University of Bedfordshire

About: University of Bedfordshire is a education organization based out in Luton, Bedford, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 3860 authors who have published 6079 publications receiving 143448 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Luton.

The Mobile Phone and the Public Sphere Mobile Phone Usage in Three Critical Situations

Abstract: This article seeks to explore the influence of the mobile phone on the public sphere, in particular with regard to its effect on news agendas, gatekeepers and primary definers. Using the examples o...

Analysis of nitrate and nitrite in foodstuffs: A critical review

Abstract: A general review is presented of published methods for the determination of nitrate and nitrite levels in foodstuffs especially meat. Published methods show wide variations in techniques for extraction, clean-up (clearing) of extracts and final determinative steps and these are critically compared. The effect of interferences due to the presence of ascorbate, sulphite and phosphate together with the formation of a “meat blank” when nitrate is reduced to nitrite with spongy cadmium are discussed. Newer techniques based on the use of ion selective electrodes and automated techniques are outlined and the application of techniques such as amperometry, liquid chromatography, ion exchange and spectrophotometry are listed.

Cyclostratigraphy and the Early Jurassic timescale: Data from the Belemnite Marls, Dorset, southern England

Abstract: Time series based on determinations (wt%) of calcium carbonate and total organic carbon have been generated for the entire Lower Jurassic hemipelagic Belemnite Marls, Dorset, southern Britain. This formation was deposited during early Pliensbachian time, at a paleolatitude of about 35°N, in an epicontinental sea that was largely enclosed by the supercontinent of Pangea. The sequence contains compositionally diverse light and dark marl bedding couplets, the thicknesses of which are notably reduced in the upper third of the section. The regularity of the couplets in segments of the sequence, combined with a regular amplitude modulation, indicates an origin that is related to the orbital-precession cycle (i.e., one of the Milankovitch parameters). A timescale is developed by assigning a duration of 20 k.y. per couplet, and this suggests that the entire formation represents at least 1.78 m.y. Using the new timescale, bundles of bedding couplets are shown to have periods consistent with the 123 k.y. component of the orbital-eccentricity variations. The amplitude of the couplets varies at the same frequencies as the bundle cycles, in accordance with the interpretation that the couplets record precession and the bundles record eccentricity. However, despite having the same frequency of variation, there is no consistent relationship (coherence) between the variations in amplitude of the couplet cycle and the bundle cycles as would be predicted by the eccentricity-precession relationship. This mismatch can be explained in terms of nonlinear behavior of a climatic system characterized by a varying response time or nonlinear response of the sedimentary system itself. The data contain no evidence for orbital-obliquity cycles. Because the obliquity cycle affects insolation principally at high latitudes, the climatic factors that indirectly controlled the sedimentary cyclicity must have arisen at relatively low latitudes. The Belemnite Marls timescale indicates highly variable minimum durations for ammonite zones and subzones. True durations cannot be determined because it is possible that the succession is incomplete as a result of undetected erosion and/or nondeposition. A combination of the new results with cyclostratigraphic data from Yorkshire, northeast England, and the Southern Alps, Switzerland, indicates, based on cycle counts, that the Pliensbachian Stage lasted at least 4.82 m.y. Marine Sr-isotope ratios appear to have decreased linearly from the start of Jurassic time until the end of Pliensbachian time. The rate of decrease in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr established using the Belemnite Marls timescale was 0.000042/m.y. (or less if the main part of the formation is incomplete). Using this rate, with the observed changes in Sr-isotope ratios, gives minimum durations of 2.86 m.y. for Hettangian time, 7.62 m.y. for Sinemurian time, and 6.67 m.y. for Pliensbachian time.

Adoption of RFID technologies in UK logistics: Moderating roles of size, barcode experience and government support

Abstract: Due to globalization, logistics has become an important part in the supply chain. Many logistics service providers have realised the importance of adoption of technologies that can help manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers to communicate with each other more efficiently. Among many logistics technologies, radio frequency identification (RFID) has been identified as an important technology to improve logistics operations and supply chain management, and thus is increasingly gaining both practitioners' and researchers' attention. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of usability features of RFID in the adoption of the technology by the logistics sector in the UK. We have used questionnaire survey method to collect data from the UK logistics firms. The analysis of the data shows that the usability of RFID technology positively influences adoption of technology. We have further tested the moderating effects of firm size, experience with barcode use, and government support in adopting RFID. Our results show that government support strongly moderates the link between usability of RFID and its adoption but size and experience with barcode do not moderate this link. We elaborate the contributions of the study and managerial implications of our results in this paper.