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This Report of research work on moulded plywood for aircraft carried out in the Division of Mechanical Engineering, National Research Council of Canada, is published at the request of the Director.

The purpose of this paper is to gain better insights into the conventional and organic/fair trade (O and/or FT) future chocolate market in four EU countries: Italy, the UK, France and Germany.

Delphi method was used to investigate several characteristics, actors and marketing mix components which will drive the conventional and organic/fair trade chocolate market in the future by presenting two rounds of questionnaires to experts of the chocolate market.

The findings identify the most influential actors, product attributes, promotion and distribution channels and characteristics of the chocolate market in both sectors. They reveal that they will have more of a positive effect on the O and/or FT sector than on the conventional one, since the first will grow faster than the second.

Despite low expert participation, participants belong to some of the most important companies/organisations in the sector in terms of market share.

The paper has important implications for stakeholders in the cocoa‐chocolate chain in terms of developing their business strategies in the future; they will need to concentrate upon consumer preferences and marketing mix elements which will have more appeal.

The value of the paper lies in joining together opinions of experts coming from different chain levels (industry, research and consultancy) in an attempt to forecast the chocolate market characteristics and the consumer behaviour of the future.

In recent years, the concept of logistics clusters has attracted the attention of several researchers and practitioners. It is an agglomeration of different types of companies and operations, notably those providing logistics services, such as supply chain organization, storage and distribution. The paper focuses on this concept by examining the factors influencing LSPs to enter the logistics clusters.

An exploratory qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews was conducted. Regarding the sample size, the author interviewed 31 professionals belonging to logistics clusters located in the Moroccan economic metropolis of Casablanca.

The results show that the cost reduction, the reputation of the cluster, the learning from other LSPs, the communal services, the geographical proximity and the role of public authorities are the main factors impacting the entry of logistics service providers into these clusters.

This theme has never been investigated. Therefore, this research expands the literature review and tries to examine this gap of literature by studying the factors that can affect the adhesion of logistics service providers to these clusters.

The research reported in this ongoing study aims to investigate the notion of knowledge assets developed within digital communities in the course of their economic or leisure activities. Ideally, the resulting knowledge is universal, affordable and relevant; this inclusiveness is a hallmark of any information or knowledge society.

The authors first synthesize the related research literature covering the areas of knowledge‐based economies, knowledge societies and knowledge policies. A model using 13 dimensions is then developed, which the authors claim is critical for creating a knowledge community in the digital economy. The model is validated against critique from a Delphi panel of researchers in the area.

While creating a knowledge society encompasses dimensions pertaining to infrastructure, governance, talent and culture, intangible assets are key to sustaining such societies. Governance and culture are instances of such intangibles. Talent may seem to be tangible but the human capacity for learning and development, which leads to an innovative culture, is less so. In any case, time is the essential ingredient for a knowledge culture to come about.

Knowledge societies are not measurable constructs that can be described quantitatively and benchmarked with weighted summations of scores along prescribed dimensions. It would be a fallacy to treat the notion of a knowledge index as a socio‐economic measure of success.

. conclude with a practical view of how the dimensions may be best exploited in the course of a policy discussion on sustainable knowledge societies.

It is hoped that the research will provide a framework for policy makers and analysts to conduct qualitative discussions on creating and sustaining knowledge societies.

With the proliferation of terrorist/extremist websites on the World Wide Web, it has become progressively more crucial to detect and analyze the content on these websites. Accordingly, the volume of previous research focused on identifying the techniques and activities of terrorist/extremist groups, as revealed by their sites on the so-called dark web, has also grown.

This study presents a review of the techniques used to detect and process the content of terrorist/extremist sites on the dark web. Forty of the most relevant data sources were examined, and various techniques were identified among them.

Based on this review, it was found that methods of feature selection and feature extraction can be used as topic modeling with content analysis and text clustering.

At the end of the review, present the current state-of-the- art and certain open issues associated with Arabic dark Web content analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the selection of the optimum porous material modified with poly-dopamine coating for peptides enrichment. The adsorption behaviors for peptides and the antioxidant capacity of peptides fraction purified by the porous materials were investigated.

The optimum porous material with the highest adsorption capacity for peptides was selected for surface modification. The surface modified porous material was characterized by SEM, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm and color change.

The results showed that the porous material was successfully modified with poly-dopamine coating. Adsorption capacity for peptides of the modified porous material was enhanced compared to the original porous material. Antioxidant capacity of peptides fraction enriched by the modified porous material was much higher than that enriched by the original porous material, indicating that the introduction of poly-dopamine coating was inclined to enrich peptides with certain amino acid residues.

The structures of peptides are a bit not clear, which is the subject of future investigation.

This contribution provides a method to design and prepare porous materials with poly-dopamine coating to separate and enrich peptides or peptides fraction with high antioxidant capacity.

It showed that polarity, surface area, pore diameter and interactions were contributed to high adsorption capacity. The peptides fraction purified by the modified porous material showed excellent antioxidant capacity through results of reduction of DPPH radical, because of the enrichment of the peptides with certain amino acids residues which were considered to enhance radical scavenging capacity. This paper provides new insights into designing and preparing porous materials with poly-dopamine coating to enrich peptides fraction with high antioxidant capacity.

Building on the risk balancing theory and on recent discussions the appropriateness of using farm income maximization as behavioural assumption, this paper extends the risk balancing framework by accounting for business-household interactions. The purpose of this paper is to theoretically introduce the concept of farm household risk balancing, a theoretical framework in which the farm household sets a constraint on the total household-level risk and balances farm-level and off-farm-level risk.

The paper argues that the risk behaviour of farmers is better understood by considering risk at the household level. Using an analytical framework, equations are derived linking the farm activities, off-farm activities, consumption and business and private liquidity.

The framework shows that a farm household that wants to minimize the risk that total household cash flow falls below consumption needs, may exhibit a wide variety of behavioural responses to changes in the policy and economic environment.

The framework suggests multiple ways for policy makers and individual farmers to support risk management.

Risk management is at the core of the agricultural policy and it is of paramount importance to be able to understand behavioural responses to market and policy instruments. This paper contributes to that by suggesting that the focus of current risk analysis and management studies may be too narrowly focused at the farm level.

This study aims to evaluate how the criteria of sustainability standards (SS) ensure the social dimension of corporate sustainability (CS) in rural entrepreneurships using the case of banana agribusinesses in Magdalena (Colombia).

The methodological design was quantitative, explanatory and cross-sectional, where a sample of banana producers from Magdalena (Colombia) was selected. A structural equation model (SEM) was developed to evaluate the hypotheses. The SEM goodness-of-fit and fit indices were all acceptable.

There is a strong and statistically significant correlation between SS criteria and the social dimension of CS. In particular, local development is the most influential factor in shaping CS in the context of banana agribusinesses in Magdalena, Colombia, operating as rural entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, working conditions and human rights show moderate effects, while labor rights do not have a perceptible impact.

Only the SS criteria that ensure the social dimension of CS in the banana agribusinesses of Magdalena (Colombia) were considered. It is important to note that other variables may be involved in ensuring CS. Future research to identify these possible variables is recommended.

This investigation explores an understudied issue within the CS sphere, explicitly focusing on rural entrepreneurship in developing countries, notably Colombia. The study scrutinizes the impact of SS on the social dimension of CS in rural environments, using banana cooperatives as a case study and highlighting the value of developing strategies to help improve the CS performance of this type of organization.

El objetivo de esta investigación es evaluar cómo los criterios de los Estándares de Sostenibilidad (SS) aseguran la dimensión social de la Sostenibilidad Corporativa (CS) en los emprendimientos rurales utilizando el caso de los agronegocios bananeros en Magdalena (Colombia).

El diseño metodológico fue cuantitativo, explicativo y transversal, donde se seleccionó una muestra de productores bananeros del Magdalena (Colombia). Se desarrolló un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) para evaluar las hipótesis. Los índices de bondad de ajuste y ajuste del SEM fueron aceptables.

existe una correlación fuerte y estadísticamente significativa entre los criterios de SS y la dimensión social de la SC. En particular, el desarrollo local aparece como el factor más influyente en la conformación de la SC en el contexto de las agroempresas bananeras de Magdalena, Colombia, que operan como empresas rurales. Mientras tanto, las condiciones de trabajo y los derechos humanos muestran efectos moderados, mientras que los derechos laborales no parecen tener un impacto perceptible.

sólo se consideraron los criterios de SS que aseguran la dimensión social de la SC en los agronegocios bananeros de Magdalena (Colombia). Es importante señalar que otras variables pueden estar involucradas en el aseguramiento de la CS. Se recomiendan futuras investigaciones para identificar estas posibles variables.

Esta investigación explora un tema poco estudiado dentro de la esfera de la Sostenibilidad Corporativa (SC), centrándose explícitamente en el empresariado rural en los países en desarrollo, en particular Colombia. El estudio analiza el impacto de los Estándares de Sostenibilidad (SS) en la dimensión social de la SC en entornos rurales, utilizando las cooperativas bananeras como caso de estudio y resaltando el valor de desarrollar estrategias que ayuden a mejorar el desempeño en SC de este tipo de organizaciones.

O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar como os critérios dos Padrões de Sustentabilidade (SS) garantem a dimensão social da Sustentabilidade Corporativa (SC) em empreendimentos rurais usando o caso das agroindústrias de banana em Magdalena (Colômbia).

O desenho metodológico foi quantitativo, explicativo e transversal, onde foi selecionada uma amostra de produtores de banana de Magdalena (Colômbia). Foi desenvolvido um modelo de equação estrutural (SEM) para avaliar as hipóteses. Os índices de adequação e de ajuste do SEM foram todos aceitáveis.

existe uma correlação forte e estatisticamente significativa entre os critérios de SS e a dimensão social da SC. Em particular, o desenvolvimento local aparece como o fator mais influente na formação da SC no contexto dos agronegócios da banana em Magdalena, Colômbia, que operam como empresas rurais. Entretanto, as condições de trabalho e os direitos humanos apresentam efeitos moderados, enquanto os direitos laborais não parecem ter um impacto percetível.

apenas foram considerados os critérios de SS que garantem a dimensão social da SC nas agroindústrias da banana de Magdalena (Colômbia). É importante notar que outras variáveis podem estar envolvidas na garantia da SC. Recomenda-se a realização de investigação futura para identificar estas possíveis variáveis.

Esta investigação explora uma questão pouco estudada no âmbito da Sustentabilidade Empresarial (SC), focando explicitamente o empreendedorismo rural nos países em desenvolvimento, nomeadamente na Colômbia. O estudo examina o impacto dos Padrões de Sustentabilidade (SS) na dimensão social da SC em ambientes rurais, utilizando cooperativas de banana como estudo de caso e destacando o valor do desenvolvimento de estratégias para ajudar a melhorar o desempenho da SC deste tipo de organização.

This paper aims to clarify the spatial connection characteristics and organization mode of logistics economy of 21 cities in Guangdong Province under the background of the integrated development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area, and explore the spatial development characteristics and influencing factors of logistics economy in Guangdong Province.

This paper constructs the development level model of urban logistics economy in Guangdong Province from three aspects: demand level, supply level and support level, and uses the entropy weight method to measure the development level index of urban logistics economy in Guangdong Province. Then, the traffic accessibility index model is used to measure the traffic accessibility index between cities in Guangdong Province. Finally, using the social network analysis method, combined with the development level index of urban logistics economy in Guangdong Province and the urban traffic access index in Guangdong Province, this paper analyzes the spatial connection characteristics and influencing factors of logistics economy network in Guangdong Province.

There are regional differences in the development level of logistics economy in Guangdong Province; The overall network density of its logistics economic connection is large, but there is an imbalance in the network structure, and the core edge phenomenon is obvious; Logistics economic space presents the characteristics of double core development.

Because the research object is the spatial connection characteristics of logistics economy in Guangdong Province, the research results may lack universality. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to put forward further tests.

By studying the spatial connection mode of logistics economy in 21 cities in Guangdong Province, China, this paper promotes the original methods and empirical contributions, and constructs the research framework of spatial relationship of logistics economy. This research framework is universal to a certain extent.

This paper is conducive to promoting the integrated development of logistics economy in Guangdong Province and improving the balance of regional development of logistics economy.

Firstly, this study provides a new perspective to understand the spatial relationship and spatial spillover of logistics economy from relational data rather than attribute data. Secondly, This study enriched and broadened the research topic of spatial correlation of logistics economy. Thirdly, this research aims to promote the original methods and empirical contributions. Specifically, this study establishes a comprehensive research framework on the spatial network structure of logistics economy.

In recent years, the concept of logistics cluster has attracted the attention of several researchers and practitioners. It is an agglomeration of different types of companies and operations: notably, those providing logistics services, such as supply chain organization, storage and distribution. The paper focuses on this concept by examining the factors influencing logistics service providers (LSPs) to enter the logistics clusters.

An exploratory qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews was conducted. Regarding the sample size, the author interviewed 31 professionals belonging to logistics clusters located in the Moroccan economic metropolis: Casablanca.

The results show that the cost reduction, the reputation of the cluster, the learning from other LSP, the communal services, the geographical proximity, and the role of public authorities are the main factors impacting the entry of LSPs into these clusters.

The findings of this study provide several practical insights for LSPs, government authorities, and cluster managers. For LSPs, understanding the key factors influencing their entry into logistics clusters—such as cost reduction, proximity and the role of public authorities—enables them to make strategic decisions that optimize their operations and enhance competitiveness. For cluster managers, the study highlights the importance of maintaining a strong cluster reputation and fostering collaboration between LSPs to attract new entrants. Finally, public authorities can leverage the insights to design policies that incentivize LSPs to join clusters by providing infrastructure, financial support and governance structures that align with industry needs.

This theme has never been investigated. Therefore, this research expands the literature review and tries to examine this gap of literature by studying the factors that can affect the adhesion of LSPs to these clusters.