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This paper aims to assess agri-environment (AE) scheme options on cultivated agricultural land in England for their impact on agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It considers both absolute emissions reduction and reduction incorporating yield decrease and potential production displacement. Similarities with Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) introduced in 2015 as part of the post-2014 Common Agricultural Policy reform, and their potential impact, are considered.

A life-cycle analysis approach derives GHG emissions for 18 key representative options. Meta-modelling is used to account for spatial environmental variables (annual precipitation, soil type and erosion risk), supplementing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change methodology.

Most options achieve an absolute reduction in GHG emissions compared to an existing arable crop baseline but at the expense of removing land from production, risking production displacement. Soil and water protection options designed to reduce soil erosion and nitrate leaching decrease GHG emissions without loss of crop yield. Undersown spring cereals support decreased inputs and emissions per unit of crop yield. The most valuable AE options identified are included in the proposed EFAs, although lower priority is afforded to some.

Recommendations are made where applicable to modify option management prescriptions and to further reduce GHG emissions.

This research is relevant and of value to land managers and policy makers. A dichotomous key summarises AE option prioritisation and supports GHG mitigation on cultivated land in England. The results are also applicable to other European countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the suitability of free carbon calculators aimed at the agricultural industry, for use in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission benchmarking, using the European dairy industry as an example.

Carbon calculators which were claimed to be applicable to European dairy farms were identified and tested using six production scenarios based on data from real European farms supplemented using published literature. The resulting GHG emission estimates, together with estimates apportioned using three functional units, were then compared to determine the robustness of the benchmarking results.

It was found that although there was a degree of agreement between the seven identified carbon calculators in terms of benchmarking total farm emissions, once a suitable functional unit was applied little agreement remained. Tools often ranked farms in different orders, thereby calling into question the robustness of benchmarking in the studied sector.

The scenario-based approach taken has identified issues liable to result in a lack of benchmarking robustness within this sector; however, there remains considerable scope to evaluate these findings in the field, both within this sector and others in the agricultural industry.

The results suggest that there are significant hurdles to overcome if GHG emission benchmarking is to aid in driving forward the environmental performance of the dairy industry. In addition, eco-labelling foods based on GHG benchmarking may be of questionable value.

At a time when environmental benchmarking is of increasing importance, this paper seeks to evaluate its applicability to sectors in which there is considerable scope for variation in the results obtained.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the global activities, highlighting the UK, concerned with farm assurance schemes and associated food labelling seeking to identify their contribution towards improving primary production standards.

A desk study focusing on published literature and historical documentation.

The majority of primary production standards are based upon codes of good practice with only tenuous links between the standards and the required environmental outcomes. Owing to the difficulties of comparing like with like here is little conclusive evidence that such standards are producing environmental benefits.

If it depends on assurance schemes to improve farming practices then a European‐wide standard is required that is not compromised by variations in national laws and codes of practice.

This review is of academic value and of value to those working to improve primary production standards. It presents arguments for introducing environmental outcome based measures into the UK assurance schemes.

In order to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is essential that all industry sectors have the appropriate knowledge and tools to contribute. This includes agriculture, which is considered to contribute about a third of emissions globally. This paper reports on one such tool: IMPACCT: Integrated Management oPtions for Agricultural Climate Change miTigation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

IMPACCT focuses on GHGs, carbon sequestration and associated mitigation options. However, it also attempts to include information on economic and other environmental impacts in order to provide a more holistic perspective. The model identifies mitigation options, likely economic impacts and any synergies and trade-offs with other environmental objectives. The model has been applied on 22 case study farms in seven Member States.

The tool presents some useful concepts for developing carbon calculators in the future. It has highlighted that calculators need to evolve from simply calculating emissions to identifying cost-effective and integrated emissions reduction options.

IMPACCT has potential to become an effective means of provided targeted guidance, as part of a broader knowledge transfer programme based on an integrated suite of guidance, tools and advice delivered via different media.

IMPACCT is a new model that demonstrates how to take a more integrated approach to mitigating GHGs on farms across Europe. It is a holistic carbon calculator that presents mitigation options in the context other environmental and economic objectives in the search for more sustainable methods of food production.

“Being connected” is one of the key terms of Franciscan Spirituality. St. Francis decided not to become a hermit (although it always was a great temptation for him), but he lived within the world with the people, especially with the poor. He felt a deep connection with everything and everybody on earth. Nature for him was mother, sister, and brother. Therefore, he had to help creation and creatures, whether an animal, a tree, or a leper. Expressions of this deep connection are his demands and the Franciscan characteristics of (evangelical) poverty, being a minor friar in the brotherhood. Peace and the responsibility for creation or ecology for peace are essentials of this connectedness. Francis wanted to live in peace with everybody and tried to create peace wherever it was possible and necessary. St. Bonaventure laid emphasis especially on this aspect of the Franciscan way of life. For today that has consequences: a radical shift, a conversion toward life and peace-making, toward the poor, and the helplessness of creation. Being connected in this way also has consequences for a re-thinking of the common models of economy.

The combination with an engine combustion chamber of annual form having inner and outer peripheral walls, and an entrance at one end, of an annular arrangement of equispaced fuel nozzles in said entrance, air inlets corresponding in number to and respectively surrounding said fuel nozzles, air‐swirling means in said air inlets, means supporting said air inlets and fuel nozzles and shaped to provide a recess around each of said air inlets, additional air inlets at circumferentially spaced positions in said inner and outer peripheral walls adjacent to said entrance, and air nozzles leading from said additional air inlets and situated in pairs within said chamber with the nozzles of each pair inclined away from each other, the number of pairs of air nozzles leading from the inlets in the inner peripheral wall of said chamber being equal to the number of pairs of air nozzles leading from the inlets in the outer peripheral wall of said chamber, and also equal to the number of said fuel nozzles, and the inner ends of said air nozzles being arranged to direct jets of air towards the nearest fuel nozzles so that each individual fuel nozzle has directed towards it the air jets from one nozzle of each of four adjacent pairs, whereby the air jets serve in conjunction with the swirling air entering said chamber through the first mentioned air inlets to form swirling rings of air around the individual fuel jets emerging from said fuel nozzles.

The concept of self-regulated learning (SRL) has become increasingly important in higher educational institutes seeking to provide students with a holistic education. It is important for students entering, and faculty within higher education, to understand whether future time perspective (FTP) or self-efficacy is more predictive of self-regulation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Through the use convenience sampling, data were collected via an online survey from 130 undergraduate students attending universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Data were analysed using regression analysis and inferential measures identifying themes in participants study habits in order to examine whether it is FTP or self-efficacy that more strongly predicts SRL behaviours.

Results suggest that self-efficacy is a much stronger predictor of SRL in undergraduate students than goal setting, as measured by FTP. Student’s most deficient SRL behaviours related to reading and comprehension of texts prescribed across modules.

Due to the fact that only an adjusted 33 per cent of self-regulation was predicted by the two variables under consideration, researchers are encouraged to identify further variables that may predict students SRL.

This paper seeks to support both students and faculty in how to draw on SRL in order to optimize students’ success in higher education.

The current research supports the identification of learning behaviours specific to branch campuses in a Middle-Eastern context.

By examining the impact of product innovation on abnormal financial returns following the launch of new products, this study aims to test the explanatory power of a new compound measure of product innovativeness (Ganbaatar and Douglas, 2019).

It is a longitudinal study in which the authors used the compound product innovativeness score (CPIS) for the first time to measure product innovativeness. The abnormal financial returns are estimated through the event study design, where four different models are used. Artificial neural network analysis is done to determine the impact of the CPIS on abnormal returns by utilising a hexic polynomial regression model.

The authors find effect sizes that substantially exceed practically significant levels and that the CPIS explain 65% of the variance in the firm’s abnormal returns in market valuation. Moreover, new-to-the-market novelty predicts 83% of the variation, while new-to-the-firm (catch-up) innovation insignificantly impacts firm value.

This paper demonstrates how the CPIS, an objective and direct measure of product innovativeness, can be used to gain more insight into the innovation effect.

Implications for the business practice of this study include the necessity of relentless innovation by firms in contested differentiated markets, particularly where technological advance is ongoing. Larger and mature firms must practice corporate entrepreneurship to renew their products on a continuous basis to avoid slipping backwards in their markets. Innovation leadership, rather than following the leader, is also important to increase competitive advantage, given the result that innovation followship does not produce abnormal financial returns.

In this study, the authors focused on the effect of product innovativeness on firm performance. While the literature affirms a positive relationship between innovation and firm performance, the effect size of this relationship varies, due largely to the authors contend to simplistic measures of innovativeness. In this study, the authors adopt the relatively novel “compound” measure of product innovativeness (Ganbaatar and Douglas, 2019) to better encapsulate the nuances of both technical novelty and market novelty. This measure of product innovativeness is applicable to firms of all sizes but is more easily applied to entrepreneurial new ventures and SMEs, and it avoids the shortcomings of prior firm-level and subjective measures of innovativeness for both smaller and larger firms. Using a more effective analytical method (Artificial Neural Network), the authors investigated whether there is a “practically” significant effect size due to product innovation, which could be valuable for entrepreneurs in practice. The authors show that the CPIS measure can very effectively explain abnormalities in the stock market, exhibiting a moderate effect size and explaining 65% of the variation in abnormal returns.