Cookbook choice a matter of self-identity

Cookbooks have long been recognised as more than instructional texts rather as a literary genre with narratives beyond the functional. This paper discusses the influences which guide choices of cookbook and cookery writer for a group of thirtysomethings with particular attention to the role that their narratives of self-identity play within this choice. In the sociology of consumption the role of self and identity is a recurring one particularly among those who view consumption as an act of integration between external objects and self, often through a process of personalisation. Whether food consumption can take on such significance is well debated but cook books in common with other forms of literature, this paper contends, become well used and take on increased symbolism for their owners. Cookbooks have a heterogeneity of style from the instructional owner manual style of Larousse through to the lifestyle led work of Oliver and Slater so that they can embody not only representations of contemporary culinary culture but also extend far beyond the kitchen to create aspirational cultural narratives. Utilising narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews this paper explores the narrative construction of self, drawn in part from attitudes towards food and cooking, outwardly manifest through choices of cookbook in order to add to understanding of symbolic consumption practice

Celebrity chefs as brand and their cookbooks as marketing communication

This paper aims to illuminate how consumers engage with celebrity chefs as marketing objects and their cookbooks as marketing communications. Based upon narrative analysis of qualitative data it suggest that celebrity chefs are acting as brands, that consumers clearly understand and engage with them on that basis and have clear understanding of their values and benefits leading to loyalty and trust in these chef brands. It further suggests that the level engagement which these chef brands can achieve is unmatched by the consumer goods brands and retailers within food marketing. It argues that while the cookbooks under these brands clearly act as product and merchandise that they should also be considered as part of the brand's marketing communication toolkit: that they play a role in driving consumer loyalty to the brand by effectively communicating its brand values and attributes. It concludes that traditional consumer goods and retailers within the grocery sector need to re-evaluate the range of marketing communications tools available to respond to the brand dominance of the celebrity chef and rethink traditional models of endorsement as they may be doing more to build the celebrity brand than associated consumer goods. Consumption, marketing communications, branding

Medicaid 1915(c) home and community-based services waivers across the states.

This article provides State-level data on the Medicaid 1915(c) home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers program. Medicaid 1915(c) waiver participants were 32 percent of the Medicaid participants in institutional care in 1997. These data document wide interstate variation in organizational oversight and program policies for the waivers. Many structural barriers to HCBS waiver growth existed. Case management services, in some form, were normative for most HCBS waiver participants, but formal mechanisms to assess client satisfaction and service quality were less common. Substantial new growth in this program may require fundamental changes in HCBS waiver policies

Monetary Policy Implications of Financial Frictions in the Czech Republic

As the global economy seems to be recovering from the 2009 financial crisis, we find it desirable to look back and analyze the Czech economy ex post. We work with a Swedish New Keynesian model of a small open economy which embeds financial frictions in light of the financial accelerator literature. Without explicitly modeling the banking sector, this model serves as a tool for understanding how a negative financial shock may spread to the real economy and how monetary policy may react. We use Bayesian techniques to estimate the model parameters to adjust the model structure closer to the evidence stemming from Czech data. Our attention focuses on a set of experiments in which we generate ex post forecasts of the economy prior to the 2009 crisis and illustrate that the monetary policy response to an upcoming crisis implied by the model with financial frictions is stronger on account of an increasing interest rate spread.Bayesian methods, financial frictions.

GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BONE SPRING FORMATION, DELAWARE BASIN, USING CHEMOSTRATIGRAPHY AND INTEGRATED PETROPHYSICS

The Delaware Basin forms part of West Texas\u27s and New Mexico’s famous petroleum-generating Permian Basin. The Bone Spring Formation is a prolific hydrocarbon producer within this basin, creating one of the world’s richest oil shales. This formation has lithological sequences that are characterized by repeating carbonate and siliciclastic intervals of a third-order cycle which can largely be correlated to highstand and lowstand systems tracts, respectively. Lithological complexity and facies change are manifested by debris flows, turbidites, and slumps. In addition to glacio-eustasy, both tectonism and broader Milankovitch cycles have influenced the depositional history. Previous investigations have utilized cores and wireline logs to provide high-resolution chemo-facies segregation, which can be correlated with reservoir and rock properties; however,core and wireline logs are sporadically collected, whereas drill cuttings are available from most wells. For this study, XRF elemental data derived from drill cuttings collected at 30 – 60ft (9 – 18m) intervals have been compared to wireline well logs. XRF measurements were categorized using hierarchical cluster and principal component analysis based on chemical facies. Chemostratigraphic units and packages were applied to generate cross-sections and facies maps to understand depositional cyclicity, terrigenous influence, grain size, ii mineralogy, organic content and rock property distribution. These data sets can be used to high-grade acreage for resource identification and storage to optimize drilling performance, completion designs and as a geosteering input

Heidegger, heterotopic dwelling and prehistoric art: an initial indication of a field of research

This paper begins to develop an interpretation of European cave art based on Martin Heidegger’s account of artistic production and ‘dwelling’ so as to indicate a potentially rich area for future research. The paper will also draw on Foucault’s account of heterotopic space and will engage with one of the key researchers on the archaeology of cave art, Randall White. The role of a work of art for Heidegger is to hold open a world. Art enables a decision to be made by a group regarding how things are going to matter for, and to, them as dwellers in their world. Works of art, on Heidegger’s account, put up for decision what will count as the highest values (the gods) for a group while determining what will prove essential for human dwelling in a world. With reference to Foucault, it will be suggested that caves are a good candidate for a heterotopic space. Caves are uncanny, numinous spaces and because of this, I suggest, they enable human beings to produce art as a world-opening event. I suggest that there is something significant about human experience in caves and I attempt to make a connection between heterotopic space, dwelling, and the art of the last Ice Age in Europe in order to point towards a novel field of research: dwelling and prehistoric art

Understanding the Effect of Extrusion Conditions on Melt Viscosity to aid in Modeling of a Single Screw Extruder with Internal Restrictions for Scale-Up Purposes.

A single screw extruder with inner restrictions that is self-heated by friction and viscous dissipation was investigated. The effect of the processing parameters: feed moisture, screw speed, and feed rate on the melt viscosity and die temperature rise were researched using a dual orifice die. The melt viscosity was also measured using an offline capillary rheometer. The offline data was compared to and used to predict the inline viscosity of the melt. Various methods such as multi-linear regression and superpositioning were used to model viscosity as a function of the processing parameters. Next, the current analytical model was evaluated using Finite Element Methods (FEM) paired with the Newton-Rhapson Method. FEM was then used to further the current analytical model to consider 2-D flow as well as nonlinear temperature rise along the screw channel. Overall, as the screw speed increased while maintaining a similar degree of screw fill, the melt viscosity decreased and the temperature rise increased. Comparisons to the offline data at higher moistures were made, but not at lower moistures due multiple dependent variables producing nonlinear behavior along with scatter in the data

Tethering Applications and Open Internet Rules for the Mobile Broadband: Lessons from the FCC-Verizon Settlement

This note investigates the regulation of mobile broadband using tethering applications as an example of how to apply net neutrality rules. Part II looks at the recent history of the FCC Open Internet regulations and the rapid advances in the speed, capabilities, and prevalence of mobile broadband as a primary means of Internet access. Part III discusses the 2012 settlement reached between Verizon and the FCC over Verizon\u27s request that Google remove tethering apps from the Android Store. Following that, Part IV assesses the merits of the FCC\u27s current approach to enforcing net neutrality policy via contractual provisions attached to the sale of blocks of the wireless spectrum at auction. Using the contrasting examples of iTether and the FCCVerizon settlement, this note will argue that the current regulatory regime is ineffective because: (a) the FCC can only control blocking of mobile tethering apps through providers subject to wireless spectrum licensing terms (which state that licensees may not block apps); (b) in most cases, platform designers (e.g. Apple and Google), not providers, do the actual blocking by pulling tethering apps from their stores; and (c) therefore, the FCC cannot control the blocking of tethering apps in most cases