All work and no play?
Scientists from the University of Utrecht claim that
playing simple computer games at the office could
improve job satisfaction and allow people to become
more productive.
The researchers have studied the effects of game
playing on 60 employees at an insurance firm in
Holland.
They measured changes in work and job attitudes
and found that after taking part in a number of
simple computer games, players felt better about
their job.
Many companies say games are a waste of workers'
time and ban them, particularly those which come
as standard on many computers. But, says research
leader Professor Jeffrey Goldstein, there has been
little research to show how playing games might
positively change employee productivity, job satisfaction
or reduce absenteeism.
A round of Solitaire could be used as a strategy
to break up the day and help people work more effectively
because it gives their brain a break from complex
work tasks.
"I compare games with a coffee break. If
you are like me, you use them in strategic, functional,
useful way," Professor Goldstein says.
The results suggest that, instead of games being
a waste of time at work, they might help personal
productivity and make people feel better about
their jobs.
Professor Goldstein says the research is at a
very early stage and any findings are purely preliminary.
He says he is intending to do a much larger-scale
study, using more complicated games that involve
strategy decisions or role-playing.
“I can imagine different games would have
different effects," he says. "If you
made a competitive league table, for example, and
your business was competitive, like sales, you
might want to increase competition in this way."
Water wars may not happen
Water is a source of cooperation rather than conflict.
Countries that compete for limited water resources
choose to negotiate rather than fight about their
water. Gloomy doomsday predictions should therefore
be taken with several pinches of salt. It is
unlikely that they will be borne out.
Anders Jägerskog draws this somewhat surprising
conclusion in his doctoral dissertation at Theme
Water, Linköping University. He has studied
the processes of negotiation and decision-making
surrounding water in one of the world’s most
conflict-ridden areas, the Middle East. Alongside
northern Africa, the Middle East also evinces the
greatest shortage of water in the world in relation
to population.
The water of the Jordan River is a vital resource
for Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. All three parties
are dependent on each other when it comes to administering
this water. Jägerskog shows how, even in the
midst of heated conflict, they have kept the issue
of water outside the war and chosen, instead, to
collaborate on it.
"It is striking how the parties continue
to cooperate on the management of water, even though
the Intifada flared up again a couple of years
ago."
However, to say that countries don’t go
to war about water is not to say that conflicts
don’t arise.
"Obviously negotiations often lead to disagreement,
and water agreements are far from fair in all cases.
But my point is that these conflicts do not lead
to war."
Nor does he believe that this picture will change
in the future, even though increased population
pressures will make our water more and more scarce.
Anders Jägerskog now works at the Foreign
Ministry and its expert team for foreign policy
issues.
One pill makes you smaller…
A new research trial at Aston University in Birmingham
could eventually lead to the development of an
anti-obesity drug.
Professor Mike Tisdale and his colleagues are
examining the possible role of a protein known
as ZAG (zinc alpha 2 glyco-protein), which appears
to promote weight loss without an obese person
having to reduce the amount of food that they eat.
ZAG is a soluble protein that is present in most
body fluids and is produced by normal tissues in
the body, but it is also a significant factor involved
in a process called cachexia, which occurs in the
development of some cancers.
In cachexia ZAG production is increased 10-fold
due to production by the tumour and the increased
ZAG causes mobilization of fat from adipose tissue,
and this is used to produce heat rather than energy.
Cancer patients can lose up to 85% of their body
fat through this process.
Normally fat mobilization is linked to energy
demand so anything disrupting this process will
lead to progressive loss of fat.
Another possible use of the ZAG protein may be
for the treatment of diabetes. Because ZAG lowers
blood sugar levels, it opens up the possibility
of the protein being used for the future treatment
of adult onset diabetes.
“We are a little way off a clinical trial
now and our long-term plan is to develop a suitable
delivery method, perhaps a tablet, that will enable
us to turn the ZAG protein into a commercial treatment
for obesity,” explains Prof Tisdale.
Space age robots climb the hills
One of the largest robots ever constructed will also be one of the most
agile, thanks to technology derived from ESA space missions. Known as
Roboclimber, this new climbing machine is designed to prevent landslides
without endangering human lives.
Expertise from manoeuvring satellites into correct
orbit has been used to develop the Roboclimber,
which will be remotely controlled by a system originally
built for ESA to control space robots and a robotic
satellite arm.
Landslides are a serious problem in many countries
and usually occur when the soil of a slope no longer
binds together. A number of techniques have been
developed to prevent landslides, nearly all of
which are labour-intensive and often dangerous.
"Consolidating high slopes is a risky business
- people often work on scaffolds at heights far
above ground and next to unstable slopes," says
Giorgio Pezzuto, Project Manager from D’Appolonia
in Genoa, Italy. "In 2001 we initiated a project
to evaluate how innovative technologies could simplify
this work and reduce human risks. The objective
was to develop a robotic system to do the job."
Roboclimber is the combined effort of seven companies
across four European countries as well as one university
and a research institute. Once complete, it will
resemble a 3000-kg giant spider on four legs.
"The cost of slope consolidation can be reduced
by up to 30% for large interventions, and in situations
where only monitoring and small interventions are
needed, cost saving could be as high as 80%," says
Pezzuto.
Maybe the most important aspect of the Roboclimber
is that it will make risky jobs safer.
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