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The objective of this study was to examine the impact of the pandemic on sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) adoption such as: organic fertilizers, minimal use of tillage, crop rotation, soil burning and crop association in the frame of family farming systems in Ecuador.

The present research employed probit models' estimation with pooled data from 2018 to 2020. The study combined three sources of information with The Survey on Surface and Agricultural Continuous Production, as the main. This study also proposed the analysis of six regions: Coast, Coast Mountains, Northern Highlands, Central Highlands, Southern Highlands and the Amazon.

The authors see a lower adoption in the year 2020, where the pandemic was one of the causes. The only exception was the use of organic fertilizer. The adoption of these sustainable practices differed across the six regions. The findings also reveal that the employment generated by agricultural enterprises had a negative influence on the adoption of three sustainable practices, and that for the remaining practices the effect was positive.

The data set lacks information on the acceptance and the application of the practices promoted by agricultural technical assistance, which could provide insights into the effectiveness of the learning process. The limited observation period does not allow for investigating long-term effects on sustainable practices adoption.

This study helps to understand the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in the adoption of SAP. Additionally, this research can help with the scalability of the practices starting from the regions that are most likely to adopt each of them.

Literature on modes of entry has focussed on firm-level strategies. The predominant theories used are institutional theory and the resource-based view. Using an alternate approach – network theory – this paper aims to demonstrate an additional mode of entry: multiple firms entering together as an extension of an existing loose network, known as a bridging network. The extension of an external network across borders is an appropriate mode of entry in emerging markets, with no pre-existing networks or existing networks within a market that are weak, immature or missing.

A conceptual review, which develops four propositions, demonstrating that market entry with bridging networks may be the preferred mode of entry in the presence of institutional voids. Alternative modes may not be viable because of costs and risks associated with overcoming such voids.

Existing theory and case examples support the contention that market conditions facilitate firms to enter as networks rather than as singular entities. These conditions are found in markets with institutional voids and explain the dominant form of business groups in many countries and the operation of loose strategic alliances in emerging markets. Network entry facilitates market access speed may allow for local ties to remain undeveloped or be a first step in building in-country networks.

This paper heeds to the call for a network ecosystem approach to market entry, arguing that firms may enter as a collective in subsistence and emerging markets, which would explain the preponderance of business groups and loose alliances found.

The purpose of this paper is to explore risk factors contained in the existing UK domestic abuse (DA) risk assessment tool: domestic abuse, stalking and harassment and honour-based violence (DASH) for individual predictive validity of DA recidivism using data from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.

In total, 1,441 DA perpetrators were monitored over a 12-month period, and 270 (18.7 per cent) went on to commit a further DA offence. The individual risk factors which were associated and predictive of increased risk of recidivism were identified.

Only four of the individual risk factors were significantly associated with an increased risk of DA recidivism: “criminal history”, “problems with alcohol”, “separation” and “frightened”. Therefore, 21 of the risk factor items analysed could not discriminate between non-recidivist and recidivist perpetrators. Only two risk factors were able to significantly predict the recidivist group when compared to the non-recidivist group. These were identified as “criminal history” and “separated”. Of those who did commit a further DA offence in the following 12 months, 133 were violent and 137 were non-violent. The risk factors associated with these types of recidivism are identified.

The implications for UK police practice and the DASH risk assessment tool are discussed. By identifying key individual factors that can prioritise those individuals likely to recidivate and the severity of that recidivism, this could assist police decision making regarding the response and further prevention of DA incidents. The validation of association between individual factors and DA recidivism should improve the accuracy of risk levels.

This is the first large-scale validation of the individual risk factors contained within the UK’s DA risk assessment tool. It should be noted that the validity of the DASH tool itself was not examined within the current study.

This article deals with a social phenomenon in which individuals organise locally to promote their personal safety.

Organic food processing must include organic principles to be authentic. This qualitative study aims to understand the processors' understanding of organic food processing quality.

This study is based on semi-structured expert interviews with eight employees of six purely or partly organic dairies from Germany and Switzerland. Interview themes are (1) quality of organic milk processing in general, (2) assessment of specific processing techniques, (3) product quality of organic milk and (4) flow of information between producer and consumer. The interviews have been audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.

(1) Experts prefer minimal processing; some prefer artisanal processing, whilst others stress the advantages of mechanisation. (2) High temperature short time (HTST) pasteurisation and mechanical processing techniques are accepted; ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk processing is partly rejected. (3) Traditional taste and valuable ingredients should be present in the final product. Natural variances are judged positively. (4) Consumers' low level of food technology literacy is challenging for communication.

The results cannot be generalised due to the qualitative study design. Further studies, e.g. qualitative case analyses and studies with a quantitative design, are necessary to deepen the results.

The paper shows which processing technologies experts consider suitable or unsuitable for organic milk. The paper also identifies opportunities to bridge the perceived gap between processors' and consumers' demands.

The study shows the challenges of processors in expressing the processors' understanding of process quality.

The management of children′s literature is a search for value and suitability. Effective policies in library and educational work are based firmly on knowledge of materials, and on the bibliographical and critical frame within which the materials appear and might best be selected. Boundaries, like those between quality and popular books, and between children′s and adult materials, present important challenges for selection, and implicit in this process are professional acumen and judgement. Yet also there are attitudes and systems of values, which can powerfully influence selection on grounds of morality and good taste. To guard against undue subjectivity, the knowledge frame should acknowledge the relevance of social and experiential context for all reading materials, how readers think as well as how they read, and what explicit and implicit agendas the authors have. The good professional takes all these factors on board.

WITH the passing of Easier the British librarian enters upon summer arrangements and a new financial year at the same time. There have been no severe complaints of undue financial “cutting” from public librarians; but there has been no very lusty jubilation caused by undue amplitude in appropriations. We may be grateful that in the general Stringency matters are not worse than they are. Our time will come. As for the summer work of libraries: of late there has been a tendency for the issues, during what are usually thought to be the slacker months, to approximate to those of winter time. This is not wholly, or even largely, due to the organization of holiday literature exhibitions and similar “added” activities, but it appears to be the result of increased reading habit. At the same time it must be remembered that last summer was not an out‐door one.

It is said that travel broadens the mind, deepens the understanding and refreshes the spirit. Judging by the amount of long distance travel undertaken nowadays by more people than ever before, it may also be said to widen the beam! However, this brief article is mainly concerned with the scope and benefits of the Library Association's programme of internships.

IT is said that travel broadens the mind, deepens the understanding and refreshes the spirit. Judging by the amount of long distance travel undertaken nowadays by more people than ever before, it may also be said to widen the beam! However, this brief article is mainly concerned with the scope and benefits of the Library Association's programme of internships.

This brief history of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) documents developments and trends during the decade 2013–2023. To situate recent ISATT history, we begin with an overview of the association's first 30 years (1983–2012). The dominant theme of those early years was developing ISATT as a recognized and influential professional organization connecting researchers on teaching and teacher education from a growing list of nations and regions of the world. During the most recent decade, there has been a concerted effort toward broad internationalization through biennial conferences and regional meetings, and a growing network of national representatives from across the world. Also, the ISATT journal, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, the journal, which began in 1995, has published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles written by more than 1000 authors and coauthors, contributing to a growing body of knowledge about teaching and teacher education in many cultures. In the last 20 years and especially in the past 10, the locations of ISATT meetings have become significantly more diverse, following a trend of greater internationalization compared with ISATT's European and North American beginnings. At the same time, the number of ISATT members remains stable and small thereby preserving a collegial and collaborative tone in our exchanges. In sum, ISATT's recent decade finds the association intellectually healthy, successful in managing the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and enriched by the proliferation of multinational points of view and styles of research.