Search results for: gluten-free products

Authors: Saheed A. Gbadegeshin

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Lean Commercialization (LC) is a transformation of new technologies and knowledge to products and services through application of lean/agile principle. This principle focuses on how resources can be minimized on development, manufacturing, and marketing new products/services, which can be accepted by customers. To understand how the LC has been employed by the technology-based companies, a case study approach was employed by interviewing the founders, observing their high technologies, and interviewing the commercialization experts. Two serial entrepreneurs were interviewed in 2012, and their commercialized technologies were monitored from 2012 till 2016. Some results were collected, but to validate the commercialization strategies of these entrepreneurs, four commercialization experts were interviewed in 2017. Initial results, observation notes, and experts’ opinions were analyzed qualitatively. The final findings showed that the entrepreneurs applied the LC unknowingly, and the experts were aware of the LC. Similarly, the entrepreneurs used the LC due to the financial constraints, and their need for success. Additionally, their commercialization practices revealed that LC appeared to be one of their commercialization strategies. Thus, their practices were analyzed, and a framework was developed. Furthermore, the experts noted that LC is a new dawn, which technologists and scientists need to consider for their high technology commercialization. This article contributes to the theory and practice of commercialization. Theoretically, the framework adds value to the commercialization discussion. And, practically the framework can be used by the technology entrepreneurs (technologists and scientists), technology-based enterprises, and technology entrepreneurship educators as a guide in their commercialization adventures.

Keywords: lean commercialization, high technologies, lean start-up, technology-based companies

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Mohammed Sabbah, Asmaa Al-Asmar, Doaa Abu-Hani, Fuad Al-Rimawi

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Plant extracts are an increasingly popular natural product with a wide range of potential applications in food, industrial, and health care industries. They are rich in polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids, which have been demonstrated to possess a variety of beneficial properties, including antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. Plant extracts have been found to possess antimicrobial activity against a variety of foodborne pathogens and can be used as a natural preservative to extend the shelf life of food products. They have also strong antioxidant activity, which can reduce the formation of free radicals and oxidation of food components. Recently there is an increase interest in bio-based polymers to be used as innovative “bioplastics” for industrial exploitation e.g. packaging materials for food products. Additionally, incorporation of active compounds (e.g. antioxidants and antimicrobials) in bio-polymer materials is of particular interest since such active polymers can be used as active packaging materials (with antimicrobial and antioxidant activity). In this work, different plant extracts have been characterized for their phenolic compounds, flavonoids content, antioxidant activity (both as free radical scavenging ability and reducing ability), and antimicrobial activity against gram positive and negative bacteria (Escherichia coli; Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) as well as antifungal activities (against yeast, mold and Botrytis cinera/a plant pathogen). Results showed that many extracts are rich with polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids and have strong antioxidant activities, and rich with phytochemicals (e.g. rutin, quercetin, oleuropein, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol). Some extracts showed antibacterial activity against both gram positive and negative bacteria as well as antifungal activities and can work, therefore, as preservatives for food or pharmaceutical industries. As an application, two extracts were used as additive to pectin-based packaging film, and results showed that the addition of these extracts significantly improve their functionality as antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. These biomaterials, therefore can be used in food packaging materials to extend the shelf life of food products.

Keywords: plant extracts, antioxidants, flavonoids, bioplastic, edible biofilm, packaging materials

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Tzu-Wen Liu, Yi-Feng Lin, Yu-Shao Chen

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CO_2 is believed to be partly responsible for changes to the global climates. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the past. Recently, how to convert the captured CO_2 into fine chemicals gets lots of attention owing to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and providing greener feedstock for the chemicals industry. A variety of products can be manufactured from carbon dioxide and the most attractive products are cyclic carbonates. Therefore, the kind of catalyst plays an important role in cycloaddition of carbon dioxide to epoxides. Magnesium oxide can be an efficiency heterogeneous catalyst for the cycloaddition of carbon dioxide to epoxides because magnesium oxide has both acid and base active sites and can provide the adsorption of carbon dioxide, promoting ring-opening reaction. Spinning disk reactor (SDR) is one of the device of high-gravity technique and has successfully used for synthesis of nanoparticles by precipitation methods because of the high mass transfer rate. Synthesis of nanoparticles in SDR has advantages of low energy consumption and easy to scale up. The aim of this research is to synthesize magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles in SDR as precursors for magnesium oxide. Experimental results showed that the calcination temperature of magnesium hydroxide to magnesium oxide, and the pressure and temperature of cycloaddition reaction had significantly effect on the conversion and selectivity of the reaction.

Keywords: magnesium oxide, catalyst, cycloaddition, spinning disk reactor, carbon dioxide

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Özlem Ateş Sönmezoğlu, Begüm Terzi, Ahmet Yıldırım, Ramazan Özbey

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The basic criteria which determine durum wheat quality is its suitability for pasta processing that is pasta making quality. Bright yellow color is a desired property in pasta products. Durum wheat pasta making quality is affected by grain pigment content and oxidative enzymes which affect adversely bright yellow color. Of the oxidative enzymes, lipoxygenase LOX is the most effective one on oxidative bleaching of yellow pigments in durum wheat products. Thus, wheat cultivars that are high in yellow pigments but low in LOX enzyme activity should be preferred for the production of pasta with high color quality. The aim of this study was to reduce lipoxygenase activities of the backcross durum wheat lines that were previously improved for their protein quality. For this purpose, two advanced lines with different parents (TMB2 and TMB3) were used recurrent parents. Also, Gediz-75 wheat with low LOX enzyme activity was used as the gene source. In all of the generations, backcrossed plants carrying the targeted gene region (Lpx-B1.1) were selected using SSR markers by marker assisted selection method. As a result, the study will be completed in three years instead of six years required in a classical backcross breeding study, leading to the development of high-quality candidate varieties. This research has been financially supported by TÜBİTAK (Project No: 112T910).

Keywords: durum wheat, lipoxygenase, LOX, Lpx-B1.1, MAS, Triticum durum

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Spase Janevski

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We, as designers, should be aware of the consequences of our material selection, at the early stages of the design process. Some of the designer’s decisions can have a very significant impact on design for sustainability. The influence of this concept has led to years of research studies into eco-friendly materials and their potentials for creating new sustainable products. In order to answer the question, 'how cork has become a design trend', this paper will present an overview of the implications of the concept of design for sustainability on the potential uses of cork material. A decade ago, cork as a material had an association with wine stoppers, but with the evolution of sustainable product design as part of the concept of design for sustainability, cork now offers product designers a wide range of new materials and applications. The purpose of this paper is to show how the phenomenon of sustainability has had an impact on the progress of the material which is currently not being an integral component of the design material palette. At the beginning, the nature of the relationship between cork and sustainability will be explained through the following stages: 1) fundamental understanding of the concept of Design for Sustainability and the importance of material selection for sustainable product design, and 2) the importance of cork oak trees for the environment and the environmental impacts of cork products. In order to examine and present the influence of the sustainability on the innovation in cork applications, the paper will provide a historical overview of designing with cork. The overview will consist of four stages: 1) pre-industrial period - the period when ancient nations used cork and amphoras to store their wine; 2) industrial period - emergence and industrialization of well-known wine stoppers; 3) post-industrial period - commercializing cork products in the area of floors and coverings and first developments in industrial research; and 4) the period when large cork realized the importance of sustainability and started to focus more markedly on research and development. The existence of new cork materials, the investigation in new applications and the investment in new innovations have proved that the sustainability approach has had a great influence on the revival of this material. In addition, the paper will present some of the new cork innovative materials and applications and their potentials for designing promising and sustainable solutions with additive manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing. Lastly, the paper will introduce some questions for further study, such as the environmental impacts of the new hybrid materials and the gap between cork industry and cork research and development teams. The paper concludes by stating that cork is not only a material for wine stoppers anymore, thanks to the awareness of the concept of design for sustainability.

Keywords: cork, design for sustainability, innovation, sustainable materials

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Authors: Mirna John Shawky Demian

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Mobile phones are now one of the direct marketing tools used to reach hard-to-reach consumers. Cell phones are very personal devices that you can carry with you anytime, anywhere. This gives marketers the ability to create personalized marketing messages and send them at the right time and place. The study examined consumer attitudes towards mobile marketing, particularly SMS marketing. Unlike similar studies, this study does not focus on young people, but the field study included consumers between the ages of 18 and 70.The results showed that the majority of participants found SMS marketing destructive. The biggest problem with SMS marketing is subscribing to message lists without the recipient's consent; large number of messages sent; and the irrelevance of message content. Experiential marketing is an unforgettable experience that remains deeply anchored in the customer's memory. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is defined as the emotional response to the experience provided to the customer in relation to specific products or services purchased. Therefore, experiential marketing activities can influence the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty.In this context, the study aims to examine the relationship between experiential marketing, customer satisfaction and loyalty to beauty products in Konya. The results of this study showed that experiential marketing is an important indicator of customer satisfaction and loyalty and that experiential marketing has a significant positive impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Keywords: direct marketing, mobile phones mobile marketing, sms advertising, marketing sponsorship, marketing communication theories, marketing communication tools

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Authors: Iqra Yaseen

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One of the well-known areas of computer science and engineering, image processing in the context of computer vision has been essential to automation. In remote sensing, medical science, and many other fields, it has made it easier to uncover previously undiscovered facts. Grading of diverse items is now possible because of neural network algorithms, categorization, and digital image processing. Its use in the classification of agricultural products, particularly in the grading of seeds or grains and their cultivars, is widely recognized. A grading and sorting system enables the preservation of time, consistency, and uniformity. Global population growth has led to an increase in demand for food staples, biofuel, and other agricultural products. To meet this demand, available resources must be used and managed more effectively. Image processing is rapidly growing in the field of agriculture. Many applications have been developed using this approach for crop identification and classification, land and disease detection and for measuring other parameters of crop. Vegetation localization is the base of performing these task. Vegetation helps to identify the area where the crop is present. The productivity of the agriculture industry can be increased via image processing that is based upon Unmanned Aerial Vehicle photography and satellite. In this paper we use the machine learning techniques like Convolutional Neural Network, deep learning, image processing, classification, You Only Live Once to UAV imaging dataset to divide the crop into distinct groups and choose the best way to use it.

Keywords: image processing, UAV, YOLO, CNN, deep learning, classification

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Authors: Benjamin Castillo, Luis Pastenes, Fernando Cordova

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The pathogen growth in animal source foods is a common problem in the food industry, causing monetary losses due to the spoiling of products or food intoxication outbreaks in the community. In this sense, the quality of the product is reflected by the population of deteriorating agents present in it, which are mainly bacteria. The factors which are likely associated with freshness in animal source foods are temperature and processing, storage, and transport times. However, the level of deterioration of products depends, in turn, on the characteristics of the bacterial population, causing the decomposition or spoiling, such as pH level and toxins. Knowing the growth dynamics of the agents that are involved in product contamination allows the monitoring for more efficient processing. This means better quality and reasonable costs, along with a better estimation of necessary time and temperature intervals for transport and storage in order to preserve product quality. The objective of this project is to design a secondary model that allows measuring the impact on temperature bacterial growth and the competition for pH adequacy and release of bacteriocins in order to describe such phenomenon and, thus, estimate food product half-life with the least possible risk of deterioration or spoiling. In order to achieve this objective, the authors propose an analysis of a three-dimensional ordinary differential which includes; logistic bacterial growth extended by the inhibitory action of bacteriocins including the effect of the medium pH; change in the medium pH levels through an adaptation of the Luedeking-Piret kinetic model; Bacteriocin concentration modeled similarly to pH levels. These three dimensions are being influenced by the temperature at all times. Then, this differential system is expanded, taking into consideration the variable temperature and the concentration of pulsed bacteriocins, which represent characteristics inherent of the modeling, such as transport and storage, as well as the incorporation of substances that inhibit bacterial growth. The main results lead to the fact that temperature changes in an early stage of transport increased the bacterial population significantly more than if it had increased during the final stage. On the other hand, the incorporation of bacteriocins, as in other investigations, proved to be efficient in the short and medium-term since, although the population of bacteria decreased, once the bacteriocins were depleted or degraded over time, the bacteria eventually returned to their regular growth rate. The efficacy of the bacteriocins at low temperatures decreased slightly, which equates with the fact that their natural degradation rate also decreased. In summary, the implementation of the mathematical model allowed the simulation of a set of possible bacteria present in animal based products, along with their properties, in various transport and storage situations, which led us to state that for inhibiting bacterial growth, the optimum is complementary low constant temperatures and the initial use of bacteriocins.

Keywords: bacterial growth, bacteriocins, mathematical modelling, temperature

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Authors: Camila Lee Park, Mauro Fracarolli Nunes

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Understood as the preference for products and services that do not involve moral dilemmas, ethical consumption has been increasingly discussed by scholars, practitioners, and consumers. Among its diverse trends, the defense of animal rights and welfare seems to have gained particular momentum in past decades. Not surprisingly, companies, governments, ideologues, and virtually any institution or group interested in (re)shaping society invest in the building of narratives oriented to influence consumption behavior. The animal rights movement, for example, is devoted to the elimination of the use of animals in science, as well as of commercial animal agriculture and hunting activities. Although advances in ethical consumption may be observed in practice, it still seems more popular as rhetoric. Diverse scholars have addressed the disparities between self-professed ethical consumers and their actual purchase patterns, with differences being attributed to factors such as price sensitivity, lack of information, quality, cynicism, and limited availability. The gap is also linked to the 'consumer sovereignty myth', according to which consumers are only able to choose from a pre-determined range of choices made before products reach them. On the other hand, academics also debate ethical consumption behavior as more likely to occur when it assumes compliance with social norms. As sustainability becomes a permanent issue, customers may tend to adhere to ethical consumption, either because of an individual value or due to a social one. Regardless of these efforts, the actual value attributed to ethical businesses remains unclear. Likewise, the power of stakeholders’ initiatives to influence corporate strategies is dubious. In search to offer new perspectives on these matters, the present study concentrates on the following research questions: Do customers value products/companies that respect animal rights? If so, does such enhanced value convert into actions from the part of the companies? Broadly, we aim to understand if customers’ perception holds performative traits (i.e., are capable of either trigger or contribute to changes in organizational behaviour around the respect for animal rights). In addressing these issues, two preliminary behavioral vignette-based experiments were conducted, with the perspectives of 307 participants being assessed. Building on a case of the cosmetics industry, social, emotional, and functional values were hypothesized as directly impacting positive word-of-mouth, which, in turn, would carry direct effects on purchase intention. A first structural equation model was analyzed with the combined samples of studies I and II. Results suggest that emotional value strongly impacts both positive word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Data confirms initial expectations on customers valuing products and companies that comply with ethical postures concerning animals, especially if social-oriented practices are also present.

Keywords: animal rights, business ethics, emotional value, ethical consumption

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Authors: Bukra Kalayci, Geraldine Brennan

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Introduction: Over the last decade, a proliferation of literature related to textile and fashion business in the context of sustainable production and consumption has emerged. However, the economic and environmental benefits of solid waste recovery have not been comprehensively searched. Therefore at the end-of-life or end-of-use textile waste management remains a gap. Solid textile waste reuse and recycling principles of the circular economy need to be developed to close the disposal stage of the textile supply chain. The environmental problems associated with the over-production and –consumption of textile products arise. Together with growing population and fast fashion culture the share of solid textile waste in municipal waste is increasing. Focusing on post-consumer textile waste literature, this research explores the opportunities, obstacles and enablers or success factors associated with closed-loop textile business systems. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted in order to identify best practices and gaps from the existing body of knowledge related to closed-loop post-consumer textile waste initiatives over the last decade. Selected keywords namely: ‘cradle-to-cradle ‘, ‘circular* economy* ‘, ‘closed-loop* ‘, ‘end-of-life* ‘, ‘reverse* logistic* ‘, ‘take-back* ‘, ‘remanufacture* ‘, ‘upcycle* ‘ with the combination of (and) ‘fashion* ‘, ‘garment* ‘, ‘textile* ‘, ‘apparel* ‘, clothing* ‘ were used and the time frame of the review was set between 2005 to 2017. In order to obtain a broad coverage, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct databases were used, and peer-reviewed journal articles were chosen. The keyword search identified 299 number of papers which was further refined into 54 relevant papers that form the basis of the in-depth thematic analysis. Preliminary findings: A key finding was that the existing literature is predominantly conceptual rather than applied or empirical work. Moreover, the enablers or success factors, obstacles and opportunities to implement closed-loop systems in the textile industry were not clearly articulated and the following considerations were also largely overlooked in the literature. While the circular economy suggests multiple cycles of discarded products, components or materials, most research has to date tended to focus on a single cycle. Thus the calculations of environmental and economic benefits of closed-loop systems are limited to one cycle which does not adequately explore the feasibility or potential benefits of multiple cycles. Additionally, the time period textile products spend between point of sale, and end-of-use/end-of-life return is a crucial factor. Despite past efforts to study closed-loop textile systems a clear gap in the literature is the lack of a clear evaluation framework which enables manufacturers to clarify the reusability potential of textile products through consideration of indicators related too: quality, design, lifetime, length of time between manufacture and product return, volume of collected disposed products, material properties, and brand segment considerations (e.g. fast fashion versus luxury brands).

Keywords: circular fashion, closed loop business, product service systems, solid textile waste elimination

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: G. La Scalia, M. Enea, R. Micale, O. Corona, L. Settanni

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The quality and condition of perishable products delivered to the market and their subsequent selling prices are directly affected by the care taken during harvesting and handling. Mechanical injury, in fact, occurs at all stages, from pre-harvest operations through post-harvest handling, packing and transport to the market. The main implications of this damage are the reduction of the product’s quality and economical losses related to the shelf life diminution. For most perishable products, the shelf life is relatively short and it is typically dictated by microbial growth related to the application of dynamic and static loads during transportation. This paper presents the correlation between vibration levels and microbiological growth on strawberries and woodland strawberries and detects the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in order to develop an intelligent logistic unit capable of monitoring VOCs using a specific sensor system. Fresh fruits were exposed to vibrations by means of a vibrating table in a temperature-controlled environment. Microbiological analyses were conducted on samples, taken at different positions along the column of the crates. The values obtained were compared with control samples not exposed to vibrations and the results show that different positions along the column influence the development of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi.

Keywords: microbiological analysis, shelf life, transport damage, volatile organic compounds

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Authors: Ivy Jumao-As, Randy Lupango, Clifford Villaflores, Marites Khanser

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Alongside inadequate implementation of ecotourism standards and other pressing issues on sustainable development is the lack of business plans and formal business structures of various ecotourism sites in the Central Visayas, Philippines, and other parts of the country. Addressing these issues plays a key role to boost ecotourism which is a sustainability tool to the country’s economic development. A three-phase research is designed to investigate the green business practices of selected ecotourism sites in the region in order to propose a business model for ecotourism destinations in the region and outside. This paper reports the initial phase of the study which described the sites’ profile as well as operators of the following selected destinations: Cebu City Protected Landscape and Olango Island Wildlife Bird Sanctuary in Cebu, Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape in Bohol. Interview, Self-Administered Questionnaire with key informants and Data Mining were employed in the data collection. Findings highlighted similarities and differences in terms of eco-tourism products, type and number of visitors, manpower composition, cultural and natural resources, complementary services and products, awards and accreditation, peak and off peak seasons, among others. Recommendations based from common issues initially identified in this study are also highlighted.

Keywords: ecotourism, ecotourism sites, green business, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: Kazunari Ozaki, Mitsuru Kageyama, Kenki Miyazawa, Yoshio Nakamura

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Background: Kampo (Japanese Traditional medicine) is a medicine traditionally practiced in Japan, based on ancient Chinese medicine. Most Kampo doctors have used decoction of crude drug pieces for treatment. 93% of the Kampo drugs sold in Japan are Kampo products nowadays. Of all Kampo products, 81% of them are Kampo extract formulations for prescription, which is prepared in powdered or granulated form from medicinal crude drug extracts mixed with appropriate excipient. Physicians with medical license for Western medicine prescribe these Kampo extract formulations for prescription in Japan. Objectives: Our study aims at presenting a brief history of Kampo extract formulations for prescription in Japan. Methods: Systematic searches for relevant studies were conducted using not only printed journals but also electronic journals from the bibliographic databases, such as PubMed/Medline, Ichushi-Web, and university/institutional websites, as well as search engines, such as Google and Google Scholar. Results: The first commercialization of Kampo extract formulations for general use (or OTC (over-the-counter) Kampo extract formulation) was achieved after 1957. The number of drugs has been subsequentially increased, reaching 148 Kampo extract formulation for prescription currently. Conclusion: We provide a history of Kampo extract formulations for prescription in Japan. The originality of this research is that it analyzes the background history of Kampo in parallel with relevant transitions in the government and insurance systems.

Keywords: health insurance system, history, Kampo, Kampo extract formulation for prescription, OTC Kampo extract formulation, pattern corresponding prescription (Ho-sho-so-tai) system

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Authors: Ilaria Manca, Ilaria Manca, Francesca Pettinau, Ignazia Mocci, Elisabetta M. Usai, Barbara Pittau

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Lamotrigine is a phenyltriazine used in the treatment of epilepsy and bipolar disorder type I. The purpose of this study was to test and compare various solid forms of immediate release (IR) lamotrigine products, at different strenghts, in order to study their disaggregation and dissolution behavior. IR products are designed to release their active substance promptly after administration. Concentration of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice is about 0.1-0.001 M, so FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recommends, for lamotrigine regular tablets, dissolution tests in HCl 0.1 M.Toinvestigate the pH dependency of drug release in the entire gastrointestinal tract, we worked at two additional media with different pH values (4.5 and 6.8), that reflect conditions in it. To afford acceptable dissolution rates, tablets must disintegrate. Disaggregation of constituent particles increases the surface area and substantially increases the dissolution rate. For this reason availability of an active substance from tablets depends on its ability to disintegrate fast in dissolution media. pH of gastrointestinal fluid affects drug absorption by conditioning its solubility and dissolution, but also tablet disintegration may be influenced by it. To obtain information about the quantitative relationship between different mixture components, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used. We also investigate tablet hardness. The investigation carried out confirms pH 1.2 as the ideal environment for the immediate availability of the active substance.

Keywords: dissolution, disaggregation, Lamotrigine, bioequivalence

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Authors: Jannika Dombrowski, Sabine Ambros, Ulrich Kulozik

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Due to the increasing popularity of healthy products, probiotics are still of rising importance in food manufacturing. With the aim to amplify the field of probiotic application to non-chilled products, the cultures have to be preserved by drying. Microwave drying has proved to be a suitable technique to achieve relatively high survival rates, resulting from drying at gentle temperatures, among others. However, diffusion limitation due to compaction of cell suspension during drying can prolong drying times as well as deteriorate product properties (grindability, rehydration performance). Therefore, we aimed to embed probiotics in an aerated matrix of whey proteins (surfactants) and di-/polysaccharides (foam stabilization, probiotic protection) during drying. As a result of the manifold increased inner surface of the cell suspension, drying performance was enhanced significantly as compared to non-foamed suspensions. This work comprises investigations on suitable foam matrices, being stable under vacuum (variation of protein concentration, type and concentration of di-/polysaccharide) as well as development of an applicable microwave drying process in terms of microwave power, chamber pressure and maximum product temperatures. Performed analyses included foam characteristics (overrun, drainage, firmness, bubble sizes), and properties of the dried cultures (survival, activity). In addition, efficiency of the drying process was evaluated.

Keywords: foam structure, microwave drying, polysaccharides, probiotics

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Mahmood Al Ramahi, G. Keszthelyi-Szabo, S. Beszedes

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Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a thermochemical reaction that utilizes saturated water and vapor pressure to convert waste biomass to C-rich products This work evaluated the effect of HTC as a pre- and post-treatment technique to anaerobic digestion (AD) of dairy sludge, as information in this field is still in its infancy, with many research and methodological gaps. HTC effect was evaluated based on energy recovery, nutrients transformation, and sludge biodegradability. The first treatment approach was executed by applying hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) under a range of temperatures, prior to mesophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) of dairy sludge. Results suggested an optimal pretreatment temperature at 210 °C for 30 min. HTC pretreatment increased methane yield and chemical oxygen demand removal. The theoretical model based on Boyle’s equation had a very close match with the experimental results. On the other hand, applying HTC subsequent to AD increased total energy production, as additional energy yield was obtained by the solid fuel (hydrochar) beside the produced biogas. Furthermore, hydrothermal carbonization of AD digestate generated liquid products (HTC digestate) with improved chemical characteristics suggesting their use as liquid fertilizers.

Keywords: hydrothermal carbonization, anaerobic digestion, energy balance, sludge biodegradability, biogas

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Authors: Hanadi Mubarak AL-Mubaraki, Michael Busler

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Innovation is the process of making changes, differences, and novelties in the products and services, adding values and business practices to create economic and social benefit. The purpose of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of innovation programs in developed and developing countries. We used a mixed-methods approach, quantitative as survey and qualitative as a multi-case study to examine innovation best practices in developed and developing countries. In addition, four case studies of innovation organisations based on the best practices and successful implementation in the developed and developing countries are selected for examination. The research findings provide guidance, suggestions, and recommendations for future implementation in developed and developing countries for practitioners such as policy makers, governments, funded organizations, and strategic institutions. In conclusion, innovation programs are vital tools for economic growth, knowledge, and technology transfer based on the several indicators such as creativity, entrepreneurship, role of government, role of university, strategic focus, new products, survival rate, job creation, start-up companies, and number of patents. The authors aim to conduct future research which will include a comparative study of innovation case studies between developed and developing countries for policy implications worldwide. The originality of this study makes a contribution to the current literature about the innovation best practice in developed and developing countries.

Keywords: economic development, entrepreneurship, innovation program, developed countries

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Authors: Urip Wahyuningsih, Indarti, Yuhri Inang Prihatina

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The current development of batik art has given rise to various batik industries. The emergence of the batik industry is in order to meet the needs of the increasing share of the batik fashion market. This gives rise to competitiveness between the batik industry to compete for a share of the existing batik clothing market. Conditions like this also occur in Klampar Pamekasan Maduira Village, as one of the Batik Tourism Villages in Indonesia, it must continue to improve by trying to maintain the characteristics of Klampar Pamekasan Madura batik fashion and must also always innovate so that it remains highly competitive so that it remains one of the places popular batik tourist destination. Ready-to-wear or ready-to-wear clothing is clothing that is mass produced and produced in various sizes and colors, which can be purchased directly and worn easily. Patterned batik cloth is basically batik cloth that has the pattern lines of the clothing parts arranged efficiently, so there is no need to bother designing the pattern layout of the clothing parts on the batik cloth to be cut. Quilting can be defined as the art of combining fabric materials of certain sizes and cuts to form unique motifs. Based on several things above, breakthrough production innovation is needed without abandoning the characteristic of Klampar Pamekasan Madura Batik as one of the Batik Tourism Villages in Indonesia. One innovation that can be done is creating ready-to-wear patterned batik clothing products using a quilting technique. The method used in this research is the Double Diamond Design Process method. This method is divided into 4 phases namely, discover (namely the stage of designing the theme of the ready-to-wear patterned batik fashion innovation concept using quilting techniques in the Batik Village, Klampar Village, Pamekasasan, Madura), define (determine the design summary and present challenges to the design), develop ( presents prototypes developed, tested, reviewed and refined) and deliver (selected designs are produced, pass final tests and are ready to be commercialized). The research produces patterned batik products that are ready to wear with quilting techniques that are validated by experts and accepted by the public.

Keywords: competitiveness, ready to wear, innovation, quilting, klampar batik vllage

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Authors: Tariq Aljuneidi, Akif Asil Bulgak

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Remanufacturing may be defined as the process of bringing used products to “like-new” functional state with warranty to match, and it is one of the most popular product end-of-life scenarios. An efficient remanufacturing network lead to an efficient design of sustainable manufacturing enterprise. In remanufacturing network, products are collected from the customer zone, disassembled and remanufactured at a suitable remanufacturing facility. In this respect, another issue to consider is how the returned product to be remanufactured, in other words, what is the best layout for such facility. In order to achieve a sustainable manufacturing system, Cellular Manufacturing System (CMS) designs are highly recommended, CMSs combine high throughput rates of line layouts with the flexibility offered by functional layouts (job shop). Introducing the CMS while designing a remanufacturing network will benefit the utilization of such a network. This paper presents and analyzes a comprehensive mathematical model for the design of Dynamic Cellular Remanufacturing Systems (DCRSs). In this paper, the proposed model is the first one to date that consider CMS and remanufacturing system simultaneously. The proposed DCRS model considers several manufacturing attributes such as multi-period production planning, dynamic system reconfiguration, duplicate machines, machine capacity, available time for workers, worker assignments, and machine procurement, where the demand is totally satisfied from a returned product. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the proposed model.

Keywords: cellular manufacturing system, remanufacturing, mathematical programming, sustainability

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Authors: Meysam Saidi

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While the specific externalities and required regulatory measures in relation to Islamic banking are fairly uncertain, the business is growing across the world. Unofficial data indicate that the Islamic Finance market is growing with annual rate of 15% and it has reached 1.3 $ trillion size. This trend is associated with inherent systematic connection of Islamic financial institutions to other entities and different sectors of economies. Islamic banking has been subject of market development policies in major economies, most notably the UK. This trend highlights the need for identification of distinct risk features of Islamic banking and crafting customized regulatory measures. So far there has not been a significant systemic crisis in this market which can be attributed to its distinct nature. However, the significant growth and spread of its products worldwide necessitate an in depth study of its nature for customized congruent regulatory measures. In the post financial crisis era some market analysis and reports suggested that the Islamic banks fairly weathered the crisis. As far as heavily blamed conventional financial products such as subprime mortgage backed securities and speculative credit default swaps were concerned the immunity claim can be considered true, as Islamic financial institutions were not directly exposed to such products. Nevertheless, similar to the experience of the conventional banking industry, it can be only a matter of time for Islamic banks to face failures that can be specific to the nature of their business. Using the experience of conventional banking regulations and identifying those peculiarities of Islamic banking that need customized regulatory approach can aid to prevent major failures. Frank Knight has stated that “We perceive the world before we react to it, and we react not to what we perceive, but always to what we infer”. The debate over congruent Islamic banking regulations might not be an exception to Frank Knight’s statement but I will try to base my discussion on concrete evidences. This paper first analyzes both theoretical and actual features of Islamic banking in order to ascertain to its peculiarities in terms of market stability and other externalities. Next, the paper discusses distinct features of Islamic financial transactions and banking which might require customized regulatory measures. Finally, the paper explores how a more transparent path for the Islamic banking regulations can be drawn.

Keywords: Islamic banking, regulation, risks, capital requirements, customer protection, financial stability

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Authors: Mahmoud Meckawey

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This research is dealing with one of the most important aspects of maintenance fields, that is Maintenance Strategy. It's the branch which concerns the concepts and the schematic thoughts in how to manage maintenance and how to deal with the defects in the engineering products (buildings, machines, etc.) in general. Through the papers we will act with the followings: i) The Engineering Product & the Technical Systems: When we act with the maintenance process, in a strategic view, we act with an (engineering product) which consists of multi integrated systems. In fact, there is no engineering product with only one system. We will discuss and explain this topic, through which we will derivate a developed definition for the maintenance process. ii) The factors or basis of the functionality efficiency: That is the main factors affect the functional efficiency of the systems and the engineering products, then by this way we can give a technical definition of defects and how they occur. iii) The legality of occurrence of defects (Legal defects and Illegal defects): with which we assume that all the factors of the functionality efficiency been applied, and then we will discuss the results. iv) The Guarantee, the Functional Span Age and the Technical surplus concepts: In the complementation with the above topic, and associated with the Reliability theorems, where we act with the Probability of Failure state, with which we almost interest with the design stages, that is to check and adapt the design of the elements. But in Maintainability we act in a different way as we act with the actual state of the systems. So, we act with the rest of the story that means we have to act with the complementary part of the probability of failure term which refers to the actual surplus of the functionality for the systems.

Keywords: engineering product and technical systems, functional span age, legal and illegal defects, technical and functional surplus

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Authors: Kristine Vike-Jonas, Susana V. Gonzalez, Olav L. Bakkerud, Karoline S. Gjelstad, Shazia N. Aslam, Øyvind Mikkelsen, Alexandros Asimakopoulos

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P-hydrobenzoic acid esters (parabens), paraben metabolites, and triclocarban (TCC) are a group of synthetic antimicrobials classified as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and emerging pollutants. The aim of this study was to investigate the levels of these compounds in sediment near the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Trondheim Fjord, Norway. Paraben, paraben metabolites, and TCC are high volume production chemicals that are found in a range of consumer products, especially pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PCPs). In this study, six parabens (methyl paraben; MeP, ethyl paraben; EtP, propyl paraben; PrP, butyl paraben; BuP, benzyl paraben; BezP, heptyl paraben; HeP), four paraben metabolites (4-hydroxybenzoic acid; 4-HB, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid; 3,4-DHB, methyl protocatechuic acid; OH-MeP, ethyl protocatechuic acid; OH-EtP) and TCC were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) in 64 sediment samples from 10 different locations outside Trondheim, Norway. Of these 11 target analytes, four were detected in 40 % or more of the samples. The sum of six parabens (∑Parabens), four paraben metabolites (∑Metabolites) and TCC in sediment ranged from 4.88 to 11.56 (mean 6.81) ng/g, 52.16 to 368.28 (mean 93.89) ng/g and 0.53 to 3.65 (mean 1.50) ng/g dry sediment, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that TCC was positively correlated with OH-MeP, but negatively correlated with 4-HB. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first time parabens, paraben metabolites and TCC have been reported in the Trondheim Fjord.

Keywords: parabens, liquid chromatography, sediment, tandem mass spectrometry

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Authors: Farnaz Amidi Fazli

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After long period of human experience about food processing from raw eating to canning of food in the last century now it is time to use novel technologies which are sometimes completely different from common technologies. It is possible to decontaminate food without using heat or the foods are stored without using cold chain. Pulsed electric field (PEF) processing is a non-thermal method of food preservation that uses short bursts of electricity, PEF can be used for processing liquid and semi-liquid food products. PEF processing offers high quality fresh-like liquid foods with excellent flavor, nutritional value, and shelf-life. High pressure processing (HPP) technology has the potential to fulfill both consumer and scientific requirements. The use of HPP for over 50 years has found applications in non-food industries. For food applications, ‘high pressure’ can be generally considered to be up to 600 MPa for most food products. After years, freezing has its high potential to food preservation due to new and quick freezing methods. Foods which are prepared by this technology have more acceptability and high quality comparing with old fashion slow freezing. Thus, quick freezing has further been adopted as a widespread commercial method for long-term preservation of perishable foods which improved both the health and convenience of everyone in the industrialised countries. Above parameters are achieved by Fluidised-bed freezing systems, freezing by immersion and Hydrofluidisation on the other hand new thawing methods like high-pressure, microwave, ohmic, and acoustic thawing have a key role in quality and adaptability of final product.

Keywords: quick freezing, thawing, high pressure, pulse electric, hydrofluidisation

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Authors: R. C. Barbuti, M. N. Oliveira, N. P. Perina, C. Haro, P. Bosch, C. S. Bogsan, J. N. Eisig, T. Navarro-Rodriguez

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Background: The management of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication is still a matter of discussion, full effectiveness is rarely achieved and it has many adverse effects. Probiotics are believed to have a role in eradicating and possibly preventing H. pylori infection as an adjunctive treatment. The present clinical study was undertaken to see the efficacy of a specially designed fermented milk product containing Bifidobacterium lactis B420 on the eradication of H. pylori infection in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled study in humans. Method: Four test products were specially designed fermented milks, counts of viable cells in all products were 1010 Log CFU. 100 mL-1 for Bifidobacterium lactis-Bifidobacterium species 420, and 1011 Log CFU. 100 mL-1 for Streptococcus thermophiles were administered to subjects infected with H. pylori with a previous diagnosis of functional dyspepsia according to the Rome III criteria in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in humans. Results: After FM supplementation, not all subjects showed a reduction in H. pylori colonization. Conclusion: Bifidobacterium lactis B420, administered twice a day for 90 days did not show an increase in H. pylori eradication effectiveness in Brazilian patients with functional dyspepsia.

Keywords: antibacterial therapy, Bifidobacteria fermented milk, Helicobacter pylori, probiotics

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Authors: Jou-An Chen, Julio Castillo, Errol Duncan Cason, Gabre Kemp, Leana Esterhuizen, Angel Valverde Portal, Esta Van Heerden

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Emerging contaminants (EC) such as pharmaceutical and personal care products have been accumulating for years in water bodies all over the world. However, very little is known about the occurrences, levels, and effects of ECs in South African water resources. This study provides an initial assessment of the distribution of eight ECs (Acetaminophen, Atrazine, Terbuthlyazine, Carbamazepine, Phenyton, Sulfmethoxazole, Nevirapine and Fluconozole) in fifteen water sources from the Free State and Easter Cape provinces of South Africa. Overall, the physiochemical conditions were different in surface and groundwater samples, with concentrations of several elements such as B, Ca, Mg, Na, NO3, and TDS been statistically higher in groundwater. In contrast, ECs levels, quantified at ng/mL using the LC/MS/ESI, were much lower in groundwater samples. The ECs with higher contamination levels were Carbamazepine, Sulfmethoxazole, Nevirapine, and Terbuthlyazine, while the most widespread were Sulfmethoxazole and Fluconozole, detected in all surface and groundwater samples. Fecal and E. coli tests indicated that surface water was more contaminated than groundwater. Microbial communities, assessed using NGS, were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, in both surface and groundwater. Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, and Cyanobacteria, were more dominant in surface water, while Verrucomicrobia were overrepresented in groundwater. In conclusion, ECs contamination is closely associated with human activities (human wastes). The microbial diversity identified can suggest possible biodegradation processes.

Keywords: emerging contaminants, EC, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, natural attenuation process

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Authors: Nambiar Ritu, Ali Ban, Munawar Farida, Israell Imelda, T. Farouk Eman Rasheeda, Jangalgi Renuka, S. Boma Nellie

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Aim: To define the ultrasonographic endometrial thickness (USG ET) cutoff for evacuation of retained pieces of conception (ERPC). Background: Studies of conservative management of 1st trimester miscarriage have questioned the need for post miscarriage curettage. Therapeutic decision making with transvaginal scan post miscarriage endometrial thickness in patients clinically thought to be incomplete miscarriage is often not clear. Method: Retrospective analysis of all 1ST trimester ERPC at Al Rahba Hospital from June 2012 to July 2013 was done. Total of 164 patients underwent ERPC. All cases were reviewed for pre-operative USG ET and post ERPC histopathological examination. TVS was done to evaluate the maximum ET of the uterine cavity along the long axis of the uterus and features of retained products was noted. All cases without preoperative USG ET measurement were excluded from the study, therefore only 62 out of 164 cases were included in the study. The patients were divided into three groups: o Group A: have retained products within endometrial cavity. o Group B: endometrial thickness equal or more than 20 mm. o Group C: endometrial thickness equal or less than 19.9 mm. o Post ERPC product was sent for HPE and the results were compared. Transvaginal sonographic findings can be used as a deciding factor in the management of patients with 1st trimester miscarriage who need ERPC. Our proposed cutoff in clinically stable patients requiring ERPC is more than 20 mm.

Keywords: ERPC, histopathological examination, long axis of the uterus, USG ET

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Authors: Cam-Duc Au, Philippe Krahnhof, Lars Klingenberger

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German banks are experiencing harsh times due to rising costs and declining profits. On the one hand, acquisition costs for new customers are increasing because of the rise of innovative FinTechs, which entered the market with one specific goal: disrupting the whole financial services industry by occupying parts of the value chain. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an overall low level of interest rates, cause the traditional source of bank income to still drain. Consequently, traditional banks must rethink their strategies or their identity, so to speak, because they go beyond their traditional offering of products and services. Having said that, banks may create new sources of income to stabilize their economic situation and replenish profits. The given paper aims to research the opportunities of establishing an ecosystem model. In doing so, the paper contributes to the current literature debate and provide reference points for traditional banks to start. Firstly, a systematic literature review introduces a selection of research works the author regards as significant. In the following step, quantitative data from an online survey with bank clients are analysed by means of descriptive statistics to show the perspective of Germans with regards to an ecosystem offering. The final research findings indicate that the surveyed retail banking clients express interest in the new offer, whereas non-financial products and services are of lower interest than their financial pendants.

Keywords: banking, ecosystem, disruptive innovation, digital offering, open-banking-strategy, financial services industry

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Authors: Ramanjaneyulu Mogili, G.V.R.K. Acharyulu

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Indian organized retail sector is growing at a faster pace and gaining popularity. Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) reveals that the current market size of Indian retail industry is about US$ 520 billion with for growth rate 14 to 15 percent annually by 2018 the Indian retail sector is likely to grow at a CAGR of 13% to reach a size of US$ 950 billion. Developments in Information Technology have enabled online Retail sector that empowers customers to order products, conduct transactions without the need to interact physically with the retailers. In recent years, the online shopping industry has gained popularity to the point where certain categories of customers would consider buying electronic products online rather than visiting the stores. Conventionally the physical location of a store is seen as a source of competitive advantage. Online Retailing service sites provide virtual shopping space to the customers. Online Retail services are gaining momentum in India, with internet penetration improving in the country and smartphones becoming affordable along with changing lifestyles and preferences of customers. Although online shoppers prefer the convenience and choice available in online shopping, certain issues raised due to the occurrence of service failure. The proposed study attempts to measure the service recovery and failure process of electronic goods in Indian retail channels.

Keywords: service recovery, customer satisfaction, e-shopping, service failure

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Authors: Rafik Balti, Nourhene Zayoud, Mohamed Ben Mansour, Abdellah Arhaliass, Anthony Masse

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Application of edible films and coatings with natural active compounds for enhancing storage stability of food products is a promising active packaging approach. Shrimp are generally known as valuable seafood products around the world because of their delicacy and good nutritional. However, shrimp is highly vulnerable to quality deterioration associated with biochemical, microbiological or physical changes during postmortem storage, which results in the limited shelf life of the product. Chitosan is considered as a functional packaging component for maintaining the quality and increasing the shelf life of perishable foods. The present study was conducted to evaluate edible coating of crab chitosan containing variable levels of ethanolic extract of Spirulina on microbiological (mesophilic aerobic, psychrotrophic, lactic acid bacteria, and enterobacteriacea), chemical (pH, TVB-N, TMA-N, PV, TBARS) and sensory (odor, color, texture, taste, and overall acceptance) properties of shrimp during refrigerated storage. Also, textural and color characteristics of coated shrimp were performed. According to the obtained results, crab chitosan in combination with Spirulina extract was very effective in order to extend the shelf life of shrimp during storage in refrigerated condition.

Keywords: food packaging, chitosan, spirulina extract, white shrimp, shelf life

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Authors: Chuanqiao Zheng, Wei Zeng, Haozhen Lin

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As of March 2020, the number of Chinese netizens has reached 904 million. The proportion of Internet users accessing the Internet through mobile phones is as high as 99.3%. Under the background of 'Internet +', tourists have a stronger sense of independence in the choice of tourism destinations and tourism products. Tourists are more inclined to learn about the relevant information on tourism destinations and other tourists' evaluations of tourist products through the Internet. The search engine, as an integrated platform that contains a wealth of information, is highly valuable to the analysis of the characteristics of the Internet attention given to various tourism destinations, through big data mining and analysis. This article uses the Baidu Index as the data source, which is one of the products of Baidu Search. The Baidu Index is based on big data, which collects and shares the search results of a large number of Internet users on the Baidu search engine. The big data used in this article includes search index, demand map, population profile, etc. The main research methods used are: (1) based on the search index, analyzing the Internet attention given to the tourism in five cities in Northeast Sichuan at different times, so as to obtain the overall trend and individual characteristics of tourism development in the region; (2) based on the demand map and the population profile, analyzing the demographic characteristics and market positioning of the tourist groups in these cities to understand the characteristics and needs of the target groups; (3) correlating the Internet attention data with the permanent population of each province in China in the corresponding to construct the Boston matrix of the Internet attention rate of the Northeast Sichuan tourism, obtain the tourism target markets, and then propose development strategies for different markets. The study has found that: a) the Internet attention given to the tourism in the region can be categorized into tourist off-season and peak season; the Internet attention given to tourism in different cities is quite different. b) tourists look for information including tour guide information, ticket information, traffic information, weather information, and information on the competing tourism cities; with regard to the population profile, the main group of potential tourists searching for the keywords of tourism in the five prefecture-level cities in Northeast Sichuan are youth. The male to female ratio is about 6 to 4, with males being predominant. c) through the construction of the Boston matrix, it is concluded that the star market for tourism in the Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone includes Sichuan and Shaanxi; the cash cows market includes Hainan and Ningxia; the question market includes Jiangsu and Shanghai; the dog market includes Hubei and Jiangxi. The study concludes with the following planning strategies and recommendations: i) creating a diversified business format that integrates cultural and tourism; ii) creating a brand image of niche tourism; iii) focusing on the development of tourism products; iv) innovating composite three-dimensional marketing channels.

Keywords: Baidu Index, big data, internet attention, tourism

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