Incentives and disincentives for reducing sugar in manufactured foods: An exploratory supply chain analysis

This policy brief presents the results of a novel food supply chain analysis that identifies insights for governments to consider when designing sugar reduction strategies. It explores the incentives and disincentives to using sugar in manufactured foods throughout the “sugar supply chain” – the actors and activities that take sugar from farm to fork. It draws on the perspectives of entities working inside this sugar supply chain to explore the following key questions: • What are the incentives and disincentives for industry to reduce the amount of sugar in manufactured food and drink products? • At what point along the supply chain do these incentives and disincentives operate? • Are there opportunities to effectively enhance the incentives and/or lessen the disincentives for reducing sugar

Resource consents - intangible fixed assets? Yes, but, too difficult by far!

Recent international attempts to draft an accounting standard (IAS38) which establishes the most widely acceptable treatment for intangible assets have sparked debate among standard setters, practising accountants and media analysts. Contentious issues include differing treatment for internally and externally generated intangible fixed assets, and the requirement for the existence of a ready market for the exchange of intangible assets. A further question has been identified, that of whether the ‘right to do something’, as in permission to act, is in itself an intangible asset and if so how should it be treated. An example of this is resource consents issued under the Resource Management Act 1991. The aim of this research was to investigate the nature of resource consents as intangible assets according to ICANZ disclosure and recognition standards and to determine the level of disclosure practised by companies listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. Disclosure of resource consent details as non-financial information would provide a significant proportion of the benefits involved in disclosing this class of asset while limiting the costs involved in the production of the information. We conclude that the details of resource consents held should be disclosed in the annual report as additional non-financial information, or as a separate schedule of resource consents held in the notes to the financial statements as per FRS1. This view is not addressed by the requirements of IAS38 or ED87 as this 'class of intangible assets' is not discussed at all. However, it can be argued that the omission of resource consents and other similar intangibles is contrary to the spirit of the true and fair view requirement of the Financial Reporting Act and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

Web assisted teaching: an undergraduate experience

The emergence of the Internet has created a number of claims as to the future of education and the possibility of dramatically changing the way in which education is delivered. Much of the attention has focussed on the adoption of teaching methods that are solely web-based. We set out to incorporate web-based teaching as support for more traditional teaching methods to improve the learning outcomes for students. This first step into web-based teaching was developed to harness the benefits of web-based teaching tools without supplanting traditional teaching methods. The aim of this paper is to report our experience with web-assisted teaching in two undergraduate courses, Accounting Information Systems and Management Accounting Services, during 2000. The paper evaluates the approach taken and proposes a tentative framework for developing future web-assisted teaching applications. We believe that web-assisted and web-based teaching are inevitable outcomes of the telecommunications and computer revolution and that academics cannot afford to become isolated from the on-line world. A considered approach is needed to ensure the integration of web-based features into the overall structure of a course. The components of the course material and the learning experiences students are exposed to need to be structured and delivered in a way that ensures they support student learning rather than replacing one form of learning with another. Therefore a careful consideration of the structure, content, level of detail and time of delivery needs to be integrated to create a course structure that provides a range of student learning experiences that are complimentary rather than competing. The feedback was positive from both extramural (distance) and internal students, demonstrating to us that web sites can be used as an effective teaching tool in support of more traditional teaching methods as well as a tool for distance education. The ability to harness the positives of the web in conjunction with more traditional teaching modes is one that should not be overlooked in the move to adopt web based instruction methods. Web-based teaching need not be seen as an all or nothing divide but can be used as a useful way of improving the range and type of learning experiences open to students. The Web challenges traditional methods and thinking but it also provides tools to develop innovative solutions to both distance and on campus learning. Further research is needed to determine how we can best meet the needs of our students while maintaining high quality learning outcomes

Management accounting education: is there a gap between academia and practitioner perceptions?

A mail survey was conducted of all Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand accredited Tertiary Education Institutions and 300 randomly selected New Zealand companies to ascertain the views of management accounting academics and practitioners on the contents of management accounting courses and the skills and competencies of recent graduates. The results show that practitioners placed an emphasis on traditional management accounting techniques, while academics placed an emphasis on contemporary techniques. Both groups were in agreement on the skills and characteristics required of recent graduates. An interesting finding was the emergence of negative comments on the arrogance of new graduates and an increased need for graduates to be work ready. These two aspects were not a feature of previous studies. The implications of the results are that academics cannot ignore the teaching of traditional management accounting techniques and may need to increase the coverage of the issues involved in implementing contemporary management accounting techniques

Wake in faint television meteors

The two component dustball model was used in numerical lag computation. Detached grain lag is typically less than 2 km, with expected wakes of a few hundred meters. True wake in television meteors is masked by apparent wake due to the combined effects of image persistence and blooming. To partially circumvent this problem, we modified a dual MCP intensified CID video system by addition of a rotating shutter to reduce the effective exposure time to about 2.0 ms. Preliminary observations showed that only 2 of 27 analyzed meteors displayed statistically significant wake

Five steps towards a global reset: lessons from COVID-19

COVID-19 has stimulated calls for a "Global Reset" to address major global challenges and "build back better." This Intelligence Briefing makes the case that the experience of COVID-19 itself, and in particular the role of multiple systems in the cause, severity and effects of the pandemic, shines light on the vital steps needed to advance a Global Reset. It brings together the evidence that the causes, severity and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from the interconnections between multiple systems, notably environmental, health, political, social, economic and food systems. It then uses this evidence to identify five practical steps needed to advance a global reset. First, train systems leaders. Second, employ a new cadre of “systems connectors.” Third, identify solutions across systems. Fourth, manage trade-offs for the long- and short-term. Fifth, kickstart system redesign for co-benefits. Implementing these steps will be extraordinarily challenging given the short-term imperative to recover. But for any business, organisation, government or UN agency serious about addressing long-term sustainability challenges, the opportunity is there to use these five practical actions to press the global reset button

An evaluation of the development and implementation of a clinical guideline for nurse led extubation of adult coronary artery bypass graft patients

Research Question Does standardising nursing practice through the implementation of a clinical guideline for extubating adult cardiac surgical patients early improve patient care? Aims Evaluate the development and implementation of a clinical guideline for nurse-led extubation of adult cardiac surgical patients at one centre in the United Kingdom. Objectives Methods 1. Provide a systematic overview of the evidence base for early extubation (Hawkes et al., 2003). 2. Quantify the impact on professional practice of standardising care through the use of the guideline (interrupted time series (ITS». 3. Explore the results of the ITS and identify important factors for the successful implementation of the guideline (qualitative study). A mixed methods approach in a single case study was used. New evidence in the form of a systematic review, including a meta-analysis, of existing evidence for early extubation was used to meet Objective One. An ITS study was used to quantify the impact of implementing the guideline. The third objective was met through a qualitative study drawing on applied practitioner ethnography. The last two parts contribute unique evidence because there was no such existing evaluation of a nursing guideline for extubating cardiac surgical patients. Analysis The systematic review's meta-analysis used relative risk and weighted mean differences. The ITS analysis used exponential models to compare predicted values with actual values to assess the impact of the guideline. Qualitative data were analysed to identify themes, using the framework approach (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994). Results Early extubation reduces intensive care unit and hospital length of stay; the evidence for its impact on mortality and morbidity is weak. Evidence to support various decision making processes for early extubation is also lacking. The ITS demonstrated no changes in the outcomes studied. The guideline developed was a consensus of existing practice. However, while it did not change patient care, it maintained standards in a changing environment