Models that depict innovation as a smooth, well-behaved linear process badly misspecify the nature and direction of the causal factors at work. Innovation is complex, uncertain, somewhat disorderly, and subject to changes of many sorts. Innovation is also difficult to measure and demands close coordination of adequate technical knowledge and excellent market judgment in order to satisfy economic, technological, and other types of constraints—all simultaneously. The process of innovation must be viewed as a series of changes in a complete system not only of hardware, but also of market environment, production facilities and knowledge, and the social contexts of the innovation organization.

An Overview of Innovation

Nature And Properties Of Soils

Sustainable intensification in agricultural systems

Decision and Value Theory.

Nano-based smart pesticide formulations: Emerging opportunities for agriculture

The 7 billion global population is projected to grow by 70 million per annum, increasing by 30 % to 9.2 billion by 2050. This increased population density is projected to increase demand for food production by 70 % notably due to changes in dietary habits in developing countries towards high quality food, e.g. greater consumption of meat and milk products and to the increasing use of grains for livestock feed. The availability of additional agricultural land is limited. Any expansion will happen mostly at the expense of forests and the natural habitats containing wildlife, wild relatives of crops and natural enemies of crop pests. Furthermore, more agricultural land will be used to produce bio-based commodities such as biofuel or fibre instead of food. Thus, we need to grow food on even less land, with less water, using less energy, fertiliser and pesticide than we use today. Given these limitations, sustainable production at elevated levels is urgently needed. The reduction of current yield losses caused by pests is a major challenge to agricultural production. This review presents (1) worldwide crop losses due to pests, (2) estimates of pesticide-related productivity, and costs and benefits of pesticide use, (3) approaches to reduce yield losses by chemical, as well as biological and recombinant methods of pest control and (4) the challenges of the crop-protection industry. The general public has a critical function in determining the future role of pesticides in agriculture. However, as long as there is a demand for pesticide-based solutions to pest control problems and food security concerns, the externality problems associated with the human and environmental health effects of pesticides need also to be addressed.

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Pesticide productivity and food security. A review

Banks must meet the needs of their customers in order to achieve sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to examine service quality dimensions, by using the modified SERVQUAL model, which can be used to measure customer satisfaction, and the effect of these dimensions (tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, reliability, access, financial aspect, and employee competences) on customer satisfaction in Jordanian banks. Data were gathered from 825 customers in the Jordanian banking sector. The sample data were statistically analyzed through exploratory factor analysis by the SPSS program to determine service quality perception and customer satisfaction. The results illustrate that the modified SERVQUAL Model extracted four subscales in the new model instead of eight in the initial model. The first subscale contains four dimensions—assurance, reliability, access and employee competences. The second subscale consists of two dimensions—responsiveness and empathy. The third and fourth subscales—financial aspect and tangibility—are separate factors. Further studies should consider the dimensions of access, financial aspect, and employee competences as essential parts of service quality dimensions with the other subscales, so as to improve wider customer satisfaction in the banking sector. In the authors’ opinion, the modified SERVQUAL model is useful for addressing customer satisfaction in the banking sector.

The Service Quality Dimensions that Affect Customer Satisfaction in the Jordanian Banking Sector

Effects of the available nitrogen on the photosynthetic activity and xanthophyll cycle pool of maize in field

Irrigation and nitrogen effects on the leaf chlorophyll content and grain yield of maize in different crop years

Six green pea varieties (Pisum sativum L.) with different maturity and leaf type were grown under three irrigation conditions (irrigated, water deficit, non-irrigated) in dry seasons with the objective to examine the relationship among stomatal resistance, stomatal density, chlorophyll content expressed by SPAD value, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the yield during the growing season. During flowering and pod ripening, significant difference was found in stomatal resistance between the mid- and late-ripening varieties. Those varieties had high stomatal resistance during flowering and pod development produced low yield under water deficiency. In drought under non-irrigated conditions, close significant correlations were found between stomatal resistance and SPAD, as well as NDVI measured during flowering and the yield and water use efficiency for green seeds (WUEy). Under this condition, when the stomatal resistance does not exceed 3 s cm−1 during green pea flowering, 4.3 t ha−1 of yield can be expected. In a dry season, under water deficiency, the SPAD values can be considered drought stress marker and it is more appropriate for evaluation of water use ability and productivity of pea varieties than the extent of stomatal resistance. The results can be used for the selection of pea genotypes adapted to water deficit under field conditions.

János Nagy

Papers

Pesticide productivity and food security. A review

The Service Quality Dimensions that Affect Customer Satisfaction in the Jordanian Banking Sector

Effects of the available nitrogen on the photosynthetic activity and xanthophyll cycle pool of maize in field

Irrigation and nitrogen effects on the leaf chlorophyll content and grain yield of maize in different crop years

Relationships between stomatal behaviour, spectral traits and water use and productivity of green peas (Pisum sativum L.) in dry seasons