Sensory and consumer research update : Sweet taste and diet

There is much attention on sugar in the food supply given the recent sugar tax in Britain. Sugar remains a controversial, yet much loved ingredient. A new comprehensive study from Deakin University Centre for Advanced Sensory Science (CASS) looked at the relationship between sweet taste function, diet and anthropometry among 60 adults. Low et al used six different sweeteners (glucose, fructose, sucrose, sucralose, erythritol, and Rebaudioside A) and measured detection, recognition threshold and perceived intensity of all the sweeteners in all subjects. They assessed diet in all subjects as well as height, weight and waist circumference.

Sensory and consumer research update : Eating with our ears

Sound is a less thought-about flavour sense; taste, smell, texture and even vision have a higher profile. But is sound an important flavour sense, or is the lack of research in the area a reflection that sound has limited importance?

Sensory and consumer research update : Is fat a taste and why is it important?

Fat has always been associated with texture, flavour release, and thermal properties in foods, but not the sense of taste. Yet as the taste system has evolved to detect the nutrients or toxins in foods prior to ingestion, it makes sense that fats, an essential energy-dense macronutrient, would be detected through taste, as other macronutrients, namely carbohydrates and proteins, are detected through the tastes of sweet and umami.

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.

Firm-level trade creation and diversion of regional trade agreements in Thailand

Using highly detailed import data for Thailand, this paper examines firm-level trade creation and diversion of regional trade agreements (RTAs). Specifically, by focusing on firm-product pairs in which firms import a particular product from non-members but not from RTA members in the initial year of our sample, we empirically investigate the start of imports from RTA members under RTA schemes and the cessation of imports from non-members at the firm-level. We find that firms are more likely to stop importing products with low RTA tariff rates or high most-favored-nation tariff rates from non-members and to start importing such products from RTA member countries. However, from the quantitative point of view, there are very few firms that switch import sources from non-members to RTA members when facing the introduction of RTA schemes.

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

What's new? Recent highlights in sensory research. 

Integrating a web-enhanced study module into the accounting classroom: student perceptions and academic results.

Student engagement in a course is an important precursor of academic success. Within the discipline of accounting, successful completion of the self-study component of the course is a critical aspect of student engagement and success. Web-enhanced learning offers an apportunity to provide a structured learning environment with improved access to learning tools and immediate feedback that can improve completion rates of self-study activities. This study evaluated student perceptions and academic results relating to the implementation of a web-enhanced study module in an introductory accounting course in Business Administration department at John Abbott College. The results of this study indicate both a strongly favourable student perception of the web-enhanced study module as well as improved homework completion rates and academic results, particularly among students that had previously performed poorly within a tradional, non web-enhanced seelf study environment.||Résumé : L'engagement des élèves dans un cours est un précurseur important de la réussite scolaire. Dans la discipline de la comptabilité, la réussite de la composante d'auto-apprentissage du cours est un aspect critique de l'engagement et la réussite des élèves. Amélioration de l'apprentissage par Internet offre la possibilité de fournir un environnement d'apprentissage structuré avec un meilleur accès aux outils d'apprentissage et la rétroaction immédiate qui peuvent améliorer les taux d'achèvement des activités d'auto-apprentissage. Cette étude a évalué les perceptions des élèves et les résultats scolaires relatives à la mise en oeuvre d'un module d'étude avec accès Internet à un cours d'introduction à la comptabiblilté dans le département d'administration des affaires au Cégep John Abbott. Les résultats de cette étude indiquent à la fois une perception des étudiants fortement favorable du module d'étude avec accès Internet ansi que l'amélioration des taux d'achèvement des devoirs et des résultats scolaires en particulier chez les élèves qui avaient de mauvais résultats dans un cadre traditionnel, l'environnement d'étude non accès Internet.

Bullyin: espectáculo/intervenção : Relatóriode estágio sobre o espectáculo teatral / intervenção educativa ACTA - A companhia de teatro do Algarve

BULLYING- espectáculo/intervenção, é um relatório de estágio elaborado no contexto do curso de Mestrado de Teatro em Arte do Actor da Universidade de Évora pelo aluno 20584 Pedro Mendes. Dá conta da experiência curricular do mestrando enquanto actor numa companhia de teatro profissional, bem como de urna análise e pesquisa temática, processual e académica, por ele desenvolvidas e redigidas. O estágio de três meses foi realizado na ACTA- A Companhia de Teatro do Algarve, sedeada na cidade de Faro, e teve como objectivo a construção e consequente apresentação do espectáculo BULLYING, terceira produção artística da companhia de carácter pedagógico, nas diversas escolas básicas da região. Segundo a orientação da docente Ana Tamen, o discente abordou todo o objecto de estágio através de urna aproximação estética ao Teatro do Oprimido de Augusto Boal. _Summary: BULLYING- Show/lntervention, is an internship report, elaborated within the context of a Master's Degree in Theatre, «The Actor’s Art» - at the University of Évora by the student, number 20584, Pedro Mendes. This report contains the curricular experience of the student while acting for a professional theatre company, as well as an analysis and a thematic, procedure and academic research, developed and written by the student. The three-month internship was made at ACTA - A Companhia de Teatro do Algarve (Algarve's Theatre Company), established in the town of Faro. The development and presentation of the show BULLYING, is the third artistic educational production of the company, in several schools of the region. Under the guidance of the teacher Ana Tamen, the student meant to establish, through this report, an aesthetic connection between the work developed in this context and Augusto Boal’s ‘Teatro do Oprimido'. NOTA: Contém DVD com ficheiros de vídeo que só podem ser consultados na biblioteca.

JOURNAL OF VULCANOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL RESEARCH

Resumen biblográfico de revista Vulcanology and Geothermal

Editorial

The 2nd International Digital Human Modeling (DHM) Symposium was held at the renowned University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) in Ann Arbor, Michigan in June 11–13, 2013. The symposium was co-organised by the UMTRI and Penn State University, and endorsed by the IEA Technical Committee on Human Simulation and Virtual Environments. The conference built on the very successful inaugural event DHM2011 held in Lyon two years before; and a decade of digital human modelling conferences held under the auspices of SAE International. Practitioners and scientists from 13 countries gathered to present their state-of-the-art developments and applied research, besides discussing the most recent advances in human modelling and directions for future work in DHM...

Formação de Formadores e Educação Superior na cibercultura: itinerâncias de Grupos de Pesquisa no Facebook

Esta tese origina-se da pesquisa de doutoramento na Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro UERJ - Proped e tem como objetivo compreender a formação do formador no contexto da cibercultura e como este vem estruturando sua atuação na docência universitária. Este trabalho faz parte do eixo 2 da Pesquisa Institucional A cibercultura na era das redes sociais e da mobilidade: novas potencialidades para a formação de professores. O campo da pesquisa foi a rede social Facebook. Constituíram-se praticantes da pesquisa seis professores-formadores do ProPEd e seus orientandos. A pertinência desta pesquisa inscreveu-se num amplo movimento da perspectiva epistemológica da multirreferencialidade com os cotidianos e pelo método atualizado da pesquisa-formação. A intenção primeira deste trabalho consistiu em mapear as experiências e itinerâncias do formador em suas práticas cotidianas nos espaçostempos da cibercultura. Tencionamos que a sistematização de ambiências formativas articulando o espaço da universidade e das redes sociais criou redes de docência e aprendizagem. Como dispositivos de pesquisa, lançamos mão de oficinas, interações nas redes sociais, conversas, participação nos grupos de pesquisa. A tese revela que a formação do formador na cibercultura forja outros espaçostempos de pesquisa acadêmica e de criação de dispositivos online. Revela também que os usos do digital em rede pelos praticantes da pesquisa fizeram emergir processos de orientação coletiva, de experiências formadoras e de articulação da interface cidadeuniversidade, estabelecendo outros sentidos para a prática pedagógica e para a pesquisa acadêmica

Análisis del modelo de Internacionalización de e-Tech Simulation según la teoría de redes

La teoría de redes de Johanson y Mattson (1988) explica como las pequeñas empresas, también conocidas como PyMes, utilizan las redes de negocio para desarrollar sus procesos de internacionalización. Es así que a través de las redes pueden superar sus limitaciones de tamaño para encontrar cierto tipo de fluidez y dinamismo en su gestión, con el fin de aprovechar los beneficios de la internacionalización. A partir del desarrollo y fortalecimiento de las relaciones dentro de la red la organización puede posicionarse en una instancia competitiva cada vez más fuerte (Jarillo, 1988). Según Forsgren y Johanson (1992), para los gerentes es importante coordinar la interacción entre los diferentes actores de la red, ya que a través de estas su posición dentro de la red mejora y así mismo el flujo de recursos será mayor. El propósito de este trabajo es analizar el modelo de internacionalización según la teoría de redes, desde una perspectiva cultural, de e-Tech Simulation una PyME “Born to be global” norteamericana. Esta empresa ha minimizado su riesgo de internacionalización, a través del desarrollo de acuerdos entre los diferentes actores. Al mejorar su posición dentro de la red, es decir al fortalecer aún más los lazos existentes y crear nuevas relaciones, la empresa ha obtenido mayores beneficios de la misma y ha logrado ser aún más flexible con sus clientes. Es por esto que a partir de este análisis se planteó una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar los procesos de negociación dentro de la red, bajo un contexto cultural. De igual forma se evidencio la importancia del papel del emprendimiento del gerente en los procesos de internacionalización, así como su habilidad para mezclar los recursos obtenidos de diferentes mercados internacionales para satisfacer las necesidades de los clientes.

Rethinking the literature on the performance of Chinese multinational enterprises

We synthesize the literature on Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) and find that much of the prior research is based on as few as a dozen case studies of Chinese firms. They are so case-specific that it has led to a misplaced call for new theories to explain Chinese firms’ internationalization. In an attempt to better relate theory with empirical evidence, we examine the largest 500 Chinese manufacturing firms. We aim to find out the number of Chinese manufacturing firms to be true MNEs by definition, and to examine their financial performance relative to global peers using the financial benchmarking method. We develop our theoretical perspectives from new internalization theory. We find that there are only 49 Chinese manufacturing firms to be true MNEs, whereas the rest is purely domestic firms. Their performance is poor relative to global peers. Chinese MNEs have home country bound firm-specific advantages (FSAs), which are built upon home country-specific advantages (home CSAs). They have not yet developed advanced management capabilities through recombination with host CSAs. Essentially, they acquire foreign firms to increase their sales in domestic market, but they fail to be competitive internationally and to achieve superior performance in overseas operations. Our findings have important strategic implications for managers, public policy makers, and academic research.