TRACEABILITY, TRADE AND COOL: LESSONS FROM THE EU MEAT AND POULTRY INDUSTRY

The traditional food supply chain is arranged as a complex array of producers, handlers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. As the food supply chain grew in complexity over time, little emphasis was placed on reserving information regarding the origin of raw materials and their transformation, often by multiple handlers, into consumer ready products. This paper provides case illustrations of the implementation of information systems for support of traceability in Europe. Emphasis is on the firm level costs and benefits as well as the broader market structure and governance issues inherent in information economics of the firm.traceability, economics of the firm, information systems, internet, food supply chain, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,

Compact polymer components for an integrated add-drop multiplexer

A phasar and a digital thermo optic switch have been designed and processed in a high index contrast polymer technology. Both devices are small enough to fabricate two integrated add-drop multiplexers on one 4 inch wafe

Edelen in de Vlaamse stedelijke samenleving. Een kwantitatieve benadering van de elite van het laatmiddeleeuwse en vroegmoderne Brugge

Nobles in the Flemish Urban Network. A Quantitative Analysis of the Urban Nobility of Late Medieval and Early Modern Bruges - In this contribution, a series of lists of Flemish nobles, compiled by the princely administration for military and political purposes, is used to measure the presence of nobles in the Flemish city of Bruges and the surrounding countryside. Diachronological analysis shows that noble involvement increased considerably since the middle of fourteenth century. Next to the presence of several families from the high nobility, the state formation process offered chances to bureaucrats to join the ranks of the local nobility. From the fifteenth century onwards, a growing part of the Bruges urban patriciate also succeeded to attain noble rank. The overlap between those different groups was modest, but the intense cultural life of Bruges provided the high nobility, state officials and urban elites with ample opportunity for social and cultural interaction. While the growing involvement of the late medieval and early modern nobility in urban networks deserves further attention, the concept of ‘urban nobility’ does not do justice to the important differences between various noble groups in Bruges, nor to the intricate interlinking of urban and rural interests of noble families

Broadband phased array antenna steering by means of coherent signal combining in an integrated ring resonator-based optical beamformer

A squint-free, continuously tunable optical beamformer for broadband phased array receive antennas is proposed. The complete system is demonstrated, including E/O and O/E conversions, and optical signal processing. The latter involves delay synchronization and coherent optical combining, which is performed in an integrated ring resonator-based optical beam forming network, realized in low-loss, CMOScompatible TriPleX technology. Successful combination of four beamformer input channels has been demonstrated by means of RF-to-RF measurements

TRACEABILITY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE MEAT SUPPLY CHAIN: IMPLICATIONS FOR FIRM ORGANIZATION AND MARKET STRUCTURE

The traditional food supply chain is arranged as a complex array of producers, handlers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. As the food supply chain grew in complexity over time, little emphasis was placed on preserving information regarding the origin of raw materials and their transformation, often by multiple handlers, into consumer-ready products. This paper provides case illustrations of the implementation of information systems for support of traceability in Europe. Observations on these firms coupled with the literature on information asymmetry and transactions costs is used to provide insights into how traceability implementation might affect U.S. meat-industry structure.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

Guidelines for etching silicon MEMS structures using fluorine high-density plasmas at cryogenic temperatures

This paper presents guidelines for the deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of silicon MEMS structures, employing SF/sub 6//O/sub 2/-based high-density plasmas at cryogenic temperatures. Procedures of how to tune the equipment for optimal results with respect to etch rate and profile control are described. Profile control is a delicate balance between the respective etching and deposition rates of a SiO/sub x/F/sub y/ passivation layer on the sidewalls and bottom of an etched structure in relation to the silicon removal rate from unpassivated areas. Any parameter that affects the relative rates of these processes has an effect on profile control. The deposition of the SiO/sub x/F/sub y/ layer is mainly determined by the oxygen content in the SF/sub 6/ gas flow and the electrode temperature. Removal of the SiO/sub x/F/sub y/ layer is mainly determined by the kinetic energy (self-bias) of ions in the SF/sub 6//O/sub 2/ plasma. Diagrams for profile control are given as a function of parameter settings, employing the previously published "black silicon method". Parameter settings for high rate silicon bulk etching, and the etching of micro needles and micro moulds are discussed, which demonstrate the usefulness of the diagrams for optimal design of etched features. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in order to use the oxygen flow as a control parameter for cryogenic DRIE, it is necessary to avoid or at least restrict the presence of fused silica as a dome material, because this material may release oxygen due to corrosion during operation of the plasma source. When inert dome materials like alumina are used, etching recipes can be defined for a broad variety of microstructures in the cryogenic temperature regime. Recipes with relatively low oxygen content (1-10% of the total gas volume) and ions with low kinetic energy can now be applied to observe a low lateral etch rate beneath the mask, and a high selectivity (more than 500) of silicon etching with respect to polymers and oxide mask materials is obtained. Crystallographic preference etching of silicon is observed at low wafer temperature (-120/spl deg/C). This effect is enhanced by increasing the process pressure above 10 mtorr or for low ion energies (below 20 eV)

Peter Paul Rubens' Madonna mit dem Papagei

Rubens Madonna mit dem Papagei entstand in der ersten Fassung zwischen 1614 und 1620, in der zweiten erweiterten Fassung bis 1625. Das für die Gildenkammer der Antwerpener Lukasgilde bestimmte Bild ist das Gegenstück zu einem ebenfalls in der Gildenkammer bewahrten Gemälde des Frans Floris mit dem Hl. Lukas als Madonnenmaler. Der auffällige Umstand, dass die Madonna im Lukasgemälde des Floris fehlt, lässt ein zweites von Floris gemaltes, jedoch verlorenes Bild mit der Madonna voraussetzen; beide Bilder waren inhaltlich aufeinander bezogen. Mit der Madonna mit dem Papagei ersetzt Rubens die verlorene Madonna des Floris. Gemäß der Bestimmung der Bildkonfiguration für den Versammlungsraum der Malergilde sind die Bilder von Floris und Rubens als kunsttheoretische Thesenbilder konzipiert. Rubens nimmt Bezug auf seinen Vorgänger Floris, zugleich überbietet er ihn mit modernen Kunstmustern. Das bei der Madonna des Rubens stehende ungewöhnliche Kind verweist auf die Brügger Madonna und damit auf den Disegno Michelangelos, der Farbdreiklang verweist auf das Kolorit Tizians: die Verbindung beider macht in der Kunsttheorie des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts den höchsten Ruhm der Malkunst aus