Understanding foodborne transmission mechanisms for Norovirus: a study for the UK's Food Standards Agency

The paper outlines the ‘complete arc’ of a range of modelling activities initiated by UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA). Norovirus produces infectious intestinal disease in humans via both person-to-person contact (P2P) and foodborne (FB) transmission. The FSA commissioned a research study to improve understanding of FB mechanisms, and of where it might target its efforts. In response, an existing P2P model with a single, exogenous parameter for FB transmission was transformed into a System Dynamics model of FB processes. The modelling involved individual interviews and a facilitated group modelling session, the FSA providing access to relevant experts. Contamination routes modelled concerned: bi-valve shellfish; sludge; some fruits and vegetables; other foodstuffs. This large model showed it was possible to give an account of the underlying causal mechanisms; and it facilitated a categorisation of parameters in a manner useful in agenda-setting for future research and in identifying policy levers. Some creative thinking extended the work in an unexpected but significant way. Data and mathematical analysis made it possible to calibrate a P2P model for the first time. Sensitivity analysis then suggested that small changes in human behaviour could explain the tenfold seasonal variation in Norovirus cases, and also offered an understanding of the relative importance of FB and P2P vectors. The range of consequences of the study included an increased understanding by the FSA of the different means of trying to control Norovirus, practical actions and ideas for further work

Waiting for the Invisible Hand: Novel Products and the Role of Information in the Modern Market for Food

This paper places the modern spread of diet-related chronic disease in the United States within the context of more than a century of innovation in food processing technology, discovery in nutrition science, and corrective policy measures aimed at improving public health. We ask whether the current state of a airs represents a market failure, and if so what might be done about it. We argue that while today’s industrial food system has its advantages, the asymmetric information problems inherent to this system have resulted in a lemons-style break down in the market for processed foods. The appropriate policy response to such situations (namely, verifiable quality standards) is well known, but such policies are likely (in the short run) to reduce profit for existing large industrial producers of food. In light of the food industry’s long history of success at regulatory capture, we propose the formation of a new independent food standards agency devoted to protecting the interests of the American consumer.credence goods, history, food policy, certification

Waiting for the Invisible Hand: Market Power and Endogenous Information in the Modern Market for Food

In many ways, the modern market for food exemplifies the economist’s conception of perfect competition, with many buyers, many sellers, and a robust and dynamic marketplace. But over the course of the last century, the U.S. has witnessed a dramatic shift away from traditional diets and toward a diet comprised primarily of processed brand-name foods with deleterious long-term health effects. This, in turn, has generated increasingly urgent calls for policy interventions aimed at improving the quality of the American diet. In this paper, we ask whether the current state of affairs represents a market failure, and—if so—what might be done about it. We review evidence that most of the nutritional deficiencies associated with today’s processed foods were unknown to nutrition science at the time these products were introduced, promoted, and adopted by American consumers. Today more is known about the nutritional implications of various processing technologies, but a number of forces—including consumer habits, costly information, and the market power associated with both existing brands and scale economies—are working in concert to maintain the status quo. We argue that while the current brand-based industrial food system (adopted and maintained historically as a means of preventing competition from small producers) has its advantages, the time may have come to consider expanding the system of quality grading employed in commodity markets into the retail market for food.credence goods, history, food policy, certification

Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship (TAPS) Regulation in Indonesia: current and future challenges

Since the publication of the landmark report by Doll and Hill on the causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer and the release of the first Surgeon General Report on the impact of smoking, tobacco use has been accepted as a devastating threat to public health. Tobacco smoking cannot be separated from the commercial interests of the tobacco industry which has been innovatively and strategically marketing its products, infiltrating policy making systems, and attempting to build a positive image to help shape public perception. In Indonesia, the second-highest cigarette market in the world, tobacco industry marketing is omnipresent. The country, where two-thirds of adult males are smokers, with the smoking population having almost reached 100 million, has not made a strong commitment to tobacco control. Indonesia is the only country in the Asia-Pacific yet to ratify the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). In 2012, the national government adopted tobacco control regulations, but they contain significant loopholes that are open to tobacco industry manipulation. This thesis assesses perspectives of policy actors on the national tobacco control regulation, documents tobacco company marketing strategies within the current regulatory environment and explores tobacco control stakeholder views on barriers to advancing tobacco control in Indonesia and the future of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) and retailing regulation in Indonesia. Several strategies and infrastructure initiatives that could strengthen the tobacco marketing ban and support tobacco control in Indonesia are discussed. I also suggest the need for an immediate response to the increasing popularity of alternative tobacco products

News media performance and social responsibility in transitional societies: a case study of tabloidisation in Taiwan

The development of the news media in western societies coincided with the formation of a fully democratic polity based on universal suffrage, and from the outset the press and later broadcasting were assigned a central role in providing the information and argumentative resources for citizenship and in checking for abuses of power. But the commercial news media were also industries, increasingly financed by the sale of advertising, and commentators saw the search for audience maximisation moving news towards sensation. While these developments gathered momentum over many decades in the West, in Taiwan they have been compressed into two, as the country has experienced a rapid triple transformation: from authoritarian, single-party rule, to democratic politics based on multi party competition; from a state managed economy to a market-driven economy; and from a restricted media system to an open one marked by fierce competition. Many observers see this highly compressed process of change, coupled with the relative weakness of civil society, generating a particularly aggressive form of tabloidisation, a withdrawal from social responsibility and ethics, and news system ill adapted to serving the needs of a still consolidating democracy. This argument empirically through three detailed case studies of key stories places them in the context of the general changes reshaping Taiwanese news media and the original arguments over tabloidisation in the West, and concludes by exploring the possibilities for reform in the future

Evaluating implementation of the WHO set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children: Progress, challenges and guidance for next steps in the WHO European Region

This paper describes the status of the implementation of the WHO Set of Recommendations on the Marketing of Foods and Non-alcoholic Beverages to Children (2010). The Set of Recommendations, adopted by the World Health Assembly, urges Member States to reduce the impact on children of the marketing of energy-dense, highly processed foods and beverages that are high in saturated fats, trans fats, free sugars and/or salt (HFSS). A growing body of independent monitoring and research indicates that existing policies and regulations are markedly insufficient to address the continuing challenges in this field. This report identifies loopholes, ongoing challenges, and factors that Member States need to consider to effectively limit the harmful impact that HFSS food marketing has on children, their health and their rights. Policies and regulations tend to use narrow definitions and criteria (they frequently apply to pre-digital media only, to younger children and not to adolescents, and to “child-directed” media, rather than those with the greatest child audiences), and they almost never address the complex challenges of crossborder marketing. This situation can be explained, in part, by the strong scrutiny and opposition that countries have faced from parts of the private sector, and by weak self-regulatory schemes. As a result, and in order to ensure that States uphold their legal obligations to protect the child’s right to health and related rights, the World Health Assembly requested that WHO provides additional technical support to Member States in implementing the Set of Recommendations. This report identifies challenges States need to address

The Memory-History-Popular Culture Nexus: Pearl Harbor As a Case Study in Consumer-Driven Collective Memory

In this paper I examine the fusing of collective memory, history and popular culture by analyzing current trends in American-made commercial films with historical events as subject matter that have also been distributed to a global audience. Pearl Harbor is the primary case study. Analysis shows that dominant historical narratives are reified by the use of what I term an 'anticipatory-driven' film experience where audience members engage in an interaction with pre-existing mainstream collective memory while their anticipation for impending climactic trauma is systematically heightened. Comparisons are made to other widely released US films about national and international events and 'non-events.' Questions are also raised about the increasing global importance of the memory-history-popular culture nexus post 9-11, and, how US produced films about 9-11 may or may not engage in the practices detailed in this analysis. In this vein the paper concludes with a discussion of how Pearl Harbor was marketed, edited and received in Japan, the second largest audience for Hollywood films and what this implies about social memory construction in a global commercial context.Collective Memory, Film, Hollywood, National Identity, Pearl Harbor, Social Memory

Analyzing the dynamics between organizational culture and change : a case study of China Central Television (CCTV) in transition

The Thesis sets out to analyze CCTV's transition from 1979-2003 with a special focus on its most influential reform entitled Producer Responsibility System (PRS). In order to present a real picture of CCTV's organizational culture, this research uses multiple research methods to synthesize valuable contributions from two schools of organizational culture theory driven by different research orientations. Data collection methods include a6 months' ethnographic research project inside CCTV. The research has two main research findings. First, following the introduction of PRS, the reform process has been uneven. A split has emerged at CCTV between an 'inner' and an 'outer' management circles, with very different organizational cultures and responses to organizational change. Second, the research identifies four logics which have shaped CCTV's organizational culture: Party logic, Commercial logic, Professional logic and Social and ethnic logic. CCTV's transition has been defined by a complex interaction and negotiation between these four logics. This thesis summarizes CCTV's organizational change from 1979-2003 into three stages, from a 'frozen' status to 'change by exception' and then to 'incremental change'. Analysis of the relationship between these four logics suggests that to achieve a real transition from Party mouthpiece to modem media enterprise, CCTV needs to achieve a new 'paradigm change'. The key to the success of this 'paradigm change' will be a systematic reconstruction of CCTV's organizational culture based on the central objective of building media professionalism. The single case study places some limits on the generalizability of the findings but other Chinese media businesses share a similar economic, historical and cultural context. The problems at CCTV can thus be seen to be representative general issues of the Chinese media industry in transition

Does Knowing the Mental Health History of a Mass Shooter Heighten Stigma and Negative Attitudes Toward Mental Illness?

Mass-shooting incidents are an ongoing epidemic that continues to take countless lives. Despite the prevalence of gun-related mass-shooting events, the research on this phenomenon is scarce. Following these events, individuals often receive news from differing media outlets and programs. The current media portrayal of mass-shooting events often appears to support a widely accepted connection between mass shootings and mental illness. This portrayal may reflect an existing and perhaps growing misunderstanding and negative stigma toward individuals diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. This experimental study sought to determine the degree to which individuals’ attitudes toward and opinions of a perpetrator of a mass shooting are impacted by the shooter’s diagnosis of a serious mental illness. Two hundred individuals were randomly assigned in equal proportions to read one of two vignettes involving a mass shooting act in which the perpetrator had a mental illness (MI, experimental condition) or perpetrator did not have a diagnosis of mental illness (NOMI, control condition). It was hypothesized that participants who were exposed to the mental illness (MI) vignette would have significantly higher negative attitude scale scores, as measured by the CAMI, toward those with mental illness as compared to individuals exposed to the non-mental illness (NOMI) vignette. Additionally, it was hypothesized that participants who read the MI vignette would suggest a more severe penalty than that suggested by participants who read the NOMI vignette. Results did not support these hypotheses, as there were no significant between-group differences found. The hope is that this research will offer insights for better understanding stigma associated with mental illness and perhaps ways to mitigate it