Consumer boycotts and consumer sovereignty

Cranfield School of Managemen

Ethical purchase behaviour and social responsibility in business

This thesis is about the decisions made in markets: whether decisions and what decisions are made by consumers. It isa study in consumer sovereignty and particularly In the way this may be used In ensuring social responsibility In business. Pressure group influence on purchase behaviour, particularly in the use or threat of consumer boycotts, suggests an extension of consumer sovereignty beyond its mere technical meaning within economics to a more literal meaning. Consumer authority in the marketplace may not simply refer to the more immediate characteristics of the offering such as product features or price but, as boycotts show, other charac- teristics such as whether the firm has investments in South Africa. Consumer boycotts are but the most manifest and organised form of purchase behaviour influenced by ethical concerns. Yet ethical purchase behaviour, although found in many markets, is largely unre- cognised In the literature. The novelty of this topic and the perspective on consumer sovereignty entailed an emphasis on conceptualisation in the research. The nature of capitalism and consumer sovereignty, the ideology of marketing, the problem of the social control of business, and pressure groups in the political process and their strategies and tactics, are explored to develop an argument which supports the notion of ethical purchase behaviour. A model is proposed identifying a role for pressure groups In the marketing system, explaining ethical purchase behaviour at the micro level by recognising negative product augmentation. Survey research and case studies support the model and the argument. Guidelines for action are proposed for pressure groups and business, suggesting both seek to influence a legitimacy element in the marketing mix. At a more conceptual level, consumer sovereignty is shown to offer potential for ensuring social responsibility in busi - ness. Of the three mechanisms for social control of business, the market may be used to greater effect through ethical purchase beha- vi our. However, consumer sovereignty requires choice as well as information. Pressure groups may act as a countervailing power by providing the necessary information, but competition is essential for choice. Consumer sovereignty Is the rationale for capitalism, the political- economic system in the West. This study questions the basis of such a system if political or ethical, as well as economic decisions, are not made by consumers in markets. Hence the argument for ethical purchase behaviour becomes an argument for capitalism

Case-control study of arsenic in drinking water and lung cancer in California and Nevada.

Millions of people are exposed to arsenic in drinking water, which at high concentrations is known to cause lung cancer in humans. At lower concentrations, the risks are unknown. We enrolled 196 lung cancer cases and 359 controls matched on age and gender from western Nevada and Kings County, California in 2002-2005. After adjusting for age, sex, education, smoking and occupational exposures, odds ratios for arsenic concentrations ≥85 µg/L (median = 110 µg/L, mean = 173 µg/L, maximum = 1,460 µg/L) more than 40 years before enrollment were 1.39 (95% CI = 0.55-3.53) in all subjects and 1.61 (95% CI = 0.59-4.38) in smokers. Although odds ratios were greater than 1.0, these increases may have been due to chance given the small number of subjects exposed more than 40 years before enrollment. This study, designed before research in Chile suggested arsenic-related cancer latencies of 40 years or more, illustrates the enormous sample sizes needed to identify arsenic-related health effects in low-exposure countries with mobile populations like the U.S. Nonetheless, our findings suggest that concentrations near 100 µg/L are not associated with markedly high relative risks

Antibiotic Prescription Practices and Opinions Regarding Antimicrobial Resistance among Veterinarians in Kentucky, USA

Background Inappropriate antimicrobial use (AMU) is a global concern. Opinions of veterinarians regarding AMU and its role in the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) may influence their prescription practices. It is important to understand these opinions, prescription practices and their potential impact on the development of AMR in order to guide efforts to curb the problem. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial prescription practices and opinions of veterinarians in Kentucky regarding AMU and AMR. Methods This cross-sectional study used a 30-question survey questionnaire administered to veterinarians who were members of the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association. Survey responses from 101 participants were included in the study. Descriptive statistics were computed and associations between categorical variables assessed using Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests. Firth logistic models were used to investigate predictors of “Compliance with prescription policies” and “Cost of antimicrobial affects prescription decisions”. Results Almost all (93%) respondents indicated that improper AMU contributed to selection for AMR. A total of 52% of the respondents believed that antimicrobials were appropriately prescribed, while the remaining 48% believed that antimicrobials were inappropriately prescribed. Significant predictors of compliance with prescription policies were availability of prescription policy at the veterinary facility (Odds Ratio (OR) = 4.2; p\u3c 0.001) and over-prescription (OR = 0.35; p = 0.025). Similarly, significant predictors of cost of antimicrobials affecting prescription decisions were lack of post-graduate training (OR = 8.3; p = 0.008) and practice type, with large animal practices having significantly lower odds of the outcome (OR = 0.09; p = 0.004) than small animal practices. Conclusion Most veterinarians indicated that improper AMU contributed to selection for AMR. Since the odds of compliance with prescription policies were 4-times higher among veterinarians working at facilities that had prescription policies compared to those at facilities that didn’t, more veterinary facilities should be encouraged to adopt prescription policies to help improve compliance and reduce AMR. Veterinarians would also benefit from continued professional education to help improve prescription practices, antimicrobial stewardship and curb AMR

Monitoring Damage Accumulation in Ceramic Matrix Composites Using Electrical Resistivity

The electric resistance of woven SiC fiber reinforced SiC matrix composites were measured under tensile loading conditions. The results show that the electrical resistance is closely related to damage and that real-time information about the damage state can be obtained through monitoring of the resistance. Such self-sensing capability provides the possibility of on-board/in-situ damage detection and accurate life prediction for high-temperature ceramic matrix composites. Woven silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC/SiC) ceramic matrix composites (CMC) possess unique properties such as high thermal conductivity, excellent creep resistance, improved toughness, and good environmental stability (oxidation resistance), making them particularly suitable for hot structure applications. In specific, CMCs could be applied to hot section components of gas turbines [1], aerojet engines [2], thermal protection systems [3], and hot control surfaces [4]. The benefits of implementing these materials include reduced cooling air requirements, lower weight, simpler component design, longer service life, and higher thrust [5]. It has been identified in NASA High Speed Research (HSR) program that the SiC/SiC CMC has the most promise for high temperature, high oxidation applications [6]. One of the critical issues in the successful application of CMCs is on-board or insitu assessment of the damage state and an accurate prediction of the remaining service life of a particular component. This is of great concern, since most CMC components envisioned for aerospace applications will be exposed to harsh environments and play a key role in the vehicle s safety. On-line health monitoring can enable prediction of remaining life; thus resulting in improved safety and reliability of structural components. Monitoring can also allow for appropriate corrections to be made in real time, therefore leading to the prevention of catastrophic failures. Most conventional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques such as ultrasonic C-scan, x-ray, thermography, and eddy current are limited since they require structural components of complex geometry to be taken out of service for a substantial length of time for post-damage inspection and assessment. Furthermore, the typical NDE techniques are useful for identifying large interlaminar flaws, but insensitive to CMC materials flaws developed perpendicular to the surface under tensile creep conditions. There are techniques such as piezoelectric sensor [7,8], and optical fiber [9,10] that could be used for on-line health monitoring of CMC structures. However, these systems involve attaching an external sensor or putting special fibers in CMC composites, which would be problematic at high temperature applications

Acceleration management: the semiconductor industry confronts the 21st century

In the recent generations of semiconductor devices, the semiconductor industry has been accelerating towards the limits of the physical sciences. As a consequence, technology managers in that industry face seven major challenges, which will threaten progress: process, complexity, performance, power, density, productivity, and quality / reliability. We believe that confronting these challenges requires a new approach to technology management both within organizations and between organizations that form the backbone of the industry. We call this new approach Acceleration Management. Acceleration Management first requires that firms cultivate deep technical knowledge and inspire creative solutions to seemingly insoluble technical problems. The second stage of Acceleration Management requires the necessary expertise to be pooled, which often demands inter-organizational cooperation. This paper explores these managerial imperatives and analyzes how new semiconductor firms--particularly in China--have created niches in the value chain even during a tumultuous time in the industry\u27s history

Polar phonons and intrinsic dielectric response of the ferromagnetic insulating spinel CdCr2_2S4_4 from first principles

We have studied the dielectric properties of the ferromagnetic spinel CdCr$_2$S$_4$ from first principles. Zone-center phonons and Born effective charges were calculated by frozen-phonon and Berry phase techniques within LSDA+U. We find that all infrared-active phonons are quite stable within the cubic space group. The calculated static dielectric constant agrees well with previous measurements. These results suggest that the recently observed anomalous dielectric behavior in CdCr$_2$S$_4$ is not due to the softening of a polar mode. We suggest further experiments to clarify this point

First principles investigation of ferroelectricity in epitaxially strained Pb2_2TiO4_4

The structure and polarization of the as-yet hypothetical Ruddlesden-Popper compound Pb$_2$TiO$_4$ are investigated within density-functional theory. Zone enter phonons of the high-symmetry K$_2$NiF$_4$-type reference structure, space group $I4/mmm$, were calculated. At the theoretical ground-state lattice constants, there is one unstable infrared-active phonon. This phonon freezes in to give the $I2mm$ ferroelectric state. As a function of epitaxial strain, two additional ferroelectric phases are found, with space groups $I4mm$ and $F2mm$ at compressive and tensile strains, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Vaccine-induced skewing of T cell responses protects against Chikungunya virus disease

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infections can cause severe and debilitating joint and muscular pain that can be long lasting. Current CHIKV vaccines under development rely on the generation of neutralizing antibodies for protection; however, the role of T cells in controlling CHIKV infection and disease is still unclear. Using an overlapping peptide library, we identified the CHIKV-specific T cell receptor epitopes recognized in C57BL/6 infected mice at 7 and 14 days post-infection. A fusion protein containing peptides 451, 416, a small region of nsP4, peptide 47, and an HA tag (CHKVf5) was expressed using adenovirus and cytomegalovirus-vectored vaccines. Mice vaccinated with CHKVf5 elicited robust T cell responses to higher levels than normally observed following CHIKV infection, but the vaccine vectors did not elicit neutralizing antibodies. CHKVf5-vaccinated mice had significantly reduced infectious viral load when challenged by intramuscular CHIKV injection. Depletion of both CD