A bacteriological study was made of a number of prepared foods that were bought ready-to-eat, for home consumption, from several food establishments in Dallas, Texas. The purpose of this study was to show whether these foods could be a potential source of food poisoning; whether there are any particular foods that should have greater care than others in order to protect their quality; and whether the bacteriological contamination could have been prevented by strict observance of the city regulations for handling foods.

ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to determine the bacteriological status of selected RTE foods, associated preparation surfaces and cleaning tools sampled from four retail delicatessens in Johannesburg. An initial pilot study of four RTE foods such as filled baguettes, assorted salads, sliced processed meats and hot meals was conducted in order to set the parameters for the remainder of the study. Results showed that filled baguettes and assorted salads contained the highest bacterial counts and incidences of potential foodborne pathogens. Bacterial counts were obtained from the associated preparation surfaces, whilst cleaning tools were associated with coliform and Escherichia coli, suggesting they may harbour potential foodborne pathogens. For the main study, 60% filled baguettes and assorted salads complied with the microbiological guidelines recommended by the retailer, however fruit salads had the lowest bacterial counts overall. Furthermore, of the food contact surfaces plastic chopping boards were identified as the greatest reservoir for RTE food contamination. Bacteriological analysis in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy showed potential foodborne pathogens associated with cleaning tools. Low numbers of aerobic bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus were associated with disposable plastic gloves, suggesting that good glove practices are used by the food handlers.

Assessing the sustainability of construction products can help to identify particular characteristics and benefits which can then assist decision makers by allowing comparisons between products. Existing mechanisms and tools to make such assessments are associated to project-level assessments or have a bias towards environmental issues, rather than incorporating social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability. The growing popularity of sustainability rating schemes and standards has created an imbalance for product manufacturers that are increasingly seeking ways to gain competitive advantage on the basis of producing more sustainable products. Aggregate Industries, a construction products manufacturer and the Building Research Establishment (BRE) therefore instigated this Engineering Doctorate (EngD) to address this lack of a holistic sustainability assessment methodology for construction products for manufacturers. The EngD research developed a sustainability assessment framework for ready-mixed concrete. The development of the framework was influenced by existing assessment schemes such as the BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and Ceequal (The Sustainability Assessment Scheme for Civil Engineering projects). The BRE BES 6001 Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products was also a factor in this research complimented by primary research. The assessment framework addresses a range of sustainability issues such as community engagement (social), waste (environmental) and whole life cost (economic) amongst others tailored to ready-mixed concrete. These issues are assessed against three product life cycle stages; raw materials; manufacture and use. The outputs of the framework will then inform the manufacturer about areas for improvement and present a profile of each product for a given manufacturing site in a more holistic way than current methods allow. The trialling of the assessment framework both in the UK and Canada has shown that the output of the EngD is a viable mechanism to assess the sustainability of concrete from a manufacturer s perspective. This research has given Aggregate Industries an opportunity to evaluate current objectives and targets within the business and helped to shape the future sustainability strategy. Aspects of the framework are also being considered for inclusion in the future development of the BRE s BES 6001 Framework Standard for the Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products. This EngD has also identified an emergent need for a shift in future focus from individual products to a systems level assessment approach. Product sustainability tends to focus on the embodied impacts whereas the sustainability of construction systems has a much broader focus over the entire life cycle of the system. This area of work will require further research.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant relationship between students who entered a Tennessee university for the first time in the fall of 2014 who had earned either Advanced Placement (AP) or dual enrollment credit regarding their college readiness and 1-year college retention. College readiness was defined by students’ American College Testing (ACT) sub scores in English, reading, and mathematics. The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) regulates the minimum sub score for each sub section that a student must obtain to be deemed college ready. College retention was defined by students who enrolled at the university in the fall of 2014 and reenrolled in the fall of 2015 at the same university. The independent variables for this study were AP credits received in AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Statistics, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, and dual enrollment credit received in any course. The dependent variables for this study were college readiness as defined by TBR and fall-to-fall retention. A series of chi-square tests of independence were performed to examine the differences in college readiness and fall-to-fall retention between students who had earned AP or dual enrollment credit and those students who had not. The quantitative findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between students who enroll in their first college year with AP English or math credit or dual enrollment credit and first year retention rates when compared to students who do not reenroll with AP English or math credit or dual enrollment credit. There was found to be no difference in students who enrolled with AP English or math credit and students who enrolled with dual enrollment credit regarding their fall-to-fall retention rates. It was also found that AP English credit increased the likelihood that a student would be deemed college ready in both English and reading based on TBR determinations of college readiness. Credit in an AP mathematics course also increased the likelihood that a student would be deemed college ready in math based on TBR determinations of college readiness.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som är legitimt återbruk och användning av någon annans tidigare designat material, i nya formgivna produkter eller verk. Frågeställningarna som diskuterats i arbetet är;   Hur mycket av någon annans tidigare formgivna material får återanvändas i kommersiella återbruksprodukter? Vad är legitimt bruk av ”ready-mades” i konstnärliga verk? Anses det vara ett konstnärligt verk när konstnären inte själv åstadkommit alla delar av verket?   Dessa frågeställningar har diskuterats utifrån juridiska och moraliska perspektiv. Som metod användes en litteraturbaserad studie av juridisk litteratur som behandlar immaterialrätt, avgränsat till bestämmelser av lag i Sverige. De juridiska reglerna jämfördes sedan med etiska teorier. Resultatet av studien presenteras som en diskussion utifrån dessa perspektiv och applicerade på exempelfall.

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This paper identifies subjects which are relevant for Swedish suppliers of tourism services beforeapproaching foreign markets. Most suppliers are micro, small or medium sized companies anduse intermediaries, such as tour operators, for internationalization. The research considers theopinion of British and German tour operators, which require some criteria beforehand in orderto simplify both the initialization and the development of cooperation. Destination marketingorganizations (DMOs) are hereby the go-betweens since they not only represent small-scalesuppliers on international markets, but also initiate first encounters between suppliers and touroperators. Suppliers need to provide DMOs with accurate information in order to ensure thebest possible representation. After initializing collaboration, business relationships are sought todevelop in order to facilitate long-term cooperation. Proper preparation forms therefore the basefor strengthening the competitiveness of Swedish tourism prior approaching internationalmarkets. The enhancement of distributing Swedish tourism services on foreign markets appearedto be a profitable way to enable further growth, which is strongly limited on the domestic market.Increasing the export share therefore secures and further facilitates tourism’s valuablecontributions to the Swedish economy.

With the transformation of the industrial structure environment and the coming knowledge economy era, the demand of enterprise for professional human resource is steadily on the increase, which makes the enterprise have diversified needs on manpower dispatch. In regard to the application of manpower dispatching, it has been transformed from the early labor force of blue-collar employees or the administrative personnel of white-collar staff in the basic level to the roles of skilled professionals or professional managers. There are two objectives in this research. The first objective is to probe into the current situation of professional dispatching, and the second is to probe into the management mechanism of professional dispatching in Taiwan, which are probed in the case study method on the basis of its research subject, interviewing the third dispatched party, and the interview details will be concluded and analyzed. It is discovered in this research that the dispatch triplicities think that the professional dispatch will become the development direction of manpower dispatch in the future. It is thought that dispatching agency should pick up the speed of recruitment and improve the professional degree in the practice of manpower dispatch. The ready-dispatch enterprise plays the role of reducing the otherness of professional dispatched personnel, the service charge of reasonably assessing the manpower dispatch, and the payment of professional dispatched personnel. And the dispatched personnel hope to strengthen the basis of mutual trust and improve the sense of job achievements. There are still a lot of challenges to meet the requirement of the dispatch triplicities. It is the common goal to find how to strengthen trilateral interaction and make the performance of professional live up to the standard of enterprise, which are the concerted efforts of dispatch triplicities.

This thesis investigates the economic impact of food safety recalls on the capital share returns of publicly traded meat processing firms using the 2008 Listeria monocytogenes recall in Canada as a case study. The event study method was applied to this study to identify the size, direction and duration of abnormal returns to Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Premium Brands Holdings which may have resulted from the Listeria recall. Results show that capital share returns to Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Premium Brands Holdings were negatively impacted by the recall during the event window. Abnormal returns calculated during the post-event window provided evidence that Maple Leaf’s reaction to the announcement may have restored investor confidence in Maple Leaf shares to some degree and that Premium Brands Holdings lack of communication about their meat processing safety protocols may have negatively impacted Premium Brands share returns.

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