A new understanding of the American energy crisis of the 1970s

The energy crisis of the 1970s in the United States consisted of three separate but related problems in the oil, natural gas, and utility sectors of the energy economy. The OPEC price increases and the OAPEC embargo of 1973 merely exacerbated existing problems. This article traces these problems over several decades and their development into a crisis in the early 1970s

Progress and challenges to the global waste management system

Rapid economic growth, urbanization and increasing population have caused (materially intensive) resource consumption to increase, and consequently the release of large amounts of waste to the environment. From a global perspective, current waste and resource management lacks a holistic approach covering the whole chain of product design, raw material extraction, production, consumption, recycling and waste management. In this article, progress and different sustainability challenges facing the global waste management system are presented and discussed. The study leads to the conclusion that the current, rather isolated efforts, in different systems for waste management, waste reduction and resource management are indeed not sufficient in a long term sustainability perspective. In the future, to manage resources and wastes sustainably, waste management requires a more systems-oriented approach that addresses the root causes for the problems. A specific issue to address is the development of improved feedback information (statistics) on how waste generation is linked to consumption

The emergence of circular economy: a new framing around prolonging resource productivity

In this article we use Hirsch and Levin’s (1999) notion of ‘umbrella concepts’ as an analytical lens, in order to articulate the valuable catalytic function the circular economy concept could perform in the waste and resource management debate. We realize this goal by anchoring the circular economy concept in this broader debate through a narrative approach. This leads to the insight that while the various resource strategies grouped under circular economy’s banner are not new individually, the concept offers a new framing of these strategies by drawing attention to their capacity of prolonging resource use as well as to the relationship between these strategies. As such, circular economy offers a new perspective on waste and resource management and provides a new cognitive unit and discursive space for debate. We conclude by discussing research opportunities for the IE community relating to the concept’s theoretical development and its implementation. Specifically, we pose that reinvigorating and growing the social science aspects of IE is required for both. After all, it is the wide adoption and collective implementation of an idea that shapes our material future

How do Older Adults Set Up Voice Assistants? Lessons Learned from a Deployment Experience for Older Adults to Set Up Standalone Voice Assistants.

While standalone Voice Assistants (VAs) are promising to support older adults daily routine and wellbeing management, onboarding and setting up these devices can be challenging. Although some older adults choose to seek assistance from technicians and adult children, easy set up processes that facilitate independent use are still critical, especially for those who do not have access to external resources. We aim to understand the older adults experience while setting up commercially available voice-only and voice-first screen-based VAs. Rooted in participants observations and semi-structured interviews, we designed a within-subject study with 10 older adults using Amazon Echo Dot and Echo Show. We identified the values of the built-in touchscreen and the instruction documents, as well as the impact of form factors, and outline important directions to support older adult independence with VAs

Screen or No Screen? Lessons Learnt from a Real-World Deployment Study of Using Voice Assistants With and Without Touchscreen for Older Adults

While voice user interfaces offer increased accessibility due to hands-free and eyes-free interactions, older adults often have challenges such as constructing structured requests and perceiving how such devices operate. Voice-first user interfaces have the potential to address these challenges by enabling multimodal interactions. Standalone voice + touchscreen Voice Assistants (VAs), such as Echo Show, are specific types of devices that adopt such interfaces and are gaining popularity. However, the affordances of the additional touchscreen for older adults are unknown. Through a 40-day real-world deployment with older adults living independently, we present a within-subjects study (N = 16; age M = 82.5, SD = 7.77, min. = 70, max. = 97) to understand how a built-in touchscreen might benefit older adults during device setup, conducting self-report diary survey, and general uses. We found that while participants appreciated the visual outputs, they still preferred to respond via speech instead of touch. We identified six design implications that can inform future innovations of senior-friendly VAs for managing healthcare and improving quality of life

How do Older Adults Set Up Voice Assistants? Lessons Learned from a Deployment Experience for Older Adults to Set Up Standalone Voice Assistants

While standalone Voice Assistants (VAs) are promising to support older adults' daily routine and wellbeing management, onboarding and setting up these devices can be challenging. Although some older adults choose to seek assistance from technicians and adult children, easy set up processes that facilitate independent use are still critical, especially for those who do not have access to external resources. We aim to understand the older adults' experience while setting up commercially available voice-only and voice-first screen-based VAs. Rooted in participants observations and semi-structured interviews, we designed a within-subject study with 10 older adults using Amazon Echo Dot and Echo Show. We identified the values of the built-in touchscreen and the instruction documents, as well as the impact of form factors, and outline important directions to support older adult independence with VAs