Measuring food quality: concepts, methods and challenges - Proceedings seminar February 2007

From 12 to 14 February, the Louis Bolk Instituut organised the 3rd annual QLIF workshop, titled “Measuring food quality, concepts, methods and challenges”. During these days a diverse and intensive program was presented. Participants came from, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Turkey. Participants were all very enthusiastic, both on the quality of the presentations and the total program. For all those of you who missed it, I give a brief impression. On the first day definitions of food quality were discussed as well as the methods to measure this quality. Machteld Huber explained the inner quality concept, developed by the Louis Bolk Instituut. This inner quality concept is based on two main life processes in organisms; Growth and Differentiation and the balance or integration of these two processes. This in contrast to many other quality definitions based on the presence or absence of substances. Analytical methods for measuring food quality (measuring substances) and experimental methods (e.g. crystallisation, biofotons ) measuring life processes were discussed. After the theoretical part, participants had the opportunity to work with biocrystallisation pictures and to visit the crystallisation laboratory. The second day started with a visit to one of the largest organic greenhouses in the Netherlands. The farmer grows tomatoes and paprika on a contract basis. Recently he started with a speciality in tomatoes, the Wild Wonders, a mixture of different shaped and coloured tomatoes. The greenhouse therefore gave a good view on the combination of ‘volume’ production and quality growing. In the afternoon, Jacob Holm Nielsen gave us a very interesting insight into the QLIF studies on organic and low input dairy. The type of feed showed to be very important for the milk composition and he emphasized that for organic high-quality dairy, maize can better be avoided as part of the feeding regime. Joke Bloksma presented the studies performed on lettuce, apple and carrot quality and how management factors (for apple, the bearing of the tree, sun light, ripening etc) influenced the quality of the products. Finally Gabriele Wyss from FIBL gave a presentation on food safety and food risks in organic production. She explained that many food safety aspects and food risks in organic are covered by conventional safety regulations and additional rules for organic farming. Because of the precautionary principles in organic food production the product safety and process safety tends to be higher in organic than in conventional. At the end of the day 4 participants presented their own research. This gave a broad view on different studies in the field of food quality and it gave rise to many questions and suggestions from other participants. The 3rd day taste and health were the main topics. Organic food might have a better taste than conventional, but how do we measure taste. Bob Cramwinckel of the Centre for Taste Research explained their 3-steps method to measure physical, psychological and total taste. Last presentation was given by Ruth Adriaansen on how we can study health effects of organic food. The necessity of a clear working definition of health showed to be very important for the design of a study, the choice of parameters and the effects to be studied. As an example, the study design of “Organic, more healthy ??”, the large feeding study in chicken, currently being performed by the Louis Bolk Instituut, was discussed. According to one of the scientific contributors the program “gave a great insight in the discussion going on in the field of organic food quality”. The overall conclusion was that for the evaluation of food quality you have to take much more aspects into account than nutritional content and contaminants only. An enlarged or holistic quality concept is needed to cover the ambitions of organic food production. Challenge is to further develop such concepts and to design robust scientific studies which account for all relevant quality aspects

Measuring food quality: concepts, methods and challenges

From 12 to 14 February, the Louis Bolk Instituut organised the 3rd annual QLIF workshop, titled "Measuring food quality, concepts, methods and challenges”. During these days a diverse and intensive program was presented. Participants came from, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Turkey. Participants were all very enthusiastic, both on the quality of the presentations and the total program. For all those of you who missed it, I give a brief impression. On the first day definitions of food quality were discussed as well as the methods to measure this quality. Machteld Huber explained the inner quality concept, developed by the Louis Bolk Instituut. This inner quality concept is based on two main life processes in organisms; Growth and Differentiation and the balance or integration of these two processes. This in contrast to many other quality definitions based on the presence or absence of substances. Analytical methods for measuring food quality (measuring substances) and experimental methods (e.g. crystallisation, biofotons ) measuring life processes were discussed. After the theoretical part, participants had the opportunity to work with biocrystallisation pictures and to visit the crystallisation laboratory. The second day started with a visit to one of the largest organic greenhouses in the Netherlands. The farmer grows tomatoes and paprika on a contract basis. Recently he started with a speciality in tomatoes, the Wild Wonders, a mixture of different shaped and coloured tomatoes. The greenhouse therefore gave a good view on the combination of ‘volume’ production and quality growing. In the afternoon, Jacob Holm Nielsen gave us a very interesting insight into the QLIF studies on organic and low input dairy. The type of feed showed to be very important for the milk composition and he emphasized that for organic high-quality dairy, maize can better be avoided as part of the feeding regime. Joke Bloksma presented the studies performed on lettuce, apple and carrot quality and how management factors (for apple, the bearing of the tree, sun light, ripening etc) influenced the quality of the products. Finally Gabriele Wyss from FIBL gave a presentation on food safety and food risks in organic production. She explained that many food safety aspects and food risks in organic are covered by conventional safety regulations and additional rules for organic farming. Because of the precautionary principles in organic food production the product safety and process safety tends to be higher in organic than in conventional. At the end of the day 4 participants presented their own research. This gave a broad view on different studies in the field of food quality and it gave rise to many questions and suggestions from other participants. The 3rd day taste and health were the main topics. Organic food might have a better taste than conventional, but how do we measure taste. Bob Cramwinckel of the Centre for Taste Research explained their 3-steps method to measure physical, psychological and total taste. Last presentation was given by Ruth Adriaansen on how we can study health effects of organic food. The necessity of a clear working definition of health showed to be very important for the design of a study, the choice of parameters and the effects to be studied. As an example, the study design of “Organic, more healthy ??”, the large feeding study in chicken, currently being performed by the Louis Bolk Instituut, was discussed. According to one of the scientific contributors the program “gave a great insight in the discussion going on in the field of organic food quality”. The overall conclusion was that for the evaluation of food quality you have to take much more aspects into account than nutritional content and contaminants only. An enlarged or holistic quality concept is needed to cover the ambitions of organic food production. Challenge is to further develop such concepts and to design robust scientific studies which account for all relevant quality aspects

Nutrition-sensitive value chains from a smallholder perspective: A framework for project design

"The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) gratefully acknowledges permission from IFAD to re-publish that work as an Alliance Working Paper, with updated acknowledgements, author information and information on additional resources.

Recent Advances in Sustainable Winter Road Operations – A Book Proposal

Investing in winter transportation operations is essential and beneficial to the public and the economy. The U.S. economy cannot afford the cost of shutting down highways, airports, etc., during winter weather. In the northern U.S. and other cold-climate areas, winter maintenance operations are essential to ensure the safety, mobility, and productivity of transportation systems. Agencies are continually challenged to provide a high level of service and improve safety and mobility in a fiscally and environmentally responsible manner. To this end, it is desirable to use the most recent advances in the application of materials, practices, equipment, and other technologies. Such best practices are expected to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of winter operations, to optimize material usage, and to reduce associated annual spending, corrosion, and environmental impacts. Currently, no professional societies, scientific journals, or textbooks are dedicated solely to sustainable winter road operations, and key information is scattered across a variety of disciplines. The objective of the proposed book is to summarize the best practices and recent advances in sustainable winter road operations for the purposes of education and workforce development. This book is now in press and can be cited as follows: Shi, X., Fu, L. (2017). Sustainable Winter Road Operations (Eds.). ISBN: 978-1-119-18506-2. Wiley-Blackwell

What does it take to make integrated care work? A ‘cookbook’ for large-scale deployment of coordinated care and telehealth

The Advancing Care Coordination & Telehealth Deployment (ACT) Programme is the first to explore the organisational and structural processes needed to successfully implement care coordination and telehealth (CC&TH) services on a large scale. A number of insights and conclusions were identified by the ACT programme. These will prove useful and valuable in supporting the large-scale deployment of CC&TH. Targeted at populations of chronic patients and elderly people, these insights and conclusions are a useful benchmark for implementing and exchanging best practices across the EU. Examples are: Perceptions between managers, frontline staff and patients do not always match; Organisational structure does influence the views and experiences of patients: a dedicated contact person is considered both important and helpful; Successful patient adherence happens when staff are engaged; There is a willingness by patients to participate in healthcare programmes; Patients overestimate their level of knowledge and adherence behaviour; The responsibility for adherence must be shared between patients and health care providers; Awareness of the adherence concept is an important factor for adherence promotion; The ability to track the use of resources is a useful feature of a stratification strategy, however, current regional case finding tools are difficult to benchmark and evaluate; Data availability and homogeneity are the biggest challenges when evaluating the performance of the programmes

Proceeding: 3rd Java International Nursing Conference 2015 “Harmony of Caring and Healing Inquiry for Holistic Nursing Practice; Enhancing Quality of Care”, Semarang, 20-21 August 2015

This is the proceeding of the 3rd Java International Nursing Conference 2015 organized by School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Diponegoro University, in collaboration with STIKES Kendal. The conference was held on 20-21 August 2015 in Semarang, Indonesia. The conference aims to enable educators, students, practitioners and researchers from nursing, medicine, midwifery and other health sciences to disseminate and discuss evidence of nursing education, research, and practices to improve the quality of care. This conference also provides participants opportunities to develop their professional networks, learn from other colleagues and meet leading personalities in nursing and health sciences. The 3rd JINC 2015 was comprised of keynote lectures and concurrent submitted oral presentations and poster sessions. The following themes have been chosen to be the focus of the conference: (a) Multicenter Science: Physiology, Biology, Chemistry, etc. in Holistic Nursing Practice, (b) Complementary Therapy in Nursing and Complementary, Alternative Medicine: Alternative Medicine (Herbal Medicine), Complementary Therapy (Cupping, Acupuncture, Yoga, Aromatherapy, Music Therapy, etc.), (c) Application of Inter-professional Collaboration and Education: Education Development in Holistic Nursing, Competencies of Holistic Nursing, Learning Methods and Assessments, and (d) Application of Holistic Nursing: Leadership & Management, Entrepreneurship in Holistic Nursing, Application of Holistic Nursing in Clinical and Community Settings

Optimising workplace interventions for health and wellbeing: a commentary on the limitations of the public health perspective within the workplace health arena [forthcoming]

Purpose: This paper discusses contemporary approaches to workplace health and well-being, articulating key differences in the intervention architecture between public and workplace health contexts and implications for intervention design. Approach: Contemporary practice is discussed in light of calls for a paradigm shift in occupational health from a treatment orientation to an holistic approach focused on mitigation of the causes of ill health and the promotion of well-being. In practice, relatively few organizations have or seem able to engage with a broader perspective that encompasses challenges to health and well-being associated with contextual organizational drivers, e.g. job design/role, workload, systems of reward, leadership style and the underpinning climate. Drawing upon insights from public health and the workplace safety tradition, the scope for broadening the perspective on intervention (in terms of vectors of harm addressed, theory of change and intervention logic) is discussed. Findings: There are important differences in scope and options for intervention between public health and workplace health contexts. While there is scope to emulate public health practice, this should not constrain thinking over intervention opinions. Increased awareness of these key differences within work organizations, and an evidence-based epidemiological approach to learning has the potential to strengthen and broaden the approach to workplace health and well-being management. Originality/Value: We argue that approaches to workplace well-being interventions that selectively cross-fertilise and adapt elements of public health interventions offer promise for realising a broader change agenda and for building inherently healthy workplaces

Risk Management in the Arctic Offshore: Wicked Problems Require New Paradigms

Recent project-management literature and high-profile disasters—the financial crisis, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the Fukushima nuclear accident—illustrate the flaws of traditional risk models for complex projects. This research examines how various groups with interests in the Arctic offshore define risks. The findings link the wicked problem framework and the emerging paradigm of Project Management of the Second Order (PM-2). Wicked problems are problems that are unstructured, complex, irregular, interactive, adaptive, and novel. The authors synthesize literature on the topic to offer strategies for navigating wicked problems, provide new variables to deconstruct traditional risk models, and integrate objective and subjective schools of risk analysis

Increasing resilience of ATM networks using traffic monitoring and automated anomaly analysis

Systematic network monitoring can be the cornerstone for the dependable operation of safety-critical distributed systems. In this paper, we present our vision for informed anomaly detection through network monitoring and resilience measurements to increase the operators' visibility of ATM communication networks. We raise the question of how to determine the optimal level of automation in this safety-critical context, and we present a novel passive network monitoring system that can reveal network utilisation trends and traffic patterns in diverse timescales. Using network measurements, we derive resilience metrics and visualisations to enhance the operators' knowledge of the network and traffic behaviour, and allow for network planning and provisioning based on informed what-if analysis