At present, the existing literature shows that the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams for new product development are still ambiguous. To address this problem, a research design was developed, which includes detailed literature review, preliminary model and field survey. From literature review, the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams are identified and these factors are modified using a field survey. The relationship between knowledge workers (people), process and technology in virtual teams is explored in this study. The results of the study suggest that technology and process are tightly correlated and need to be considered early in virtual teams. The use of software as a service, web solution, report generator and tracking system should be incorporated for effectiveness virtual teams.
Crime, unlike mercy, doesn't fall like a gentle rain evenly covering the land – it gathers in pools. Risk of crime is concentrated in particular places (Eck et al., 2007), on particular victims (Farrell and Pease, 2008) and on particular products, the focus of this chapter. This concentration has two kinds of implication. On the one hand it gives strong clues about the causation of criminal events, whether concerning the targets or tools of those crimes or the insecurity of their immediate situation; on the other, it guides the kind of situational crime prevention (SCP) strategy that can be adopted. That strategy can be developed either in reaction to an established pattern of risk, or in anticipation, but in either case the underlying rationale is the same. If you – as policy-maker, police officer, designer, manufacturer or consumer – can identify the targets and tools at elevated risk of featuring in crime, then you can respectively concentrate your preventive policies and practices, direct your costly operational resources, design and incorporate elevated security performance in particular products, and choose the make and model of product you buy according to security ratings, as happens, say, with the UK car theft index (Laycock, 2004). There is much practice and research into how the design of the built environment increases, or decreases, the risk of crime. But this chapter covers products, essentially two- or three-dimensional objects that have been designed and manufactured in some way, and which may be portable (e.g. laptops), mobile (e.g. cars), movable (e.g. home cinema TV sets), incorporated (e.g. a tamper-evident lid for a medicine container) or installed (e.g. a cash machine). Classes of items at elevated risk of crime have been dubbed 'hot products' (Clarke, 1999), revisited below. Products may be hot by virtue of their intrinsic material value (such as jewellery or bronze statuary), their manufactured-in value (such as a mobile phone) or some combination. In either case, this 'reward' value (using rational choice perspective terms – Cornish and Clarke, 1986) is often accompanied by some kind of opportunity, enabling the product to be taken with relatively little effort or risk to the offender. Of course, risk and effort may partly reside in the nature of the environment in which the products are typically found, such as whether guardians of targets (Cohen and Felson, 1979) or other kinds of crime preventer (Ekblom, 2011) are present, capable and motivated. But much of that opportunity may reside in the rewarding and/or vulnerable design of the product itself; and even if the design is not obviously 'culpable' (e.g. an easy-to-steal car or a provocative poster) design solutions may be the most reliable and/or cost-effective remedy. The first section of this chapter begins by defining key terms such as risk and risk factors. It then reviews how the latter feature in situational crime prevention notably via the phenomenon of hot products; the underlying causes of elevated risk; the risk life-cycle of products. The second part covers the response to elevated risk, notably via intervention through design, covering both content and process; anticipation of future risks; and evidence of effectiveness. As said, the focus is on two-and three-dimensional manufactured products excluding buildings and landscapes although some such products can be considered enclosures (such as handbags or vehicles) with 'access control' resemblances to buildings (you can break into a building or car, or slip or slash open a handbag or purse, to reach the contents you wish to steal). (The architectural approach known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED – e.g. Armitage, [ref to chapter in this volume]) has developed its own terminological traditions – not always clear ones – and concepts and theory need integrating with SCP.) The important role of businesses in creating or reducing crime opportunities in manufactured products, and the difficulties of influencing their 'design decision-making' to give some weight to security, is covered only briefly; more is in Ekblom (2012a) and Hardie and Hobbs (2005). The creativity of criminals themselves is well-addressed in Cropley et al. (2010). The role of government in incentivising and otherwise leading on design is discussed in Clarke and Newman (2005) and was exemplified in the UK Home Office's Design and Technology Alliance (see www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/challenges/security/design-out-crime/ for useful case studies).
Abstract: Coalho cheese is a dairy product typical of the Northeast region of Brazil and widely consumed by the population; however, the poor quality of the raw material used in association with the absence of standardization in the manufacturing process makes it susceptible to microbial contamination, mainly by Staphylococcus aureus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of chitosan as a coating and incorporated in coalho cheese on S. aureus viability and the sensorial acceptance of the cheese. For this, coalho cheeses were made with chitosan in the coating or added to the curds at 5 mg mL-1, 10 mg mL-1 and 15 mg mL-1 and 1 mg g-1, 2 mg g-1 and 4 mg g-1, respectively. Products without chitosan (C) and 1% acetic acid (CA) were used as controls. The bacterial inhibition of chitosan in the artificially contaminated samples was assessed by comparing the viable cell count of S. aureus (ATCC 6538) in each treatment over five time intervals (0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 d storage). Product C was evaluated for moisture and fat content. The sensorial and shelf stability analyses were performed with the control and chitosan treated samples at the most efficient antibacterial concentrations. The sensorial analyses were performed with 100 consumers. Chitosan antimicrobial activity was observed in all treatments; however, the highest concentrations of chitosan added as a coating and to the cheese, 15 mg mL-1 and 4 mg g-1, respectively, inhibited S. aureus. The moisture and fat contents met the standards established by the Brazilian legislation. Regarding stability, the samples complied with the regulatory microbiological limits and presented acceptable pH, acidity and water activity values. As far as sensorial acceptance was concerned, the scores corresponded to hedonic concepts between "I liked it slightly" and "I liked it a lot", with an improvement in the texture of the products when chitosan was incorporated. Acceptability values were higher than 70%, except for the taste the products with chitosan covering them, which was 68.3%. It can be inferred from the results that the use of chitosan as a coating and incorporated in coalho cheese is a favourable alternative for the preservation of this product and has potential commercial applicability.
AbstractWe examine the causal effect of stakeholder orientation on firms' product market performance. Using the staggered enactment of constituency statutes across different states as an exogenous shock that increases the extent of the stakeholder orientation, difference‐in‐difference estimations suggest that on average firms incorporated in states that adopted constituency statutes increase sales growth by 1.7% relative to firms incorporated in states that did not adopt such statutes. The effect is stronger if a firm has higher labor intensity and if a firm operates in a durable goods industry. In addition, we find that stakeholder orientation improves the quality of innovation.
The performance of a sustainable green concrete with fly ash (FA), rice husk ash (RHA), and stone dust (SD) as a partial replacement of cement and sand was experimentally explored. FA and RHA have a high silica content, are highly pozzolanic in nature and have a high surface area without any treatment. These by-products show filler effects, which enhance concrete's density. Results showed that the FA and RHA materials have good hydration behaviour and effectively develop strength at an early age of concrete. SD acts as a stress transferring medium within concrete, thereby allowing the concrete to be stronger in compression, and bending. Consequently, water absorption capacity of the sustainable concrete was lower than that of the ordinary one. However, a little reduction in strength was observed after the replacement of the binder and aggregate using the FA, RHA and SD, but the reduction was insignificant. The reinforced structure with sustainable concrete containing the FA, RHA, and SD generally fails in concrete crushing tests initiated by flexural cracking followed by shear cracks. The sustainable concrete could be categorized as a perfect material with no significant conciliation in strength properties and can be applied to design under-reinforced elements for a low-to-moderate service load.
PurposeThis research aims to conduct a comprehensive conceptual model and empirical validation of the integration of negative (ego-centric) and positive (altruistic and ego-centric) drivers of green buying based on social dilemma theory and psychological egoism theory.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a self-administered questionnaire survey and analyzed with hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that moral obligations, green self-identity, environmental concern and social pressure are positively related to green purchase intention, while perceived cost of green purchasing and price sensitivity are negatively. Meanwhile, social pressure positively moderates the relationship between price sensitivity and consumers' green purchasing intention, but negatively moderates the relationship between perceived cost of green purchasing and consumers' green purchasing intention.Originality/valueFirst, this study is a comprehensive model of the concept and empirical validation of the integration of negative (ego-centric) and positive (altruistic and ego-centric) drivers of green buying. Specially, this study emphasizes the neglected importance of positive ego-centric factors of green consumer behavior. Second, this study explicitly incorporated the moderating effect of social pressure in the context of China. Since green buying is a social dilemma, the changes in this social dilemma after being affected by social pressure under the Chinese collectivist culture are also worth noting. Third, little is known about what motivates green consumption in emerging economies, and this has been hampered by a lack of cultural knowledge, conceptual richness and behavioral research that critically analyses consumer behavior.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a generic forecasting approach for predicting product returns in closed‐loop supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is based on Bayesian estimation techniques. It permits to forecast product returns on the basis of fewer restrictions than existing approaches in CLSC literature. A numerical example demonstrates the application of the proposed approach using return times drawn from a Poisson distribution.FindingsThe Bayesian estimation approach provides at least 50 percent higher accuracy in terms of error measures compared to traditional methods in all scenarios examined in the empirical part. Hence, more precise results can be obtained when predicting product returns.Research limitations/implicationsThe flexibility of the proposed approach allows for numerous applications in the field of CLSC research. Areas that depend on the results from a forecasting system, such as inventory management, can embed our estimation procedure in order to reduce safety stocks. Further research should address the incorporation of the quality of returned products and its impact on the actual utilizable amount of product returns.Originality/valueThe generic character of the proposed forecasting approach leaves degrees of freedom to the user when adapting it to a specific problem. This adaptability is enabled by the following features: first, an arbitrary function is allowed for capturing the customers' demand. Second, the stochastic timeframe between sale and product return may follow an arbitrary distribution. Third, by adjusting two parameters finite as well as infinite planning horizons can be incorporated. Fourth, no assumptions regarding the joint distribution of product returns are necessary.
Europeans are regular consumers of fish and aquaculture products. Therefore, five species of potential aquaculture rearing named: Meagre, Pikeperch, Grey Mullet, Greater Amberjack and Wreckfish were selected for new product development. This work incorporated opinions of both experts and naïve assessors thus, including specific demands and consumer preferences, in selected markets of the European Union (UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy). Different fish product prototypes were developed from the fish species accordingly with suggested ideas and based on the physicochemical and sensory properties of the selected species. Six of these products were chosen, based on their level of processing and addressed market. Consumers perception of all six of them was also assessed in the five selected countries. As it turned out the image/perception of the different products, differed in an important way between countries, as well as their impact on the product acceptance and purchase probability ; Los pasíses de la Unión Europea son consumidores habituales de productos de acuicultura. Es por ello que, se seleccionaron cinco especies con potencial acuícola: Corvina, Lucioperca, Mújol, Seriola y Cherna para el desarrollo de nuevos productos. Este trabajo incluyó opiniones tanto de expertos como de consumidores habituales, incluyendo asñi demandas específicas y preferencias en mercados seleccionados de la UE (Alemania, España, Francia, Italia y Reino Unido. Se desarrollaron distintos prototipos de productos basados en ideas sugeridas y en las propiedades fisicoquímicas y sensoriales de las especies. Seis de estos fueron seleccionados basados en su nivel de procesamiento y mercado. La percepción de consumidores sobre los productos fue evaluada en los 5 países de la UE.La percepción de la imagen de los productos difirió notablemente entre países, así como en la aceptabilidad e intención de compra
Europeans are regular consumers of fish and aquaculture products. Therefore, five species of potential aquaculture rearing named: Meagre, Pikeperch, Grey Mullet, Greater Amberjack and Wreckfish were selected for new product development. This work incorporated opinions of both experts and naïve assessors thus, including specific demands and consumer preferences, in selected markets of the European Union (UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy). Different fish product prototypes were developed from the fish species accordingly with suggested ideas and based on the physicochemical and sensory properties of the selected species. Six of these products were chosen, based on their level of processing and addressed market. Consumers perception of all six of them was also assessed in the five selected countries. As it turned out the image/perception of the different products, differed in an important way between countries, as well as their impact on the product acceptance and purchase probability ; Los pasíses de la Unión Europea son consumidores habituales de productos de acuicultura. Es por ello que, se seleccionaron cinco especies con potencial acuícola: Corvina, Lucioperca, Mújol, Seriola y Cherna para el desarrollo de nuevos productos. Este trabajo incluyó opiniones tanto de expertos como de consumidores habituales, incluyendo asñi demandas específicas y preferencias en mercados seleccionados de la UE (Alemania, España, Francia, Italia y Reino Unido. Se desarrollaron distintos prototipos de productos basados en ideas sugeridas y en las propiedades fisicoquímicas y sensoriales de las especies. Seis de estos fueron seleccionados basados en su nivel de procesamiento y mercado. La percepción de consumidores sobre los productos fue evaluada en los 5 países de la UE.La percepción de la imagen de los productos difirió notablemente entre países, así como en la aceptabilidad e intención de compra
Pennywort juice is a herbal drink extracted from pennywort leaves and stems. Pennywort residue is a by-product of pennywort juice production. In the present work, this by-product was proved to be a good dietary fibre ingredient in the making of high fibre pasta. Nevertheless, the addition of 10% pennywort residue reduced cooking properties, textural profiles, and overall acceptability of the pasta samples. The effects of transglutaminase treatment of pasta dough on the product quality were then investigated. Increase in transglutaminase dosage from 0.00 to 0.75 U/g protein of the flour blend decreased the cooking loss of pasta by 19% while improving its tensile strength and elongation rate by 15 and 49%, respectively. Further increase in enzyme dosage from 0.75 to 1.00 U/g protein, on the other hand, decreased the tensile strength and elongation rate. When the enzyme treatment lasted for 30 min, the cooking loss was reduced by 10%, while the tensile strength and elongation rate of high fibre pasta were both enhanced by 10%. However, increase in treatment time from 30 to 40 min did not cause any significant differences in textural and cooking properties of the fibre-rich pasta. The appropriate transglutaminase dosage and biocatalytic time were 0.75 U/g protein and 30 min, respectively, under which the overall acceptability of the sample incorporated with 10% pennywort residue powder was similar to that of the semolina pasta.
ABSTRACTThis report presents an application of quantitative decision‐analytic techniques to consider an opportunity for capital investment in a new product.Decision analysis is a well‐established technique for evaluating major decisions in which substantial resources and time are available for the analysis and the problem is definitely formulated at the outset. This case study, however, illustrates how decision‐analytic techniques can be used on‐line to improve decision making in a situation in which time and resources are limited, and the manager's perception of the problem changes in response to feedback from the analysis.The basic decision problem was whether or not the AIL division of Cutler‐Hammer, Incorporated should purchase a six‐month option on a flight‐safety system patent. The president of AIL had only a few weeks in which to make a decision.The analytic approach focused on a probabilistic discounted earnings model. This model was refined over a two‐week period through a sequence of iterations which incorporated the results of both direct and indirect assessments of probabilities and values.The analysis affected the company's decision process by providing a vehicle for structuring the ongoing communication between AIL's president and his advisors, and by focusing their attention on the most important issues. In the end, the analysis facilitated a unanimous decision from the decision‐making group not to purchase the option, but to consider participating in the license as a subcontractor at a later date. This strategy had not been considered at the outset.
A compliant tool (CalcPEFDairy) to determine the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) of Dairy products has been developed following the Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) v.6.3 guidance and the 2018 approved PEFCR for Dairy products. CalcPEFDairy is a new tool that simplifies and reduces the work for LCA practitioners when implementing the PEFCR for Dairy products. On contrary to traditional LCA software, CalcPEFDairy includes all the emission models needed to calculate farm and crop cultivation direct emissions and it also implements the specific calculation formulas stated in the PEFCR such as the Circular Footprint and Data Quality Requirement formulas. Moreover, the PEF compliant datasets provided by the Life Cycle Data Network are incorporated in the tool as source of secondary data. To demonstrate the accuracy of the tool a traditional dairy farm in Catalonia (Northwest of Spain) was assessed and the results compared with the European representative PEF compliant datasets for the production of raw milk, cheese and yoghurt. In addition to the environmental profile, CalcPEFDairy has determined the case study's environmental single score (ESS) for the production of raw milk (1.0 × 10−4) cheese (9.7 × 10−6) and yoghurt (1.4 × 10−5); these ESS results are within the range of the ESS obtained from the analysed EF-datasets. The data sets' average ESS for raw milk is 9.9 × 10−5 ± 1.1 × 10−5, while for cheese and yoghurt are 1.5 × 10−5 ± 3.1 × 10−6 and 1.9 × 10−5 ± 3.4 × 10−6 respectively. A 78% of the raw milk production ESS is attributed to the dairy farm activities while, the raw milk production stage affects in a 87.4% and 80.1% to the ESS for cheese and yoghurt respectively. ; The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspring PLUS) and from the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia. Also, this work was ...
Crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus De Geer) are considered a primary meat-alternative protein source. The insects comprise of 58 - 63% high-quality protein rich in essential amino acids. Nowadays, noodles are regularly consumed. Cricket powder-based protein noodles (PNCP) could be a choice for individuals with gluten allergies. In the present work, PNCP 0%, PNCP 15%, and PNCP 30% were assessed. PNCP 30% yielded the optimal nutritional quality in terms of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat, and crude fibre contents. It also contained the highest levels of 18 amino acids. Results also revealed that the noodles incorporated with cricket powder had double aspartic acid content, and increased proline content (3 - 7%) compared to control samples. Statistical analysis demonstrated a direct correlation between increased nutritional quality and the cricket powder amount added. Nevertheless, increasing cricket powder amount affected the colour of the resultant noodles. PNCP 30% yielded the darkest hue amongst the samples with an L* value of 38.21 ± 1.93%. Conversely, PNCP 0% and 15% samples yielded 56.18 ± 0.75 and 45.06 ± 1.66% L* values, respectively. Texture profile analysis also revealed the effects on the tensile strength values of enhancing the cricket powder content. Panellists scored the PNCP samples on a 9-point hedonic scale in a five-dimensional sensory evaluation. PNCP 15% recorded the ideal combination of palatability, appearance, and characteristics. Overall, the present work demonstrated that whilst utilising cricket powder as the alternative protein source in noodles is feasible, an accompanying sensory evaluation is critical to ensure that its incorporation does not compromise consumer acceptance of the final product.
Chia features interesting nutritional and technological properties and therefore has been incorporated into different types of meat products. Particularly, it has been used to develop new lipid materials based on chia emulsion gels which have enormous potential as animal fat replacers in the development of healthier meat products. This lipid material contributes to achieving meat products with optimal technological and organoleptic properties and improved lipid content. These products also contain other bioactive compounds such as minerals, dietary fiber, etc. which in some cases allow nutritional and health claims within the framework of European legislation. ; This research was supported under Projects AGL2010-19515/ALI, AGL2011-29644-C02-01, MEDGAN-CM S2013/ABI2913; Intramural project CSIC 2014470E073. ; Peer reviewed
The 1985 European Communities Directive on Product Liability1aims to harmonise member State product liability rules and to improve the level of protection of victims by basing the liability of producers for physical injury and damage to personal goods on the proof that the victim's damage was caused by a defect in the product supplied. On 19 May 1998, ten years after the deadline for transposition, France finally enacted legislation incorporating the Directive into national law.2The Directive was incorporated into English law by Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
