Ordinary Commodity Research Articles

Alcohol policy in the low- and middle-income countries

Abstract
 This article describes the relevance of the book, Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity to policy development in Low- and Middle-income Countries (LMICs). Per capita alcohol consumption is growing in the emerging economies of Asia and Africa, and it is already high in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the context of limited policy controls, this expansion has created a “perfect storm” driving increased alcohol consumption and harms. Along with the alcohol industry’s attempts to subvert evidence-based policy, these trends signal the need for the kinds of policy solutions proposed in the book. Implications for global health are also discussed.

Alcohol, No Ordinary Commodity: policy implications for Canada.

Alcohol is a favorite psychoactive substance of Canadians. It is also a leading risk factor for death and disability, playing a causal role in a broad spectrum of health and social issues. Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity is a collaborative, integrative review of the scientific literature. This paper describes the epidemiology of alcohol use and current state of alcohol policy in Canada, best practices in policy identified by the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity, and the implications for the development of effective alcohol policy in Canada. Best practices - strongly supported by the evidence, highly effective in reducing harm, and relatively low-cost to implement - have been identified. Measures that control affordability, limit availability, and restrict marketing would reduce population levels of alcohol consumption and the burden of disease attributable to it.

Subtle industry interference in public health: the case of the alcohol industry

Abstract Upstream drivers of alcohol consumption forcing people to consume alcohol frequently and excessively and experience alcohol-related harms are in fact all industry-related factors: easy physical access to alcohol, cheap alcohol beverage pricing, and heavy alcohol advertising and promotion. Unequivocal evidence exists on how these visible industry tactics effectively allow the infiltration of alcohol products into the market, targeting specific subgroups (women, youth), increase total per capita consumption and subsequently alcohol-related morbidity and mortality. This presentation will highlight using country cases and various examples the more subtle mechanisms in which the industry has successfully been interfering with nations’ progress in alcohol policy (e.g., NoLo beverages, interfering with WHO definitions, using SDGs to foster partnerships). Using the whole-of-government whole-of-society approaches, the presentation will also present evidence-based multi-sectoral actions (their facilitators and barriers) for more effective national alcohol policy. Given that alcohol is no ordinary commodity, the presentation will end with implications for policy to counterbalance global alcohol industry interference and support national actions.

Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity-a summary of the third edition.

This article summarizes the findings and conclusions of the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. The latest revision of this book is part of a series of monographs designed to provide a critical review of the scientific evidence related to alcohol control policy from a public health perspective. A narrative summary of the contents of the book according to five major issues. An extensive amount of epidemiological evidence shows that alcohol is a major contributor to the global burden of disease, disability and death in high-, middle- and low-income countries. Trends in alcohol products and marketing are described, indicating that a large part of the global industry has been consolidated into a small number of transnational corporations that are expanding their operations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The main part of the book is devoted to a review of strategies and interventions designed to prevent or minimize alcohol-related harm. Overall, the most effective strategies to protect public health are taxation that decreases affordability and restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol. A total ban on alcohol marketing is also an effective strategy to reduce consumption. In addition, drink-driving counter-measures, brief interventions with at-risk drinkers and treatment of drinkers with alcohol dependence are effective in preventing harm in high-risk contexts and groups of hazardous drinkers. Alcohol policy is often the product of competing interests, values and ideologies, with the evidence suggesting that the conflicting interests between profit and health mean that working in partnership with the alcohol industry is likely to lead to ineffective policy. Opportunities for implementation of evidence-based alcohol policies that better serve the public good are clearer than ever before as a result of accumulating knowledge on which strategies work best.

Bridging Disciplines: Applications of Forensic Science and Industrial Hemp.

Forensic laboratories are required to have analytical tools to confidently differentiate illegal substances such as marijuana from legal products (i.e., industrial hemp). The Achilles heel of industrial hemp is its association with marijuana. Industrial hemp from the Cannabis sativa L. plant is reported to be one of the strongest natural multipurpose fibers on earth. The Cannabis plant is a vigorous annual crop broadly separated into two classes: industrial hemp and marijuana. Up until the eighteenth century, hemp was one of the major fibers in the United States. The decline of its cultivation and applications is largely due to burgeoning manufacture of synthetic fibers. Traditional composite materials such as concrete, fiberglass insulation, and lumber are environmentally unfavorable. Industrial hemp exhibits environmental sustainability, low maintenance, and high local and national economic impacts. The 2018 Farm Bill made way for the legalization of hemp by categorizing it as an ordinary agricultural commodity. Unlike marijuana, hemp contains less than 0.3% of the cannabinoid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound which gives users psychotropic effects and confers illegality in some locations. On the other hand, industrial hemp contains cannabidiol found in the resinous flower of Cannabis and is purported to have multiple advantageous uses. There is a paucity of investigations of the identity, microbial diversity, and biochemical characterizations of industrial hemp. This review provides background on important topics regarding hemp and the quantification of total tetrahydrocannabinol in hemp products. It will also serve as an overview of emergent microbiological studies regarding hemp inflorescences. Further, we examine challenges in using forensic analytical methodologies tasked to distinguish legal fiber-type material from illegal drug-types.

Future Gold Commodity: Indonesian Ulema Council Vs Lajnah Daimah lil Buhuts al-’Ilmiyyah wal Ifta

Technological developments have made it easier to buy gold. Buying gold in installments or online is currently a trend and growing in Indonesia. Buying and selling transactions like this have not been explained in detail in classical fiqh. This research is a normative research with a comparative approach, namely comparing the laws of a country with the laws of one or more other countries regarding the same case. The data analysis techniques used in this article are in the form of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of this study state that there are differences of opinion between the Indonesian Ulema Council and the Saudi Arabian Fatwa Institute. The Saudi Arabian fatwa institution issued a fatwa regarding the prohibition of buying and selling gold in futures, because gold is a type of usury property and contains 'illat as a unit of price or means of payment. Meanwhile, the National Sharia Council of the Indonesian Ulema Council stipulates a fatwa regarding the permissibility of buying and selling gold in cash or futures, because at this time, gold is no longer a price (tsaman), but gold is an ordinary merchandise or commodity. The discussion about buying and selling gold is in the realm of ijtihad, which is inseparable from differences of opinion (khilafiyah), because there is no definite text in this matter.

Reuters and the Goverments before The World War I: A Case Study

Before the World War I, Havas, Wolff’s, and Reuters agencies signed confidential agreements with several governments, promising to serve them in various ways. These agencies concluded contracts with any government that was willing to subsidize them, treated news as an ordinary commodity. To convince statesmen to sign agreements with them, the agencies took advantage of world politics and tensions between empires. By this way, Wolff’s overcame its vulnerability to Havas and Reuters while Havas defied competition in its home market and secured a large subsidy from the Russian Empire for more than a decade. Likewise, Reuters signed confidential agreements with the Japanese and the British empires and was subsidized by the Egyptian government for more than five decades. From the second half of the nineteenth century, until the World War I, the policy of the first and major news agencies of Europe, Havas, Wolff’s, and Reuters was to maximize their profits by signing contracts with governments.

High spatial resolution computed tomography of chemiluminescence with densely sampled parallel projections.

Computed tomography of chemiluminescence (CTC) is an effective tool for combustion diagnostics by using optical detectors to capture the projections of luminescence from multiple views and realizing the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction by computed tomography (CT) theories. In the existing CTC, ordinary commodity lenses were employed in the system for imaging, the imaging effects complicate the projection model and the low sampling rate decreases the spatial resolution and reconstruction accuracy. In classical CT techniques, parallel projection based on 2D Radon transform is the simplest model, which has been widely used in CT applications. In this work, double telecentric lens is introduced in CTC to realize the acquisition of parallel projection with high sampling rate. Despite the parallel projection CT theories have been well studied, there are still a few theoretical and technological drawbacks need to be solved when utilizing double telecentric lens in CTC. Firstly, a simple method based on bilinear interpolation is studied to improve the calculation accuracy of the weight matrix. Secondly, the exact reconstruction condition for parallel projections is studied based on the discrete Radon transform theory. It establishes the theoretical relationship of the reconstruction quality and the sampling rate of the projections, the number of views, the range and the spatial resolution of the reconstructed region. In experiment, camera calibration technique for double telecentric lens is studied, and the results of which are used for projection correction. The tomographic reconstructions of an axisymmetric flame demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the studies.

Microalloying Additions to Commodity C-Mn Structural Steels: Fundamental Strengthening Mechanisms Leading to Improvements in Mechanical Properties, Alloy Optimization, Reduced Alloy Costs and Robustness of Hot Rolling Processing

Niobium in steels can be used as substitutional solid solute or as precipitates. In solution, Nb exerts a solute drag effect delaying but usually not interrupting static recrystallization during hot rolling and increasing hardenability during post rolling cooling. Fine precipitates generated during rolling/cooling can interrupt recrystallization in finishing and precipitate in the ferrite matrix increasing strength. As a relatively fine precipitate Nb can also inhibit austenite grain growth during reheating.This paper highlights the idea that micro-additions of Nb, up to 0.02%, to ordinary commodity C-Mn structural steels can improve their strength. Industry trial results are presented giving evidence that mechanical properties can be improved, and a leaner/optimized chemistry may be used by adding these micro-quantities of Nb to otherwise ordinary commodity C-Mn steels.Microstructural analysis of a C-Mn vs. a leaner/optimized C-Mn-micro Nb steel along with austenite evolution modeling using MicroSim-PM© helped identifying which type of metallurgical mechanisms are in-play resulting in higher strengths. This alternative composition has led to lower costs, lower CE, improved microstructure and a more stable process.

Addiction Lives: Ingeborg Rossow.

Addiction Lives: Ingeborg Rossow.

Socioeconomic status and susceptibility to alcohol-related harm

Socioeconomic status and susceptibility to alcohol-related harm

When Severe Weather Becomes a Tourist Attraction: Understanding the Relationship with Nature in Storm-Chasing Tourism

Abstract Since the mid-1990s, tourists can purchase storm-chasing tours to observe dangerous, potentially deadly natural phenomena—that companies cannot guarantee will occur. This context calls for a better understanding of the core aspect of the relationship between storm-chasing tourism and severe weather. What interest in severe weather spurs people to embark on storm-chasing tourism? How do they deal with severe weather becoming a tourist attraction through storm-chasing tourism? The present exploratory study investigates these questions using a qualitative methodology. It first examines the ways severe weather is depicted in participants’ discourse and on storm-chasing companies’ websites, illustrating they are multiple and intersecting. It then describes the various rationales used by tourists, guides, and owners when they discuss storm-chasing tourism turning severe weather into a tourist attraction, showing how the activity contributes to nature’s commodification process. Seeking to provide an initial anthropological interpretation of the findings, this study suggests that storm-chasing tourism brings together acceptance and exploitation of nature. Indeed, severe weather appears to be sought for its power over humans while also being marketed as an ordinary commodity. Albeit preliminary, this study sheds light on a fundamental feature of storm-chasing tourism that researchers have not yet fully addressed and enhances the comprehension of a piece of humankind’s relationship with nature in current Western societies.

CONSIDERATION OF THE PRICE FLUCTUATIONS IN COMPANIES’ PLANNING AND PUBLIC CONTROL OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKET

The article is devoted to the formation of prices for certain agricultural products and its consideration in planning. The authors note that the food and food raw material market can be regarded as an ordinary commodity market, but with some specific features. One of these features is a significant time lag between the decision-making and economic result gained from it. The authors point out the price as one of the most important factors of risk and instability in agricultural markets. Its instability is regarded by business managers as one of the reasons for their refusal of serious strategic planning of their activities. The authors hypothesized that the price of the products can grow as the result of yield reduction, and, under the effect of unfavorable prices, companies may cut down their production for the next year. However, the analysis of the sample enterprise such dependency has not been confirmed, that is, its management plans operation based on the other factors. At the district level relationship manifested itself quite clearly, it shows that many companies really take into account the price factors in production planning. At the regional level the price fluctuations have been disproportionate to production fluctuations, even in cases where the direction of change was expectable. The authors made the general conclusion, that the activity planning based only on the price dynamics is risky. Prices also cannot be considered in strategic planning as weak signals, as they change in different directions and are unstable. The authors detected significant fluctuations of all the considered indicators at the both district and regional level. It was therefore concluded, that more active intervention of the government and regional authorities in the development of the food and agricultural market and the system of agricultural production is required.

Protecting Prohibition

During recent years, political discussions about how to deal with cannabis use have become increasingly centered on harm reduction and liberalization in large parts of the Western world. In Sweden, however, no such re-framing of the issue has occurred. There has been political status quo with emphasis on prohibition and zero tolerance. This study aims to elucidate how the cannabis policy discourse in Sweden is characterized today to legitimize restrictive drug policy and counter global changes. Two symposia dedicated to dissemination of cannabis information in Sweden were analyzed to understand how policy players, service providers, and other professionals invited to speak at these events argue to maintain cannabis use a high-profile societal problem that necessitates prohibition. With the help of Carol Bacchi’s theoretical approach “What’s the Problem Represented to be,” we critically analyzed how cannabis is constructed in the material. This meant focusing on what policy and service provision that is described as meaningful and effective as a way to understand what the problem of cannabis is represented to be. Our analysis showed, among other things, that cannabis-positive attitudes are seen as utterly problematic, that youth users are portrayed as extremely vulnerable, and that current government responses are perceived as righteous and compassionate. It also showed how speakers at symposia construct a morally upright “us” who promote “reliable” scientific evidence about the dangers of cannabis. In this way, the choice between keeping prohibition and trying liberalization stands out as one between letting reliable or unreliable research guide drug policy. We conclude that youth becomes a perfect category to rationalize current problematizations; a vessel that may carry and protect drug prohibition in a globalized world where cannabis is increasingly handled like an ordinary commodity.

Experiments in Urban Luminosity

This article addresses contemporary artworks that reinvent ordinary urban lighting fixtures and technologies to create complex sensorial environments. In recent years, light art has indeed flourished in many cities – often in the context of extravagant light festivals and all-night art events that are sponsored by municipalities and funded by corporations. The end result of such events can be empty spectacle and the further commodification of urban space. In contrast, the artists Michel de Broin, Philippe Parreno, and Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky have created complex works of illumination that directly confront commodification and spectacle. De Broin’s massive disco ball was suspended high above the streets of Paris, sending splinters of light across the city; Parreno cinematic marquees seemed to be reanimated historical fixtures from an urban past; Weppler and Mahovsky transform ordinary commodity items into enchanting lanterns that get carried away by city-dwellers. In all three cases the artists emphasize the role that lighting plays within the urban environment, in that the nocturnal city is a distinct cultural experience, while the encounter with light becomes embodied and tactile. These experiments with light therefore activate the human sensorium, while also contributing to urbanism as described by Henri Lefebvre – the necessary regeneration of the city through the everyday actions of its inhabitants.

Efficiency Improvement of Blood Supply Chain System Using Taguchi Method and Dynamic Simulation

The management of blood is a problem of specific concern for the human race. Even though there are technological developments in the field of substitutes for blood products, the need for donor blood and its derived products will always exist. Blood is not an ordinary commodity. The supply of donor blood is fairly irregular and the demand for blood products is at least as stochastic. Matching supply and demand in an efficient manner is not straightforward. Blood products are also perishable, which complicates things even further. Shortages lead to high costs for society, since they can cause increase mortality rates. The goal of this paper is applying dynamic simulation and Taguchi method to design a robust blood supply chain system to improve the blood supply chain efficiency. The National Blood Center (NBC) in Iran has been selected as the case of study. To do the Taguchi method, four main controllable factors that are arrival rate of donors, maximum inventory level, minimum inventory level and blood delivery policy and one noise factor which is demand variable have been chosen. Based on final result, to achieve a robust blood supply chain, all main factors should be located at the high level except for factor B. This means that arrival rate of donors, maximum inventory level and blood delivery policy should be equaled to 300, 1000 and LIFO, in case, the minimum inventory level should be equaled to 70 respectively to optimize the efficiency of the blood supply chain based on the patient safety.

Flip-flop: a journey through globalisation's backroads

This book follows the global trail of one of the world’s most unremarkable and ubiquitous objects – flip-flops – from extraction of raw materials, to manufacture, distribution and consumption. Through this unique lens, Caroline Knowles takes a ground-level view of the lives and places of globalisation’s backroads, providing new insights that challenge contemporary accounts of globalisation. The book shows that globalisation along the flip-flop trail is a tangle of unstable, shifting and contingent connections, rather than an orderly product chain. Knowles examines this instability, exploring the complexities, personal topographies and skills with which people navigate global uncertainties. In doing so, Knowles provides new ways of thinking about globalisation from the vantage point of the shifting landscape crossed by a seemingly ordinary and everyday commodity. ‘Innovative, insightful, and by turns disturbing and inspiring. Caroline Knowles leads a journey through globalisation’s backroads that will inform and engage students and push professors to connect human experience and political economy.’ Professor Craig Calhoun, Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science ‘If you are invited to Davos, shiny shoes, high heels or ski boots may be in order. For understanding much of the rest of the world, Caroline Knowles shows, you think better with flip-flops.’ Ulf Hannerz, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University

No ordinary commodity – but quite ordinary consumers

No ordinary commodity – but quite ordinary consumers

Cryptographic Algorithms on the GA144 Asynchronous Multi-Core Processor

Pervasive computing has turned many ordinary commodity products to smart and digital computing devices. Though these devices are mostly equipped with low-cost processors offering limited computing ...

‘1L=10L for Africa’: Corporate social responsibility and the transformation of bottled water into a ‘consumer activist’ commodity

In recent years, it has become an increasingly common marketing practice to connect the sale of consumer products to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, such as aid and development projects in so-called ‘developing’ countries. One example is Volvic’s pioneering ‘1L=10L for Africa’ campaign (2005–2010), which linked the sale of each liter of bottled water in ‘developed’ countries with the promise by Danone, Volvic’s owner, to provide 10 liters of drinking water in Africa. In this article, we engage with this ‘cause-related marketing’ campaign, using critical discourse analysis (CDA) to uncover its mechanisms and ideological functioning. We show how Volvic was able to transform an ordinary commodity, bottled water, into a consumer activist brand through which consumers could take part in solving global social problems, such as the access to safe drinking water in ‘developing’ countries. Our analysis of this exemplary case shows the ways that CSR often operates to deflect ethical critiques, consolidate brand loyalty and corporate profits, and defuse political struggles around consumption. By doing so, we suggest that CSR forms part of a complex strategy deployed to legitimize particular brands and commodities. In this way CSR can be seen as playing an important role in the ideological makeup of contemporary consumer capitalism.