A user evaluation of biodegradable cutlery

This paper summarizes a study evaluating the acceptance and perceived performance of disposable cutlery made from starch-based biodegradable resins relative to nondegradable polystyrene cutlery. Two hundred forty-three sailors onboard three U.S. Navy vessels ate their lunch using either biodegradable cutlery made with resins manufactured by one of two commercial companies or polystyrene cutlery. The cutlery was rated on several sensory and performance dimensions as well as for overall acceptability. Results indicated that sailors rated both the biodegradable and the polystyrene utensils as easy to hold. There were also no differences in the perceived ease of using each of the spoons. However, compared to the polystyrene utensils, both types of biodegradable utensils were viewed as less sturdy, as having a less attractive color, and as being less acceptable overall. The biodegradable forks and knives were also rated as more difficult to use for piercing and cutting food than the polystyrene ones. In addition, several significant differences emerged between the two types of biodegradable cutlery. The results are discussed in terms of the need for continued consumer testing of products developed from biodegradable polymeric materials.     

EFFECTS OF RATE STRUCTURE KNOWLEDGE ON HOUSEHOLD WATER USE1

ABSTRACT: Socioeconomic determinants of individual household water use were estimated using regressions of these characteristics with actual household water use for winter and summer. Results were disaggregated between those consumers who were aware of an increasing block rate price structure and those who were not. Most of the informed group members believed that this price structure did result in significant reductions in water use. Nevertheless, overall water use was greater for the informed group. The determinants of water use were found to differ between informed and uninformed users as well as between winter and summer. The uninformed users were influenced by a larger set of variables in each season than the informed group. In winter, the informed group members with swimming pools and/or arid landscaping used less water than their uninformed counterparts. Summer water use increased with length of tenancy in home for the uninformed group but not for informed, while increasing with ownership for informed consumers.     

Will Consumers Save The World? The Framing of Political Consumerism

An active ethically conscious consumer has been acclaimed as the new hero and hope for an ethically improved capitalism. Through consumers’ “voting” at the checkout, corporations are supposed to be held accountable for their conduct. In the literature on political consumerism, this has mainly been approached as political participation and governance. In this article, we do a critical review of this literature. We do so by questioning the existence of what we call a “generic active consumer model.” At the core of this position, there is a belief that the active consumer is a universal entity, available across nations and time. Instead we call for an approach that takes accord of the ways consumers and consumer roles are framed in interactive processes in markets, governance structures, and everyday life. Consumers in different countries assess their responsibilities and their powers as consumers differently due to different institutionalizations within distinctive contexts. We also must take into account how the inertia of ordinary consumption and the moral complexities of everyday life restrict the adoption of an active consumerist role. Hence, the debate on political consumerism should make for a more realistic notion of ethical consumer-sovereignty and its role in improving the workings of capitalism. In our view, these findings have severe implications for understanding both theories of political consumption and the dynamics of political consumption per se.     

循环经济促进法律责任研究

循环经济促进法律责任是主体共同而有区别的责任,主要体现为清洁生产、能源节约、生态设计、可持续的消费和环境友好的废物管理等方面的义务要求.环境外部性理论和环境法基本原则为循环经济促进法律责任设计提供了理论依据.国家的循环经济促进法律责任的主要内容是制定并监督实施符合循环经济要求的基本法律、政策、标准和要求等.企业的循环经济促进法律责任主要是采用无毒、易降解、资源和能源消耗少、耐用、便于回收和再生利用的环境友好产品设计和生产技术等.消费者的循环经济法律赍任是:通过支付价格为产品的环境影响承担经济责任.同时对责任配置的规则、延伸生产者责任的合理性与限度进行了探讨,主张我国循环经济促进法律责任设计应重视成本收益分析、考虑具体国情,实行强制与经济激励并重.     

浅谈供应链企业之间动机控制机制

供应链管理强调供应链上节点企业及其活动的整体集成,其管理范围不仅包括企业内部的生产经营活动,而且涉及整体供应链管理技术,并且在管理中特别重视企业之间的合作.基于期望理论从动机控制机制角度浅谈供应链企业之间的运作.图1,参4.     

从绿色消费到绿色技术到绿色设计

分析了绿色消费、绿色技术、绿色设计的内涵；阐述了由绿色消费引起绿色技术和绿色设计的链式反应过程；讨论了“绿色浪潮”的成因。     

Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: A Pygmalion mechanism

We theorized and examined a Pygmalion perspective beyond those proposed in past studies in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee voice behavior. Specifically, we proposed that transformational leadership influences employee voice through leaders' voice expectation and employees' voice role perception (i.e., Pygmalion mechanism). We also theorized that personal identification with transformational leaders influences the extent to which employees internalize leaders' external voice expectation as their own voice role perception. In a time‐lagged field study, we found that leaders' voice expectation and employees' voice role perception (i.e., the Pygmalion process) mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and voice behavior. In addition, we found transformational leadership strengthens employees' personal identification with the leader, which in turn, as a moderator, amplifies the proposed Pygmalion process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

农业综合开发投资不足的理性预期分析

为解决农业综合开发投资不足的问题,根据理性预期理论研究了投资预期不足的制度原因。与农业资源开发的巨大资金需求、农业可持续发展需求、提高农业综合生产能力的要求及提高国际竞争力相比,农业综合开发投资明显不足,投资预期不高是农业综合开发投资不足的重要原因,投资预期不足的制度原因是收益低、风险高,农业公共财政制度缺位,分级财政投资体制所产生的贫困地区财政紧张、土地产权制度和农村社会保障制度及金融制度缺陷等。应从建立健全农业公共财政制度框架下的农业综合开发投资机制及开展土地产权等农业基础制度创新和改革金融制度等方面健全农业综合开发投资预期机制。     

A critique of ethical and social issues of genetically modified crops

SUMMARY

The ethical and social issues of genetically modified crops as reported by the Nuffield Bioethics Committee are summarised. A critique of their findings is presented. It is argued that the apparent benefits are outweighed by the ecological, social and economic costs, and that the yields of some genetically modified crops are poorer when compared to conventional species. Furthermore, the current regulations are far too lax for consumer protection. There is an urgent need for a critical and disinterested review of the scientific basis of the research.