Effective teleconferencing: An international investigation of the factors influencing the effectiveness of distributed meetings

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Science Target via https://www.sciencetarget.com/Journal/index.php/IJBRD/article/view/565With businesses becoming global in their reach, the use of distributed meetings and associated conferencing technologies is at the core of their successful and efficient operation. However, the actual effectiveness of these meetings is thought to vary enormously. This paper reports on a multi-country investigation into the factors that make for an effective distributed meeting in everyday practice. The results are based on a survey conducted with 400 professionals supported by 40 interviews with experienced teleconferencing users. Ten interviews and 100 survey responses were obtained from each of the following four countries: Australia, China, the UK, and the US. The results indicate that a wide range of factors need to be optimised to ensure the most effective distributed meetings. The most influential factors were good sound quality and reliable conferencing technology, but other important aspects included having a good chairperson and attentive participants. The survey also identified some differences between countries, particularly between China and the other countries surveyed on issues such as speaker identification and the barriers to adopting new conferencing technology.We would like to thank BT/Dolby for sponsoring the project and providing help and support through the research. Thanks are also due to Natasha Dwyer and her team who conducted the Australian interviews and survey and helped with their analysis. We are also grateful to ACE FieldWorkChina for their assistance with recruitment for our studies in China. We would also like to thank the following for their very valuable insights into distributed meetings: Steve Brewster, Paul Dourish, David Good, Brian Moore, and JoAnne Yates

Effective teleconferencing: An international investigation of the factors influencing the effectiveness of distributed meetings

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Science Target via https://www.sciencetarget.com/Journal/index.php/IJBRD/article/view/565With businesses becoming global in their reach, the use of distributed meetings and associated conferencing technologies is at the core of their successful and efficient operation. However, the actual effectiveness of these meetings is thought to vary enormously. This paper reports on a multi-country investigation into the factors that make for an effective distributed meeting in everyday practice. The results are based on a survey conducted with 400 professionals supported by 40 interviews with experienced teleconferencing users. Ten interviews and 100 survey responses were obtained from each of the following four countries: Australia, China, the UK, and the US. The results indicate that a wide range of factors need to be optimised to ensure the most effective distributed meetings. The most influential factors were good sound quality and reliable conferencing technology, but other important aspects included having a good chairperson and attentive participants. The survey also identified some differences between countries, particularly between China and the other countries surveyed on issues such as speaker identification and the barriers to adopting new conferencing technology.We would like to thank BT/Dolby for sponsoring the project and providing help and support through the research. Thanks are also due to Natasha Dwyer and her team who conducted the Australian interviews and survey and helped with their analysis. We are also grateful to ACE FieldWorkChina for their assistance with recruitment for our studies in China. We would also like to thank the following for their very valuable insights into distributed meetings: Steve Brewster, Paul Dourish, David Good, Brian Moore, and JoAnne Yates

Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security

Enriching WPCs and NFPCs with Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, with their unique mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical, and wettability properties, are very effective fillers for many types of composites. Recently, a number of studies have shown that CNTs and graphene may be integrated into wood-plastic composites (WPCs) and natural-fibre-reinforced polymer composites (NFPCs) to improve the existing performance of the WPCs/NFPCs as well as enabling their use in completely new areas of engineering. The following review analyses the results of the studies presented to date, from which it can be seen that that inclusion of CNTs/graphene may indeed improve the mechanical properties of the WPCs/NFPCs, while increasing their thermal conductivity, making them electroconductive, more photostable, less sensitive to water absorption, less flammable, and more thermally stable. This study indicates that the composition and methods of manufacturing of hybrid WPCs/NFPCs vary significantly between the samples, with a consequent impact on the level of improvement of specific properties. This review also shows that the incorporation of CNTs/graphene may enable new applications of WPCs/NFPCs, such as solar thermal energy storage devices, electromagnetic shielding, antistatic packaging, sensors, and heaters. Finally, this paper recognises key challenges in the study area, and proposes future work