Trust and functional foods. New products,old issues

Trust in the "agro-food" sector has been declining in recent years reflecting a general decline of trust in traditional decision making processes. The introduction of new technologies in the production of foods re-introduces the problem of trust and highlights the parameters affecting its structure and direction. This paper discusses the issue of trust in relation to the introduction of functional foods into the market. Trust is assessed as both a philosophical and a psychological construct with particular emphasis on its communication aspects. The paper ends with specific recommendations for action in the agro-food sector. This paper partly reflects work done with Professor Cees Midden, Technical University of Eindhoven, as part of an expert technology assessment project for the Europaeische Akademie Bad Neuenahr Ahrweiler GmbH.     

Digital publishing: tools and products

Summary Electronic publications are not accessible without technical aids and need constant, time consuming attention; a look back at the data media and data formats utilized in the past 25 years illustrates this. Recently, an increasing number of conferences and studies address the problem. Use of standard data formats, media and platform independence of data, as well as data centering instead of process centering are requirements for long-term availability. For the humanities, texts are not only the sources of information but also objects of scholarly investigation. Therefore publication in a presentation format only is not sufficient. In addition to more sophisticated tools for analysis, search and navigation, a form of publication is required which does not focus on layout but gives easy access to the content and structure of the published document. Both for the creation and the scholarly evaluation of such documents, tools are required which offer additional functions compared to those provided by commercial publication and access tools. The necessary flexibility is guaranteed by the provision of basic functions of text data processing which do not anticipate or preclude any particular questions. This is illustrated by examples for the evaluation and preparation of digital texts.

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Zusammenfassung Elektronische Publikationen sind nicht ohne technische Hilfsmittel zug?nglich und bedürfen st?ndiger aufw?ndiger Pflege; ein Rückblick auf in den letzten 25 Jahren verbreitete Datentr?ger und Datenformate veranschaulicht dies. In jüngster Zeit ist das Problem vermehrt Gegenstand von Kongressen und Studien. Verwendung von Standard-Datenformaten, Medienneutralit?t und Plattformunabh?ngigkeit der Daten sowie Daten-Zentrierung statt Prozess-Zentrierung sind Voraussetzungen für l?ngerfristige Verfügbarkeit. Für die Geisteswissenschaften sind Texte nicht nur Informationsquellen, sondern selbst Gegenstand wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen. Deshalb reicht die Publikation in einem Pr?sentationsformat nicht aus. Neben ausgefeilteren Erschlie?ungs-, Such- und Navigationsinstrumenten wird eine Form der Publikation gefordert, bei der nicht das Layout in Vordergrund steht, sondern auch Inhalt und Struktur der publizierten Dokumente zug?nglich sind. Sowohl für die Erstellung als auch für die wissenschaftliche Auswertung solcher Dokumente werden Werkzeuge ben?tigt, deren Funktionsumfang über den kommerzieller Publikations- und Zugriffswerkzeuge hinausgeht. Die notwendige Flexibilit?t wird durch die Bereitstellung von Grundfunktionen der Textdatenverarbeitung gew?hrleistet, die keine bestimmte Fragestellung vorwegnimmt oder ausschlie?t. Dies wird an zwei Beispielen zur Auswertung und zur Vorbereitung elektronisch verfügbarer Texte aufgezeigt.

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Résumé Les publications électroniques ne sont pas accessibles sans auxiliaires techniques et nécessitent un entretien minutieux et constant ; un regard sur les supports et formats de données des 25 dernières années en témoigne. Plus récemment, le problème est l’objet de congrès et d’études. L’utilisation de formats de données standard, la neutralité des médias et des données indépendantes de plates-formes, de même que le centrage sur les données au lieu du centrage sur les processus sont les conditions d’une disponibilité à long terme. Pour les sciences humaines, les textes ne sont pas seulement source d’information, mais font eux-mêmes l’objet d’études scientifiques. C’est pourquoi leur publication dans un seul format de présentation ne suffit pas. Outre les instruments d’étude, de recherche et de navigation, il est nécessaire de disposer d’une forme de publication qui ne mette pas la présentation au premier plan, mais qui donne également accès au contenu et à la structure des documents publiés. Tant l’élaboration que l’analyse scientifique de tels documents requièrent des outils dont l’étendue excède ce que proposent les outils de publication et d’accès commerciaux. La flexibilité indispensable doit être garantie par la présence de fonctions de base dans le traitement de texte qui n’impliquent ni n’excluent aucun questionnement donné. Ceci est démontré par deux exemples d’analyse et de préparation de textes disponibles sous forme électronique.

     

Altruism and culture as social products

The historical core of the independent sector is comprised of churches, charitable organisations and higher education. What distinguishes these and other independent sector organisations from the governmental and commercial sectors is the fact that participation in the independent sector is free from state compulsion and not for the purpose of monetary gain. The independent sector is a modern development which could not have occurred without the disestablishment of religion. Disestablished churches have given rise to secular charities, higher education and other independent sector organisations in the United States. The independent sector is the arena in which cultural production and altruistic activities with a distinctive moral quality take place. Participation in the independent sector is the only mechanism for status legitimation in a democractic society with no compulsory state religion or traditional forms of authority.     

住宅产品的变化和发展趋势

在过去的十几年中,随着商品房的出现和发展以及相关领域的相互渗透,住宅设计涉及的相关学科越来越广泛,住宅质量以及人居环境发生了巨大的变化,住宅设计不仅考虑了客观、硬件的完善,而且越来越多地兼顾到了人文、主观的心理要求,设计本身有了很大的技术提高;商品房市场也在不断地成长、成熟;环境设计也提到日程上来,并受到了高度的重视.     

新世纪新机遇新发展

改革开放二十年来,中国旅游业的发展从无到有、从小到大,到2000年已经达到年接待入境旅游者8300多万人次、创汇160多亿美元、国内国际旅游业总收入达4500亿元的规模.中国旅游业作为国民经济新的经济增长点,目前正进入全面加速发展时期,并越来越焕发出朝阳产业的魅力.     

住宅产业要大力推进产品创新

国家大力发展社会经济的基本方针与经济全球化的不断推进,使我国住宅产业面临良好发展机遇.随着国家宏观经济政策的调整和住宅消费中部分影响因素的变化,我国住宅市场的发展将呈现出一些新趋势,部分类型的住宅产品将成为市场追捧的热点.为此,住宅产业必须适应市场发展需要,大力加强产品创新.     

移动通信产品展示自动摘机体验系统

介绍了移动通信产品展示自动摘机体验系统的实现方案,详细描述了系统的组成以及工作原理.整个系统由摘机/挂机触发装置、防盗报警控制装置以及硬件控制器与PC机的通信软件部分组成,系统具有设计简单、可靠性高、运行方便等特点.系统采用C8051F020单片机作为CPU进行控制,结构简单,还可进行多种功能的扩展,并且简化了外围电路.     

Embedded systems engineering for products and services design

Systems engineering (SE) professionals strive to develop new techniques to enhance the value of contributions to multidisciplinary smart product design teams. Products and services designers challenge themselves to search beyond the traditional design concept of addressing the physical, social, and cognitive factors. This paper covers the application of embedded user-centered systems engineering design practices into work processes based on the ISO 13407 framework [20] to support smart systems and services design and development. As practitioners collaborate to investigate alternative smart product designs, they concentrate on creating valuable products which will enhance positive interaction. This paper capitalizes on the need to follow a user-centered SE approach to smart products design [4, 22]. Products and systems intelligence should embrace a positive approach to user-centered design while improving our understanding of usable value-adding, experience and extending our knowledge of what inspires others to design enjoyable services and products.     

新北京，新标志

2005年1月12日,国务院批准了《北京城市总体规划(20042020)》,该规划将北京未来15年的发展目标确定为"国家首都、世界城市、文化名城和宜居城市",同时全面实现现代化,确立具有鲜明特色的现代国际城市的地位.新规划提出构建"两轴-两带-多中心"的新城市空间格局,将在北京市域范围内建设包括奥林匹克中心区、中央商务区、中关村高科技园区核心区等多个服务全国、面向世界的城市职能中心.     

Smallholder participation and certification of organic farm products in Mexico

Organic and other environmental and social marketing devices seek to connect producers and consumers more directly and reward environmentally and socially superior production systems. Some researchers have observed that these schemes may introduce mechanisms of exclusion, creating an elite group of certified smallholders while putting non-certified farmers at a distinct disadvantage and introducing division among people whose true interest may lie more in relations of solidarity and cooperation. The trade and regulatory environment that smallholder coops must navigate is increasingly complex and adaptation to its requirements has important implications for farmer organizations. Standards applied to certify smallholder production systems tend to be developed with regard to first-world consumer interests and imposed in a top–down fashion by certification agencies and intermediaries, with little or no farmer participation. Especially in the tropics, agricultural standards that reflect temperate country conditions may place unnecessary burdens on growers who attempt to meet agronomic norms that are irrelevant to local agroecologies. After providing a summary of organic farming and certification in Mexico over the past two decades, we discuss three emerging trends: the advent of contract agriculture in organic production, the appearance of a new, environmentally-based coffee certification system intended to favor bird conservation, and a recent government program to support transition to organic production. All three trends involve certain contradictions, both with the foundational social and ecological goals of organic agriculture and with the interests of small farmers.     

Use of augmented reality in the usability evaluation of products

Many characteristics of a product are evaluated during the development phase, such as function, aesthetics and manufacturing. The conception phase is supported by drawings and computer graphics, followed by physical prototypes that help evaluating the product features. The augmented reality technology has a great potential to assist the designers in this phase, reducing the development process time and costs and improving the quality of the evaluation. This paper presents a study that intends to investigate the suitability of using augmented reality to evaluate the usability of electronic products.     

Traditional and innovated gambling products: an exploration of player preferences

There is concern that recent innovations of traditional face-to-face gambling products may lead to increased harm because of the tendency for innovated products to share certain structural features with electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The VICES framework focusses on several mechanisms known to influence gambling behaviour: visual and auditory enhancements, illusions of control, cognitive complexity, expedited play and social customization. The current study applied the VICES framework to an investigation of player experiences with both traditional and innovated gambling products. Through a series of six focus groups (N = 40) with regular bingo, poker and casino table game players and sports bettors, we examined the characteristics of innovated gambling products and their influences on player experience and the risk of gambling harm. Findings suggest that traditional games are perceived as more social, more enjoyable and less harmful. This was largely attributed to the low social interaction, expedited play and increased potential for consumption that is associated with EGM-type gambling activity. Further, we suggest that VICES, pending some revision, is a valid and applicable framework by which to identify characteristics of innovated products that influence player experience and behaviour.     

A study of material composition disclosure practices in green footwear products

This work is based on the study of pioneering sustainable product development initiatives, and the analysis was guided by the cradle-to-cradle concept, which sees the waste of a given process as raw material for another, just like it happens in nature. Several studies on human factors have focused on factory conditions and workers dealing with product assembly. This research, however, relates more to consumer behavior, product use and end-of-life. The purchase of more environmentally- friendly products, in particular, is heavily influenced by the information made available by the companies. In this scenario, this article discusses three early but notable efforts on green product development, focusing on the disclosure practices adopted by the companies regarding the composition of their products. Research and data collection has focused on the footwear industry, whose products satisfy a basic human need and are ubiquitous worldwide. The use of hazardous materials and chemicals in shoe manufacturing, particularly the use of chromium - a highly toxic element - in addition to toxic solvents and adhesives and non-recyclable synthetic materials can pose serious risks to human health and the environment, even though the consumer usually is not aware of all the relevant characteristics of this kind of product.     

Ergonomic evaluation of processes and products in the manufacture of upholstery

This study aimed to perform an ergonomic evaluation of industrial processes and products - upholstered sofas - produced in the furniture cluster of Ubá-MG. The used material was collected from two sofas upholstered industries associated with the union of the furniture industries of Ubá region, located in Minas Gerais estate, Brazil. As for the product were evaluated dimensionally 29 upholstered sofas, with 12 being produced by industry "A" and 17 being produced by industry "B". As for the process, were evaluated: the socioeconomic profile of the worker and environmental factors of lighting and noise. The main results of this study showed that the upholstered sofas produced by industries, in general, fulfilled to the recommendations set out in the work in relation to the backrest height and useful seat depth. All the sofas, however, proved to be inadequate in relation to the seat height to the floor and the dimensions of the armrests Regarding environmental aspects, it was observed that in both industries, the activities in most jobs are performed under adverse conditions to the health and safety of workers and nonconformity with the limits set by Brazilian regulatory standard used in this work.