Search results

1 – 10 of over 11000
Article
Publication date: 1 January 1900

The necessity of standards of purity for certain kinds of agricultural produce being now recognised by the new Adulteration Act—4, (1)—no apology is needed for attempting to bring…

65

Abstract

The necessity of standards of purity for certain kinds of agricultural produce being now recognised by the new Adulteration Act—4, (1)—no apology is needed for attempting to bring the application of the principle into actual practice. Some few standards have already been generally adopted, and the legalization of limits relating to many of those substances with which the Adulteration Acts deal would undoubtedly be welcomed.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1993

Walt Crawford

Portable computers have been around just about as long as personal computers, and have always involved serious compromises. The compromises continue, but the computers have…

Abstract

Portable computers have been around just about as long as personal computers, and have always involved serious compromises. The compromises continue, but the computers have improved enormously in true portability, power, and price. You always pay a premium for portability, and more of a premium for the ability to actually work on the road. While the premium has come down, it's still there—but now, you can get almost as much power as you need, if you pay the price. In his second look at the last eight years in DOS computing, Crawford shows how conservative choices in portable computing have evolved, and discusses why conservatism makes more sense when buying a portable.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Article
Publication date: 1 May 1997

Anghel N. Rugina

The equation of unified knowledge says that S = f (A,P) which means that the practical solution to a given problem is a function of the existing, empirical, actual realities and…

3027

Abstract

The equation of unified knowledge says that S = f (A,P) which means that the practical solution to a given problem is a function of the existing, empirical, actual realities and the future, potential, best possible conditions of general stable equilibrium which both pure and practical reason, exhaustive in the Kantian sense, show as being within the realm of potential realities beyond any doubt. The first classical revolution in economic thinking, included in factor “P” of the equation, conceived the economic and financial problems in terms of a model of ideal conditions of stable equilibrium but neglected the full consideration of the existing, actual conditions. That is the main reason why, in the end, it failed. The second modern revolution, included in factor “A” of the equation, conceived the economic and financial problems in terms of the existing, actual conditions, usually in disequilibrium or unstable equilibrium (in case of stagnation) and neglected the sense of right direction expressed in factor “P” or the realization of general, stable equilibrium. That is the main reason why the modern revolution failed in the past and is failing in front of our eyes in the present. The equation of unified knowledge, perceived as a sui generis synthesis between classical and modern thinking has been applied rigorously and systematically in writing the enclosed American‐British economic, monetary, financial and social stabilization plans. In the final analysis, a new economic philosophy, based on a synthesis between classical and modern thinking, called here the new economics of unified knowledge, is applied to solve the malaise of the twentieth century which resulted from a confusion between thinking in terms of stable equilibrium on the one hand and disequilibrium or unstable equilibrium on the other.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 24 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1901

One of the commonest excuses put forward in defence of the practice of treating milk, butter, meat, and other foods with ‘preservative’ drugs no longer possesses even the…

Abstract

One of the commonest excuses put forward in defence of the practice of treating milk, butter, meat, and other foods with ‘preservative’ drugs no longer possesses even the appearance of validity. Several of the large railway companies are adding refrigerator vans in considerable numbers to their rolling‐stock, and this fact should make it no longer possible for defendants to plead that the necessity of sending food‐products a long distance by rail involves the necessity of mixing preservative chemicals with them. Although the excuse referred to will not bear examination, it is a very specious one, and in those instances where evidence has not been brought forward to refute it, it has produced some effect on the minds of magistrates and others. It cannot be too often pointed out that such substances as boracic acid, salicylic acid, and formaldehyde are dangerous drugs, and that their unacknowledged presence in articles of food constitutes a serious danger to the public. Such substances are not foods, and are not natural constituents of any food. In most instances they are purposely introduced into food‐products to avoid the expense attending the proper production, preparation, and distribution of the food, or to conceal the inferior quality of an article by masking the signs of commencing decomposition or incipient putrefaction, and thus to enable a dishonest producer or vendor to palm off as fresh and wholesome an article which may be not only of bad quality, but absolutely dangerous to the consumer. The use of these substances, in any quantity whatsoever, and the sale of articles containing them, without the fullest and clearest disclosure of their presence, is as gross and as dangerous a form of adulteration as any which has at any time been exposed. In no single instance can it be shown that these drugs are, to quote the words of the Act of 1875, matters or ingredients “required for the preparation or production of a food as an article of commerce,” nor, of course, can it be contended that such substances are “extraneous matters with which the food is unavoidably mixed during the process of collection or preparation.” In reality, even under our inadequate and unsatisfactory adulteration laws, through which the proverbial coach‐and‐four can be so easily driven in so many directions, there ought to be no loophole of escape for the deliberate and dishonest drugger of foods. While the presence of preservative chemicals in any quantity whatever in articles of food constitutes adulteration, wherever the quantity is sufficient to allow the production of the specific “preservative” effect of the substance added, that fact alone is enough to make the food so drugged a food which must be regarded as injurious to the health of the consumer—in view of the inhibitory effect which, by its very nature, the antiseptic must produce on the process of digestion. To our knowledge the food market in this country is flooded with all sorts of inferior food‐products which are rarely dealt with under the Adulteration Acts, and which are loaded with so‐called preservatives. There will be no adequate protection for the public against the consumption of this injurious rubbish until the consumer sees the advantage of insisting upon an authoritative and permanent guarantee of quality with his goods, and until manufacturers of the better class at length find it to be a necessity for their continued prosperity that they should supply, apart entirely from their own statements, an independent and powerful guarantee of this kind.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 3 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1901

IN order to be able to discriminate with certainty between butter and such margarine as is sold in England, it is necessary to carry out two or three elaborate and delicate…

Abstract

IN order to be able to discriminate with certainty between butter and such margarine as is sold in England, it is necessary to carry out two or three elaborate and delicate chemical processes. But there has always been a craving by the public for some simple method of determining the genuineness of butter by means of which the necessary trouble could be dispensed with. It has been suggested that such easy detection would be possible if all margarine bought and sold in England were to be manufactured with some distinctive colouring added—light‐blue, for instance—or were to contain a small amount of phenolphthalein, so that the addition of a drop of a solution of caustic potash to a suspected sample would cause it to become pink if it were margarine, while nothing would occur if it were genuine butter. These methods, which have been put forward seriously, will be found on consideration to be unnecessary, and, indeed, absurd.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1901

The Corporation of the City of London are about to appoint a Public Analyst, and by advertisement have invited applications for the post. It is obviously desirable that the person…

Abstract

The Corporation of the City of London are about to appoint a Public Analyst, and by advertisement have invited applications for the post. It is obviously desirable that the person appointed to this office should not only possess the usual professional qualifications, but that he should be a scientific man of high standing and of good repute, whose name would afford a guarantee of thoroughness and reliability in regard to the work entrusted to him, and whose opinion would carry weight and command respect. Far from being of a nature to attract a man of this stamp, the terms and conditions attaching to the office as set forth in the advertisement above referred to are such that no self‐respecting member of the analytical profession, and most certainly no leading member of it, could possibly accept them. It is simply pitiable that the Corporation of the City of London should offer terms, and make conditions in connection with them, which no scientific analyst could agree to without disgracing himself and degrading his profession. The offer of such terms, in fact, amounts to a gross insult to the whole body of members of that profession, and is excusable only—if excusable at all—on the score of utter ignorance as to the character of the work required to be done, and as to the nature of the qualifications and attainments of the scientific experts who are called upon to do it. In the analytical profession, as in every other profession, there are men who, under the pressure of necessity, are compelled to accept almost any remuneration that they can get, and several of these poorer, and therefore weaker, brethren will, of course, become candidates for the City appointment.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 December 2023

Tarcisio da Graca

This paper aims to address the question: What is the distribution of value (in pounds) created in a sample of domestic takeovers in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2020 among…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to address the question: What is the distribution of value (in pounds) created in a sample of domestic takeovers in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2020 among acquirer and target stockholders?

Design/methodology/approach

The author employs a traditional event study methodology to calculate the percentage excess returns of companies on the announcement date. These returns are then converted into pound-denominated excess returns using the companies' market capitalizations. This allows the author to estimate the synergies of the mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and how they are allocated between acquirers and targets. This innovative transformation from percentage to pound excess returns establishes a new ratio methodology for addressing the paper's objective.

Findings

This paper reveals that in UK takeovers, 40 percent of the synergies in pounds are allocated to the stockholders of acquiring companies, while 60 percent go to the stockholders of target companies. In other words, acquirers retain a significant portion—more than half—of the synergies generated in these domestic deals. This original finding is statistically significant at the one percent level and strongly contradicts the hypothesis that acquirers, at best, merely break even.

Originality/value

The evidence that UK takeovers distribute value gains nearly equally between domestic deal parties challenges the enduring conventional insight in the M&A literature. This conventional wisdom suggests that the value created by business combinations is entirely distributed to target company stockholders. Consequently, this reexamination may have broader implications, offering an alternative perspective on the motives behind business combinations. This perspective differs from the “managerial hubris hypothesis,” which aligns with the prevailing conventional insight but receives limited support in the original finding reported here.

Details

Journal of Business and Socio-economic Development, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2635-1374

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 May 2015

Stephen Brown

In a world where commerce and culture are still somewhat estranged, the purpose of this paper is to show that high culture’s supreme exponents were commercially minded masters of…

4237

Abstract

Purpose

In a world where commerce and culture are still somewhat estranged, the purpose of this paper is to show that high culture’s supreme exponents were commercially minded masters of marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Historically situated, the paper adopts a biographical approach to the making of modernism’s literary masterworks. It focuses on Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and James Joyce, who were responsible for the modernist classics, Ulysses and The Waste Land.

Findings

The analysis identifies five fundamental marketing principles that appear paradoxical from a traditional, customer-centric standpoint, yet are in accord with latter-day, post-Kotlerite conceptualisations. The marketing of modernism did not rely on “modern” marketing.

Practical implications

If, at the height of the anti-bourgeois modernist movement, the “great divide” between elite and popular culture was bridged by marketing, there is no reason why contemporary culture and commerce cannot collaborate, co-operate, co-exist, coalesce.

Originality/value

The paper complements prior studies of “painterpreneurs”, by drawing attention to the marketing of literary masterworks.

Details

Arts and the Market, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4945

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2005

E.T. Otunola and R.S. Ogunbiyi

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the microbiological and physico‐chemical characteristics of fermented pounded yam, a unique and popular food of the Igbominas of Nigeria.

526

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the microbiological and physico‐chemical characteristics of fermented pounded yam, a unique and popular food of the Igbominas of Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

Fresh pounded yam was prepared in the laboratory by a modification of the traditional method, and then fermented for varying periods of time (0‐96hrs), also essentially by the traditional method. Analysis was carried out on the products following documented and established procedures.

Findings

Data obtained indicated noticeable increases in the populations of all the groups of microorganisms investigated with increases in fermentation time, except coliforms which declined in population after 24 hours. Heating of the samples after each fermentation interval resulted in significant reductions in microbial populations such that coliforms could not even be detected after 24 hours of fermentation. Lactic acid production, an indication of flavour development, and pH drop were highest at 48 hours of fermentation. The samples also became softer with increases in fermentation period. The heated samples were considered safe microbiologically, since they contained neither coliforms nor faecal coliforms.

Research limitations/implications

The consumption of fermented pounded yam is encouraged since it is safe microbiologically and develops a desired flavour, while further research should be carried out on the nutritional benefits.

Practical implications

The findings here suggested that adequate heating after fermentation is necessary to eliminate any potential microbial contamination, and for full flavour development.

Originality/value

The results of this research contribute to the knowledge of fermented foods, especially those that are indigenous to Nigeria and West Africa.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2007

Ahmed El‐Masry and Omneya Abdel‐Salam

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of firm size and foreign operations on the exchange rate exposure of UK non‐financial companies from January 1981 to December…

6621

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of firm size and foreign operations on the exchange rate exposure of UK non‐financial companies from January 1981 to December 2001.

Design/methodology/approach

The impact of the unexpected changes in exchange rates on firms’ stock returns is examined. In addition, the movements in bilateral, equally weighted (EQW) and trade‐weighted and exchange rate indices are considered. The sample is classified according to firm size and the extent of firms’ foreign operations. In addition, structural changes on the relationship between exchange rate changes and individual firms’ stock returns are examined over three sub‐periods: before joining the exchange rate mechanism (pre‐ERM), during joining the ERM (in‐ERM), and after departure from the ERM (post‐ERM).

Findings

The findings indicate that a higher percentage of UK firms are exposed to contemporaneous exchange rate changes than those reported in previous studies. UK firms’ stock returns are more affected by changes in the EQW, and US$ European currency unit exchange rate, and respond less significantly to the basket of 20 countries’ currencies relative to the UK pound exchange rate. It is found that exchange rate exposure has a more significant impact on stock returns of the large firms compared with the small and medium‐sized companies. The evidence is consistent across all specifications using different exchange rate. The results provide evidence that the proportion of significant foreign exchange rate exposure is higher for firms which generate a higher percentage of revenues from abroad. The sensitivities of firms’ stock returns to exchange rate fluctuations are most evident in the pre‐ERM and post‐ERM periods.

Practical implications

This study provides important implications for public policymakers, financial managers and investors on how common stock returns of various sectors react to exchange rate fluctuations.

Originality/value

The empirical evidence supports the view that UK firms’ stock returns are affected by foreign exchange rate exposure.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 33 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 11000