Pragmatic engagement in a low trust supply chain: Beef farmers’ perceptions of power, trust and agency

The academic discussion of power in supply chains has changed from a discussion of the use of coercive power to one which emphasizes the role of trust in embedding co-operation and disincentivizing opportunism. Whilst a number of empirical studies have suggested the former is alive and well, this paper argues that power relations may also be constituted by the self-perceptions of weaker actors as much as by the explicit actions of more powerful ones. This study explores the role of power through the perceptions of subjugated actors, which set the ‘rules of the game’. Our case centres on perceptions of Northern Irish beef farmers and their reflections on their ‘powerlessness’ in relation to the larger, more consolidated processors that they sell to. We find that the way farmers make sense of the power relations they encounter is influenced by the individuating character of the power relations exercised by the processors, which debilitates their ability to collaborate and resist collectively. What emerges is a story about the process of accommodation whereby farmers pragmatically resign themselves to play by ‘the rules of the game’ to remain ‘part of the game’

Low vs high field 1h NMR spectroscopy for the detection of adulteration of cold pressed rapeseed oil with refined oils

Cold pressed rapeseed oil (CPRO) is a relatively recent development in rapeseed processing, which produces a quality product with a high market value. High field NMR (400 MHz) is a well-established tool in food analysis, while low-field NMR (60 MHz) is much less studied. This study aims to establish the effectiveness of both techniques in identifying binary adulteration in CPRO. Three adulteration scenarios were investigated: a) CPRO and refined rapeseed oil (RRO); b) CPRO and refined sunflower oil (RSO); and c) CPRO and RRO or RSO. A range of classification techniques were trialled as well as partial least squares regression to gauge predictive quantification performance. The 400 MHz NMR achieved classification rates of 100% in the scenarios with a single adulterant, and 93% in the multiple adulterant scenario. The 60 MHz NMR produced lower but still encouraging classification rates (RSO 92%; RRO 85%; both RRO and RSO 87%)

A flavour of omics approaches for the detection of food fraud

Food fraud has been identified as an increasing problem on a global scale with wide-ranging economic, social, health and environmental impacts. Omics and their related techniques, approaches, and bioanalytical platforms incorporate a significant number of scientific areas which have the potential to be applied to and significantly reduce food fraud and its negative impacts. In this overview we consider a selected number of very recent studies where omics techniques were applied to detect food authenticity and could be implemented to ensure food integrity. We postulate that significant reductions in food fraud, with the assistance of omics technologies and other approaches, will result in less food waste, decreases in energy use as well as greenhouse gas emissions, and as a direct consequence of this, increases in quality, productivity, yields, and the ability of food systems to be more resilient and able to withstand future food shocks

Stimulation of the Pro-Resolving Receptor Fpr2 Reverses Inflammatory Microglial Activity by Suppressing NFκB Activity

Neuroinflammation driven primarily by microglia directly contributes to neuronal death in many neurodegenerative diseases. Classical anti-inflammatory approaches aim to suppress pro-inflammatory mediator production, but exploitation of inflammatory resolution may also be of benefit. A key driver of peripheral inflammatory resolution, formyl peptide receptor 2 (Fpr2), is expressed by microglia, but its therapeutic potential in neurodegeneration remains unclear. Here, we studied whether targeting of Fpr2 could reverse inflammatory microglial activation induced by the potent bacterial inflammogen lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Exposure of murine primary or immortalised BV2 microglia to LPS triggered pro-inflammatory phenotypic change and activation of ROS production, effects significantly attenuated by subsequent treatment with the Fpr2 agonist C43. Mechanistic studies showed C43 to act through p38 MAPK phosphorylation and reduction of LPS-induced NFκB nuclear translocation via prevention of IκBα degradation. Here, we provide proof-of-concept data highlighting Fpr2 as a potential target for control of microglial pro-inflammatory activity, suggesting that it may be a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of neuroinflammatory disease

A comprehensive strategy to detect the fraudulent adulteration of herbs: The oregano approach

AbstractFraud in the global food supply chain is becoming increasingly common due to the huge profits associated with this type of criminal activity. Food commodities and ingredients that are expensive and are part of complex supply chains are particularly vulnerable. Both herbs and spices fit these criteria perfectly and yet strategies to detect fraudulent adulteration are still far from robust. An FT-IR screening method coupled to data analysis using chemometrics and a second method using LC-HRMS were developed, with the latter detecting commonly used adulterants by biomarker identification. The two tier testing strategy was applied to 78 samples obtained from a variety of retail and on-line sources. There was 100% agreement between the two tests that over 24% of all samples tested had some form of adulterants present. The innovative strategy devised could potentially be used for testing the global supply chains for fraud in many different forms of herbs

Synchronization and Control in Intrinsic and Designed Computation: An Information-Theoretic Analysis of Competing Models of Stochastic Computation

We adapt tools from information theory to analyze how an observer comes to synchronize with the hidden states of a finitary, stationary stochastic process. We show that synchronization is determined by both the process's internal organization and by an observer's model of it. We analyze these components using the convergence of state-block and block-state entropies, comparing them to the previously known convergence properties of the Shannon block entropy. Along the way, we introduce a hierarchy of information quantifiers as derivatives and integrals of these entropies, which parallels a similar hierarchy introduced for block entropy. We also draw out the duality between synchronization properties and a process's controllability. The tools lead to a new classification of a process's alternative representations in terms of minimality, synchronizability, and unifilarity.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures, 1 tabl

Using fNIRS to Verify Trust in Highly Automated Driving

Trust in automation is crucial for the safe and appropriate adoption of automated driving technology. Current research methods to measure trust mainly rely on subjective scales, with several intrinsic limitations. This empirical experiment proposes a novel method to measure trust objectively, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Through manipulating participants’ expectations regarding driving automation credibility, we have induced and successfully measured opposing levels of trust in automation. Most notably, our results evidence two separate yet interrelated cortical mechanisms for trust and distrust. Trust is demonstrably linked to decreased monitoring and working memory, whereas distrust is event-related and strongly tied to affective (or emotional) mechanisms. This paper evidence that trust in automation and situation awareness are strongly interrelated during driving automation usage. Our findings are crucial for developing future driver state monitoring technology that mitigates the impact of inappropriate reliance, or over trust, in automated driving systems