Commodification and Urban Development: A Case Study of Taiwan

This paper aims to identify the processes of commodification of land and housing in Taiwan during the era of rapid economic development since the Second World War. On paper, Taiwan has a quite extraordinarily socialistic philosophy of landownership, based on the teachings of Sun Yat-sen and his doctrine of equalization of land rights. However, there is a very large discrepancy between policy and practice and as a consequence urban development and housing delivery are intensely commodified sectors of the Taiwanese economy. The beneficiaries of urban development have primarily been the middle class and powerful development factions. The specific economic and political institutions, related primarily to its precarious relationship with Mainland China, have shaped the perplexed trajectory of commodification of land and housing in Taiwan.     

PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF FRESHLY BAKED AND STORED WHOLE-WHEAT MUFFINS WITH AND WITHOUT FLAXSEED MEAL

Whole‐wheat muffins and batter were prepared with 0–5% flaxseed meal or by direct substitution of vegetable oil with flaxseed oil, and were evaluated for physicochemical properties. The storage properties of muffins were evaluated over 5 days at 0.44 relative vapor pressure (RVP) and ambient temperature. Batter viscosity increased from 2730 ± 530 to 12,775 ± 4425 cps with increasing flaxseed meal content while other properties were unaffected. When flaxseed meal was added at 5%, the maximum force for compression of freshly baked muffins increased from 369.6 ± 3.0 to 594.6 ± 10.2 g while the internal elasticity decreased from 60.2 ± 0.5 to 55.4 ± 1.6. Freshly baked muffins with flaxseed meal had lower color scores, L, and a values than control muffins. The storage stability of muffins was unaffected by the addition of flaxseed meal. Flaxseed meal or oil can be used in muffins to enhance the nutritional value without detrimentally changing the freshness or storage properties.