Guest editorial: Creating, managing and marketing gastronomy experiences in hospitality and tourism

Gastronomy experiences are increasingly becoming major drivers of tourism flows worldwide as they allow travelers to get more familiar with the local culture and traditions of the places visited. As such, gastronomy experiences have propelled gastronomic hospitality and tourism experiences which are attracting the attention of a high and expanding number of hospitality and tourism firms and fostering regional tourism development. Gastronomic tourism experiences entail the visit to food-themed events and festivals, primary and secondary producers, cooking classes, restaurants and places for which food tasting are the prevailing travel motivating factors. Research on this socio-cultural and economic phenomenon has been consolidating over more than three decades as an area of tourism research, often named interchangeably “gastronomic tourism”, “culinary tourism” and “food tourism”. The purpose of this special issue is to broaden and deepen our knowledge of gastronomy experiences in hospitality and tourism, from a managerial perspective, in a rapidly changing world

Top Management Evaluation in Italian Food & Beverage Industry

The standard ISO 9001: 2015 “Quality Management System. Requirements” states that the success of a company’s quality certification system is closely linked to the quality of its top management. The aim of the present work is to develop a model of top management quality evaluation useful for the ends of this certification. The model is calibrated for the Italian Food & Beverage Industry and it follows a multidisciplinary approach. The evaluation model is formed by two parts. In the first, the quality of top management is associated with an estimate of the probability of default and the related average expected life of a company in the Italian Food & Beverage Industry. These parameters are calculated using an original, easy-to-apply methodology that is especially useful for small and medium-sized companies that do not have an official rating. The second part of the model provides a system to estimate the quality of top managers' management styles based on seven qualitative organizational variables, which are then summarized by the attribution of a score ranging from 1 to 10. The judgments formulated in the two parts of the model must be considered as a system to arrive at an integrated final evaluation

The competitive productivity (CP) of tourism destinations: an integrative conceptual framework and a reflection on big data and analytics

Purpose: The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study elaborates an integrative conceptual framework of tourism destination competitive productivity (TDCP) by blending established destination competitiveness frameworks, the competitive productivity (CP) framework and studies pertaining to big data and big data analytics (BDA) within destination management information systems and smart tourism destinations. Second, this study examines the drivers of TDCP in the context of the ongoing 4th industrial revolution by conceptualizing the destination business intelligence unit (DBIU) as a platform able to create sustained destination business intelligence under the guise of BDA, useful to support destination managers to achieve the tourism destination’s economic objectives. Design/methodology/approach: In this work, the authors leverage both extant literature (under the guise of research on CP, tourism destination competitiveness [TDC] and destination management information systems) and empirical work (in the form of interviews and field work involving destination managers and chief executive officers of destination management organizations and convention bureaus, as well as secondary data) to elaborate, develop and present an integrative conceptual framework of TDCP. Findings: The integrative conceptual framework of TDCP elaborated has been found helpful by a number of destination managers trying to understand how to effectively and efficiently manage and market a tourism destination in today’s fast-paced, digital and hypercompetitive environment. While DBIUs are at different stages of implementation, often as part of broader smart destination initiatives, it appears that they are increasingly fulfilling the purpose of creating sustained destination business intelligence by means of BDA to help tourism destinations achieve their economic goals. Research limitations/implications: This work bears several practical implications for tourism policymakers, destination managers and marketers, technology developers, as well as tourism and hospitality firms and practitioners. Tourism policymakers could embed TDCP into tourism and economic policies, and destination managers and marketers might build and make use of platforms such as the proposed DBIU. Technology developers need to understand that designing destination management information systems in general and more specifically DBIUs requires an in-depth analysis of the stakeholders that are going to contribute, share, control and use BDA. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study constitutes the first attempt to integrate the CP, TDC and destination management information systems research streams to elaborate an integrative conceptual framework of TDCP. Second, the authors contribute to the Industry 4.0 research stream by examining the drivers of tourism destination CP in the context of the ongoing 4th industrial revolution. Third, the authors contribute to the destination management information systems research stream by introducing and conceptualizing the DBIU and the related sustained destination business intelligence

Non-precious metal carbamates as catalysts for the aziridine/CO2coupling reaction under mild conditions

The catalytic potential of a large series of easily available metal carbamates (based on thirteen different non-precious metal elements) was explored for the first time in the coupling reaction between 2-aryl-aziridines and carbon dioxide, working under solventless and ambient conditions and using tetraalkylammonium halides as co-catalysts. The straightforward synthesis of novel [NbCl3(O2CNEt2)2],NbCl, and [NbBr3(O2CNEt2)2],NbBr, is reported. The niobium complexNbCl, in combination with NBu4I, emerged as the best catalyst of the overall series to convert aziridines with smallN-alkyl substituents into the corresponding 5-aryl-oxazolidin-2-ones

Sheep predation : characteristics and risk factors

Predation has always been an important problem in extensive sheep farms, causing serious economic losses to the farmers. Official predation reports have recently been decreasing in the District of Pisa, in spite of the presence of two wolf packs in the area. The aim of the present research was to obtain reliable information on the characteristics of predation and to estimate the effectiveness of existing prevention methods in sheep farms of the southern District of Pisa, in order to set up predictive models for an improved and more focused prevention plan and support interventions by public authorities. On-farm surveys were carried out in 73 semi-extensive sheep farms. Predation events were reported by 75.3% of the farmers. Wolves seemed to be responsible for most of those events, although their actual role could be confirmed only in 34% of cases. Most of the events occurred in spring and 85.1% of them were concentrated during night time. The average number of sheep killed during each attack was 7.05. In 22.3% of cases, the number of sheep killed was 65 10. Proximity to protected areas and the presence of thick vegetation cover significantly affected the probability of a farm being subjected to chronic predation. Farm size was significantly higher in those cases. No clear indication about the effectiveness of prevention methods could be obtained from our survey. The results of this investigation highlighted the impact of predation in the Southern District of Pisa and emphasized the need for finding technical and political solutions to this problem. Attention should be focused on large farms, with thick vegetation cover and located close to protected areas. Further investigations should be carried out in order to test the effectiveness of suitable prevention methods in these farms

Bypassing the Inertness of Aziridine/CO2 Systems to Access 5-Aryl-2-Oxazolidinones: Catalyst-Free Synthesis Under Ambient Conditions

The development of sustainable synthetic routes to access valuable oxazolidinones via CO2 fixation is an active research area, and the aziridine/carbon dioxide coupling has aroused a considerable interest. This reaction features a high activation barrier and thus requires a catalytic system, and may present some other critical issues. Here, the straightforward gram-scale synthesis of a series of 5-aryl-2-oxazolidinones was developed at ambient temperature and atmospheric CO2 pressure, in the absence of any catalyst/co-catalyst. The key to this innovative procedure consists in the direct transfer of the pre-formed amine/CO2 adduct (carbamate) to common aziridine precursors (dimethylsulfonium salts), replacing the classical sequential addition of amine (intermediate isolation of aziridine) and then CO2. The reaction mechanism was investigated by NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations applied to model cases

Interaction of perceptual grouping and crossmodal temporal capture in tactile apparent-motion

Previous studies have shown that in tasks requiring participants to report the direction of apparent motion, task-irrelevant mono-beeps can "capture'' visual motion perception when the beeps occur temporally close to the visual stimuli. However, the contributions of the relative timing of multimodal events and the event structure, modulating uni- and/or crossmodal perceptual grouping, remain unclear. To examine this question and extend the investigation to the tactile modality, the current experiments presented tactile two-tap apparent-motion streams, with an SOA of 400 ms between successive, left-/right-hand middle-finger taps, accompanied by task-irrelevant, non-spatial auditory stimuli. The streams were shown for 90 seconds, and participants' task was to continuously report the perceived (left-or rightward) direction of tactile motion. In Experiment 1, each tactile stimulus was paired with an auditory beep, though odd-numbered taps were paired with an asynchronous beep, with audiotactile SOAs ranging from -75 ms to 75 ms. Perceived direction of tactile motion varied systematically with audiotactile SOA, indicative of a temporal-capture effect. In Experiment 2, two audiotactile SOAs-one short (75 ms), one long (325 ms)-were compared. The long-SOA condition preserved the crossmodal event structure (so the temporal-capture dynamics should have been similar to that in Experiment 1), but both beeps now occurred temporally close to the taps on one side (even-numbered taps). The two SOAs were found to produce opposite modulations of apparent motion, indicative of an influence of crossmodal grouping. In Experiment 3, only odd-numbered, but not even-numbered, taps were paired with auditory beeps. This abolished the temporal-capture effect and, instead, a dominant percept of apparent motion from the audiotactile side to the tactile-only side was observed independently of the SOA variation. These findings suggest that asymmetric crossmodal grouping leads to an attentional modulation of apparent motion, which inhibits crossmodal temporal-capture effects

The role of universities in the Smart City innovation: Multistakeholder integration and engagement perspectives

During the past decades cities may have finally shaped the demand for “smart” and sustainable innovations calling for deep stakeholders' integration and engagement within Smart City Projects (SCPs). In this context, Universities are often involved with different tasks, but their stakeholder engagement and integrator role is still unclear. This paper aims to fulfill this gap on the role of Universities in SCPs utilising bottom-up collected quantitative and qualitative data. We found positive trend in University integrator role applying a mixed two-step methodology based on online survey of University students and interviews with decision-making stakeholders involved in SCPs (business, state, entrepreneurs and academia) in Italy and Russia. Our findings suggest significant new insights useful to reapply the mediating role of Universities and to highlight some newly arising opportunities in stakeholder engagement. At the same time, we propose related practical implications in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation defining further directions under the lens of multistakeholder management. © 2018 Elsevier Inc

Prevalência de anticorpos anti-Toxoplasma gondii em caprinos.

Resumo: A Toxoplasmose pode ser congênita ou adquirida e representa uma das infecções parasitárias mais comuns em caprinos, de qualquer faixa etária, raça e/ou sexo. Estudos epidemiológicos realizados no Brasil e no mundo apontam que a prevalência de anticorpos anti-Toxoplasma gondii varia entre 10% a 86%, independente do sistema de produção adotado. Objetivou-se com este estudo avaliar a prevalência de anticorpos anti-Toxoplasma gondii em caprinos de oito propriedades rurais de Quixadá, Ceará. Foram realizadas coletas de sangue por venipunção da jugular de 93 cabritos, machos e fêmeas, com mais de quatro meses de idade; 54 matrizes e três reprodutores. Os sangues foram centrifugados a 3000xg por 10 minutos para obtenção do soro. Estes foram armazenados em tubos tipo eppendorf® e congelados a -20°C até o momento da realização do teste ELISA indireto, usando como antígeno taquizoítos de T. gondii. A pesquisa foi aprovada pela Comissão de Ética no Uso de Animais da FCAV-UNESP, sob o protocolo 014465/12. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas no programa EPI Info 7.0.9.7 utilizando-se o teste Qui-quadrado. A prevalência de anticorpos anti-T. gondii encontrada: nas oito propriedades foi de 23,33% (35/150) e para as diferentes categorias animais de 15,05% (14/93) para crias; 37,04% (20/54) para matrizes e 33,33% (1/3) para os reprodutores, quando essas foram comparadas houve diferença estatística entre crias x matrizes (P = 0,0006) e crias x reprodutores (P = 0,004). Com relação ao sexo a prevalência encontrada para fêmeas foi de 25,21% (30/119) e para machos de 16,13% (5/31), não foi observada diferença estatística (P = 0,16). O sistema de produção adotado na maioria das propriedades era misto, ou seja, produzia-se carne e leite. Em todas as propriedades estudadas foi encontrado pelo menos um animal soropositivo para T. gondii, demonstrando que formas infectantes do protozoário estão presentes na região estudada. [Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in goats]. Congenital or acquired toxoplasmosis is one of the most common parasitic infections in goats of any age, race and sex. Epidemiological studies carried out in Brazil and around the world show that the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies ranges from 10% to 86%, regardless of the adopted production system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in goats from eight farms in Quixadá, Ceará. Blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture of 93 male and female little goats, older than four months; 54 does and three bucks (breeders). The blood samples were centrifuged at 3000xg for 10 minutes to separate the serum. Serum samples were stored in Eppendorf ® tubes and frozen at -20°C for further testing by the indirect ELISA using as antigen tachyzoites of T. gondii. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal Use of FCAV - UNESP, under protocol 014465/12. Statistical analyses were performed by the Epi Info 7.0.9.7 software using the Chi-square test. The prevalence of T. gondii antibody for the eight properties studied was as follows: 23.33% (35/150) while within the animal categories, they were 15.05% (14/93) for offspring; 37.04% (20/54) for does; 33% (1/3) for bucks. The statistical analysis showed significant differences between offspring x does (P=0.0006) and offspring x bucks (P=0.004). With respect to gender, the prevalence for does was 25.21% (30/119) while for bucks, it was 16.13% (5/31), but they were not statistically different (P=0.16). The production system adopted in the majority of properties was mixed, that is, they produced meat and milk. All the properties had at least one animal positive for T. gondii, demonstrating that infectious forms of the parasite are present in the studied region.Edição dos Resumos do I Simpósio Internacional de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva (SIMPREV), Jaboticabal, 2013

The management of organizational ambidexterity through alliances in a new context of analysis: Internet of Things (IoT) smart city projects

In the last decade, the Internet of Things (IoT) has affected the approach of organizations to innovation and how they create and capture value in everyday business activities. This is compounded in the so-called Smart Cities, where the objective of the IoT is to exploit information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support added-value services for citizens, giving companies more opportunities to innovate through the use of the latest technologies. In this context, multinational enterprises (MNEs) are building alliances, starting several projects with public and private city stakeholders aimed at exploring new technologies for cities but also at exploiting new IoT-based devices and services in order to profit from them. This implies that companies need to manage and integrate different types of knowledge to efficiently and effectively support the simultaneous pressure of exploration and exploitation, at a project portfolio level. Using structural equations modeling with data collected from 43 IoT smart city project alliances in Italy, this paper tests and finds evidence that MNEs need to develop knowledge management (KM) capabilities combined with ICT capabilities if they want to obtain greater ambidexterity performance at the project portfolio level. More specifically, we highlight that KM capabilities enhance alliance ambidexterity indirectly through firms’ ICT capabilities, suggesting that MNE managers should design KM tools and develop new ICT skills. Implications for academics, managers and future lines of research are proposed. © 2017 Elsevier Inc.Health and Safety Executive, HSE; National Research University Higher School of Economics, ВШЭ; Government Council on Grants, Russian FederationThe article was prepared within the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) and supported within the framework of the subsidy granted to the HSE by the Government of the Russian Federation for the implementation of the Global Competitiveness Program