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This paper attempted to study the alkali-activated (AA) binder consisting of 94% of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and 6% of blended powder of alkali metal hydroxide and metal sulfate, which acted as an activator.

Several concrete specimens (cubes, cylinders and prisms), which were casted using AA binders, were further tested for mechanical properties after exposure to elevated temperatures of 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C and 800 °C. Additionally, to understand the structural behavior in uniaxial compressive load, reinforced concrete short columns were cast, cured and tested at ambient temperature as well as after exposure to 300 °C, 600 °C and 900 °C, to know the residual strength after exposure to elevated temperature.

The findings for the residual strength of alkali-activated slag binder concrete (AASBC) indicated a substantial agreement with the results obtained for the residual strength of Portland slag cement (PSC) concrete, thereby showing the effectiveness of binder when used as a replacement of cement.

The study clearly indicates that the binder developed is an effective approach for the 100% replacement of cement in the concrete.

Food delivery apps (FDAs) have altered people's eating behaviour. The convenience of FDAs may cause consumers to order more food than people's level of hunger warrants, leading to food waste. Food waste is a grave societal problem, which, the authors argue, represents the dark side of FDAs. However, the tendency of consumers to order more food than required, or to engage in food over-ordering behaviour, has remained under-explored in the context of FDAs.

This study addresses the gap by examining the antecedents of over-ordering behaviour on FDAs through the theoretical lens of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which past studies on food waste have also used.

The authors' results confirm the positive association of attitude, subjective norms and leftover reuse intentions with over-ordering behaviour. The moderation effect of age and gender on the relationship between subjective norms with over-ordering is also confirmed.

The study extends classic TPB propositions by incorporating trust and leftover reuse intentions as antecedents and age and gender as moderation variables. The study thus offers useful inferences for theory and practice.

It is globally recognized that food waste has significant economic, social and environmental impacts. This study endeavors to identify the individuals' underlying factors that affect food waste behavior in a social context in Egypt.

Due to the scarcity of research illustrating food waste in a social context, a qualitative research paradigm is employed. In-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with 18 Egyptian households to report their experiences, thoughts and feelings while eating in a social context.

Based on thematic analysis using grounded theory procedures, eight main elements affecting creation and reduction of food waste in social contexts are identified. Additionally, the authors investigate the role of emotions in social dining contexts. A key finding is that food waste in social events is inevitable and is the acceptable norm in the Egyptian culture. Thus, the first step to reduce food waste is paying more attention to change culture. Persuading people with the negative consequences of food waste issue on behalf of their cultural values will be more challenging and may require more innovative approaches.

Although food waste issue is one of the contemporary issues in the world, very little is known about how social food consumption leads to food waste behavior. This study employs social influence theory and the collectivistic culture orientation to investigate the unanswered question of why food gets wasted in social meal context.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding about the determinants of consumer food leftovers in out-of-home settings by taking a decomposed perspective on attitudes.

Data on 307 guests in a university canteen composing of stated measures for 12 beliefs, general attitude and behavioral intention and of visually estimated food leftovers are analyzed using exploratory factor and path analyses.

A factor analysis for belief statements derives three distinctive and potentially conflicting attitude dimensions: “Environment,” “Self-Interest” and “Resources.” Path analyses on their interrelation with general attitude, intention and behavior indicate that the dimensions have distinctive effects. Moreover, “Self-Interest” in contrast to the other two dimensions is correlated with situational perceptions about portion size and taste when these are included as direct determinants of leftovers.

It is recommended to consider different dimensions of attitude when addressing food leftover behavior since these dimensions may not be well represented in a classical summary construct and since their relevance may differ depending on situational factors. Additional research is recommended to validate the results for more representative samples of consumers and to elaborate on the interaction of different attitude dimensions as potential source of attitude ambivalence which cannot clearly be determined from the existing data.

Past research on consumer food waste behavior models attitudes exclusively as a summary construct. This contradicts qualitative findings that individuals may hold conflicting beliefs about food leftovers.

This study applies and extends goal concepts by exploring the roles of goal intention and implementation planning in explaining how consumers minimize food waste (FW). It consists of impulsiveness in a food domain and food waste-related habit strength as obstacles in this motivational process.

Survey data from 399 Vietnamese consumers and structural equation modeling are used to test the proposed model.

The results establish a causal mechanism from goal intention to food waste reduction behavior via implementation planning. It also highlights mechanisms in which impulsiveness leads to a weak goal intention and careless implementation planning, consolidates FW-related habit strength and makes consumers fail to achieve food waste reduction (FWR) goals.

Future studies would benefit by investigating FWR behavior in different contexts based on the theory of trying or model of goal-directed behavior with the other traits, such as self-esteem or environmental values.

Businesses should design smaller eating portions to limit consumer impulsiveness in buying food. Food policymakers should educate consumers to form and maintain implementation planning, provide them with useful tools to deal with food habits or stimulate ethical motives to reduce FW.

This study extends goal concepts by exploring different routes, highlighting the competing roles of impulsiveness and habit strength compared with goal intention on FWR behavior.

The purpose of this study is to know the influence of palm oil fuel ash and metakaolin on the strength of concrete and crack resistance of reinforced concrete beam. An ordinary portland cement has been used in the concretes production where it is an important material to be considered due to its nature that reacts with every substance present. During the cement production, a significant amount of carbon dioxide is emitted from the clinker in rotary kiln and lot of energy is required in the production processes. Such an event can be prevented by replacing the part of cement with metakaolin (MK) and palm oil fuel ash (POFA). Aside from being a cementitious alternative, the materials can also contribute to a greener environment and more sustainable building, as POFA is available in Malaysia and may be used to substitute cement and minimize pollution.

This study assesses the effect of MK and POFA on the concrete in terms of compressive strength and cracks pattern of the reinforced concrete beam based on the relevant previous studies.

From this study, the compressive strength of concrete containing MK and POFA was higher than the control mix with the percentage of improvement in the range of 0.8%–78.2% for MK and 0.5%–14%, respectively. The optimum content of MK and POFA is between the range of 10% and 15% and 10% and 20%, respectively, to achieve high strength of concrete. Other than that, the inclusion of MK to the concrete mix improves the strength of reinforced concrete beams and reduces cracks on the surface of reinforced concrete beams, whereas the inclusion of POFA to the concrete mix increases the cracks on reinforced concrete beams. The cracks appeared within the flexure zone of every beam containing the MK and POFA.

It was found that the fineness of MK and POFA has a significant influence on the mechanical properties of concrete.

According to a study by European Commission, 88m tons of food waste are generated per year, of which 46.5m tons are wasted by households. Households still remain the main source of food waste (53 percent). The purpose of this paper is to estimate households’ food waste and wastage-related losses of energy and nutrients among middle school students as well as assess educational intervention regarding food waste prevention.

The study included 555 students from 11 schools in Poland. The study was conducted using the survey questionnaire and the three-day record of food waste. The interventional group filled a questionnaire before and after of education as well as after three months of intervention.

Students waste 23 g of food per day. The most wasted products are: potatoes, bread, fruits and vegetable as well as meet and ham. Energy losses from leftovers are less than 1–10 percent. Losses of nutritional value along with wastages were the highest for vitamin C, but also for dietary fiber, potassium and folate. Food waste education was nearly twice as strong in study group with films intervention, than those who received only a leaflet for parents.

Middle school students are responsible for households’ food waste and contribute to energy and nutrition losses. Educational intervention is more effective, while using multimedia methods and need to be continued.

The paper is a scientific study and addressed to the scientific audience. However, due to the problem of households’ food waste, general public could be also interested.

Food waste is an element of waste management. Studying the scale of food waste and waste related behavior can help to better understand causes of food waste. The search for ways to limit food waste, through education address to young people, can be an effective method of prevention of waste. The UN has established 17 new development goals for the years 2015–2030 (United Nations, 2015). One of them (Goal 12) is focused on ensuring sustainable consumption and production. It means halving food waste at the retail and consumer levels and food losses at the production and post-harvest stages by 2030.

There are few publications available about food waste including energy and nutrients waste. This study shows the scale of household waste, the quantity and type of wasted products and causes of disposal. Also, the way of handling with food waste at homes was examined. It is also important to draw attention to the responsibility of young people in wasting food, which was examined in the paper.

Foodborne disease remains a significant public health threat and cause for concern. Despite numerous studies indicating that the domestic kitchen is a high-risk area for foodborne illness, consumers believe it is low-risk. The type of food being prepared in the kitchen has drastically changed, with an increased use of convenience products, perceived low-risk products. Little is known about consumers' behaviours with convenience meals. Therefore, it is essential to understand actual and perceived food safety behaviours in their use.

A mixed-methods approach using in-home observations and semi-structured interviews was undertaken with participants from the UK and the Republic of Ireland (N = 50). Observational data was summarized using descriptive statistics and an inductive thematic analysis was conducted to interpret the qualitative data.

In this study general food safety behaviours, such as handwashing, use-by date checking, as well as identifying obvious safety hazard were suboptimal. However, participants' convenience meal safety behaviours were as optimal as possible with the provided instructions. The qualitative data supported the participants' struggle with the provided on-packet instructions. They also displayed participants' uncertain perceptions around different products, for example if oven-products could be reheated multiple times, and varying levels of concern around meat and dairy products. Consumers urged for more detailed and clearer instructions with these products. Recommendations for producers are provided to enhance consumer experience with the use of the products as well as contributing towards ensuring consumer safety.

Mixed-methods approach investigating consumers' real and perceived food safety behaviours.

More than 50 per cent of all German households own a freezing appliance and so far the market of frozen foods is constantly increasing (1 per cent from 2017 to 2018). Despite frozen foods playing an important role in our everyday life, little is known about the consumer’s habits at home. The purpose of this paper is to uncover gaps in the knowledge about consumer behaviour when handling frozen food. Moreover, the impact of consumers on the quality of frozen products should be assessed.

A representative online survey was carried out to investigate different aspects of consumer behaviour concerning frozen foods. Respondents (n=2,053) were questioned about their general handling habits regarding eight different food groups: fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, bread, pastries, ready-to-eat meals and leftovers. The focus was on freezing, pre-handling, packaging and thawing – depending on the age of those questioned and combined with best practice advice regarding quality storage of frozen products.

Most Germans have the opportunity to freeze food and keep their freezers full or medium loaded. Older participants act more efficiently towards quality storage, but more education about freezing and frozen storage would be generally helpful to maintain quality of frozen foods and increase utilisation of freezers, using their full preservation potential.

No open questions were asked due to the scope of more than 2,000 participants, which, in retrospect, would have been instructive.

Consumer handling of frozen food in Germany was investigated in a representative way for the first time, covering age groups from 18 to 69 and household sizes from 1 to >4 people, focussing on eight major food groups.