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There are various Kreis tests reported in the literature with wide variations in the procedure. The purpose of this paper is to select the most suitable and reliable method for the rancidity evaluation in ghee.

Ghee samples were prepared from butter by the direct cream method. They were assessed for early-stage oxidative deterioration by four Kreis tests in an accelerated storage trial at intervals of 48 h. The amount of ghee samples, amount of reagents (chloroform, 30 percent trichloroacetic acid, 1 percent phloroglucinol, and ethanol), incubation temperature and duration were different in the four tests. For each method, the ghee samples were also monitored for changes in flavor at intervals of 48 h by sensory evaluation. Relationships among the Kreis values determined by the four different Kreis tests and flavor scores were established using a correlation analysis.

The correlation coefficient of the Kreis values determined by different Kreis tests was in decreasing order of: Kreis test-2 (−0.904) > Kreis test-4 (−0.792) > Kreis test-3 (−0.648) > Kreis test-1 (−0.469). Thus, among the four different Kreis tests, Kreis Test-2 reported by Pool and Prater (1945) was found to be more sensitive and more consistent, and have the highest coefficient of correlation (−0.904) with flavor score of ghee during storage at 80±2°C.

The finding of this study will be useful for the selection of an appropriate and reliable Kreis test that can be used for detecting rancidity in ghee at an incipient stage. The development of rancidity in the ghee leads to formation of off-flavor and such an oxidized product is not accepted by the consumer; this leads to economic loss to the manufacturer. Detection of traces of rancidity at an early stage provides an opportunity for industry personnel to take suitable control measures and/or make decisions regarding utilization of the product.

The use of a reliable Kreis test that detects traces of rancidity in a ghee can be very useful for enabling suitable measures to be taken to prevent further oxidative deterioration or to dispose of the ghee as early as possible.

Given the controversial nature of the effectiveness of loyalty programs (LPs), this paper examines the effect of a new type of LP, namely green LPs, on consumers' perceived value of LPs. Specifically, the authors identify three types of green LP design and test their impact on perceived value.

An experimental protocol involving 1,016 shoppers was adopted in order to analyze the three types of green LPs identified in the literature.

Supported by social exchange theory (SET), the results show that a green LP can influence the perceived value of LPs. Such programs can drive psychological value in addition to the economic value linked only to monetary incentives. LPs rewarding sustainable behavior appear to be the most significant generators of value.

Since corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now critical to a company's success, this study investigates how firms can integrate it in order to improve the effectiveness of their LP design.

Low glycemic index gluten-free cookies from high amylose rice flour were prepared by modifying baking conditions and ingredient composition.

Baking temperature, baking time, and concentration of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were varied between 170 and 190° C, 12–25 min, and 0.2–1%, respectively, using central composite rotatable design. The developed cookies were packed in metalized polyester pouches and stored under ambient conditions for a period of 90 days.

Width and bulk density of cookies increased significantly (p < 0.05) with an increase in baking temperature, while thickness, baking loss and yield decreased with an increase in baking temperature. Puffiness increased predominantly with the increase in the concentration of CMC. Design expert predicted baking temperature of 185° C, baking time of 22 min, and 0.8% concentration of CMC as desirable conditions for the development of gluten-free cookies from rice flour. Cookies developed after following optimized conditions recorded dietary fiber of 4.66%, resistant starch (RS) content of 7.20% and predicted glycemic index (pGI) of 44.60. RS, pGI, moisture, water activity, free fatty acids and peroxide value increased significantly, whereas hardness and overall acceptability decreased during storage.

Gluten-free (GF) foods are in high demand globally due to the prevalence of celiac disease. Rice lacks gluten protein, and thus, can serve as a potential raw material for the development of GF cookies. In the present study, the ingredient modification and freezing interventions during baking were found to be crucial if the development of low GI gluten-free cookies having good RS content is targeted. Optimized GF cookies prepared via technological intervention and packed in metalized polyester were shelf stable for up to 3 months under ambient conditions. Furthermore, resistant starch content was enhanced while the predicted glycemic index was decreased during storage. Adoption of baking conditions and CMC level optimized in the present study can help to develop shelf-stable GF bakery products for people suffering from comorbidities like celiac disease and diabetes.

Resistant starch content was enhanced while predicted glycemic index was decreased during storage of gluten-free cookies prepared from high amylose rice flour. The developed cookies can be a complementary diet to people suffering from comorbidities like celiac disease and diabetes.

This chapter investigates diverse policy experiences of smart village strategy in Korea. The Korean approach has been highly influenced by the European Union (EU) experience emphasizing the importance of a bottom-up territorial development. The Korean government acknowledges agriculture is not the only driver of rural jobs and wealth creation. Rather it understands that diversified non-farm activities in rural areas are essential to revitalize the rural economy. The major policies relevant to the development of rural smart village are first, establishing regional innovation system fitted for depressed regions, second, inducing agriculture to become value-added industries, third, diversifying rural economic activities and integrating industrial support, fourth, improving the welfare of rural residents by improving settlement conditions, and finally, encouraging rural–urban interaction. Since the campaign of smart rural village as a rural development strategy is closely related with the discussion of rural tourism in Korea, this study investigates past and recent streams of rural tourism strategies pursued by the central government in Korea. Along with introducing the historical development strategy in Korea, this study presents the current and possible future characteristics of rural development strategies in Korea. This study investigates the perceived role of tourism as well as recent streams of rural development policies such as 6th industrialization and smart farming in the rural development strategies. Presenting success and failure stories, this study also considers why development of rural tourism has been slow in rural areas in Korea, reviewing restraints, reservations, and problems identified during the last few decades in Korea.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between redistribution, convergence and local cultural capital (as defined by culture-based development concept).

The paper infers the basic mechanism of the cultural dependence of convergence and inequality – through an empirical test for the case of the “German job miracle” during the current crisis. Two empirical questions are asked: first, is local income inequality associated with local cultural capital and second, is the negative convergence between East and West Germany during the crisis related to culturally sensitive employers’ preference for job preservation vs job loss. An OLS enquiry and two deeper estimation methods (a logit model and a 3SLS simultaneous equations model) are alternatively applied in order to triangulate the empirical results.

The findings support the existence of cultural effect on local income inequality and cultural path dependence of employers’ preferences for job preservation vs job loss in a condition of economic shock.

The paper provides both theoretical reasoning and empirical illustration of the significance of the cultural effect on human preferences which may or may not allow for redistribution and convergence between localities.

Examines the influence national culture has on the design of information systems through a comparative study of geographic information systems (GIS) design in the USA and Germany. Hofstede’s (1980) dimensions of national culture provide the theoretical framework for this research. Applying Hofstede’s dimensions, evaluates differences in the design documents and actual practice of design of King County, Washington, USA and Kreis (County) Osnabrück, Germany. The findings support Hofstede’s characterization at the conceptual level of design documents, but indicate that the practice of design in the German county deviates considerably from Hofstede’s characterization: whereas Germanic national cultural characteristics suggest a very regulated top‐down design process, the actual practice of design in Kreis Osnabrück involves, in fact, a great deal of negotiations. They lead to the formalization of efforts and preparation of standards. These negotiations are obscured by the cultural emphasis on regulation, as Hofstede did indeed predict through high uncertainty avoidance. In comparison, the findings in King County support Hofstede’s characterization that Anglo‐American national culture involves negotiations at all stages of design. These findings lead to a reconsideration of Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions. Formal design documents replicate national culture characteristics, obscuring the details of practice. Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions provide a valuable framework, but the practice of design in both counties is ultimately a process of negotiation.

Prior literature has shown deviations between ETF prices and their net-asset-value (NAV) to exist. Fulkerson and Jordan (2013, p. 31) question “if there exists a true tradeable strategy” to exploit these inefficiencies. The purpose of this paper is to implement a profitable daily long-short trading strategy based on price/NAV information and explicitly accounting for trading costs.

For a sample of European sector ETFs, the authors analyze gross and net returns of a long-short trading strategy in the capital asset pricing model and Fama-French three-factor model.

The authors document positive gross excess return for the long-short trading strategy in all sample periods, but net excess returns to be positive only between 2008 and 2010.

The results document a profitable long-short trading strategy exploiting deviations between ETF prices and NAV and highlight the impact of trading costs in ETF markets. Due to the limited availability of historic trading cost data, the research uses a comparatively small sample size.

The net profitability of long-short trading in ETFs is only found in times of high uncertainty in the stock market.

The inclusion of trading costs enables a detailed comparison between gross and net returns in ETF trading, addressing potential limits to arbitrage.

Loyalty membership is widely used as a marketing strategy to secure customer’s loyalty in many business sectors. The purpose of this paper is to focus on loyalty membership of customer in Malaysian luxury hotels, specifically, in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by looking into the perceived value of economic, interaction and psychological needs.

Quantitative cross-sectional research was conducted to explore the feedback from customers who have loyalty membership with a luxury hotel. Surveyed data of 489 respondents were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

There is a significant positive relationship between the psychological needs and perceived value. The relationship between the perceived value and customer’s loyalty is also significant and positive. However, there is no significant relationship between the economic value and the interaction constructs with the perceived value. The perceived value functions as a mediator for the economic value, interaction and psychological needs in respect of customer’s loyalty.

Hotel management should prioritise addressing the elements of psychological needs to enhance the perceived value from the customers’ perspective. The strength of the perceived value indirectly stimulates customer’s loyalty to a hotel, followed by the interaction and economic value from the customer value perspective to ensure customer’s loyalty.

This research highlights on how customers can be secured by a luxury hotel chain through a loyalty membership strategy. The knowledge generated from this research is expected to provide insights to practitioners on how to enhance their loyalty membership marketing strategy.

In banking services, trust is crucial to any relational exchange situation. Using the example of Israeli banks, the main research question driving this paper is – What are the reasons for trusting or not trusting banks? To date, few studies have examined the reasons of ongoing low trust during so-called “normal times”.

This paper is unique in approaching the study of customer trust in banks through qualitative analysis by using the interdisciplinary trust approach.

The results offer important insights regarding situational normality, structural assurance and customers’ tendencies to trust the bank. The insights about trust derived from this complicated relationship between customers and banks reveals that customers grow dissatisfied and their level of trust consequently decreases when they perceive an imbalance in the exchange relationship with their bank.

This study provides novel insights into hidden attitudes and feelings behind each component of trust beliefs in the bank–customer trust relationship through interdisciplinary trust perspective.

The hospitality industry values segmentation and loyalty programs (LPs), but there is limited research on new methods for segmenting loyalty program members, so managers often rely on conventional techniques. This study aims to use big data-driven segmentation methods to cluster customers and provide a new solution for customer segmentation in hotel LPs.

Using the k-means algorithm, this study examined 498,655 profiles of guests enrolled in a multinational hotel chain’s loyalty program. The objective was to cluster guests according to their consumption behavior and monetary value and compare data-driven segments based on brand preferences, demographic data and monetary value with loyalty program tiers.

This study shows that current tier-based LPs lack features to improve customer segmentation, and some high-tier members generate less revenue than low-tier members. Therefore, more attention should be given to truly valuable customers.

Hotels can segment LP members to develop targeted campaigns and uncover new insights. This will help to transform LPs to make them more valuable and profitable and use differentiated rewards and strategies.

As not all guests or hotel brands benefit equally from LPs, additional segmentation is required to suit varying guest behaviors. Hotel managers can use data mining techniques to develop more efficient and valuable LPs with personalized strategies and rewards.