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This study aims to investigate the levels of some anti‐nutritional factors and minerals and the effect of boiling or roasting on selected commonly consumed Caribbean tuber crops.

Three commonly consumed tuber crops in the Caribbean namely: Yellow yam (Dioscorea cayenensis), Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sp.) and Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) were harvested from farmers’ field in the Parish of Manchester, Jamaica and assessed in their boiled, raw and roasted forms for levels of some anti‐nutritional factors and minerals.

Zinc and iron levels were highest in raw Yellow yam, while the highest levels of calcium were observed in Sweet potato. The phytic acid to zinc molar ratio was higher than 15 in all the tuber crops in their raw and roasted forms. Boiling reduced this ratio to below 15 for Yellow yam and Cocoyam but still remained above 15 for Sweet potato. Cyanoglucoside level was highest in raw Sweet potato followed by Yellow yam and Cocoyam. Boiling or roasting reduced the levels of cyanoglucosides. Roasting greatly lowered the level of trypsin inhibitor activity compared to boiling. The highest level of trypsin inhibitor activity was recorded in the raw tubers, and slight reductions were observed upon processing.

Trypsin inhibitor was more stable to heat treatment compared to similar tubers grown in Africa. It may be beneficial to isolate and characterize trypsin inhibitor in these Caribbean tuber crops for utilization in nutraceutics.

This study shows that the two traditional processing methods were effective in lowering the levels of anti‐nutritional factors.

Keeping in view the diabetes status that has affected about 415 million people globally and is the leading cause of death in many countries along with therising demand for low Glycemic Index (GI) foods, the purpose of this paper is to optimize the extrusion process for the development of low GI snacks from underutilized crops like water chestnut and barley.

The extrusion parameters (screw speed and barrel temperature), feed moisture and water chestnut flour, barley flour proportion, were varied and their effects on system and product responses (specific mechanical energy, water absorption index, water solubility index, bulk density, expansion ratio and breaking strength) were studied.

All the system and product responses were significantly affected by independent variables. Response surface and regression models were established to determine the responses as function of process variables. Models obtained were highly significant with high coefficient of determination (R²=0.88). The optimum processing conditions obtained by numerical optimization for the development of snacks were 90°C barrel temperature, 300 rpm screw speed, 14 per cent feed moisture and WCF-to-BF ratio as 90:10. Shelf life studies confirmed that the developed snacks can be safely stored in HDPE bags for a period of six months under ambient conditions.

Water chestnut and barley flour did not blend till date for extrusion cooking. Such snacks shall be a viable food option for diabetic people and can act as laxative due to high fibre and β-glucan content from barley.

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) fruit and its rind are known to contain phytochemicals that may have health benefits. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential hypocholesterolemic effect of watermelon fruit rind (WR) using rats who are fed a high-cholesterol diet.

Rats were divided into six groups and fed diets for eight weeks containing normal control diet or normal control diet with either 1% cholesterol, 5% WR, 10% WR, 1% cholesterol + 5% WR or 1% cholesterol + 10% WR. Triglycerides, total cholesterol and lipoprotein levels in serum and liver samples were determined, and histopathological examination of liver tissues was carried out.

Diets containing 1% cholesterol led to hypercholesterolemia, characterized by increased levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins in rat serum and liver samples. Incorporation of 10% WR into the diet of the otherwise hypercholesterolemic rats led to significant reduction in serum levels of total cholesterol (from 266.2 to 222.7 mg/dL) and low-density lipoproteins (from 159.5 to 94.4 mg/dL). In addition, these rats also exhibited improvements in hepatic tissue structure compared to the hypercholesterolemic rats.

These results support the potential use of WR as a hypocholesterolemic agent. Further research is needed to ascertain the hypocholesterolemic effect of WR in human.

As the global push for renewable energy intensifies, it becomes imperative to critically assess the socio-territorial repercussions of some of these initiatives in local communities and their environments. The emergence of certain “eco-blind projects” serves as a reminder of situations where innovative modern solutions, although environmentally friendly, fail to acknowledge and safeguard territorial identity and the surrounding landscape. Within this comprehensive framework, the chapter emphasizes the pressing need to strike a delicate equilibrium between the pursuit of energy transition goals and the preservation of local traditions, and ecosystems. By considering the socio-territorial ramifications and fostering community engagement, policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders can collectively chart a path that leads toward a more sustainable and inclusive renewable energy landscape. This approach encapsulates not only the imperative of curbing climate change and alleviating energy poverty but also the crucial task of upholding the identity of local communities and safeguarding the irreplaceable natural and cultural resources that form the bedrock of their territory.

In this study, phytic acid was extracted from Jamaican sweet potato, which has been reported to contain a high phytic acid to zinc ratio and fed to Wistar rats for three weeks. Animals were then sacrificed and blood glucose, intestinal amylase activity and faecal minerals were determined. Blood glucose levels in all the groups fed phytic acid extract from sweet potato or commercial phytic acid were reduced compared to their controls. This lowering was more pronounced in the groups fed phytic acid extract from sweet potato or commercial phytic acid plus zinc supplement. Faecal zinc was significantly higher in the groups fed phytic acid extract from sweet potato compared to the controls in weeks 1 and 2. Supplementation of the diets with phytic acid extract from sweet potato or commercial phytic acid resulted in an increase in the faecal output of iron except for the group that was fed commercial phytic acid plus zinc. Overall, the supplementation of the rat diet with phytic acid extract from sweet potato resulted in a general increase in the output of these faecal minerals.

The purpose of this paper is to inform scholars and practitioners about the current body of knowledge on the role of social capital in scaling social impact since these concepts are still poorly understood and literature is fragmented despite their importance.

A systematic literature review of 27 highly relevant studies in leading journals is conducted, and the results are synthesized into an integrative theoretical framework.

The framework identifies possible dependent, independent, mediating and moderating variables which conceptualize the role of social capital in scaling social impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to systematically map social capital’s role in scaling social impact literature with the help of an integrative theoretical framework. For researchers, this framework would help by providing a shared frame of reference to conceptualize the role of social capital in scaling social impact and identify future research directions. Practitioners can use the findings of this review as a guide while designing and implementing scaling social impact programs.

This study examined the influence of income and health insurance on the health-seeking behaviour of rural residents, addressing the concerns of endogeneity and heterogeneity bias.

A two-stage residual inclusion was utilised to correct self-selection-based endogeneity problems arising from health insurance membership.

This study provides support for Andersen's behavioural model (ABM). Income and health insurance positively stimulate rural residents' use of modern healthcare services, but the effect of insurance risks a downward bias if treated as exogenous. Further, the effect of health insurance differs between males and females and between adults and the elderly.

This study advances the literature, arguing that, within the ABM framework, enabling (i.e. income and insurance) and predisposing factors (i.e. age and gender) complement each other in explaining rural residents' use of modern health services.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2023-0223

The problem of inaccessibility of finance for farm investment is a common phenomenon among farmers, especially the rural dwellers. Thus, there is a need to know how the accessibility of informal finance can be increased to increase farm investment. Therefore, this study evaluates farmers’ access to informal finance and its contribution to farm investment among rural farmers in Northcentral Nigeria.

A three-stage random sampling technique was employed to select 160 farmers. Primary data collected were analysed with descriptive statistics and the Heckman selection model.

The study revealed that cooperative society is the major informal means of loan acquisition used by the farmers followed by Rotational Savings and Credit Associations (RoSCAs). Informal loans contributed to agricultural investment through the various operational activities involved in production. Factors influencing farmers’ access to informal loans were the age, farm size and income of the farmers. Interest charged, farmers' age, farming experience, household size, education and loan duration were the drivers of the amount borrowed from the informal financing sector.

The findings of the study call for policies that will sustain informal financial institutions in developing economies, like Nigeria. Thus, the government through its regulatory agencies should assist informal finance providers with the necessary resources to achieve more goals. This is because the informal credit lenders help in bridging financial gaps created by formal financial institutions, such as commercial banks.

Unlike the previous research studies, this study investigated the driving factors of the amount borrowed from informal finance and its use in farm investment.

Social franchise chains have social goals rather than – or in addition to – commercial or profit-making goals. But are these social goals, disclosed by social franchisors, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, if so, which ones?

The authors examine the disclosure of SDG-related information on websites of 69 social franchise chains operating in Africa.

The authors' main findings show that social goals disclosed by social franchisors are aligned with certain SDGs that are general in nature and not just sector-dependent, except in the case of education.

The authors' paper contributes to the practice by providing examples of the types and varieties of social goals social franchisors can pursue. Moreover, entrepreneurs might be encouraged to launch their franchise concept as franchisors who contribute to SDGs at an international, national or regional level or to join franchise chains as franchisees who contribute to SDGs at the local level.

The authors' findings show the potential for social franchise chains in developing countries to target and contribute to achieving SDGs.

The authors' paper adds to the limited literature on SDGs and, more specifically, on the role of the private sector, in particular social franchisors, in targeting and achieving SDGs.

Although scaling is considered a “hot topic”, very little is known about how knowledge management (KM) assists in scaling social impact. To fill this gap, the authors draw on knowledge-based and social capital theories and investigate how various KM practices and external networks (e.g. bridging social capital) affect scaling social impact in developing countries.

Applying structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS version 23, the authors conducted a survey with 354 women leaders who are working in women-led social enterprises in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The authors found that knowledge codification, training and mentoring, and bridging social capital are positively and significantly associated with scaling social impact.

This is one of the pioneering study that explore how KM impacts scaling social impact for women-led social enterprises in the context of a developing country. The authors also extend knowledge-based theory by applying it at the individual level. Finally, the authors enhance the understanding of women entrepreneurship by showing that women entrepreneurs in developing countries are also utilizing bridging social capital to overcome challenges associated with scaling social impact.