Sensory and consumer research update : Fancy a glass of sherry?

Researchers in Germany have identified the major aroma components of Amontillado sherry wine, which is aged through both a biological and an oxidative step. The researchers used Sensomics analysis, a molecular sensory approach in which key aroma compounds are differentiated from the bulk of odourless volatiles.

Sensory and consumer research update : A quick and easy way to gain consumer understanding

To develop new foods or to improve existing products, it is necessary to understand how consumers perceive innovative foods, what their expectations are, which packaging they find most attractive as well as what information positively affects the purchasing decision and the acceptability of present or potential consumers.

What do you do with a High Court decision you don’t like? Legislative, judicial and academic responses to Gambotto v WCP Ltd

The decision of the High Court of Australia in Gambotto v WCP Ltd wasboth controversial and widely debated. Some saw the decision as radically altering the balance of power in corporate law by granting minority shareholders extensive new powers to prevent the compulsory acquisition of their shares and thereby impeding commercial transactions that would benefit companies. There was also concern that the principles developed by the High Court for compulsory acquisition of shares undertaken by way of amendment of the corporate constitution would apply to other forms of compulsory acquisition, and corporate law more generally, again impeding many types of corporate transactions.We analyse the responses to the High Court decision. The decision had the potential to have a significant influence on Australian corporate law and the way corporate transactions involving compulsory share acquisitions are conducted. In particular, Gambotto was considered in more than 50 subsequent judgments giving many judges the opportunity to extend the Gambotto principles into new areas.We show that the responses to Gambotto were largely negative. Initial commentary in themedia and subsequent academic commentary was mostly critical. Almost uniformly, courts decided that the principles should not be extended.Parliament responded by enacting new provisions in the corporationslegislation facilitating the compulsory acquisition of shares and limiting the application of Gambotto. We document how courts and Parliamentresponded to a decision they did not like — a decision that had the potential to have major implications for corporate law and commercial transactions.We also analyse Gambotto by placing it in the broader political context ofthe role of the High Court at the time of the decision. Gambotto was decided when the High Court was in a period of unprecedented judicial activism.Subsequently, the High Court retreated from this judicial activism and weobserve similarities in how other courts restricted the application ofGambotto.

Sensory and consumer research update : fat, salt and sugar - a new tool to measure liking

What's new? Recent highlights in sensory research. 

Identity in multicultural societies: who do we think we are?

This paper examines identity issues in multicultural Australia. In its extreme, negative form, assumptions that certain characteristics apply to all members of an ethnic group can be attributed to racism. However, the belief that individuals who share the same ethnic background have similar needs, interests and perceptions is also reflected in business, government policy and academic research. Often, ethnic groupings used for research and policy formulation are very broad and fail to take into account within-group differences. The criteria used to assess an individuals membership of an ethnic group can be problematic. Criteria based purely on objective measures such as country of birth or ethnic ancestry do not take into account acculturation processes or the degree to which individuals consider themselves to be 'ethnic '. These objective measures are complicated further as individuals may have ethnic roots from multiple countries depending on their family composition over several generations. This theory-focused paper proposes that ethnic identity should be viewed as a subjective phenomenon where individuals are likely to align themselves with the ethnic background to which they most identify. This has implications for research and policy making in multicultural societies.

Performance of building integrated solar hot water systems

The integration of solar energy systems into buildings has been the subject of considerable commercial and academic research, particularly building integrated photovoltaics. However, the integration of solar hot water systems into roofing systems has had far less attention. This paper presents the theoretical and experimental results of a novel building integrated solar hot water system developed using existing long run roofing materials.

This work shows that it is possible to achieve effective integration that maintains the aesthetics of the building and also provides useful thermal energy. The results of an unglazed 108m2 swimming pool heater and 8m2 glazed domestic hot water systems are presented.

The experimental results show that the glazed system performs close to the theoretical model and is an effective provider of hot water in certain climates. However it was also found that for larger scale building integrated solar water heating systems, special attention must be paid to the configuration and arrangement of the collectors in order to minimise problems with respect to flow distribution and its effect on collector and system efficiency.