| 1. |
- Rånge, Max, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Windfall Gains or Eco-Innovation? 'Green' Evolution in the Swedish Innovation System
- 2014
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In theory, innovation processes lie behind the evolution of national systems as they create interacting dynamics among organisations. Institutions and policies are considered means for influencing these interactive dynamics, such as shifting innovative focus from traditional to environmentally oriented production, more environmentally friendly types of energy use, or environmental protection measures, products or services. Institutions and policies are thus considered drivers of change in technologies, processes, markets, raw materials or organisational forms--innovation in a Schumpeterian sense. Shifts in energy sources, from fossil to non-fossil sources, among organisations in the Swedish innovation system therefore call for explanations in terms of changed institutions and policies and their resulting eco-innovations. This paper looks more closely into climate gas emission and the shift to non-fossil energy in Sweden; what types of organisations are behind the shift to non-fossil energy use, what are the relative effects on emissions, to what extent can these interactive dynamics be considered eco-innovations, and if so, can they be related to specific institutions and policies? Quantitative analysis of evolving innovation processes in national systems is not always possible due to a lack of reliable and multi-level time-series data sets. This is also true for eco-innovations ('green' innovations). In the Swedish case, there are detailed data sets at national, regional, organisational and employee levels, making possible the estimation of evolutionary models. Register data can be merged with time series on environmental energy consumption and emissions. Data allow for a detailed analysis of environmentally oriented innovation from at least 2003. Analyses in this paper are based on time-series of data on the recent shift from fossil to non-fossil energy sources in the Swedish innovation system, as well as data on emissions, and potentially innovation promoting parameters at organisational and employee levels. Methods are quantitative, and Cox regression is used. Previous investigations of the energy use of Swedish organisations reveal a clear shift from fossil to non-fossil energy use. This is described both in terms of cumulative energy use and effects on emissions of carbon dioxide. Data provide us with information for conclusions on why energy sources change and in interaction with what organisational parameters. For example, wood fuel and solid waste increase as sources of energy while fossil oil has decreased during the years 2003 to 2010. This result is in line with national industrial and environmental policies and presented as institutionally and policy related 'green innovation'. But a quantitative analysis contests such a conclusion and it is noticed that the shift to non-fossil sources of energy has not led to verifiable decreases in green-house gas emissions. Public ownership is the single most important contributor to green innovation in non-fossil energy use. Still, CO2emissions are not fundamentally reduced by this low-tech shift, since they do not affect end-of-pipe reductions. What we observe is in fact wind-fall gains rather than eco-innovations behind the Swedish shift from fossil to non-fossil energy use.
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| 2. |
- Boström, Barbro, et al.
(author)
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Survey of post-operative patients' pain management
- 1997
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In: Journal of Nursing Management. - : Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. - 0966-0429 .- 1365-2834. ; 5:6, s. 341-349
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although effective pain treatment is available for both cancer-related pain and acute post-operative pain, many patients suffer unnecessarily. The aim of this study was to evaluate post-operative patients' pain management. A descriptive survey study was conducted in a 460-bed acute hospital in the southwestern part of Sweden. One hundred post-operative inpatients, on their second post-operative day, took part in the study. They were consecutively selected from six surgical wards. Data were collected using an interview questionnaire designed by the American Pain Society and analysed by descriptive and inferential statistics. At the time of the interview, 29 of the patients reported moderate to severe pain. Regarding the patients' worst pain experienced during the last 24 h, 79 of them reported moderate to very severe pain. Significant correlations were found between reported poor pain relief after pain medication and high intensity of pain both within the last 24 h and at the time of the interview. Eighty-three patients were satisfied with the way nurses treated their pain, while 64 patients were satisfied with the way physicians treated their pain. However, the higher the pain intensity experienced by the patients the less satisfied they were. The fact that patients do not know what kinds of relief are available may be one reason for the patients expressing satisfaction despite being in pain, another that the patients judge the kindness of the staff rather than their way of treating the pain. The field of pain management is rapidly changing requiring professional knowledge and experience in order to ensure pain management of good quality.
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| 3. |
- Iddris, Faisal, 1977-, et al.
(author)
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Examining the relationships between e-Marketing adoption and Marketing Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana
- 2015
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In: Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research. - New York, NY : International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE). - 2422-8451. ; 10, s. 160-169
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Given the importance of the Internet in general and for the marketing function in particular there has been a growing focus on understanding the determinants of e-Marketing adoption within firms. The purpose of this study was to explore factors that influence adoption of e-Marketing by SMEs in Ghana, and to examine the relationship between e-Marketing adoption factors and marketing performance. Primary data was collected using a quantitative research approach from 107 SMEs. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to identify the main e-Marketing adoption factors: which consists of Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), External pressure and Strategic intent. The study revealed that all the four constructs significantly influence e-Marketing adoption among the SMEs, however factors identified in this study were found not to have significant impact on the SMEs marketing performance. An important implication of the study is that even though SMEs are using e-Marketing, the findings did show positive impact on SMEs marketing performance. A further study is needed to establish the relationship between e-Marketing adoption factors and marketing performance.
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| 4. |
- Iddris, Faisal, 1977-
(author)
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The Use of Innovation Capability and National Innovation Systems in Promoting Sustainable Development : A Conceptual Analysis
- 2015
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In: Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa. - Clarion, PA : Clarion University. - 1520-5509. ; 17:3, s. 116-127
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The purpose of this paper was to examine the use of key activities of National Innovation System (NIS) and innovation capability of firms in promoting sustainable development. It addresses what institutional actors- government, universities/research institutions and private sector can do to generate key activities within NIS, which comprises of incubation activities, competence building, financing of innovation and consultancy services that may stimulates firm’s innovation capability. Exploratory research was used with the objective of examining insights from extant literature on innovation management, NIS and innovation capability and sustainable development.This study depicts that innovation capabilities may be influenced by key activities within NIS. It also shows that innovation capability dimensions such as strategy for innovation, idea management, idea implementation and creative self-efficacy may contribute to sustainable development. Furthermore, the best performing firms are classified as innovative and continually innovate in order to ensure sustainable development.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Widäng, Ingrid, et al.
(author)
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Self-respect, dignity and confidence : Conceptions of integrity among male patients
- 2003
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In: Journal of Advanced Nursing. - Oxford : Wiley. - 0309-2402 .- 1365-2648. ; 42:1, s. 47-56
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A mapping of fatigue crack growth rates in thick plates of a high strength aluminium alloy has been done. The plate thicknesses investigated was 100, 150 and 200 mm. In this work, material from near edge at near surface and mid-thickness has been investigated. Measurements of crack length has been performed using DC potential drop. Cyclic condensation is used in order to reveal crack growth behaviour for stage I and the earlier part of stage II crack growth. Influence of crack closure, crack branching and slow growing side cracks on fatigue crack growth rate of S-L and L-T oriented specimens are discussed. Variation of difference in growth rate in the upper part of the stage II growth between near surface and mid thickness positioned L-T specimens are found to vary with plate thickness.
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| 7. |
- Bhatti, Harrison John, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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A System Approach to Electrification of Transportation – An International Comparison
- 2022
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Globally, the transportation system is transforming from a fossil-based to an electrification system. Some countries are leading in the transformation process. Some countries are rapidly catching up to become market leaders in developing and introducing new techniques and equipment that support the transformation process in their countries. In contrast, others are still relying on their old fossil-based system or could not have enough understanding of how to deal with this complex transformation of the transportation system.The electrification of the transportation system is not an isolated system that can be handled as a single technological element. It is a group of multiple technologies, political, societal, and economic sub-systems each of these sub-systems is embedded in each other, forming the whole system. Therefore, it is important to see and manage the system from a holistic perspective to transform the transportation electrification system efficiently. We have selected eight countries from three different continents – Asia (China, India), Australia, which is a country and continent, and Europe (Germany, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK) to explore the transformational process of transportation electrification based on each countries’ conditions. We have chosen these continents as they are diversified in adopting transportation electrification system solutions.Our main conclusions are that the political processes and political decisiveness are the most important, followed by the societal and economic, with technology as the fourth. The other three are difficult to obtain without dedicated and determined political decision-makers. Political decision-makers need to use economic means to support the transformation in society and industry to balance the economic disadvantage of electric systems until they pass the cost disadvantage turning point. Technology is no longer a significant barrier as it was about 20 years ago. Now, technology is available, although it can be improved. The important part is to understand how to utilize the existing technology efficiently to transform the old fossil-based transportation system into new electrification of the transportation system. Without clear and strong political support, the industry cannot be expected to initiate, finance, take risks, and take the lead in this global societal transformation.Our analysis shows that China is being positioned as the leading country in the world in the electrification of the transportation system because of the strong technological advancements, control of the entire value chain, strong government decisiveness, and execution power in developing and implementing favorable electric vehicle (EV) policies, the willingness of the public sector to take the lead and citizens support to adopt clean technology. Norway has rapidly become one of the newcomers with large numbers of registered electric vehicles according to its population size within a few years, despite lacking manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) and equipment for transportation electrification. Germany is leading in the technological sector of transportation electrification within Europe with its prestigious top-selling electric vehicle brands in Germany, such as Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Smart, and Audi, and establishing a battery Gigafactory with an annual potential production capacity of 60 GWh. However, Germany is still lagging behind from the societal perspective of not having enough sales of electric vehicles compared to gasoline-based vehicles. Sweden is a rapidly growing country in the electrification of transport, with three vehicle manufacturers introducing EVs in 2021 and developing electric roads system for more than ten years. Sweden is also working on establishing a new 50 GWh battery manufacturing plant in Gothenburg, Sweden. The UK is also catching up with its other European countries in transforming the transportation system with its strong government support. The British government has kept transportation electrification on its national agenda and considering building a Gigafactory to obtain a position as a future battery leader. However, the UK's adoption rate of electric vehicles is still slow compared to fossil-based vehicles. India, Australia, and Slovenia are far behind in the process of transportation transformation than China, Norway, Germany, Sweden, and the UK. One of the common reasons in all these countries is their governments' baby steps even though they have high ambitions. Their governments require a revolutionized and systems approach to enable remarkable change in the transformation process.
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