The aesthetic life of artificial flavors

Abstract

Artificiality is usually understood as that which is man-made and is in contraposition to the natural. The term itself is increasingly recognized as a negative pole, while the label of “natural” is exploited as guarantee of healthiness in marketing food campaigns. This article takes issue with the natural/artificial debate by emphasizing the aesthetic side of artificial flavorings – chemical substances designed to alter or enhance the taste of processed foods. Here, I reconsider the conception of artificiality as a poor imitation of nature and instead underline the link between technology and aesthetics, by examining the practice of flavorists. Through ethnographic detail I call for moving the synthetic out of the “inauthentic” and argue that the attempt to mimic natural flavors through synthesis is not only an act of imitation and resemblance (as critics exclusively contend) but can also be thought as an act of representation and interpretation (as my fieldwork illuminates).     

A comparison of micro versus macro point estimators for markov-process models

We compare, by means of factorially designed Monte Carlo simulation experiments, the performance of (macro-data) restricted least-squares point estimators with that of (micro-data) maximum likelihood estimators for Markov-process models. We find, by various measures of estimator accuracy, that micro data are approximately ten times more valuable than macro data. We also find evidence that a small state space, a long time series, and a large number of entities observed enhance performance.     

Individualism and Collectivism in Israeli Society: Comparing Religious and Secular High-School Students

Triandis' theoretical framework, concerningcultural patterns labeled individualism andcollectivism, is probed with regard to the religiousmarker in the Israeli Jewish society. Three methods areused to examine collectivism-individualismconstructs in 185 religious and 956 secular high schoolstudents: value items, interest in different domains ofhistory, and attitudes toward political issues. A common collective basis of mutual value consensus wasfound in the two groups; however, as predicted, therewere differences between secular and religious studentson the three kinds of items, since the religious scored higher than the secular students onitems emphasizing collectivist orientation. Thedifferences, however, do not fit the common theoreticalframework of collectivism-individualism, but rather tend to reflect the distinction between in-group anduniversal collectivism.     

基于消费者隐性需求的营销模式研究策略

消费者隐性需求的相关理论和实践研究逐渐受到国内外学者的重视,这对于营销理论的再造和营销学的演进具有一定的理论价值。本文从营销范式的演进规律归纳得出,营销范式的转换归根结底源于隐性需求的开发。在此基础上,对传统营销模式及营销组合对隐性需求研究的普适性进行了检验,并探讨了基于隐性需求的4Vs营销模式及其现实意义。     

Joint supplier selection and scheduling of customer orders under disruption risks: Single vs. dual sourcing

This paper presents a stochastic mixed integer programming approach to integrated supplier selection and customer order scheduling in the presence of supply chain disruption risks, for a single or dual sourcing strategy. The suppliers are assumed to be located in two different geographical regions: in the producer's region (domestic suppliers) and outside the producer's region (foreign suppliers). The supplies are subject to independent random local disruptions that are uniquely associated with a particular supplier and to random semi-global (regional) disruptions that may result in disruption of all suppliers in the same geographical region simultaneously. The domestic suppliers are relatively reliable but more expensive, while the foreign suppliers offer competitive prices, however material flows from these suppliers are more exposed to unexpected disruptions. Given a set of customer orders for products, the decision maker needs to decide which single supplier or which two different suppliers, one from each region, to select for purchasing parts required to complete the customer orders and how to schedule the orders over the planning horizon, to mitigate the impact of disruption risks. The problem objective is either to minimize total cost or to maximize customer service level. The obtained combinatorial stochastic optimization problem will be formulated as a mixed integer program with conditional value-at-risk as a risk measure. The risk-neutral and risk-averse solutions that optimize, respectively average and worst-case performance of a supply chain are compared for a single and dual sourcing strategy and for the two different objective functions. Numerical examples and computational results are presented and some managerial insights on the choice between the two sourcing strategies are reported.     

论房屋承租人的优先购买权--以《合同法》第230条存在的必要性为视角

现行合同法对房屋承租人的保护主要体现在两方面:一是赋予房屋承租人优先购买权;二是“买卖不破租赁”。但房屋承租人的优先购买权虽是一项法定权利,承租人行使优先购买权的具体条件和方式,在实践中往往缺乏操作性,并且现实中鲜有发生;《合同法》第229条规定的“买卖不破租赁”已经能够有效保障承租人的权利。况且,随着我国住房制度的深入改革与房地产交易活动的频繁,这样的偏向性法律保护势必妨碍和限制私权,有悖于现代民法的精神。故笔者认为,在将来修改、完善法律时应当删除230条,从立法上取缔对房屋承租人优先购买权的保护。     

Value Traits Reinforcement and Perceived Importance: Does Context Matter?

This study examines whether business students' perception of value trait reinforcement and importance differ by their university context. Student perceptions in coeducational religious, coeducational public and all-female religious schools were compared. The results of this study indicate areas of similarity and differences among students in regard to the context of school type and that reinforcement differences seemed to contribute to the differences. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Reversing welfare reform? Immigrant restoration efforts and food stamp receipt among Mexican immigrant families

The safety net that immigrants face today differs significantly from the immediate post-Welfare Reform era in terms of eligibility and economic context. To inform debates on immigrant access to the safety net, this paper examines implications of the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, which restored food stamp eligibility to nearly two-thirds of immigrants who lost eligibility under Welfare Reform. Using data from the 1995–2013 Current Population Survey and a difference-in-difference design, I examine how restoration efforts have influenced food stamp participation and food insecurity rates among low-income Mexican immigrant households with children. I then examine trends in food stamp receipt across policy and economic changes since Welfare Reform. Overall, results suggest that immigrant restoration efforts have reversed some but not all of the negative consequences of Welfare Reform and that immigrant households' use of food stamps has increased, particularly in the wake of the Great Recession.     

Senior Centers

Abstract

This article explores the degree of influence of the racial and linguistic characteristics of staff and the availability of culturally diverse programs on the level of minority elder participation in senior centers. Two hundred twenty senior centers, recreation clubs, nutrition sites, and local Area Agencies of Aging in New York State were surveyed and comprise the study population. The impact of factors such as the racial/ethnic backgrounds of the senior center staff, linguistic abilities of the staff/administrators, and the availability of culturally specific programs on the level of participation among non-Caucasian elderly were evaluated. The study found that increasing the representation of minority staff and diverse programming, increases the level of participation of minority elders in senior centers. These findings provide the framework for recommendations to increase the representation of non-Caucasian staff in senior centers. Doing so will lead to a greater diversity of senior center consumers and allow senior centers to reach out to traditionally under-served populations.     

A Collectivity of Impaired Elderly in an Acute Care Hospital

This paper describes practice in a collectivity of im- paired, elderly patients in an acute care hospital, and explores work- er and entity development through the use of a qualitative research design. The study indicates that the mobilization of essential sub- systems enhanced the potential of this helping form. The study also suggests that worker competence preceded entity development, and that both were influenced positively by the research methodology that was employed. The impact of the improved collectivity on the hospital system is discussed.