A critical evaluation of the volume, relevance and quality of evidence submitted by the tobacco industry to oppose standardised packaging of tobacco products

OBJECTIVES: To examine the volume, relevance and quality of transnational tobacco corporations' (TTCs) evidence that standardised packaging of tobacco products 'won't work', following the UK government's decision to 'wait and see' until further evidence is available. DESIGN: Content analysis. SETTING: We analysed the evidence cited in submissions by the UK's four largest TTCs to the UK Department of Health consultation on standardised packaging in 2012. OUTCOME MEASURES: The volume, relevance (subject matter) and quality (as measured by independence from industry and peer-review) of evidence cited by TTCs was compared with evidence from a systematic review of standardised packaging . Fisher's exact test was used to assess differences in the quality of TTC and systematic review evidence. 100% of the data were second-coded to validate the findings: 94.7% intercoder reliability; all differences were resolved. RESULTS: 77/143 pieces of TTC-cited evidence were used to promote their claim that standardised packaging 'won't work'. Of these, just 17/77 addressed standardised packaging: 14 were industry connected and none were published in peer-reviewed journals. Comparison of TTC and systematic review evidence on standardised packaging showed that the industry evidence was of significantly lower quality in terms of tobacco industry connections and peer-review (p<0.0001). The most relevant TTC evidence (on standardised packaging or packaging generally, n=26) was of significantly lower quality (p<0.0001) than the least relevant (on other topics, n=51). Across the dataset, TTC-connected evidence was significantly less likely to be published in a peer-reviewed journal (p=0.0045). CONCLUSIONS: With few exceptions, evidence cited by TTCs to promote their claim that standardised packaging 'won't work' lacks either policy relevance or key indicators of quality. Policymakers could use these three criteria-subject matter, independence and peer-review status-to critically assess evidence submitted to them by corporate interests via Better Regulation processes.

Fisher ellátásilánc-menedzsment elméletének tesztelése és kiegészítése magyar vállalati minta segítségével

A bemutatásra kerülő kutatás célja az volt, hogy egy, a Vezetéstudomány hasábjain is megjelent ellátásiláncmenedzsment elmélet (Vezetéstudomány, 34. évf., 7–8. szám, p. 24–34.) empirikus tesztelését mutassa be. Az elmélet Fisher (1997) nevéhez fűződik, és egy racionális magyarázatot kínál arra, hogy a vállalatok által működtetett ellátási láncok miért különböznek egymástól. Véleménye szerint az ellátási lánc típusa attól függ, a lánc milyen típusú terméket visz piacra: funkcionális, mindennapi terméket vagy innovatív jellegűt. Az elméletet, bár nagyon híres az ellátásilánc-szakirodalomban, eddig nem sikerült igazolni. Jelen kutatás célja az volt, hogy tegyen egy újabb kísérletet a verifikálásra magyar vállalati minta statisztikai elemzése révén, valamint feltárja annak okait, ha ez az illeszkedés a termék típusa és az ellátási lánc típusa között nem jön létre. Ez utóbbival még egyetlen korábbi kutatás sem foglalkozott.

Last Interglacial synthesis of high-latitude temperature: temperature anomalies and associated errors for 4 time slices

The Last Interglacial (LIG, 129-116 thousand of years BP, ka) represents a test bed for climate model feedbacks in warmer-than-present high latitude regions. However, mainly because aligning different palaeoclimatic archives and from different parts of the world is not trivial, a spatio-temporal picture of LIG temperature changes is difficult to obtain. Here, we have selected 47 polar ice core and sub-polar marine sediment records and developed a strategy to align them onto the recent AICC2012 ice core chronology. We provide the first compilation of high-latitude temperature changes across the LIG associated with a coherent temporal framework built between ice core and marine sediment records. Our new data synthesis highlights non-synchronous maximum temperature changes between the two hemispheres with the Southern Ocean and Antarctica records showing an early warming compared to North Atlantic records. We also observe warmer than present-day conditions that occur for a longer time period in southern high latitudes than in northern high latitudes. Finally, the amplitude of temperature changes at high northern latitudes is larger compared to high southern latitude temperature changes recorded at the onset and the demise of the LIG. We have also compiled four data-based time slices with temperature anomalies (compared to present-day conditions) at 115 ka, 120 ka, 125 ka and 130 ka and quantitatively estimated temperature uncertainties that include relative dating errors. This provides an improved benchmark for performing more robust model-data comparison. The surface temperature simulated by two General Circulation Models (CCSM3 and HadCM3) for 130 ka and 125 ka is compared to the corresponding time slice data synthesis. This comparison shows that the models predict warmer than present conditions earlier than documented in the North Atlantic, while neither model is able to produce the reconstructed early Southern Ocean and Antarctic warming. Our results highlight the importance of producing a sequence of time slices rather than one single time slice averaging the LIG climate conditions.

Christliche Leich- und Trost-Predigt : gehalten zu Darmstatt, den 13. Tag Decembr. 1664. als die ... Fraw Anna Margretha Felsin, geborne Hermannin, deß ... Herrn Johann Martin Felsen, ... eheliche Haußfraw, nach deme sie vorigen Sambstags den 10. Tag bemelten Monats, ... beygesetzt wurde

Von M. Phillippo Schlossern, fürstl. Hoff- und ältern Statt-Predigern daselbsten

Pete Fisher of GAA speaking to City Council for Intro 2

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.