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Integrated geographic modelling and simulation is a computational means to improve understanding of the environment. With the development of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and web technologies, it is possible to conduct open, extensible integrated geographic modelling across a network in which resources can be accessed and integrated, and further distributed geographic simulations can be performed. This open web-distributed modelling and simulation approach is likely to enhance the use of existing resources and can attract diverse participants. With this approach, participants from different physical locations or domains of expertise can perform comprehensive modelling and simulation tasks collaboratively. This paper reviews past integrated modelling and simulation systems, highlighting the associated development challenges when moving to an open web-distributed system. A conceptual framework is proposed to introduce a roadmap from a system design perspective, with potential use cases provided. The four components of this conceptual framework - a set of standards, a resource sharing environment, a collaborative integrated modelling environment, and a distributed simulation environment - are also discussed in detail with the goal of advancing this emerging field.

Approaches for rapid reviews that focus on streamlining systematic review methods are not always suitable for exploring complex policy questions, as developing and testing theories to explain these complexities requires configuring diverse qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies. Our objective was therefore to provide a guide to selecting approaches for rapidly (i.e., within days to months) addressing complex questions related to health policy and system issues. We provide a two-stage, transdisciplinary collaborative process to select a rapid review approach to address complex policy questions, which consists of scoping the breadth and depth of the literature and then selecting an optimal approach to synthesis. The first stage (scoping the literature) begins with a discussion with the stakeholders requesting evidence to identify and refine the question for the review, which is then used to conduct preliminary searches and conceptually map the documents identified. In the second stage (selection of an optimal approach), further stakeholder consultation is required to refine and tailor the question and approach to identifying relevant documents to include. The approach to synthesizing the included documents is then guided by the final question, the breadth and depth of the literature, and the time available and can include a static or evolving conceptual framework to code and analyze a range of evidence. For areas already covered extensively by existing systematic reviews, the focus can be on summarizing and integrating the review findings, resynthesizing the primary studies, or updating the search and reanalyzing one or more of the systematic reviews. The choice of approaches for conducting rapid reviews is intertwined with decisions about how to manage projects, the amount of work to be done, and the knowledge already available, and our guide offers support to help make these strategic decisions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13643-021-01834-y.

Objective.The Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) international consensus initiative has successfully developed core sets of outcome measures for trials of many rheumatologic conditions, but its expanding scope called for clarification and updating of its underlying conceptual framework and working process. To develop a core set of what we propose to call outcome measurement instruments, consensus must be reached both on what to measure and how to measure. This article deals with the first part: a framework necessary to ensure comprehensiveness of the domains chosen for measurement. We formulated a conceptual framework of core measurement areas in clinical trials, for discussion at the OMERACT 11 conference.Methods.We formulated a framework and definitions of key concepts adapted from the literature, and followed an iterative consensus process (small group processes and an Internet-based survey) of those involved including patients, health professionals, and methodologists within and outside rheumatology.Results.The draft framework comprises 4 core “areas”: death, life impact (all aspects of how a patient feels or functions), resource use (monetary and other costs of the health condition and interventions), and pathophysiologic manifestations (disease-specific clinical and psychological signs, biomarkers, and potential surrogate outcome measures necessary to assess specific effects). The survey responses (262 of 2293, response rate 11%) indicated broad agreement with the draft framework and the proposed definitions of key concepts, including understandability and feasibility. A total of 283 comments were processed.Conclusion.In an iterative process, we have developed a generic framework for outcome measurement and working definitions of key concepts ready for discussion at the OMERACT 11 conference.

Background Advance care planning (ACP) aids can help prepare patients, family members, and physicians for in-the-moment medical decision-making. We wished to describe the content and approach of paper-based ACP aids in order to characterize existing aids and inform the development of a new ACP aid. Methods Paper-based ACP aids were identified through an environmental scan and screened for eligibility. ACP conceptual frameworks and data were gathered via stakeholder engagement and used to inform the coding framework that two investigators used to independently code each aid. A directed content analysis was conducted on these eligible aids. Aids were categorized through a deliberative process with an investigator abstracting general information for each aid. Results Fifteen aids met the eligibility criteria. They ranged in length from 6 to 78 pages with the average aid written at an eighth-grade reading level. The content analysis revealed that many aids encouraged choosing a surrogate decision maker and informed users about legal medical documents. Fewer than half of the aids facilitated patient clarification of values regarding quality of life issues. The authors identified and termed the following three categories of aids: informative; semi-action oriented; and action-oriented. It was often unclear whether patients contributed to the development or testing of the ACP aids reviewed. Conclusions Most existing paper-based ACP aids address legal matters such as completing an advance directive. Only a minority elicited patient values and it was unclear whether any were developed in partnership with patients. Future development of ACP aids should account for patient preferences with a goal of supporting in-the-moment medical decision-making.

Purpose: Children’s perspectives in the context of health service delivery have historically been seen as unimportant. They have been viewed as unintelligent, unable to effectively share or tell of their experiences or fully participate in their care, potentially resulting in a sense of dehumanisation. Method: The present paper illustrates children’s experiences when undergoing medical procedures, using application of the eight dimensions of humanised care theoretical framework. Results: Findings from six published papers were reflectively interrogated to identify implicit findings related to the dimensions of humanised care. These implicit findings show ways of caring for childrenwhichcan lead to enhanced human sensitivity in care or conversely where the dimensions of being human are obscured to greater or lesser degrees and can result in forms of dehumanisation. Conclusions: Inadvertent dehumanising features of practice can be mediated by encouraging the inclusion of children’s own lifeworld perspective and make room for their voices in both care and research. In this way the present well documented power imbalance could be addressed. Adding the value of the theoretical framework highlights areas of need for young children to be cared for as human beings.

AimThis descriptive paper aims to describe the design and implementation of a community engaged primary healthcare strategy in rural Australia, the Primary Healthcare Registered Nurse: Schools-Based strategy. This strategy seeks to address the health, education and social inequities confronting children and adolescents through community engaged service provision and nursing practice.BackgroundThere have been increasing calls for primary healthcare approaches to address rural health inequities, including contextualised healthcare, enhanced healthcare access, community engagement in needs and solutions identification and local-level collaborations. However, rural healthcare can be poorly aligned to community contexts and needs and be firmly entrenched in health systems, marginalising community participation.MethodsThis strategy has been designed to enhance nursing service and practice responsiveness to the rural context, primary healthcare principles, and community experiences and expectations of healthcare. The strategy is underpinned by a cross-sector collaboration between a local health district, school education and a university department of rural health. A research framework is being developed to explore strategy impacts for service recipients, cross-sector systems, and the establishment and maintenance of a primary healthcare nursing workforce.FindingsAlthough in the early stages of implementation, key learnings have been acquired and strategic, relationship, resource and workforce gains achieved.

While they account for one-fifth of new cancer cases, rare cancers are difficult to study. A higher than average degree of uncertainty should be accommodated for clinical as well as for population-based decision making. Rules of rational decision making in conditions of uncertainty should be rigorously followed and would need widely informative clinical trials. In principle, any piece of new evidence would need to be exploited in rare cancers. Methodologies to explicitly weigh and combine all the available evidence should be refined, and the Bayesian logic can be instrumental to this end. Likewise, Bayesian-design trials may help optimize the low number of patients liable to be enrolled in clinical studies on rare cancers, as well as adaptive trials in general, with their inherent potential of flexibility when properly applied. While clinical studies are the mainstay to test hypotheses, the potential of electronic patient records should be exploited to generate new hypotheses, to create external controls for future studies (when internal controls are unpractical), to study effectiveness of new treatments in real conditions. Framework study protocols in specific rare cancers to stepwisely test sets of new agents, as from the early post-phase I development stage, should be encouraged. Also the compassionate and the off-label settings should be exploited to generate new evidence, and flexible regulatory innovations such as adaptive licensing could convey new agents early to rare cancer patients, while generating evidence. Though validation of surrogate end points is problematic in rare cancers, the use of an updated notion of tumor response may be of great value in the single patient to optimize the use of therapies, all the more the new ones. Disease-based communities, involving clinicians and patients, should be regularly consulted by regulatory bodies when setting their policies on drug approval and reimbursement in specific rare cancers ., While they account for one-fifth of new cancer cases, rare cancers are difficult to study. A higher than average degree of uncertainty should be accommodated for clinical as well as for population-based decision making. Rules of rational decision making in conditions of uncertainty should be rigorously followed and would need widely informative clinical trials. In principle, any piece of new evidence would need to be exploited in rare cancers. Methodologies to explicitly weigh and combine all the available evidence should be refined, and the Bayesian logic can be instrumental to this end. Likewise, Bayesian-design trials may help optimize the low number of patients liable to be enrolled in clinical studies on rare cancers, as well as adaptive trials in general, with their inherent potential of flexibility when properly applied. While clinical studies are the mainstay to test hypotheses, the potential of electronic patient records should be exploited to generate new hypotheses, to create external controls for future studies (when internal controls are unpractical), to study effectiveness of new treatments in real conditions. Framework study protocols in specific rare cancers to sequentially test sets of new agents, as from the early post-phase I development stage, should be encouraged. Also the compassionate and the off-label settings should be exploited to generate new evidence, and flexible regulatory innovations such as adaptive licensing could convey new agents early to rare cancer patients, while generating evidence. Though validation of surrogate end points is problematic in rare cancers, the use of an updated notion of tumor response may be of great value in the single patient to optimize the use of therapies, all the more the new ones. Disease-based communities, involving clinicians and patients, should be regularly consulted by regulatory bodies when setting their policies on drug approval and reimbursement in specific rare cancers.

Turnover intentions in academic institutions has become one of the main concern of the management as surviving and achieving excellence is very much about having the knowledgeable and committed employee. Therefore, it is one of the main and foremost issue for a management of higher education institution to give important. There are many factors that influence an academician to have turnover intentions. Hence, this study’s focus was to investigate the relationship between role ambiguity, work-overload, work family conflict, co-workers warmth, co-workers competence and turnover intentions. The variables studied in this paper were analyse from a research framework. The finding of this study has been discussed on role ambiguity, work-overload, work family conflict, co-workers warmth, co-workers competence and turnover intentions. Conclusion has been drawn from the support of literature that states that the variables influences on turnover intentions. This paper’s finding provides valuable guidance for researcher and practitioners to overcome and improve the current mechanism to reduce turnover intentions. The research has also found few new paths for thinking on how to manage employees that having turnover intentions in any organizations.

A previous version of this paper has been part of TRANSIT Deliverable 3.3 (July 2016), the second prototype of TSI theory. [Abstract] This working paper presents a set of propositions about the agency and dynamics of transformative social innovation (TSI) that have been developed as part of an EU-funded research project entitled “TRANsformative Social Innovation Theory” (TRANSIT; 2014-2017). These TSI propositions represent first steps towards the development of a new theory of TSI, taking the form of proto-explanations of the agency and dynamics of TSI, based on the bringing together of our empirical observations on TSI and the project's theoretical reviews and theoretical framings. Ideally this working paper should be read in conjunction with the working paper entitled “A framework for transformative social innovation” (Haxeltine et al 2016) which presents in skeletal terms the theoretical and conceptual framing of TSI developed in the TRANSIT project. This TSI framework builds on sustainability transition studies, social innovation research, social psychology studies of empowerment and other several other areas of social theory to deliver a bespoke theoretical and conceptual framework that is grounded in a relational ontology and which is being employed as a platform for the development of a middle-range theory of TSI. Next we provide a very brief overview of some key elements of the framework, in particular how we conceptualise social innovation, transformative change, and transformative social innovation. Propositions were developed for each of four relational dimensions implied by the TSI framework with also a brief statement of the topic addressed by each of the twelve propositions. This article is based on research carried out as part of the Transformative Social Innovation Theory (“TRANSIT”) project, which is funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) under grant agreement 613169

• The territory is: i) the place of production which specific environmental characteristics (micro-climate and local varieties) are capable of qualitatively characterizing the products; ii) the place that, according to the presence of institutions and methods of interaction between the agents, facilitates the provision of the product, lowers transaction costs and contributes to the creation of its reputation; iii) for SFSC, it is the place of consumption; iv) the place where different supply chain management arrangements generate environmental, social and economic impacts. • Taking into account the aforementioned characteristics, the most effective conceptualization of the place of production is represented by the Cluster or, even better, by the Industrial District which, in the case of the agro-food industry, is a Localised Agri-Food System (LAFS) or System Agroalimentaire Localisé (SYAL). • The uniqueness of the LAFS resides in recognizing the role of the territory in terms of its social and institutional components and their ability to contribute to the creation of value within the supply chain. The specific nature of the LAFS is represented by the deep interaction between food cultures, human actions and institutions. LAFSs are the result of a process of cooperation among companies with common interests, located in an area, which organise and agree on certain production and marketing norms and rules to obtain a competitive advantage over competitors. • Looking at the characteristics of the production area, both industrial and rural LAFSs can be defined. The former is dominated by the agri-industrial characteristics and agents of the territory, while the latter are dominated by their rural dimensions highlighting the natural and environmental features of the production process. • The LAFS paradigm (either industrial or rural) supports an endogenous development model based on the intrinsic characteristics of the production system, intended in its broadest sense, which - in the case of rural development - takes the form of neo-endogenous rural development. It delineates an endogenous-based development in which extra-local factors are recognised and regarded as essential, while retaining a belief in the potential of local areas to shape their future. In contrast to the theoretical underpinnings of both exogenous and endogenous models of rural development, neo-endogenous rural development is based on the interplay of both local and external factors, so that the development strategy is built upon the link between local conditions and external opportunities. • The need to embrace extra-local factors and adopt an integrated network approach is also emphasised, although control remains within the local area rather than being dictated by extra-local influences. Therefore, the focal point of neo-endogenous development is the enhancement of local institutional capacity, to mobilise local resources while exploiting external opportunities. • The territory and its endogenous development model are complemented by a third component of the identification of a FQS: the characteristics of the value chain. The technological functions of the supply chain are combined in a more economic and managerial function. Typically, the supply chain, especially in the agri-food sector, is regarded as a tool for managing production, useful to create an appropriate product quality and develop marketing strategies aimed at creating value for all the actors of the chain. • Food chains are characterised by efficiency and the ability to transfer (or retain) value for the benefit of agents. They are dynamic structures subject to the evolution of structural and economic components under internal and external phenomena. These phenomena include: the evolution of the supply chain, the degree of openness to trade, the level and evolution of market demand, the evolution of the concept and perception of quality, as well as of it service components, the presence of standards and inter-organisational relationships. Additional elements include: the presence of agents and external institutions to the value chain that provide services and information, the extent of information asymmetry and the incidence of transaction costs. • Given the characteristics of the value chain and the relationship between the agricultural and the industrial component, as well as the relationship between companies and inter-branch organisations (when present), attention must be placed on how to develop collective commercial strategies capable of increasing the value added of the product and/or the bargaining power of the enterprises that turn to large scale distribution channels. In a nutshell, a dominant model of FQS-value chain does not exist but - rather - several typologies of FQS value chains emerge, according to the combination of their structural and management features. • However, common elements in the FQS supply chains encompass the need to comply with EU Regulations and the presence of a set of rules laid down in a code of practice, which requires establishing a system for managing the FQS (especially GI) through an organization suited to local conditions and capable of establishing a FQS strategy encompassing the whole value chain. In addition, FQS value chains feature a third party certification body which guarantees the actors’ compliance with the code of practice. • The literature shows that within value chains and LAFSs, organizations (e.g., producer organizations, inter-branch organizations and certification bodies) and local institutions operate for the benefit of all the agents. This is fuelled by a sense of belonging, by the necessity to develop chain strategies, as well as the common interests of territorial actors, and it translates into governance actions. Chain and LAFS organizations are the result of the interaction with other participating actors (e.g., companies, institutions), generating a set of dynamic forces that allows to adapt to the challenges posed by the market. • In this framework, local institutions represent stakeholders that play key roles in the process of increasing territorial competitiveness. Their role is mainly to strengthen relationships among stakeholders, with the general aim of obtaining the production of those public goods and the creation of those positive externalities which most serve the process of development, increasing the level of competitiveness of the entire local system. • Arguably, local institutions can be organised as hybrid organisations, since they represent the collective interest of individual producers, involved in the same food chain within the same territory. Indeed, according to the literature concerning the definition of collective action, local productions involve a wide range of stakeholders, operating within and outside the production area, although only some of them are directly involved in the value creation process. • The interaction among LAFS stakeholders is instrumental to the evolution process of the local system, considering the link between the territory and the food chain. The possible combinations between food chains and territories lead to three different types of agri-food systems: Closed LAFS: local agricultural outputs are processed by local food industries (mainly Small and Medium Enterprises) and are purchased at local level (mainly by local consumers). Open LAFS: agricultural outputs are not processed by local food industries and are purchased by non-local consumers (or can be purchase anywhere). Mixed Systems: a coexistence of Closed and Open LAFS. • Within the S2F project we will consider the links between the territory and the food chain, embedded in the LAFS, and the implications regarding their sustainability. • The LAFS concept provides the criteria to address the identification and the recognition of the boundaries of the LAFS area according to the characteristics of the FQS considered in the research activity: For GI productions (PDO, PGI and TSG), the LAFS is represented by the municipalities identified in the official code of practice that is part of the EU regulation published on the DOOR database; For organic products, the LAFS is not officially defined and the suggested criteria refer to the region where producers carry out their production and commercial activities; For SFSC products, in the absence of a legislative reference, the definition of the LAFS refers to the region that includes the production and consumption area that, necessarily, are contiguous to each other. In the real world, different FQS can overlap each other, generating a hybrid FQS framework (e.g.: organic-GI; Organic-SFSC, GI-SFSC; Organic-SFSC-GI). In this case, the dominant criterion is the presence of a Designation. When the GI is not considered, the dominant criterion is the SFSC. • In the S2F project, the link between quality schemes and the territory is considered as follows: Closed LAFS: all the inputs come from the territory and all the output is purchased within the territory in local markets, e.g. for SFSCs and Short Food Geographical Indications (SF-GIs), in other words SF-PDOs. Open LAFS: upstream and downstream elements of the chain are not bounded by the territory, as a consequences inputs can come from outside of the area as for some PGIs and Organic productions. In this cluster, most of the output is purchased in distant markets that can be “domestic” or “global” in nature (when consumers are in different regions with different market rules; i.e., extra-EU); Mixed LAFS: in this cluster for some FQSs some inputs can come from others regions, as for PGIs and Organic products. Moreover, most of the output is purchased in local markets but part of the outputs is also sold in “domestic” markets (when consumers are in different regions but with the same market rules, i.e., in the EU). • The level of embeddedness of the value chain with respect to the LAFS creates different categories of markets: local to local (i.e., the case of SFSC and some PSFP); local to domestic (i.e., the case of GIs and Organic); local to global (i.e., the case of GIs), and determines different (public and private) strategies and impacts (Vandecandelaere et al., 2010; Torres Salcido and Muchnik, 2012, Fischer, 2012). • In this framework, GIs, Organic, SFSC and PSFP products can benefit from the LAFS environment (reputation, institutions and governance actions) and will generate impacts, affecting sustainability. Furthermore, Convention Theory and Cultural Adaptation Work represent important methodological tools useful to evaluate how quality and management systems contribute to sustainability.

The objective of this paper is to present the Competitive Cities diagnostic methodology and to guide city practitioners through the diagnostic process, tools and resources that the Competitive Cities team offers.

The literature on animal personality is dominated by papers lacking any data. These papers, which we will call “data-free” papers, are cited and recognized twice as much as comparable empirical studies. In this data-free paper, we highlight 4 common data-free contributions that often fail to have an impact on the topic: (a) novel conceptual frameworks suggesting novel avenues of research or hypotheses, (b) papers prescribing novel terminologies, (c) syntheses revisiting older theories, and (d) papers introducing novel statistical methods. We argue that conceptual papers presenting a novel hypothesis probably could almost always be replaced by robust empirical studies actually testing the hypotheses of interest. We hope this paper will stimulate discussion on what makes a data-free paper on animal personality impactful, beyond simply being highly cited.

• The territory is: i) the place of production which specific environmental characteristics (micro-climate and local varieties) are capable of qualitatively characterizing the products; ii) the place that, according to the presence of institutions and methods of interaction between the agents, facilitates the provision of the product, lowers transaction costs and contributes to the creation of its reputation; iii) for SFSC, it is the place of consumption; iv) the place where different supply chain management arrangements generate environmental, social and economic impacts. • Taking into account the aforementioned characteristics, the most effective conceptualization of the place of production is represented by the Cluster or, even better, by the Industrial District which, in the case of the agro-food industry, is a Localised Agri-Food System (LAFS) or System Agroalimentaire Localisé (SYAL). • The uniqueness of the LAFS resides in recognizing the role of the territory in terms of its social and institutional components and their ability to contribute to the creation of value within the supply chain. The specific nature of the LAFS is represented by the deep interaction between food cultures, human actions and institutions. LAFSs are the result of a process of cooperation among companies with common interests, located in an area, which organise and agree on certain production and marketing norms and rules to obtain a competitive advantage over competitors. • Looking at the characteristics of the production area, both industrial and rural LAFSs can be defined. The former is dominated by the agri-industrial characteristics and agents of the territory, while the latter are dominated by their rural dimensions highlighting the natural and environmental features of the production process. • The LAFS paradigm (either industrial or rural) supports an endogenous development model based on the intrinsic characteristics of the production system, intended in its broadest sense, which - in the case of rural development - takes the form of neo-endogenous rural development. It delineates an endogenous-based development in which extra-local factors are recognised and regarded as essential, while retaining a belief in the potential of local areas to shape their future. In contrast to the theoretical underpinnings of both exogenous and endogenous models of rural development, neo-endogenous rural development is based on the interplay of both local and external factors, so that the development strategy is built upon the link between local conditions and external opportunities. • The need to embrace extra-local factors and adopt an integrated network approach is also emphasised, although control remains within the local area rather than being dictated by extra-local influences. Therefore, the focal point of neo-endogenous development is the enhancement of local institutional capacity, to mobilise local resources while exploiting external opportunities. • The territory and its endogenous development model are complemented by a third component of the identification of a FQS: the characteristics of the value chain. The technological functions of the supply chain are combined in a more economic and managerial function. Typically, the supply chain, especially in the agri-food sector, is regarded as a tool for managing production, useful to create an appropriate product quality and develop marketing strategies aimed at creating value for all the actors of the chain. • Food chains are characterised by efficiency and the ability to transfer (or retain) value for the benefit of agents. They are dynamic structures subject to the evolution of structural and economic components under internal and external phenomena. These phenomena include: the evolution of the supply chain, the degree of openness to trade, the level and evolution of market demand, the evolution of the concept and perception of quality, as well as of it service components, the presence of standards and inter-organisational relationships. Additional elements include: the presence of agents and external institutions to the value chain that provide services and information, the extent of information asymmetry and the incidence of transaction costs. • Given the characteristics of the value chain and the relationship between the agricultural and the industrial component, as well as the relationship between companies and inter-branch organisations (when present), attention must be placed on how to develop collective commercial strategies capable of increasing the value added of the product and/or the bargaining power of the enterprises that turn to large scale distribution channels. In a nutshell, a dominant model of FQS-value chain does not exist but - rather - several typologies of FQS value chains emerge, according to the combination of their structural and management features. • However, common elements in the FQS supply chains encompass the need to comply with EU Regulations and the presence of a set of rules laid down in a code of practice, which requires establishing a system for managing the FQS (especially GI) through an organization suited to local conditions and capable of establishing a FQS strategy encompassing the whole value chain. In addition, FQS value chains feature a third party certification body which guarantees the actors’ compliance with the code of practice. • The literature shows that within value chains and LAFSs, organizations (e.g., producer organizations, inter-branch organizations and certification bodies) and local institutions operate for the benefit of all the agents. This is fuelled by a sense of belonging, by the necessity to develop chain strategies, as well as the common interests of territorial actors, and it translates into governance actions. Chain and LAFS organizations are the result of the interaction with other participating actors (e.g., companies, institutions), generating a set of dynamic forces that allows to adapt to the challenges posed by the market. • In this framework, local institutions represent stakeholders that play key roles in the process of increasing territorial competitiveness. Their role is mainly to strengthen relationships among stakeholders, with the general aim of obtaining the production of those public goods and the creation of those positive externalities which most serve the process of development, increasing the level of competitiveness of the entire local system. • Arguably, local institutions can be organised as hybrid organisations, since they represent the collective interest of individual producers, involved in the same food chain within the same territory. Indeed, according to the literature concerning the definition of collective action, local productions involve a wide range of stakeholders, operating within and outside the production area, although only some of them are directly involved in the value creation process. • The interaction among LAFS stakeholders is instrumental to the evolution process of the local system, considering the link between the territory and the food chain. The possible combinations between food chains and territories lead to three different types of agri-food systems: Closed LAFS: local agricultural outputs are processed by local food industries (mainly Small and Medium Enterprises) and are purchased at local level (mainly by local consumers). Open LAFS: agricultural outputs are not processed by local food industries and are purchased by non-local consumers (or can be purchase anywhere). Mixed Systems: a coexistence of Closed and Open LAFS. • Within the S2F project we will consider the links between the territory and the food chain, embedded in the LAFS, and the implications regarding their sustainability. • The LAFS concept provides the criteria to address the identification and the recognition of the boundaries of the LAFS area according to the characteristics of the FQS considered in the research activity: For GI productions (PDO, PGI and TSG), the LAFS is represented by the municipalities identified in the official code of practice that is part of the EU regulation published on the DOOR database; For organic products, the LAFS is not officially defined and the suggested criteria refer to the region where producers carry out their production and commercial activities; For SFSC products, in the absence of a legislative reference, the definition of the LAFS refers to the region that includes the production and consumption area that, necessarily, are contiguous to each other. In the real world, different FQS can overlap each other, generating a hybrid FQS framework (e.g.: organic-GI; Organic-SFSC, GI-SFSC; Organic-SFSC-GI). In this case, the dominant criterion is the presence of a Designation. When the GI is not considered, the dominant criterion is the SFSC. • In the S2F project, the link between quality schemes and the territory is considered as follows: Closed LAFS: all the inputs come from the territory and all the output is purchased within the territory in local markets, e.g. for SFSCs and Short Food Geographical Indications (SF-GIs), in other words SF-PDOs. Open LAFS: upstream and downstream elements of the chain are not bounded by the territory, as a consequences inputs can come from outside of the area as for some PGIs and Organic productions. In this cluster, most of the output is purchased in distant markets that can be “domestic” or “global” in nature (when consumers are in different regions with different market rules; i.e., extra-EU); Mixed LAFS: in this cluster for some FQSs some inputs can come from others regions, as for PGIs and Organic products. Moreover, most of the output is purchased in local markets but part of the outputs is also sold in “domestic” markets (when consumers are in different regions but with the same market rules, i.e., in the EU). • The level of embeddedness of the value chain with respect to the LAFS creates different categories of markets: local to local (i.e., the case of SFSC and some PSFP); local to domestic (i.e., the case of GIs and Organic); local to global (i.e., the case of GIs), and determines different (public and private) strategies and impacts (Vandecandelaere et al., 2010; Torres Salcido and Muchnik, 2012, Fischer, 2012). • In this framework, GIs, Organic, SFSC and PSFP products can benefit from the LAFS environment (reputation, institutions and governance actions) and will generate impacts, affecting sustainability. Furthermore, Convention Theory and Cultural Adaptation Work represent important methodological tools useful to evaluate how quality and management systems contribute to sustainability.