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UK national museums and galleries (MaGs) are organised as non-departmental public bodies to enable them to pursue their desired socio-cultural objectives with minimal interference from the government. This study examines how the UK government controls heterogenous UK national MaGs to insidiously influence their objectives. It uses data collected from published sources and from interviews conducted with sponsors, trustees and senior managers of national MaGs located in London. The findings highlight that the government influences the domain of arts and culture by appointing trustees with similar 'political' and 'business-thinking' mindsets, using accounting mechanisms, and through direct intervention. When the government's politico-economic desires collided with the decision of the trustees and curators, the government directly intervened to protect its interest. The reduction in government funding and its desire to make MaGs financially independent have resulted in MaGs demanding greater autonomy over spending their self-generated funding to pursue their artistic objectives, potentially shifting accountability relationships and creating new possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) cultivated from Sabah (RSS) and Langkawi (RSL) were digested using in vitro mouth, gastric and duodenal model. The digested seaweed then fermented in a pH-controlled batch culture system inoculated with human faeces to mimic the distal colon. Bacterial enumeration were monitored using fluorescent in situ hybridisation, and the fermentation end products, the short chain fatty acids (SCFA), were analysed using HPLC. Both RSS and RSL showed significant increase of Bifidobacterium sp.; from log10 7.96 at 0 h to log10 8.72 at 24 h, and from log10 7.96 at 0 h to log10 8.60 at 24 h, respectively, and shows no significant difference when compared to the Bifidobacterium sp. count at 24 h of inulin fermentation. Both seaweeds also showed significant increase in total SCFA production, particularly acetate and propionate. Overall, this data suggested that K. alvarezii might have the potential as a prebiotic ingredient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a structured survey questionnaire was used to determine consumers’ preferences and their behavior with regard to halwa. Five types of consumer groups were identified thorough hierarchical cluster analysis based on ranked attributes. Color was ranked within the top three attributes for all the groups. In general, color, sweetness, appearance, and solubility were found to be the most important attributes for selecting the halwa. Five types of groups were identified based on their preference levels (i.e., intensity) of attributes. These could be recognized in terms of preferences for halwa with (1) black with high sweetness, (2) dark-brown with high-medium sweetness, (3) dark with low-medium sweetness, (4) brown with medium sweetness, and (5) dark with high-medium sweetness preferred consumers. The consumer segmentations identified could be used to develop retail marketing strategies and to develop store brands of diversified Arabian sweets and intermediate moisture fruit snacks, such as dates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]