Business games and enterprise competitions : what works?

This paper provides the underpinning evidence on business games and enterprise competitions. Schools, colleges and providers of careers and enterprise programmes are invited to use this evidence to inform the programmes that they are running and developing. The paper draws together academic and ‘grey’ literature (such as policy papers, speeches and programme evaluation reports), with the aim of, first, clarifying possible impacts from business games and enterprise competitions and, second, exploring what effective practice looks like.The Careers & Enterprise Compan

Facilitators and barriers for harm reduction after first use of novel nicotine delivery devices: a qualitative investigation of cigarette smokers

BACKGROUND: Novel nicotine delivery devices (NNDDs) are a safer alternative to combustible tobacco smoking. Understanding what factors can facilitate people who smoke to use NNDDs can inform intervention design and public health messaging. This study aims to explore the facilitators and barriers to NNDD use from the perspective of smokers without prior use, after trialling two NNDDs. METHOD: UK adults who smoke combustible cigarettes (n = 11) were recruited from a larger quantitative study after trialling two NNDDs, an electronic cigarette and a heated tobacco product (order randomly allocated). Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed and thematically analysed, using the COM-B model of behaviour and NVivo12 pro software. RESULTS: Five main themes were identified: health knowledge, availability of and accessibility to NNDD products, cost, social acceptance, and NNDD use experience. There was curiosity and interest in the uptake and use of NNDDs, but the absence of centralised product information was identified as a barrier. Other themes were related to the design and functionality of the NNDD products. For example, the e-cigarette with its low maintenance was seen as easier to use than the heated tobacco product, which offered too short a single use duration and was described as ‘cumbersome’. Throat discomfort and high anticipated cost were among additional barriers identified for both product types. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the need for reliable objective information on the health effects of NNDDs compared with combustible cigarettes, which could facilitate their regular use. Product adjustment such as single use duration alignment with combustible cigarette smoking duration may encourage uptake. Interventions offering opportunity for experience of NNDD use and knowledge dissemination of NNDDs could increase motivation to adopt harm reducing behaviours as demonstrated in this study

Respiratory admissions linked to air pollution in a medium sized city of the UK:A case-crossover study

This study, from the Tayside Pollution Research Programme (TPRP), aims to investigate the effects of air pollution on respiratory hospital admissions in adults and children &lt; 16 y of age, over a 14-year period, in Dundee, Scotland (population circa 148,270). We conducted a case-crossover study using routinely collected healthcare records from Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Scotland from 2004 to 2017. Respiratory hospitalisation events were linked to daily nitric oxide gases (NOx, NO2, NO) extracted from publicly available data over this period. We used distributed lag models to allow for delayed effects of air pollutants up to 14 days. A total of 34,192 hospital admissions for a respiratory condition were included in this study (children = 9,501; adults = 24,691). Respiratory admissions in children were significantly associated with cumulative 14-day exposure to NOx (RR for a 10 µg m–3 increase in concentration 1.020; 95% confidence interval 1.010–1.031), NO2 (RR 1.086; 95% CI 1.036–1.139) and NO (RR 1.033; 95% CI 1.016–1.052). Similar estimates were observed for acute respiratory infection categories in children. Effects appeared to be somewhat delayed, with the largest estimates mostly observed around lag 6. No significant association was seen for respiratory admissions in adults. This study shows that both NO and NO2 are associated with increased respiratory hospital admissions in children &lt; 16 y of age, and that much more should be done to improve and enforce the established legal NOx pollution limits in cities for the sake of our children’s health.</p

An 18 year data-linkage study on the association between air pollution and acute limb ischaemia

&lt;jats:p&gt; Summary: Background: There is limited information regarding the effects of air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NO&lt;jats:sub&gt;x&lt;/jats:sub&gt;), nitric oxide (NO&lt;jats:sub&gt;2&lt;/jats:sub&gt;), nitrous oxide (NO) and particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 10 μm (PM10), on acute limb ischaemia (ALI), a peripheral arterial disease (PAD) often with a poor clinical outcome. Patients and methods: We conducted an 18-year retrospective cohort study using routinely collected healthcare records from Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, and Perth Royal Infirmary, in Tayside, Scotland, UK from 2000 to 2017. ALI hospitalisation events and deaths were linked to daily NO&lt;jats:sub&gt;x&lt;/jats:sub&gt;, NO&lt;jats:sub&gt;2&lt;/jats:sub&gt;, NO and PM10 levels extracted from publicly available data over this same time period. Distributed lag models were used to estimate risk ratios for ALI hospitalisation and for ALI mortality, adjusting for temperature, humidity, day of the week, month and public holiday. Results: 5,608 hospital admissions in 2,697 patients were identified over the study period (mean age 71.2 years, ±11.1). NO&lt;jats:sub&gt;x&lt;/jats:sub&gt; and NO were associated with an increase of ALI hospital admissions on days of exposure to pollutant (p=.018), while PM10 was associated with a cumulative (lag 0–9 days) increase (p=.027) of ALI hospital admissions in our study. There was no increase of ALI mortality associated with pollution levels. Conclusions: ALI hospital admissions were positively associated with ambient NO&lt;jats:sub&gt;x&lt;/jats:sub&gt; and NO on day of high measured pollution levels and a cumulative effect was seen with PM10. &lt;/jats:p&gt

Attachment to God as a Function of Mortality Salience and Intrinsic Religiosity

The present study examined the association between intrinsic religiosity and attachment to God following mortality salience. Participants (N = 158) consisted of Christian individuals who were asked to complete the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport & Ross, 1967) as a measure of intrinsic religiosity, a word search puzzle to prime either death-related or neutral words, and the Attachment to God Inventory (Beck & McDonald, 2004). A moderated regression found a significant interaction between MS and intrinsic religiosity on avoidant but not anxious attachment to God. Specifically, following reminders of death, low intrinsic individuals were more avoidant toward God compared to high intrinsic individuals. These findings suggest that MS is associated with bolstering religious beliefs in order to cope with existential anxieties

A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial to assess the Impact of a Nutrition intervention On Dietary Behaviors among Early Care and Education Providers: the Create Healthy Futures Study

Create Healthy Futures is a self-paced, web-based intervention on improving healthy eating behaviors among Early Care and Education (ECE) providers. We examined the impact of web-based Create Healthy Futures on diet quality measured by the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) 2010, dietary behaviors, and related psychosocial and environmental factors among ECE providers. A cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) was implemented with baseline surveys administered from October 2019-January 2020, intervention implementation from April-May 2020, and post-intervention from May 2020-August 2020. Centered-based ECE programs under the Pennsylvania Head Start Association (n = 12) were recruited and randomized to intervention (n = 5) or comparison (n = 7) groups. A total of 186 ECE providers completed the post-intervention surveys (retention rate: 86.1%). At baseline, 31.5% of ECE providers were food insecure. Pre-to-post intervention demonstrated no significant within-or-between-group changes in the AHEI-2010 diet quality scores. ECE providers in the intervention group reported a significant decrease from baseline to post-intervention in the number of days eating out (aMD = -0.8, CI:-1.6, -0.1

Perceptions of Professionals, Faculty, and Students Regarding the Implementation of an Agricultural Communications Degree Program in the United Kingdom

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of professionals, faculty, and students regarding the implementation of an agricultural communications degree program in the United Kingdom (U.K). It aimed to gather detailed opinions to aid in the planning of future agricultural communications curricula in the U.K., where no formal academic programs in this discipline exist in higher education. This study used a qualitative approach in the form of interviews to gain in-depth opinions on four different research objectives. Participants were pooled from three different demographic groups in the U.K: industry professionals, faculty, and students. These stakeholder expressed that writing and journalistic skills were extremely important for agricultural communications graduates to possess. Interpersonal skills were also useful. A generalized knowledge of agriculture was preferred. The study found that experiential learning placements would be a beneficial addition to a potential program, and those could be customized to fit the needs of the student. It also found that degree programs in the discipline would fit well into a bachelor’s or master’s program, or single modules could be integrated into existing programs in related disciplines. Recommendations of the study focused on the layout of a potential degree program. They also focused on conducting further research on potential placement opportunities and on the impact an agricultural communications degree program could have on females in agriculture

Distributed clean energy opportunities for US oil refinery operations

The oil and gas industry is increasingly seeking operational improvements to reduce costs and emissions while improving resilience. This study describes techno-economic analysis of opportunities for distributed energy resources that could be integrated to support oil and gas companies’ economic, environmental, and energy resiliency goals. Specifically, the analysis evaluates solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, battery energy storage, landfill gas, biomass, municipal solid waste-to-energy, solar steam for process heat, combined heat and power, and electrolyzers for hydrogen production at two hypothetical refineries, one located in Louisiana and the other in southern California. These technologies could reduce the sites’ consumption of grid electricity and/or natural gas and thus can help reduce emissions. This study employs the ReOPT tool and System Advisor Model to evaluate the techno-economic potential for clean energy technologies to support refineries in achieving energy goals, including energy cost savings, resiliency, and emissions reductions. Results indicate that the associated costs of emissions reductions via several distributed clean energy technologies are competitive with other emissions reduction strategies such as energy efficiency, reducing flaring, direct carbon capture and sequestration, and markets under certain conditions. There are also cost beneficial opportunities for the use of renewable energy for refining, especially for resilience, depending on local conditions such as resources and utility costs

Toward an Understanding of Synergies and Trade-Offs Between Water, Energy, and Food SDG Targets

Achieving the targets set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will require committed efforts by nations and organizations over the coming decade. To determine which actions work most harmoniously within funding, infrastructure development, and implementation of three closely aligned goals, we conducted an assessment to identify where the greatest synergies may occur and where conflicting resource needs create trade-offs that may threaten SDG success. The SDGs each have several targets that need to be realized for the goal to be reached. In the present study, we developed a methodology where each target of the SDG 2 (food), 6 (water), and 7 (energy) was analyzed for its input requirements, infrastructure needs, and the risks and benefits for the provision of ecosystem services. Then the targets were compared pairwise and a total score of interaction was calculated to determine different levels of synergies and trade-offs for every pair. In some cases targets were mutually supportive, in other cases there were no interactions among the targets, and for some areas the targets were in conflict with each other. For example, targets 2.5 (maintain genetic diversity), 6.5 (implement integrated water resources management) and 7.a (enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy) have no conflicts with other targets and have different levels of synergies with most of the other targets. On the contrary, various targets of SDG 2, and especially the target 2.b (correct and prevent trade restrictions), are in slight conflict with other targets by potentially overusing resources needed by other targets or threatening ecosystem services. Our approach confirms the general belief that SDG 6 (water) has the highest number of potential synergies (a total of 124). Thus, achieving the water targets will make it continuously easier to achieve other targets. While the results may need to be adapted for a specific locality or country, overall they provide an improved understanding of the interactions between the targets. The value of the study lies in the quantitative methodology as it can be used as a replicable analysis for any level of work on SDG implementation