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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an application of spatial decision support system tools (SDSS) for assessing management option to reduce the nitrogen load from agricultural sources. The SDSS has been developed within a case study for the drainage basin of the Grado and Marano Lagoon (N‐E Italy). Design/methodology/approach – The problem is at least partially solvable replacing some actual cash crops with alternative crops requiring lower nitrogen input but which are economically profitable. The decision support was designed with two components: a non‐spatial one (DSS) to support the choice among alternative crops (within different scenarios), and a spatial one (SDSS) to analyse and evaluate the spatial distribution of the cash crops finding suitable areas for the alternative crops. Findings – The use of alternative crops for reducing nitrogen loads to the Grado and Marano lagoon waters seems feasible and appropriate. A mosaic of poplar, grassland and cash crop areas in these areas of the pollution risk is the best alternative both in terms of total nitrogen reduction and in terms of farmers' income. Research limitations/implications – The paper proposes a SDSS to implement alternative crops in an area where the cash crops constitute a very strong consolidated agricultural system. The feasibility of the alternatives is dependent on the willingness of farmers to participate in the research and then to exploit its results. The availability of data only at municipal level limited the research, thus imposing a spatial resolution constraint. Originality/value – It is so far the first attempt, in Friuli Venezia Giulia region, to develop a spatial decision support system to mitigate the pollution of a lagoon from agricultural sources by trying to find suitable alternatives to well consolidated agricultural practices. It also constitutes a model that can be applied in similar contexts by coupling ecological and economic considerations.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse aspects of technological change in rice agriculture, related to adoption of the Green Revolution (GR) in Indonesia. Rice production is selected in this study because it plays an important role in the development of Indonesian economy. Particular attention is paid to the use of agrochemicals that has potentials of contaminating the environment.

The paper uses an econometric model to investigate the impact of different technologies and policies related to rice production. Production function technology that enables non-neutrality of input use is the underlying concept of this paper. Types of land and transformation in policies related to rice production were accounted for to determine biased technological change. National-wide data were compiled from the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics.

The results show that rice agriculture underwent technological progress with biased technological change. The technological change was capital- and labour-saving, and agrochemical-augmenting. Production system in wetland led to technological change less capital- and labour-intensive, whilst the GR led to technological change more labour-saving and more agrochemical-augmenting.

This study only pays attention to environmentally detrimental inputs as a cause of externalities. This is a not full representation of real environmental consequences. In some studies on environmental degradation associated with intensive agricultural practices, however, there are other factors that can degrade the environment, such as soil erosion and soil compaction resulting from certain agricultural practices, and deforestation resulting from agricultural expansion. These are also important environmental impacts. The author expects that these factors are interesting and challenging subjects to be modelled in future research on sustainability of agricultural productivity growth, both theoretically and empirically.

Increase in use of agrochemicals was strongly GR linked. Moving from the GR towards more environmentally friendly policy was a wise step to reach sustainable rice production. After the GR, an act that removed pesticide subsidies and disseminated environmentally friendly technology, called integrated pest management was able to reduce the intensity of agrochemical use in rice agriculture. Further actions to support environmentally friendly policy could be the use of bio-agents such as bio-fertilisers and bio-pesticides. Enhancing farmers’ knowledge on the environmental issues and engaging farmers as a part of agro-ecosystem would synergise the actions.

This study uses the concept of biased technological change, estimated econometrically using national-level data. The production function used in this analysis enables non-neutrality of agrochemical use. When the result significantly shows the agrochemical-augmenting technological change, it is a convincing evidence, not just by accident, that the GR really led to environmental problem.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the viscoelastic quality of commercial vital wheat glutens from different origins (A and B) through simple tests, and correlate these results with dough rheological parameters measured using more complex equipment (farinograph and extensograph) and with bread quality characteristics (specific volume and crumb firmness) obtained from wheat flour fortified with 7 g/100 g of vital gluten.

For the evaluation of vital gluten quality, two commercial vital wheat gluten named A and B were used. The simple tests performed with these samples were wet and dry gluten contents and index gluten, extensbility test and expansion test. The Pearson correlation was performed among data from dough rheological tests (farinograph and extensograph) and bread quality parameters (specific volume (SV) and crumb firmness) obtained from the fortification of wheat flour with 7 g/100 g of VGA or VGB (previous work, data not shown).

The simple tests showed differences in the viscoelastic properties of vital gluten A and B; vital gluten A presented higher elasticity and lower extensibility than vital gluten B, and the gluten ball of sample A presented higher SV. By correlation analysis, it was verified that the simple tests studied may be useful to assess the baking performance of commercial vital gluten when this product is added to wheat flour for its fortification. Furthermore, the results indicate the need for more information on vital wheat gluten proteins for its commercialisation and use.

This work is very important, not just for the scientific community, but also for the bakery industry, that requires more information about vital wheat gluten before its use in bread making. As there are great differences in the protein quality of commercial vital wheat glutens and their functionality, the study was developed to solve this problem.

Besides with a large amount of Na⁺ and Cl⁻ ions in seawater, the presence of Mg⁺² and SO₄⁻² ions builds more complex corrosion mechanism. This paper aims to investigate the corrosion of embedded reinforcement in concrete with the environment of both Cl⁻ and SO₄⁻² anions associated Mg⁺² cation.

The concrete specimens were prepared by using ordinary Portland cement (OPC), and OPC blended with metakaolin (MK) for water to cementitious material ratio (w/cm) 0.48 and 0.51. The concrete mixes were contaminated with the addition of MgCl₂ alone and combined MgCl₂ and MgSO₄ in mix water. Reinforcement corrosion was evaluated by half-cell potential and corrosion current densities (I_corr) at regular intervals. Moreover, the influence of cementitious material type, salt type and w/cm ratio on electrical resistivity of concrete was also investigated. The statistical models were developed for electrical resistivity as a function of calcium to aluminium content ratio, compressive strength, w/cm ratio and age of concrete.

Although the corrosion initiation time increases in the concomitant presence of MgSO₄ and MgCl₂ as internal source compared to MgCl₂, I_corr values are higher in both OPC and MK blended concrete. However, electrical resistivity decreased with addition of MgSO₄. MK blended concrete performed better with increased resistivity, corrosion initiation time and decreased I_corr values.

This study reports statistical distributions for scattered I_corr of rebar in different concrete mixtures. Stepwise regression models were developed for resistivity by considering the interactions among different variables, which would help to estimate the resistivity through basic information.

In Italia si è fatto quanto non è stato fatto in nessun altro Paese, sempre nel settore dell'istruzione media turistico‐alberghiera. Per cui mi permetto di suggerire, come ebbi a fare altre volte, di esaminare gli ordinamenti scolastici esistenti negli altri Paesi. Ciò per stabilire, in quanto è possibile, un programma comune sull'istruzione media turistica.

Corporate gift-giving and hospitality are some of the high-risk areas for corruption. This paper aims to see comparisons between the Malaysian Ministerial Guidelines and the UK Guidance and to analyse whether the guideline in Malaysia is adequate in dealing with corporate gift-giving and hospitality.

The methodology used in this paper is qualitative research which is based on data collection through online searches, legal databases, information obtained from articles, books, statutes and related government publications.

The findings show that the statutory guideline in Malaysia is immature, still not adequate, and lacks detailed regulations in determining gifts and hospitality as corruption (unclear boundary), as compared to the UK law which is more detailed.

This paper explains on comparison of corporate gift giving and hospitality practise in Malaysia and the UK based on the statutory guidelines.

When eating abroad, and conducting those operations necessary and incidental to the intake and mastication, and, one may hope, to the pleasurable enjoyment of such flesh, fish, fowl or other nutriment needed to sustain our strength, maintain our bodily vigour, or to pander to our base appetites, so difficult to resist, it is quite customary, and indeed, unfortunately often unavoidable, to perform these alimentary exercises to the accompaniment of some form of music, usually not too good of its kind, and often even worse than that. The connections between food (and drink) and music are many and various, continually appearing in history and in our literature; “ music … the food of love,” and again, “ There's sure no passion in the human soul but finds its food in music.”

In 2013, the television programme Hannibal debuted on television. Taking characters and narrative from three novels by Thomas Harris (Red Dragon (1981), Silence of the Lambs (1989) and Hannibal (1999)) over three seasons, the audience got to spend time with Dr Hannibal Lecter. Appearing 32 years after the first book and 27 years after Hannibal’s first screen appearance, much has changed in Dr Lecter’s world and the most interesting of these changes is the gender of characters.

In Red Dragon, Dr Alan Bloom and Freddy Lounds are men, and in the television series, they are women. This chapter argues that another change in genders occurs as Will Graham replaces Clarice Starling as the person Lecter seduces. It also introduces a female psychiatrist for Dr Lecter. These changes alter the presentation of the specific characters but also that of the overall narrative arc of the television series.

This chapter will identify and evaluate these shifts in gender and consider how these changes impact the viewer experience. The change of the familiar to the unfamiliar is uncanny, and it is this argument that adds to the presentation of Will and Hannibal as figures of horror and increases audience anxiety and fear.

Plant-based meat analogues (PBMAs) hold significant promise as a sustainable solution to meet future protein demands, replicating the taste and nutritional value of meat. However, the present reliance on extrusion technology in PBMA production limits the exploration of more accessible and affordable methods. The current investigation aims to meet the market demand for a scalable and cost-effective processing approach by exploring saturated steam-assisted technology that could broaden the production volume of PBMAs, thereby supplementing protein security and planet sustainability.

A one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) approach is employed to evaluate the effect of ingredients and process conditions on the governing quality attributes (texture, colour and sensory).

Among the ingredients, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and nutritional yeast (NY) significantly enhanced the hardness and chewiness of saturated steam-assisted plant-based meat analogues (ssPBMAs) followed by potato protein isolate (PPI), defatted soy flour (DSF) and salt. The addition of PPI and DSF led to a decrease in lightness (L* value) and an increase in the browning index (BI). Sensory evaluations revealed that higher concentrations of DSF imparted a noticeable beany flavour (>20%), whereas PPI (30%) improved the overall sensory appeal. Increased levels of NY (10%) and MSG (5%) enhanced the umami flavour, enhancing consumer preference. Higher thermal exposure time (TTi) (45 min) and temperature (TTe) (120 °C) during processing resulted in softer products with reduced L* values. These findings establish a foundation for selecting and optimizing the ingredients and processing parameters in ssPBMA production.

The novelty of the current study includes process behaviour of selected ingredients such as PPI, NY, MSG, DSF, salt and adopted process conditions, namely, dough processing time (DPT), protein network development time (PNDT), TTi and TTe on the quality of ssPBMAs.