity polymers and facile fabrication techniques, operate at low frequencies (1-10 Hz) with a high energy conversion efficiency. One of the key areas in TENG research is the enhancement of their electrical output to make them suitable for either making a self-powered system viable or powering small portable electronics directly. Except for the judicious use of tribo-materials or the tribo-layer architecture optimisation, the rest of the methods for enhancing the TENG output are reliant on expensive equipment and complicated processing, that undermine the advantages of TENGs and may not provide the required stability and reliability. This PhD study aims to establish novel strategies to enhance output performance of TENG by developing new tribo-materials and phenomena such as coupling of tribo-piezoelectric effects to showcase potential applications of the TENG devices. The research work conducted and the achievements are summarized as follows. Firstly, a novel output performance improvement strategy of utilising stress-induced polarization effect of the piezoelectric materials was proposed. An interfacial layer of piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets was deposited to generate additional piezoelectric charge induced by the vertical contact-separate generation cycle. This extra piezoelectric charge is injected into the upper polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) tribo-negative layer for the enhancement of the surface charge density from ~110 μC.m-2 to ~225.7 μC.m-2. The introduction of the ZnO and Zn-Al:Layered Double Hydroxides (LDH), as charge injection layer and anionic clay, enhanced the instantaneous power output from ~11 W.m-2 to 47 W.m-2.Subsequently, based on a similar principle, a novel composite of lead-free perovskite, zinc stannate (ZnSnO3), and a fluoropolymer, poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, was proposed for the stress-polarisation tribo-negative behaviour with a simplified structure. The PVDF-ZnSnO3 composite membranes were realised through a facile phase-inversion technique leading to higher piezoelectric constant (76.3 pm.V-1) and β-phase (72%) for the composites. When applied to the TENG devices, the PVDF-ZnSnO3 membranes allowed spontaneous polarisation effects which led to significant enhancement of the electrical outputs, with maximum peak-to-peak voltage and effective transferred current density of ~600 V and ~206 µC.m-2, respectively. The surface charge enhancement and distribution of the composite membrane were also probed and demonstrated through the electrostatic force (EFM) and piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM). To overcome the difficulty in processing of the currently known most tribo-negative material, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), an emulsion electrospinning technique incorporating polyethene oxide (PEO) was introduced. It was observed that the subsequent thermal removal of PEO led to a significant degradation in the surface charge density of the obtained PTFE nanofibrous membranes, which was overcome using a facile negative ion-injection process. The measured electrical outputs, with a maximum peak-to-peak voltage output of ~900 V and charge density of ∼149 μC.m−2, demonstrated the excellent effect of the enhanced contact area to the improvement of the outputs. The work eliminates the demonstrated need for surface micro structuring using reactive ion etching of PTFE surfaces by introducing a relatively simple, costeffective, and environmentally friendly technique for fabricating fibrous fluoropolymers tribonegative layer for the energy harvesting applications. Finally, a unique mouldable material, aniline formaldehyde resin (AFR) was synthesised and characterised. The synthesised AFR, as a resinous polymer with significant amine (-NH2) groups acquires the most surface positive charge, is applied as a tribo-positive material. The heatpressed AFR thin-film based TENG was subsequently tested to demonstrate its outstanding performance serving as a tribo-positive layer compared to the Polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyethene oxide (PEO), as one of the most common used tribo-positive materials. In addition, a Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) was subsequently employed to study the surface potential of the produced AFR layer and the surface potential change of the contact layers during the energy generation cycles. All of the produced high-performance TENGs (power output ranging from 9 - 47 W.m-2) have the potential to be utilised further in enabling self-powered systems and can serve as a new alternative energy harvesting source of great significance
Advance care planning in patients referred to hospital for acute medical care: Results of a national day of care survey.
No full textAdvance care planning (ACP) is a voluntary process of discussion about future care between an individual and their care provider. ACP is a key focus of national policy as a means to improve patient centered care at the end-of-life. Despite a wide held belief that ACP is beneficial, uptake is sporadic with considerable variation depending on age, ethnicity, location and disease group. This study looked to establish the prevalence of ACP on initial presentation to hospital with a medical emergency within The Society for Acute Medicine Benchmarking Audit (SAMBA18). 123 acute hospitals from across the UK collected data during a day of care survey. The presence of ACP and the presence of 'Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation' orders were recorded separately. Among 6072 patients presenting with an acute medical emergency, 290 patients (4.8%) had an ACP that was available for the admitting medical team. The prevalence of ACP increased incrementally with age, in patients less than 80 years old the prevalence was 2·9% (95% CI 2·7-3·1) compared with 9·5% (95% CI 9·1-10·0%) in patients aged over 80. In the patients aged over 90 the prevalence of ACP was 12·6% (95% CI 9·8-16·0). ACP was present in 23·3% (95% CI 21.8-24.8%) of patients admitted from institutional care compared with 3·5% (95% CI 3·3-3·7) of patients admitted from home. The prevalence of ACP was 7.1% (95% CI 6·6-7·6) amongst patients re-admitted to the hospital within the previous 30 days. Very few patients have an ACP that is available to admitting medical teams during an unscheduled hospital admission. Even among patients with advanced age, and who have recently been in hospital, the prevalence of available ACP remains low, in spite of national guidance. Further interventions are needed to ensure that patients' wishes for care are known by providers of acute medical care. [Abstract copyright: © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Does post-traumatic growth follow parental death in adulthood? An empirical investigation.
No full textThis study looked at the loss of a parent in adulthood and whether this was followed by post-traumatic growth? Participants, 100 bereaved adults, from Pakistan and England, lost parents in the last 10 years. They completed three questionnaires. The study hypotheses were, first, that participants whose bereavement occurred more than five years ago would show significantly higher levels of post-traumatic growth. Second, participants with higher levels of post-traumatic growth would experience significantly higher grief scores. Thirdly, participants with higher levels of post-traumatic growth would show significantly higher levels of coping skills. Two hypotheses were rejected, only one received partial support. Yet, levels of post-traumatic growth were high in this sample. Post-traumatic growth does not follow every bereavement. The authors provide autoethnographic material to challenge this. Circumstances surrounding bereavement during the Covid-19 pandemic, are more likely to lead to increases in complicated grief reactions, rather than post-traumatic growth
