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Thistle flower (Cynara cardunculus) aqueous extracts, as rich source of milk-clotting peptidases, have been widely used for cheeses marketed under the Registry of the Protected Designation of Origin, as it is the case of Serra da Estrela cheese, manufactured from raw ewes’ milk and without addition of any commercial starter culture. This paper aims at studying the influence of six different ecotypes of thistle flowers in cheese properties during the ripening and of final products.

Cheeses were produced with different thistle flower extracts and then the clotting time, weight and colour of cheeses, as well as texture properties and sensorial characteristics, were evaluated.

The clotting time varied from 47 to 66 min, and the weight loss along ripening varied between 32 and 40 per cent. There was some influence of thistle flower ecotype on the colour during ripening and in the final product. The results of texture analysis revealed significant differences between the thistle ecotypes: crust firmness varying from 2.4 to 5.6 N; inner firmness from 0.82 to 1.82 N; stickiness from −0.5 to −1.60 N; adhesiveness from −3.0 to −11.3 N.s; and Ecotype C was particularly distinguishable. Sensorial evaluation revealed differences among the cheeses, with Ecotype C receiving the highest score for global appreciation.

The usage of different extracts of thistle flower to produce Serra da Estrela cheese with different properties is a novelty, and it allows the possibility of manipulating this parameter in the future so as to produce cheeses with specific characteristics, addressed to different consumer targets.

This study aims to identify sustainability indicators in the energy sector through a literature review and validate them from the perspective and context of professionals working in the sector in an emerging economy country, Brazil, considering the relationship of these indicators with the achievement of the targets set by the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs).

To accomplish this, a literature review on sustainability indicators specific to the energy sector was conducted. Subsequently, a research instrument (questionnaire) based on the identified indicators was developed and a survey was administered to professionals in the field. The collected data were analyzed using the Lawshe method.

The results revealed 20 indicators, distributed across environmental, economic and social dimensions. Among these, nine indicators were validated, including global impacts, local impacts, renewable energy production as a percentage of total production, greenhouse gas emissions, access to electricity, investment in the energy sector, installed capacity in the electricity sector, energy prices in the end-use sector and energy distribution and conversion efficiency.

Consequently, it was possible to determine which SDGs are directly impacted and provide a foundation for future actions that can contribute to the sustainable advancement of the energy sector in emerging countries.

Fans are proactive consumers of pop culture products, who can be seen as prosumers. Fanvideo production is one of their most widespread practices in the participatory culture scenario. Thus, the aim of the present study is to analyze how ludic prosumption is featured on plays performed in Brazilian fanvideos based on successful pop culture franchises.

Research based on the interpretive content analysis of fanvideos of plays produced by Brazilian fans based on five emblematic pop culture franchises and published on YouTube.

Results have shown six play types in the analyzed fanvideos – i.e. child's play, performing powers, cosplay, play in social rites, teaching to play and “zuêra” –, which revealed a way of having fun in different situations through different practices based on ludic consumption experiences in different spheres of social life.

CCT-based studies focused on investigating plays as ludic consumption phenomenon, as well as fan culture, remain at early research stage. Thus, the main contribution of the present study lies on associating such concepts based on the concept of prosumption.

Manufacturing systems have undergone radical changes because of the implementation of physical and digital innovating technologies with high levels of connectivity, interoperability and autonomy. In this regard, the objective of this study was to investigate whether industrial engineers graduated in recent years in Brazil are prepared or not to work in companies and industries within the scope of Industry 4.0 technologies in a way that they positively contribute to the implementation and management of such technologies.

To achieve these objectives, a literature review and a survey on managers of the industrial sector acting in Brazil were carried out as the research strategies. The data collected were analyzed through a quantitative approach by means of the structural equations modeling method.

The hypothesis that the competencies of industrial engineers currently graduating in Brazil have a positive impact on the implementation and management of Industry 4.0 technologies has been confirmed. Predicting the evolution of production scenarios, understanding the interaction between organizations and their impacts on competitiveness and keeping abreast of technological advancements, organizing them and putting them to the service of business and societal demands were the competencies that obtained the highest factor loadings in the construct of industrial engineer competencies. In addition, cloud manufacturing, automation and robotization were the competencies that obtained the highest factor loadings in the industry 4.0 construct.

The analysis of skills development stands out as a source of competitive advantage for companies that intend to transition to a production system aligned with the principles of Industry 4.0, considering the training of professionals in an emerging economy context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different concepts of innovation in the subsistence marketplace from top-down and bottom-up approaches. This study analyzes the literature on the theme and identified research gaps by constructing a framework based on approaches and innovation concepts, which can guide future research efforts. Additionally, this paper presents two case studies, which can improve the way innovation is developed and diffused in the subsistence marketplace.

Through a literature review, this study develops a framework by analyzing innovation concepts in the subsistence marketplace (i.e. base of the pyramid innovation, disruptive innovation, frugal innovation, reverse innovation and inclusive innovation) in light of subsistence marketplace approaches (top-down and bottom-up).

The analysis showed critical research gaps, especially a lack of studies involving disruptive and frugal innovations from a bottom-up approach. This paper also concludes that the top-down approach is more common than the bottom-up one. To fill these gaps, this study presents two business plans by illustrating disruptive innovation vs bottom-up approach and frugal innovation vs bottom-up approach.

The use of real business plans to illustrate proposals having an actual impact on subsistence marketplace regions sheds light on how to address these challenges. By doing so, this paper intends to fill the theoretical gap in disruptive and frugal innovations within a bottom-up approach to promote the development and diffusion of different types of innovation in the subsistence marketplace, and thus provide solutions to alleviate poverty.

This paper is dedicated to elaborating, proposing and validating an action plan to enhance the mitigation of risks generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in the electric sector supply chain, aiming to promote a more resilient supply chain.

For this, a systematic review of the literature was carried out to prepare an action plan that was validated by a group of experts, through the Delphi methodology.

As a result, an action plan was obtained, with 18 actions subdivided into 13 resilience elements and related to 20 main risks arising from the pandemic. The actions oriented to the development of relationships among supply chain members, promotion of a culture oriented to learning and problem solving, contingency plan, safety stock and risk management were pointed as those capable of generating resilience in the chain analyzed in the moment of crisis.

The results achieved can contribute to the expansion of debates in the area of resilient supply chain management, as well as contribute to supply chain managers in their elaboration and definition of actions that aim to make the supply chain more resilient. It is noteworthy that no similar study was found in the literature considering the specificities of supply chain management in the Brazilian Amazon region.

Mental health issues are concurrent among college students and new interventions are needed to address the problem. The objective of this study was to evaluate the convergence of symptoms into a single factor called “mental distress” and its relationship to mindfulness facets.

Brazilian university students (n = 136) answered self-report questionnaires, assessing sociodemographic information, dispositional mindfulness, insomnia severity, perceived stress, depression and anxiety. The analytical procedure consisted of defining the latent variable and relationships with mindfulness facets in a structural equations modeling environment.

The proposed model presented good fit [χ² (23 = 34.38; p = 0.060; RMSEA = 0.068 (90% CI = 0.00;0.114); CFI = 0.951] and mental distress was inversely related to the five facets of mindfulness questionnaire of nonjudgment and nonreactivity.

The symptoms converged into a latent variable, and the latent variable was related to the abilities of not judging and not reacting to internal stimuli. The relationships found might guide the development of future intervention strategies to benefit university students’ mental health.

This paper aims to introduce the articles in this issue and explain the pertinence of the strategic question.

A brief context for the strategic question is provided, as well as the issue alignment and a content analysis of the articles selected.

A contextualization for the economic crisis affecting Portugal is presented and its impact on the Tourism Industry discussed. The articles range from a series of research studies on Portuguese Tourism, demonstrating its evolution over the past three years (2011-2013), and various viewpoint/position papers reflecting the perspectives of the main stakeholders of this industry and how they analyze the context of crisis that is affecting the country since 2010.

The articles selected for this issue contribute to shed light on an important phase of Portugal’s history, allowing for an understanding of the impacts of the financial crisis on domestic tourism and sectors such as restaurants and hotels, as well as the government’s perspective on the evolution of the industry over past three years. The information presented and analysed reveals some interesting lessons, namely, that a financial crisis may not affect directly the growth and development of the tourism industry.

The present theme issue analysis the context of financial crisis that Portugal is facing and brings together, for the first time in a single publication, the views of major stakeholders of the Portuguese Tourism Industry.

This study aims to analyzed the development of open innovation research knowledge and its application in the tourism sector during the past 17 years, with the aim of understanding the scientific activity and impact of existing research. In addition, this research identifies trending thematic lines and provides recommendations for future research on this topic.

A bibliometric analysis was carried out from the Scopus database, in which 110 studies related to open innovation in tourism were identified. The analysis of the papers was done with the Bibliometrix and Vosviewer tools.

The results show that there is a recent and growing interest among academics, especially since 2017. Moreover, four main lines of work were identified: overtourism and sustainability, value cocreation, open innovation and competitive advantage and its impact on organizations belonging to the hotel sector and the relationship between external knowledge and internal sources in innovation management and open innovation performance.

The relationship with other stakeholders involved in the customer experience value creation in the tourism sector depends to a large extent on the joint offer that hotels, restaurants, tour operators and tourist offices, can provide in a tourist destination. Therefore, having external sources to innovate from will improve their innovative and organizational performance. However, there are no bibliometric analyses on the application of the open innovation paradigm in this sector. Thus, this research contributes to fill this gap, as well as to identify the most recurrent themes that show how open innovation is developing in tourism, providing academics and researchers with guidelines for future research.