Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significance of value co-creation to the UK animal healthcare sector from the perspective of the key industry stakeholders: clients, veterinarians and paraprofessionals.

Value co-creation constructs in the sector were identified and measured using a mixed methods approach comprised of qualitative NVivo© thematic analysis of depth interviews (n=13) and quantitative exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n=271).

Qualitative results revealed nine underlying dimensions regarding service delivery in the sector: trustworthiness, communication, value for money, empathy, bespoke, integrated care, tangibles, accessibility and outcome driven service. EFA of professional survey data loaded onto seven latent factors, with strong value co-creation dimensions identified.

The sampling process is sufficiently representative and diverse to present meaningful and valuable results, however, surveying should be extended to include the client group. Due to the originality of the research replication of the study will be beneficial to the broader understanding and application of value co-creation to the high-involvement services of animal healthcare.

Recognition of the importance of value co-creation to the sector should encourage professional stakeholders to develop and adopt integrated models of service provision and to provide improved levels of service quality.

The paper makes an original contribution to knowledge regarding value co-creation in respect of high-involvement service provision. Its findings should be of value to academics interested in value co-creation in service sectors as well as animal healthcare practitioners seeking to offer better value and quality service provision.

In the second part of this report the action of nitrogen peroxide on flour is discussed at some length in an account of a series of researches that have been carried out by DR. MONIER‐WILLIAMS. His conclusions may be briefly stated as follows. The maximum bleaching effect is obtained when each kilogram of flour is treated with from 30 to 100 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide. The bleaching effect becomes more pronounced after keeping for several days. The amount of nitrous acid or nitrites that are present in bleached flour corresponds to about 30 per cent. of the total nitrogen absorbed, the proportion of nitrites present remaining nearly constant after the lapse of several days in the more slightly bleached samples. After the lapse of a short time it is still possible to extract about 60 per cent. of the nitrogen absorbed by the flour by means of cold water, but after several days the nitrogen that can be extracted by this means decreases. This may perhaps be attributed to the “absorption” of nitrous acid by the glutenin and gliadin. In highly bleached flour (300 cubic centimetres of nitrogen peroxide per kilogram of flour) a considerable increase in the amounts of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates takes place. In highly bleached flour, after some time, about 6 or 7 per cent. of the nitrogen introduced as nitrogen by the nitrogen peroxide is absorbed by the oil, which acquires the characteristics of an oxidised oil. No evidence is forthcoming as to the formation of diazo compounds nor the production of free nitrogen. Bleaching was found to exercise an inhibitory action on the salivary digestion of flour.

The final report of the Butter Regulations Committee has now been published and it is earnestly to be hoped that Regulations based on the Committee's Recommendations will at once be framed and issued by the Board of Agriculture. It will be remembered that in an Interim Report the Committee recommended the adoption of a limit of 16 per cent. for the proportion of water in butter, and that, acting on this recommendation, the Board of Agriculture drew up and issued the “Sale of Butter Regulations, 1902,” under the powers conferred on the Board by Section 4 of the Food Act of 1899. In the present Report the Committee deal with the other matters referred to them, namely, as to what Regulations, if any, might with advantage be made for determining what deficiency in any of the normal constituents of butter, or what addition of extraneous matter other than water, should raise a presumption until the contrary is proved that the butter is not “genuine.” The Committee are to be congratulated on the result of their labours—labours which have obviously been both arduous and lengthy. The questions which have had to be dealt with are intricate and difficult, and they are, moreover, of a highly technical nature. The Committee have evidently worked with the earnest desire to arrive at conclusions which, when applied, would afford as great a measure of protection—as it is possible to give by means of legislative enactments—to the consumer and to the honest producer. The thorough investigation which has been made could result only in the conclusions at which the Committee have arrived, namely, that, in regard to the administration of the Food Acts, (1) an analytical limit should be imposed which limit should determine what degree of deficiency in those constituents which specially characterise butter should raise a presumption that the butter is not “genuine”; (2) that the use of 10 per cent. of a chemically‐recognisable oil in the manufacture of margarine be made compulsory; (3) that steps should be taken to obtain international co‐operation; and finally, that the System of Control, as explained by various witnesses, commends itself to the Committee.

Dealing with the subject of the artificial bleaching of flour, The Lancet observes that the public criterion of quality in respect of foods and beverages shows some interesting anomalies. Appreciation is often based, for example, on appearance, on how things look, and it is in this direction that conclusions often and obviously become illogical. In some instances the article demanded must be spotlessly white, while in others, if naturally white, it must be artificially coloured. The white loaf is a popular fancy, but white milk is suspected, and yet natural flour may be of a rich golden colour, while rich milk may have only a shade of brownish colour which is supposed to connote cream. The result is that in the one case flour is often deprived of its colour by a process of chemical bleaching, and that in the other an artificial colouring is added. Natural colour is objected to on the one hand, and on the other an artificial addition is demanded. It may be urged that both expedients are justifiable inasmuch as they meet a popular fancy, and that this counts in the enjoyment and even digestibility of the foods. If artificial means are employed to adjust the appearance of food to a popular standard, the proceeding can clearly only be allowed when it has been proved beyond all doubt that the products are not dietetically impaired or that they do not masquerade as something which they are not.

A discussion “ On the Neglect of Science in Commerce and Industry ” seems to involve the assumption that this neglect is general if not total. As this would be an exaggeration, I prefer to speak of the inadequate appreciation of science in the British commercial and industrial world. During the last thirty years immense efforts have been made to provide instruction in physical science for all classes in the community, and with some success. Every British university is provided with laboratories and gives degrees in science; the number of colleges and technical schools has increased enormously, and the quality of the teaching provided has greatly improved, while there are but few secondary schools which are not furnished with good laboratories in which physical science is taught up to a comparatively advanced stage. Out of these universities, colleges, and schools proceed annually many hundreds of young people with a tincture of scientific knowledge, some of them possessing even a certain amount of practical skill and experience. I do not refer to engineers whose training and professional qualifications require separate discussion.

Purpose – This chapter aims to contribute to the theoretical domain of identity construction by discussing an aspect of identity-not, that is, how identity is largely formed by delimitations of what one does not identify with. We do this by analyzing the reactions of mainstream youth to the stylistic expressions of one particular youth group – the so-called Partille Johnnys (PJs) of Sweden – who in certain ways breaks with conventions of how to relate to the globally available canon of culturally sanctioned styles, which places them in a position as stigmatized. The purpose of the chapter is to further the understanding of how stigma gets orchestrated in consumer culture and what cultural role stigmatized groups might play.

Methodology – The empirical material for this chapter has been collected using various qualitative research techniques. Initially, the phenomenon was discovered and explored during ethnographic observations and interviews. In addition, online research was carried out.

Findings – The PJ style functions as a mirror for reflecting on transgressions of what is considered normal in terms of style and bodily practices for contemporary Swedish youth. Our conclusion suggests that the cultural function of the stigmatized group PJ is to serve as a reminder of what the mainstream is not.

Originality/value of the chapter – A phenomenon previously not studied, part of the value lies in the ethnographic descriptions capturing the PJ phenomenon. With these empirical descriptions, we wish to add to discussions of how the stigmatized groups gets orchestrated as well as the role that stigmatized groups can play at a cultural level.

The spouses or partners of serving members of the UK Armed Forces are often subject to similar constraints to those of enlisted personnel. This paper aims to examine the experiences and wellbeing of a group of army wives. In particular, it focuses on their shared experiences of consumer vulnerability and related challenges, exploring the extent to which membership of military wives’ communities can help them to cope.

Using an interpretivist approach, data were collected through four focus group discussions involving 30 army wives, and seven individual in-depth interviews.

The paper highlights shared experiences of consumer vulnerability and demonstrates how army wives’ approaches to coping incorporate both individual and community-based approaches. It proposes that communities of coping develop within the army wives community, providing women with both practical and emotional support.

The paper acknowledges that there is a range of factors that will impact military spouses’ experiences of consumer vulnerability and strategies for coping. This heterogeneity was difficult to capture within a small exploratory study.

The UK Government should consider their duties towards military spouses and children. This would entail a significant cultural shift and recognition of military personnel’s caring responsibilities.

This research contributes to understandings regarding the potentially shared nature of both consumer vulnerability and coping strategies. The study introduces the relevance of communities of coping to consumer contexts, highlighting how members can benefit from both practical and emotional support.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health concern in Canada, which now mostly affects marginalized populations, including correctional inmates. These populations ‐ until recently ‐ have largely been excluded from HCV pharmacotherapy. We report preliminary data on HCV treatment in a federal correctional population sample in British Columbia (BC), using Pegetron combination therapy. HCV RNA results are presented at week 12 of treatment, a strong predictor of treatment outcome. Just over four‐fifths (80.8%) of inmate patients had no detectable HCV RNA at week 12; inmates with genotype 2 and 3 fared better than those with genotype 1. These preliminary results suggest that HCV treatment is feasible and promises to be efficacious in correctional populations.

The majority of learners in South African schools are black, and they learn through English as a second language (L2). This contrasts with white students who learn through their first language (L1), English or Afrikaans. Most black students in South Africa are multilingual, and new developments in the curriculum promise to value this achievement. Even now, young black students display considerable competence in their written English when they use electronic links to communicate with fellow students and adults worldwide. Computers motivate students as writers and language learners. One of the many disabling myths that threatens to impede progress towards equity in educational outcomes in South Africa is the myth that teachers of writing in historically black schools will wait a very long time for the technologies of word processing and e‐mail to be available to them. In the Eastern Province many schools have no telephones or electricity. The ANC Government is struggling to meet basic needs quickly and computers could then be used to promote equity among learners. In this study, students had only limited access to keyboard and e‐mail facilities, yet the enthusiasm and concentration computers generated meant that they could leapfrog many hours of classroom instruction.

The British Analytical Control is established to protect manufacturers and importers of food and other products against the unfair competition arising from the sale of imitations and of inferior and adulterated articles, and to protect the health and the interests of the public by directing attention to those products which are pure, genuine, and of good quality.