Legislation and consumer demand are two of the main driving froces behind the decision by vehicle manufacturers to look to their suppliers to carry out research and development…
Abstract
Legislation and consumer demand are two of the main driving froces behind the decision by vehicle manufacturers to look to their suppliers to carry out research and development work in the complex area of corrosion. With fluid carrying systems, like the brake lines, now expected to last the “life of the car” and with emissions from fuel lines needing to be contained to minimum levels, how are suppliers responding? Bundy, a world‐leader in automotive fluid carrying systems, is at the forefront of identifying solutions in this field. Claims that the results of the company's work are innovative solutions which meet environmental standards and higher quality systems which ultimately offer greater value for money to motorists. Looks in detail at some of the issues now facing the industry.
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In the report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Meat Inspection of 1950, it was recommended that suitable candidates from the butchery trade should be enabled to qualify as…
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In the report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Meat Inspection of 1950, it was recommended that suitable candidates from the butchery trade should be enabled to qualify as meat inspectors and now the Authorised Officers (Meat Inspection) Regulations, 1960, give effect to this recommendation. The training and examination of candidates for these new posts will be under the auspices of the Royal Society of Health and a syllabus has been drafted comparable to that of the Meat and Other Foods Inspector's examination, but in meat only. Holders of the certificate will qualify for appointments as “authorised officers” under the Food & Drugs Act, 1955, with powers of inspection and seizure, but, again, in meat only. Appointments will be made by local authorities and the new inspectors will be integrated with the existing local authority meat inspection service and work under appropriate direction, although the circular of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food accompanying the regulations carries the suggestion that local authorities might permit individuals appointed to discharge the full duties of a meat inspector without “continuous supervision.”
Nereu F. Kock and Robert J. McQueen
Much of the evaluative research on groupware in organizations sofar has been preoccupied with the role of groupware as a new interactionmedium to replace or extend face‐to‐face…
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Much of the evaluative research on groupware in organizations so far has been preoccupied with the role of groupware as a new interaction medium to replace or extend face‐to‐face communication in groups. It has focused on gains and losses from a group interaction point of view, typically disregarding the impact of other functions such as group access, and contribution to information concerning the organization. Attempts to bridge this gap with an action research into the effects of the introduction of an asynchronous groupware system to support business process improvement groups in a service company based in Brazil. The research suggests that improvements in business redesign efficiency and effectiveness can be attained not only from asynchronous groupware support to group communication, but also from public sharing of historical information about previous business process improvement efforts, and by providing a repository of information about business processes which could be candidates for improvement. Concludes with the proposal of an explanatory model, describing the relationship between the introduction of technology, its integration with a business process improvement meta‐process, and its effects on the efficiency and effectiveness of that meta‐process.
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The Commission appointed jointly by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization continues to plod its weary way towards the establishment of Codex…
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The Commission appointed jointly by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization continues to plod its weary way towards the establishment of Codex standards for all foods, which it is hoped will eventually be adopted by all countries, to end the increasing chaos of present national standards. We have to go back to 1953, when the Sixth World Health Assembly showed signs of a stirring of international conscience at trends in food industry; and particularly expressed “the view that the increasing use of various chemical substances had … , created a new public health problem”. Joint WHO/FAO Conferences which followed initiated inter alia international consultations and the setting up of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission.
ONLY a few short months have passed since Great Britain entered the European Economic Community. Brief though it is, it has served to inflict a barrage of political prophecy upon…
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ONLY a few short months have passed since Great Britain entered the European Economic Community. Brief though it is, it has served to inflict a barrage of political prophecy upon the citizens. Most of it has been remarkably optimistic in tone, as if the mere act of joining was an Open Sesame to guaranteed prosperity. A few cautious words of warning have been uttered but the trouble is the ease with which the qualifying context is forgotten while the shining promises live on.
A number of recent studies have suggested that many small businesses are opting to become members of strategic alliances with other firms in order to minimise the perceived…
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A number of recent studies have suggested that many small businesses are opting to become members of strategic alliances with other firms in order to minimise the perceived barriers to adoption of electronic commerce (E‐commerce). This study compares the perception of barriers to E‐commerce adoption between a sample of Swedish small to medium enterprises (SMEs) that have become members of some form of strategic alliance and those that have remained outside such arrangements. The results show that, in general, SMEs that are part of a strategic alliance perceive barriers as less applicable than their counterparts that are not part of a strategic alliance.
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In many studies of the family there is an assumption that the family unit consists of the father as the principal (or even sole) wage earner and contributor to the family finance…
Abstract
In many studies of the family there is an assumption that the family unit consists of the father as the principal (or even sole) wage earner and contributor to the family finance, with the mother having a subordinate role in earning; the children are usually seen, in this idealised account, as living at home and being financially dependent on the parents. Dennis, Henriques and Slaughter, for example, describe the family as “normally a group of father, mother and children all dependent upon the wage of the father”. The family, however, is not static, but changes in structure and function over time. In a very early study, for example, Rowntree suggested that, after the financial difficulty of the child rearing phase, there came a stage of relative affluence when unmarried children are working, still living at home, and contributing to the total family income.
Work-from-home (WFH) gained ground with COVID and will now continue to be a part of India’s future of work. Under WFH information and communication technologies (ICT) media become…
Abstract
Purpose
Work-from-home (WFH) gained ground with COVID and will now continue to be a part of India’s future of work. Under WFH information and communication technologies (ICT) media become the primary/sole mode of communication for employees, which holds several implications for employers and employees. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of ICT media characteristics and usage frequency on multiple WFH outcomes. Specifically studied was ICT media’s ability to support synchronicity or coordinated behaviours of individuals working together.
Design/methodology/approach
This work examined the effect of ICT media’s synchronicity-supporting ability and usage frequency on WFH employees’ need for competence and relatedness satisfaction, thereby wellbeing and preference to WFH. Data from 301 white-collar employees of varied manufacturing and services organizations of India was analysed via partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
Achieving more synchronicity by frequently using ICT media that can better facilitate coordinated behaviours did not directly influence WFH employees’ feeling of belongingness (need for relatedness) or wellbeing. It did, however, positively affect their feeling of effectance (need for competence) and thereby wellbeing. However, unexpectedly, it negatively influenced preference to WFH more often.
Originality/value
This study has uniquely combined media synchronicity and self-determination theories to investigate the implications of a work practice on employee wellbeing and preferences. Also, an extensible media evaluation parameter was created that encompasses the characteristics and usage frequency of a set of ICT media.
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The significance of physician-user interaction has been widely acknowledged in offline and online healthcare consultation. However, limited attempts have been made to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
The significance of physician-user interaction has been widely acknowledged in offline and online healthcare consultation. However, limited attempts have been made to explore the influence of physician-user interaction on users' perceived service quality (PSQ) in the mobile context. Based on the literature on physician-user interaction and media synchronicity theory, this study proposes a theoretical model where the interactive factors common across the offline, online and mobile context, i.e. physicians' informational support and emotional support, the interactive factors unique in the mobile context, i.e. physicians' response speed and voice service, and the interaction between the two categories of interactive factors predict users' PSQ in mobile consultation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collects consultation records between 25,225 users and 738 physicians from a leading Chinese mobile consultation application, and employs linear regression to verify the proposed theoretical model.
Findings
Physicians' informational, emotional support, response speed and voice service are found to have significant positive impacts on users' PSQ. Besides, physicians' response speed strengthens the positive impacts of physicians' informational and emotional support on users' PSQ, while physicians' voice service weakens the positive link between physicians' informational support on users' PSQ.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the antecedents for users' PSQ in mobile consultation by identifying unique interactive factors in the mobile context, and highlighting the individual and interaction effects of different physician-user interactive factors. Besides, this study employs novel methods, which leverages text classification and text pattern recognition to more accurately depict physicians' online behaviors based on objective communication records.