The future of carbon labeling – Factors to consider

Compared to other policy instruments that aim to change consumer behavior, information provision is perhaps the least controversial. An important question is how information in the form of carbon labels can contribute to direct food consumption toward reduced climate impact. From a policy guidance perspective, there is a need to identify how the labeling strategy affects consumers’ ability to identify lower emitting food products and the behavioral change due to carbon information. Key aspects of a carbon label are discussed, as well as the implications of different labeling schemes. Drawing on economic and behavioral theories, we propose that, to assist consumers in identifying changes in consumption that contribute to significant reductions in their climate impact, a carbon label must enable comparisons between product groups and not only within narrowly defined product groups. This suggests mandatory labeling, since producers of high-emission products are less likely to display such labels. However, it is important to consider both costs and benefits of labeling schemes and to consider complementing labeling with other policy instruments

Analysis of Customer Service Quality Models and for their Approbation Opportunities in Aviation

The article examines tools, which may be used to assess service quality in aviation and to analyze service quality models. Many experts analyzing customer service state that a good customer service is one of the most important reasons for customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is particularly important in aviation customer service, because aviation services are subject to higher requirements due to the specifics of the service. In pursuit of the top-level customer service, refining customer needs and expectations becomes very important, because knowing customer expectations allows purposefully focusing the customer service process based on them and achieving high customer satisfaction. Also, the nature of customer service in aviation is different; here staff must be trained with more scrutiny and examples of specific situations.In order to investigate the quality of customer service, conducting a theoretical analysis of customer needs or service criteria alone is not sufficient. Customer service quality is perceived differently due to a variety of factors, thus service quality models are used to find out customer expectations or to identify service gaps, also helping to conduct analyses and to improve processes. The analysis of customer service models revealed that they have not been adapted for aviation due to the following: their focus on a single service factor, the lack of relationship between components, neglected role of employees in customer service, and the like

The Status of Pachiterric Histosol Properties as Influenced by Different Land Use

Soil drainage as well as soil cultivation and fertilization has considerable influence on the organic matter mineralization rate and changes in the profile structure. Our research suggested that quantitative and qualitative characteristics of peat soil are changing in response to the renaturalization processes and different management. The study set out to estimate chemical and physical properties of Pachiterric Histosol, qualitative and quantitative changes in carbon resulting from different management and renaturalization processes. Wetland and peatland soils are among the largest organic carbon stocks, and their use contributes to carbon emissions or accumulation processes. The focus of our work is research into the peculiarities of organic carbon accumulation and transformation as influenced by different land use of peat soil. Results on the chemical properties of Pachiterric Histosol showed the influence of management and renaturalization on mobile and by pyrophosphate solution extractable humic and fulvic acids and humification degree. We are also exploring the specificities of organic carbon variation in the context of peat renaturalization and are seeking to answer the question as how to optimize the use of peat soils and how to match up this with the renaturalization processes in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to organic carbon accumulation and conservation in the soil

Power and resistance : leading change in medical education

The aim of this thesis was to explore perceptions and experiences of educational leaders leading educational change and development in health professions and interprofessional education. The sensitising concepts of the thesis were power and resistance and the thesis hence adopted theoretical power perspectives on educational leadership and employed qualitative approaches within the methodological framework of phenomenology. Study I explored the experiences of educational leaders leading change and development within an undergraduate medical programme. The educational leaders perceived a lack of authority and status towards their colleagues as a result of an unclear mission, the fact that education had a low level of status at the university as well as a lack of traditional means of power. They also experience meeting resistance towards change and development in the shape of change fatigue, organisational obstacles and conservatism. Their opportunity to use influence towards change and development emerged from a high degree of freedom as well as the creation of vicarious legitimacies connected to research or clinical work, instead of education. Study II further explored the experiences of educational leaders in undergraduate medical education and their identity formation. The educational leaders expressed an ambiguity towards their identity as educational leaders as a result of both an unclear educational role as well as the perceived difficulties in leading colleagues towards educational change and development. The educational leaders seldom experienced receiving feedback on their work from higher levels of the institution, which in turn lead them to feel that their role was mostly of a symbolic character. However, the status of being an educational leader was confirmed from time to time by other educational leaders as well as colleagues with a special interest in education. Study III explored the experiences of educational leaders leading change and development within a nursing programme. The educational leaders expressed the means of achieving educational change and development as building relationships with colleagues as well as using the elaborate decision-making structures of the programme. Experiences of resistance towards change were perceived as originating from lack of authority, organisational structures and memories and intrinsic avoidance of leadership. Study IV explored interprofessional education (IPE) as an example of educational change and development. A comparison of the definition, rationale and presentation of IPE between educational leaders and official policy documents revealed how underlying differences of meaning attached to IPE can create potential difficulties regarding implementation. Successful implementation postulates transparent and clear senior leadership support within an institution. The thesis shows how the findings of study I-IV are important to highlight in connection to research-based faculty development programmes for educational leaders in health professions education; a prerequisite for leading educational change and development successfully

The Analysis of Vibration Signals of Critical Points of the Bus Body Frame

In this paper, authors have investigated wave distribution caused by the mechanical structure of a passenger bus body frame and its parameters based on the theory of covariance functions. Authors have measured the intensity of vibrations at fixed points. Time scale analyses were conducted based on data arrays (matrixes). The estimates of covariance functions clearly showed that changes in the state of the bus mechanical structure invariably impact changes of the intensity of vibration signals at the relevant points. In the analysis, software Matlab 7 was applied