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Selected AbstractsWhat about Design Newness?THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 6 2009Investigating the Relevance of a Neglected Dimension of Product Innovativeness In several industries, new products are very similar in functional features but compete on their unique design. Firms like Alessi, Apple, Bang & Olufsen, Dyson, or Kartell all follow a design-driven innovation approach and use their products' visual appearance as the main mean for differentiation. In spite of this, design newness is never discussed among the dimensions of product innovativeness. Instead, conceptualizations of product innovativeness mostly focus on a product's technical newness or the changes it implies for the innovating firm or for the market it enters. This paper seeks to build an argument for why design newness should be considered as a dimension of product innovativeness. In addition to providing conceptual rationale, empirical evidence is offered on the influence of design newness on sales performance across a product's life cycle. To be able to put the findings into perspective, the performance effects of design newness are compared with those of technical newness. As several products exemplify that design newness and technical newness can go hand in hand, not only direct performance effects but also interaction effects between both newness dimensions are investigated. The arguments are tested on a sample of 157 new cars launched between 1978 and 2006 in Germany. The automobile industry is selected because of the strategic role of both technical and design aspects in product innovation. Putting a focus on this industry also has the advantage that historical information on car specifics and objective sales data over time are accessible. The results emphasize that both design and technical newness are important drivers of car sales. However, the effects differ widely across the product life cycle. While design newness has a positive impact right after the introduction and persists in strength over time, technical newness drives sales with a lagged effect and decreases toward the end of the life cycle. The test of a combined influence of design newness and technical newness on sales performance produces no significant results. These results open interesting avenues for future research on product innovativeness in general and design newness in particular. For management practice, the findings emphasize the importance of overall product innovativeness, clarify the different performance effects of design and technical newness across the product life cycle, and show the value of creating a unique visual product appearance to positively trigger product diffusion. [source] Early Polarographic Studies on ProteinsELECTROANALYSIS, Issue 13-14 2004Michael Heyrovsky Abstract The first effects of proteins observed with the dropping mercury electrode were catalytic, due to evolution of hydrogen in weakly alkaline solutions. Catalytic lowering of hydrogen overvoltage in presence of cobalt ions, the so-called Brdicka reaction, became the main means for polarographic study of proteins. Apart from that, polarography has been used for following proteins in their adsorption on the electrode surface, in their anodic reaction with mercury at positive potentials, in reduction of the disulfidic bonds of their components, in their complexation with metallic ions in the solution, in electrode reactions of their prosthetic groups and in antigen-antibody interactions. Our review is limited to applications of the dropping mercury electrode. [source] Influence of Exposure to Light on the Sensorial Quality of Minimally Processed CauliflowerJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 1 2007Susana Sanz Cervera ABSTRACT:, The impact of lighting on minimally processed cauliflower packaged in 4 different film types (PVC and 3 P-Plus) has been measured and quantified. The effect on the sensorial quality of storage at 4 °C in darkness and partial or continuous lighting was evaluated. The gas concentrations in the packages and the weight losses were also determined. Atmosphere composition inside the packages depended on both the permeability of the film used for the packaging and exposure to light. Samples stored with lighting maintained the gaseous exchange between plant tissue and the atmosphere inside the packages for longer periods than in samples kept in darkness. This prompted a greater loss of water vapor as well as the development of atmospheres with low levels of O2 and high levels of CO2 in the samples packed with less permeable films. The most important aspect in sensory evaluation was color. In instrumental color evaluation, coordinates h* and L* were the main means for estimating color evolution. The presence of light accelerated browning in the cut zones. The development of abnormal coloring in these areas marked the end of shelf life for minimally processed cauliflower. Among the sensory attributes studied, color was the most affected by exposure to light. Samples packed in P-Plus 120 film displayed the lowest level of color deterioration in the cut zones. However, under lit conditions, the low permeability of this film caused atmospheres with very low O2 contents and high CO2 contents. These atmospheres produced a loss of texture and the development of off-odors. [source] Use of Synthetic Aperture Radar for Selecting Alaskan Lakes for Winter Water Use,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 2 2008D.M. White Abstract:, Water resources are limited in many areas of the North Slope, Alaska, particularly during winter. Water is used by the oil industry for ice road construction and maintenance, drilling and facility operations, and potable water supplies. The coastal plain between Teshekpuk Lake, in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and the Colville River has numerous shallow lakes, but further south in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, and east to the Canning River, lakes are fewer. While many oil and gas lease sales have been conducted, or are proposed, access to the leases may be limited because of the lack of available water for ice road construction. Ice roads are the main means by which exploration is conducted in the Arctic, putting a stress on freshwater bodies that do not freeze to the lakebed in winter. Lakes that do not freeze to the lakebed also serve as overwintering habitat for fish. The purpose of this paper is to report on the potential distribution of water bodies that may provide overwinter water in selected areas from Teshekpuk Lake to the Canning River. The project used synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery to search for the presence of water in lakes in March 2006. In the Kuparuk and Canning SAR images, 52 and 61% of lakes were frozen to their beds by March 2006, accounting for 49 and 57% of the lake area in these study regions. Conversely, only 2% of the lakes in the Teshekpuk region were frozen to the bottom by March 2006. Unfrozen water was more available because of deeper and more numerous lakes in the Teshekpuk Lake region (west) than in the Canning River area (east). While only specific SAR tiles were analyzed herein, the method will be a useful tool for land managers who seek to evaluate the potential for ice road construction across the Arctic. [source] Evaluation of different varieties of cauliflower for minimal processingJOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 2 2007Susana Sanz Abstract The impact of minimal processing technology on the sensory quality and the growth of micro-organisms in eight varieties of cauliflower packaged in four different films (one PVC and three P-Plus) was measured and quantified during more than 25 days of storage at 4 °C. Other important parameters such as weight loss and gas concentration in the packages were also determined. The composition of the atmosphere in the packages of minimally processed cauliflower depended on both the permeability of the film used for the packaging and the variety of cauliflower. When establishing shelf-life, loss of sensory quality was the deciding factor rather than loss of microbiological quality. The initial microbial load proved more important than the composition of the atmosphere inside the packages. In sensory evaluation the most important aspect was colour. In instrumental evaluation, coordinate b* was the main means of estimating shelf-life. The combination of P-Plus 120 film and varieties of cauliflower of large size and great vigour allowed the atmosphere inside the packages to have an O2 level below 10% and a CO2 level above 10%. That atmosphere composition proved essential for maintaining the sensory quality of minimally processed cauliflower. In these conditions, samples attained a shelf-life of more than 25 days. However, the different behaviours of the cauliflower varieties make it necessary to establish particular packaging conditions. The use of less permeable films than those used in this study, or the use of actively modified atmospheres, could be an alternative for those varieties that require special packaging conditions when processed using this technology. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Reassessing the Insurance Effect: A Qualitative Analysis of Fertility Behavior in Senegal and ZimbabwePOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 3 2003Thomas LeGrand A number of prominent demographers have recently reiterated the argument that a lasting mortality decline is a key determinant of the fertility transition. Of the main hypothesized pathways linking fertility to mortality, the one least studied is the insurance hypothesis: the notion that, in high-mortality contexts, people decide to have more children in order to anticipate possible future child deaths and lessen the risks of having too few surviving offspring. In-depth interviews and focus groups from Zimbabwe and Senegal are used to examine this hypothesis and to extend it into a broader theory of reproductive decision making under uncertainty. Whereas insurance strategies are frequent in Zimbabwe and occur in urban Senegal, in the higher-mortality settings,the rural Senegalese site and the recent past described by respondents in Zimbabwe and urban Senegal,deliberate fertility-limitation strategies are rare. The data depict fundamental changes in attitudes, strategies, and behaviors concerning family size over time and, in Senegal, over space. Important reproductive goals and risks extend far beyond numbers of children and mortality. Parents seek to have healthy, successful children for many reasons including companionship, descendants, and old-age support. Diverse investments in child quality (their education, health, etc.) and quantity (numbers of births) are the main means to attain these goals and, less recognized by demographers, are also important ways for parents to manage uncertainty in family-building outcomes; the "classic" insurance mechanism is only one, often minor, aspect of the quantity option. [source] | ||||||||||