Transport, trading and retailing. QLIF subproject 6: Development of strategies to improve quality and safety and reduce costs along the food supply chain

One of the aims of QLIF subproject 6 was to provide a better understanding of the supply chain performance and the collaboration system of organic supply chains. A notable finding was that supply chain actors with a high collaboration index outperformed respondents with a lower collaboration in terms of overall, non-financial and financial performance. Also, there is evidence that the higher the perceived risk for quality and safety is, the higher the probability that collaborative practices were in place. Nevertheless, overall, the level of collaboration is still too low. In a second part of QLIF subproject 6, HACCP case studies and training courses have been developed with special reference to organic agriculture. A HACCP approach to food safety management can be applied throughout the food chain, from farm to fork. Although a HACCP approach is not a legal requirement in primary production in the EU, it is recognised as an effective and logical means for food safety control that is equally applicable to agriculture including organic and low-input production systems

Planned flight test of a mercury ion auxiliary propulsion system. Part 2: Integration with host spacecraft

The objectives of the flight test and a description on how those objectives are in support of an overall program goal of attaining user application were described. The approach to accomplishment was presented as it applies to integrating the propulsion system with the host spacecraft. A number of known interface design considerations which affect the propulsion system and the spacecraft were discussed. Analogies were drawn comparing the relationship of the organizations involved with this flight test with those anticipated for future operational missions. The paper also expanded upon objectives, system description, mission operations, and measurement of plume effects

Performance of Agronomic Crop Varieties in Alaska 1978 –2002

There is no such thing as the perfect variety for Alaska. Some varieties are adapted to a wide range of climatic and geographic locations, while others are more specific in their adaptation. The change in elevation of a few hundred feet or a move of a few miles can have a considerable effect on the performance of any variety. Also, cultural practices such as tillage, fertilizer rates, planting date, seeding rate, pest control, and a multitude of other factors can also influence crop yields. This is especially noticeable in northern environments such as Alaska. For example, date-of-planting studies done by F.J. Wooding (1973) and C.W. Knight (1989) found that any date after the middle of May for planting an agronomic crop can result in delayed maturity, low yields, and low quality grain, even for the best adapted varieties for Alaska

New ways of being public: the experience of foundation degrees

This article explores the recent development of new spheres of public engagement within UK higher education through an analysis of the foundation degree qualification. These, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), were designed to equip students with the combination of technical skills, academic knowledge, and transferable skills increasingly being demanded by employers, and they have been identified as being at the forefront of educational agendas aimed at increasing employer engagement in the higher education (HE) sector. As such, they might be regarded as an expression of the 'increasing privatisation' of HE. However, this article argues that, on the contrary, they have enabled the development of new areas of public engagement relating to the design and delivery of courses as well as providing new opportunities for the pursuit of public policy goals such as widening participation. Such outcomes, it is argued, are the result of a number of factors that explain the 'publicness' of the qualification and that should be sustained to ensure the implementation of the 2006 Leitch Report in a manner that further develops public engagement

The lone parent pilots after 12 to 24 months: an impact assessment of in-work credit, work search premium, extended schools childcare, quarterly work focused interviews and new deal plus for lone parents

From April 2004, a set of Government policies designed to help lone parents into work have been piloted in various combinations in a number of Jobcentre Plus districts in Great Britain. The five policies are: In Work Credit (IWC), Work Search Premium (WSP), Extended Schools Childcare (ESC) and Childcare Tasters, Quarterly Work Focused Interviews (QWFIs) for lone parents whose youngest child is aged 12 or over in Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in which an ESC pilot is operating (ESQWFI), and New Deal Plus for Lone Parents (ND+fLP), hereafter collectively referred to as 'the lone parent pilots' (LPPs or 'the pilots'). The pilots were rolled out in four Phases, the first three of which are analysed in this report. This report estimates the impact of the LPPs on lone parents who have received Income Support (IS) or Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for at least 12 months. It uses a difference-in-differences (DiD) estimator, and makes use of lone parents in districts not operating a pilot as a comparison group. The data covers the first 12 months (Phase 3 districts) to the first 24 months (Phase 1 districts) of the pilots' operation, and so should be seen as giving the early impacts. Impacts were estimated separately for the stock of lone parents who had been on benefit for at least 12 months when the pilots began, and the flow sample of lone parents whose claim of IS/JSA reached 12 months after the pilots began

Localization of light on a cone: theoretical evidence and experimental demonstration for an optical fiber

The classical motion at a conical surface is bounded at one (narrower) side of the cone and unbounded at the other. However, it is shown here that a dielectric cone with a small half-angle gamma can perform as a high Q-factor optical microresonator which completely confines light. The theory of the discovered localized conical states is in excellent agreement with experimental data. It provides both a unique approach for extremely accurate local characterization of optical fibers (which usually have gamma ~10^-5 or less) and a new paradigm in the field of high Q-factor resonators

On Holiday! Policy and provision for disabled children and their families

This summary describes some findings from the On Holiday! study, carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit between 2004 and 2006 and funded by DfES. The study investigated the experiences of disabled children and their families outside school time and especially during the school holidays. The study took an approach informed by a social model of disability, one which emphasises the social construction of disability, rather than impairment

The Nucleus of Comet 10P/Tempel 2 in 2013 and Consequences Regarding Its Rotational State: Early Science from the Discovery Channel Telescope

We present new lightcurve measurements of Comet 10P/Tempel 2 carried out with Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope in early 2013 when the comet was at aphelion. These data represent some of the first science obtained with this new 4.3-m facility. With Tempel 2 having been observed to exhibit a small but ongoing spin-down in its rotation period for over two decades, our primary goals at this time were two-fold. First, to determine its current rotation period and compare it to that measured shortly after its most recent perihelion passage in 2010, and second, to disentangle the spin-down from synodic effects due to the solar day and the Earth's orbital motion and to determine the sense of rotation, i.e. prograde or retrograde. At our midpoint of 2013 Feb 24, the observed synodic period is 8.948+/-0.001 hr, exactly matching the predicted prograde rotation solution based on 2010 results, and yields a sidereal period of the identical value due to the solar and Earth synodic components just canceling out during the interval of the 2013 observations. The retrograde solution is ruled out because the associated sidereal periods in 2010 and 2013 are quite different even though we know that extremely little outgassing, needed to produce torques, occurred in this interval. With a definitive sense of rotation, the specific amounts of spin-down to the sidereal period could be assessed. The nominal values imply that the rate of spin-down has decreased over time, consistent with the secular drop in water production since 1988. Our data also exhibited an unexpectedly small lightcurve amplitude which appears to be associated with viewing from a large, negative sub-Earth latitude, and a lightcurve shape deviating from a simple sinusoid implying a highly irregularly shaped nucleus.Comment: Accepted by AJ; 12 pages of text (pre-print style), 3 tables, 2 figure