Trust as a Determinant of Consumer Behaviour in Food Safety Crises

Based on an enhancement of Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour, this article investigates German consumers' trust in different sources of information. Moreover, it discusses the settings and the extent to which consumers' trust influences consumers' behaviour both in the case of a standard purchasing situation and in the environment of a hypothetical food safety incidence such as bird flu . Results indicate that both the consumers' attitude and their trust in suppliers of information is a crucial factor determining their behaviour under uncertainty.consumer behaviour, uncertainty, trust, food safety, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Milk Handling in the Supply Chains: The Case of Smallholder Retail Outlets In Nakuru, Kenya

This paper characterises smallholder milk outlets in Nakuru district one of the major milk producing Districts in Kenya, and also analyses factors that influence their current operating and handling capacities. Data comes from four divisions of the district. A sample of 137 smallholder milk retail outlets was made using systematic random sampling methodology. Both descriptive and ordinary regression methods were used in the analysis. A characterisation of the retail outlets is brought out and the factors that affect their current operating capacities presented. Results show that a unit change in education, experience and selling prices leads to 0.29, 0.18 and 0.23 significant changes in milk handling capacities by the retail outlets respectively. These imply that there is an efficiency gain from education and better prices through higher consumer incomes in the industry. Enhancement of milk retailers' value addition through provision of physical facilities such as cooling equipment and stability in prices should be encouraged through policy intervention to promote informal sector investments in the sub-sector.milk supply chain, smallholder retail outlets, Kenya, Industrial Organization, Marketing,

3 kirja Karl Morgensternile, St. Petersburg

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1812164~S1*es

Transplant glomerulopathy: the interaction of HLA antibodies and endothelium

Transplant glomerulopathy (TG) is a major cause of chronic graft dysfunction without effective therapy. Although the histological definition of TG is well characterized, the pathophysiological pathways leading to TG development are still poorly understood. Electron microscopy suggests an earlier appearance of TG and suggests that endothelial cell injury is the first sign of the disease. The pathogenic role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies in endothelial cells has been described in acute vascular and humoral rejection. However the mechanisms and pathways of endothelial cell injury by HLA antibodies remain unclear. Despite the description of different causes of the morphological lesion of TG (hepatitis, thrombotic microangiopathy), the strong link between TG and chronic antibody mediated rejection suggests a major role for HLA antibodies in TG formation. In this review, we describe the effect of classes I or II HLA-antibodies in TG and especially the implication of donor specific antibodies (DSA). We update recent studies about endothelial cells and try to explain the different signals and intracellular pathways involved in the progression of TG.William Hanf, Claudine S. Bonder, and P. Toby H. Coate

Benefits of a marketing cooperative in transition agriculture: Mórakert purchasing and service co-operative

The paper analyses the potential benefits of marketing cooperatives in Hungary, employing a transaction cost economics framework. We found that the purchased quantity, the existence of contracts, flexibility and trust are the most important factors farmers consider when selling their products via a cooperative. The most striking result is that diversification has positive influences on the share of cooperatives in farmers’ sale. Furthermore, farmers with larger bargaining power have less willingness to sell their product to the cooperative. Surprisingly, asset specificity has rather negative effects on the share of cooperatives in members’ sales

Palladium Membrane with High Density of Large-Angle Grain Boundaries to Promote Hydrogen Diffusivity

A higher density of large-angle grain boundaries in palladium membranes promotes hydrogen diffusion whereas small-angle grain boundaries suppress it. In this paper, the microstructure formation in 10 µm thick palladium membranes is tuned to achieve a submicronic grain size above 100 nm with a high density of large-angle grain boundaries. Moreover, changes in the grain boundaries’ structure is investigated after exposure to hydrogen at 300 and 500 °C. To attain large-angle grain boundaries in Pd, the coating was performed on yttria-stabilized zirconia/porous Crofer 22 APU substrates (intended for use later in an ultracompact membrane reactor). Two techniques of plasma sprayings were used: suspension plasma spraying using liquid nano-sized powder suspension and vacuum plasma spraying using microsized powder as feedstock. By controlling the process parameters in these two techniques, membranes with a comparable density of large-angle grain boundaries could be developed despite the differences in the fabrication methods and feedstocks. Analyses showed that a randomly oriented submicronic structure could be attained with a very similar grain sizes between 100 and 500 nm which could enhance hydrogen permeation. Exposure to hydrogen for 72 h at high temperatures revealed that the samples maintained their large-angle grain boundaries despite the increase in average grain size to around 536 and 720 nm for vacuum plasma spraying and suspension plasma spraying, respectively

Inkjet- and flextrail-printing of silicon polymer-based inks for local passivating contacts

In this work innovative additive printing methods for formation of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) and polycrystalline silicon carbide (poly-SiC) layers of local tunnel oxide passivating contacts (TOPCon) is evaluated. Replacement of conventional vacuum processes and vapor-phase deposition by additive printing of Si in fabrication process of high efficiency solar cells reduces processing complexity, and, hence manufacturing costs. Reliable inkjet- and FlexTrail-printing processes are developed for liquid-phase polysilane and organic polysilazane inks that are precursors of Si and SiC, respectively. FlexTrail is introduced as a potential technology to print uniform closed thin films of polysilane free of ruptures. Moreover, from inkjet-printing of the developed polysilane ink, homogenous, closed and crack free thin films of poly-Si are obtained after high temperature annealing. The polysilane ink is formulated considering evaluation of several solvents and photoinduced polymerization conditions. Inkjet-printing process development and optimization according to high frequency rheological characterization of organic polysilazane (OPSZ) is presented. Printed thin films are characterized after high temperature annealing (T = 950 °C, t = 60 min) to be uniform and free of micro cracks

Palladium nano-clusters grown on prestructured HOPG substrates

The growth of Palladium nano-clusters prepared by atomic beam deposition on prestructured highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces has been investigated by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Preformed nanosized pits created on the HOPG surfaces are used as localized pinning sites for Pd cluster nucleation and growth at room temperature. We succeeded in obtaining Pd clusters of nanometric size and with rather sharp size distributions. A systematic morphological study conducted by STM reveals a linear dependence between the height and the diameter of the Pd nanostructures. Finally, Pd nano-clusters stabilized on prestructured HOPG surfaces were found to be active catalysts in the Heck cross-coupling reaction