Consumers’ Perceptions of Novel Process Technologies: The Case of High Pressure Processed Chilled Ready Meals

Consumers’ growing concerns with regard to the food supply chain continue to influence their perceptions of emerging novel food processes. The main objective of this study was to explore consumers’ perceptions and potential purchase motivations for chilled ready meals produced using high pressure processing. In-depth one-to-one soft laddering interviews were conducted in-home with 40 purchasers of chilled ready meals, aged between 18 and 44 years, living in Dublin City and County, Ireland. The in-depth discussions explored a range of issues concerning consumers’ acceptance of high pressure processing, as well as their preferences for high pressure processed chilled ready meal concepts. The results of the study showed that consumers were generally receptive towards high pressure processing of chilled ready meals. Subsequent discussions revealed where consumer acceptance issues could potentially arise concerning the application of high pressure processing to chilled ready meals. The soft laddering technique revealed distinct differences between consumer groups across consumption patterns and life stages with regard to their purchase preferences and potential purchase motivations. The insights generated from this research can assist companies design consumer-relevant communication strategies, which effectively differentiate high pressure processed chilled ready meal from incumbent products.Means-end Chain, Consumer Acceptance, Novel Process Technologies., Agricultural and Food Policy,

Do Start-Ups Pay Less?

The authors analyze Danish registry data from 1991 to 2006 to determine how firm age and firm size influence wages. Unadjusted statistics suggest that smaller firms paid less than larger firms paid, and that firm age had little or no bearing on wages. After adjusting for differences in the characteristics of employees hired by these firms, however, they observe both firm age and firm size effects. Larger firms paid more than did smaller firms for observationally equivalent individuals but, contrary to conventional wisdom, younger firms paid more than older firms. The size effect, however, dominates the age effect. Thus, although the typical start-up — being both young and small — paid less than a more established employer, the largest start-ups paid a wage premium

Food Miles, Carbon Footprinting and their potential impact on trade

To obtain market access for NZ food exports to high value developed country markets exporters are having to comply and consider environmental factors such as carbon footprinting. This growth in demand for environmental attributes is shown in the rise of the food miles debate or concept. Food miles is a concept which has gained traction with the popular press arguing that the further food travels the more energy is used and therefore carbons emissions are greater. This paper assesses, using the same methodology, whether this is the case by comparing NZ production shipped to the UK with a UK source. The study found that due to the different production systems even when shipping was accounted for NZ dairy products used half the energy of their UK counterpart and in the case of lamb a quarter of the energy. In the case of apples the NZ source was 10 per cent more energy efficient. In case of onions whilst NZ used slightly more energy in production the energy cost of shipping was less than the cost of storage in the UK making NZ onions more energy efficient overall. The paper then explores other developments in market access to developed markets especially the rise in demand for products to be carbon footprinted and the introduction of carbon labelling. A review of latest methodology in carbon footprinting the PAS from the UK is reviewed and implications for trade assessed.

The Illegality of Resentencing

The Supreme Court in United States v. Booker held that mandatory application of the United States Sentencing Guidelines is inherently unconstitutional, and, to preserve the federal sentencing structure, it excised several provisions of the United States Code that required district courts to adhere to the Guidelines in sentencing criminal defendants. Yet, the Court did not address one provision of the Code, 18 U.S.C § 3742(g)(2), that still requires district courts to adhere to the Guidelines in resentencing criminal defendants. This article explores this provision and concludes that it renders all resentencing in the federal system illegal, in violation of either the statute or the Constitution. District courts are called upon to recognize the unconstitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 3742(g)(2) sua sponte and to excise it from the United States Code

The Impact of Situational Constraints, Role Stressors, and Commitment on Employee Altruism

This study investigated relations between 3 work-related stressors (role ambiguity, role conflict, and organizational constraints) and altruistic behavior in the workplace. It was predicted that each stressor would be negatively related to altruism and that these relations would be moderated by affective commitment (AC). Data from 144 incumbent-supervisor dyads revealed that all 3 stressors; were weakly and negatively related to altruism. Two of these relationships were moderated by AC, although not as predicted. Organizational constraints were positively related to altruism among those reporting high levels of AC but negatively related among those reporting low levels of AC. The pattern was exactly opposite for role conflict. Implications of these findings are discussed

Real-Time Temperature Sensing Using a Ratiometric Dual Fluorescent Protein Biosensor

Accurate temperature control within biological and chemical reaction samples and instrument calibration are essential to the diagnostic, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. This is particularly challenging for microlitre-scale reactions typically used in real-time PCR applications and differential scanning fluorometry. Here, we describe the development of a simple, inexpensive ratiometric dual fluorescent protein temperature biosensor (DFPTB). A combination of cycle three green fluorescent protein and a monomeric red fluorescent protein enabled the quantification of relative temperature changes and the identification of temperature discrepancies across a wide temperature range of 4–70 °C. The maximal sensitivity of 6.7% °C−1 and precision of 0.1 °C were achieved in a biologically relevant temperature range of 25–42 °C in standard phosphate-buffered saline conditions at a pH of 7.2. Good temperature sensitivity was achieved in a variety of biological buffers and pH ranging from 4.8 to 9.1. The DFPTB can be used in either purified or mixed bacteria-encapsulated formats, paving the way for in vitro and in vivo applications for topologically precise temperature measurements