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Solutions to complex environmental problems rely on the innovative knowledge and expertise of many professions whose members accept their responsibilities towards the environment. The study described here canvases information systems (IS) professionals for their perspectives, knowledge and expertise within the domains of Green IT and Green IS.

Following a review of the Green IT and IS literature, two topics were identified for a Q‐study conducted among IS professionals: topic 1 focussed on which technologies, systems and applications offer the greatest opportunity in solving environmental problems, and topic 2 on what sets of issues affect these green opportunities. Activity Theory was used to interpret the factors emerging from the Q‐study.

Three categories of activities were identified in topic 1 involving ICT support for “teleworking and teleconferencing”, “monitoring, optimising, and modelling” and “influencing human understanding and behaviour”. The topic 2 responses were quite varied.

A Q‐study is both subjective and exploratory, not seeking consensus but rather the breadth of opinion on a topic. The findings of topic 1 indicate three directions for future research and topic 2 identified many issues to consider in pursuing Green outcomes.

The three topic 1 categories of activities identify practical “green” applications of ICT.

The varied issues identified from topic 2 reveal the interconnection of environmental projects with economic and social issues.

Following this study of IS professional the authors call on other professions to apply the expertise of their respective fields to the environmental cause.

The purpose of this paper is to present research into the area of internet support for professional‐public communication through a deeper understanding of the role that a web site can provide in meeting the information needs of critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). The communication between clinicians and members of the patient's family in the stressful ICU is modelled to give an integrated view of the situation and thereby allow for the incorporation of the views of all stakeholders on how the internet can meet this communication need.

The paper takes a broad, holistic, systemic approach that integrates the latest information and communications technology tools and processes with rich qualitative data from all stakeholder groups. The data are interpreted through the use of system dynamic modelling to visually conceptualise information flows and communication between clinicians and family members of patients.

The paper conceptualises, visualises and simulates the communication that takes place in complex stressful settings, such as, in ICUs thereby increasing the understanding of web‐support for professional‐public communication in the complex area of healthcare.

The broad approach of the paper has sacrificed, detailed and in depth analysis of all aspects of this issue which would require a much more extensive study.

The results have been of practical value to those developing a particular ICU web site and thus could inform others.

In addition to the findings, this paper is innovative in the way systems dynamics is used to model information flows. The results demonstrate the value of this technique for visualising and manipulating entire systems of this kind.

This paper aims to provide a base line of the types of menu items that are sold in American chain restaurants that have bars. The term “bar food” is defined for these types of foods.

The research method used the internet to collect all data listed in the appetizer section of the menu. Restaurants were also anecdotally coded as to type of restaurant.

There were 66 restaurants with a total of 67 unique bar menu items. The conclusion was that among all restaurants there were very few bar items that appeared on “most” menus. Only four items were statistically greater than 50 percent of all menu items. When restaurants were coded by ethnic type or style the number of common menu items increased.

This paper defines bar food and for restaurant managers points out the possibility of using bar food offerings as a differentiating factor relative to competitors.

This paper defines bar food and its use in food service.

The purpose of this paper is to show academics and practitioners the practical uses of syndicated data. Toward this end, an analysis of the distilled spirits industry in the USA and the UK is undertaken.

The approach adopted draws on secondary data analysis using syndicated data to draw some preliminary conclusions and uses further analysis to support these conclusions.

The paper supports the usefulness of syndicated data when used creatively across different studies. It also points out the changing direction of distilled spirit consumption within the USA and the UK.

This use of syndicated data helps the academic develop a fuller understanding of the key research questions and gives the practitioner a higher degree of confidence in the direction they take and in the future they anticipate.

This paper emphasises the usefulness of syndicated data.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the use of front of package (FOP) claims within product categories by private label (PL) products and national brands (NB). This research adapts an existing conceptual model exploring the marketing strategies of PL products and NBs.

Information for this study came from Mintel’s Global (2009/2011). There were 10,791 products launched in 2011 in the US database, 8,120 NB and 2,671 PL food and drink products. For 2009: 5,838 NB and 2,118 PL that gives 7,956 food and beverages products launched in USA.

PL and NB companies increased the usage of FOP claims, and also often moved in the same direction for some product categories. The greatest number of increases across product categories for PL and NB between 2009 and 2011 were Ethical-Enviromentally Friendly Packaging; Allergen; Fiber; Weight Control; Gluten Free; Kosher and No Additives claims. There were much less FOP that were decreased in usage. The claims that most frequently decreased were “Organic,” “Calories,” and “Vitamin/Mineral Fortified.” The categories that significantly decreased the “Organic” claim were Baby Food, Bakery, Breakfast Cereals, Fruit and Vegetables among PL product categories and Breakfast Cereals, Dairy, Side Dishes and Soup among NB categories.

The study is based on only a three-year time span. difference over a greater period of time could reveal more significant differences.

The evidence from this research indicates that PL brands are matching NBs as they look to using other attributes and benefits. However, as PL sales increase, retailer margins increase which can lead to further aggressive marketing by the PL brands.

The analysis of FOP claims for PL and NB over such a large sample has not previously been done.

Ensuring high water quality is crucial for safeguarding public health, as contaminated water can pose significant risks to consumers’ well-being. This study aims to evaluate the microbiological and chemical quality of bottled water brands commonly consumed in Dodoma, Tanzania.

A total of 36 samples from 12 brands were collected between January and March 2023 and analyzed for microbiological and general water quality parameters.

Microbial analysis found that 42% of brands tested positive for coliform bacteria, while opportunistic pathogens Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected in 25% and 17% of samples, respectively. For chemical composition, 42% of brands exceeded the World Health Organization guideline value of 1.5 mg/L for fluoride. However, no other parameters exceeded national drinking water standards. Statistical analysis revealed significantly higher measured fluoride levels compared to values declared on product labels (paired t-test, p = 0.003). A moderate positive correlation between fluoride and conductivity (r = 0.52, p = 0.045) indicated possible geological influences on water chemistry.

To enhance the study’s comprehensiveness, exploring temporal and spatial variations among water brands, including samples from typically clean environments such as supermarkets, could have been beneficial in identifying underlying factors. Additionally, investigating the entire manufacturing process, from production to end-user, could have provided insights into unforeseen deviations in quality. Furthermore, the use of pour plating techniques at 37°C for microbial analysis, while suitable for resource-limited settings, may not have fully captured coliform diversity compared to membrane filtration and differential temperature incubation as per standard methods. This could partly explain the detection of heterotrophs without higher coliform counts in some samples.

This study provides baseline data on the bacteriological and inorganic chemical quality of bottled water in Dodoma. Detectable microbial contaminants and significant exceedances of fluoride guidelines in some products raise public health concerns.

While existing studies focus on bottled water quality at production facilities, this research highlights the overlooked risks at retail points, where consumers are directly affected.

This paper aims to address the issue of matching controlled vocabulary on agroforestry from knowledge organization systems (KOS) and incorporating these terms in DITA markup. The paper has been selected for an extended version from MTSR'11.

After a general description of the steps taken to harmonize controlled vocabulary on agroforestry, a general discussion of related work enriching documents and matching controlled vocabularies as well as details on managing controlled vocabulary in DITA are provided.

The paper identifies a number of practical and theoretical issues in matching controlled vocabulary from different sources, e.g. the complexity of addressing inconsistencies and incompatibilities between systems, and came across a number of approaches to semantically enrich documents, such as semantic‐document approach, facet classification, and integrating metadata and markup in documents.

Ways of incorporating controlled vocabularies into DITA markup are presented that can be drawn upon to guide future work in this area.

No previous work has reflected on the actual experience used to enrich DITA markup, especially with reference to the agrorestry domain.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a historic perspective on the supermarket industry that has changed from the small Mom and Pop stores to major supermarket chains.

This study is a review of secondary information from trade literature, popular new media and academic publications.

The changes in supermarkets and food stores followed the trends in how consumers have changed and developed. As consumers around the world continue to change, so will food retailers.

The author could have included more on the development in underdeveloped countries.

This paper has practical implication in that to understand that food retailers must continue to follow consumer and technology changes if they want to grow and prosper. To quote Winston Churchill, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

Supermarkets must be responsive to consumer changes and as consumer become more demanding for convenience so must supermarkets must continue to provide it or disappear.

This study is original to the extent that it brought together the different eras in supermarket. The actual changes have been well known.