Commercial Opportunities Research Articles

Consumers’ Awareness of Fish Traceability and Sustainability: An Exploratory Study in Italy and Spain

Fish products are widely consumed in different European countries for their nutritional composition, such as their high protein content, omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and low carbohydrate content. Therefore, fishing provides important income and commercial opportunities in different Mediterranean coastal countries. As the increased consumption of fish products is leading to negative ecological impacts on marine flora and fauna, sustainability labels are increasingly emerging. Furthermore, to increase transparency in the fisheries sector and increase consumer confidence when purchasing, fish traceability is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the importance of fish traceability and the knowledge of some fish sustainability labels in two European coastal countries, Italy and Spain. The investigation was carried out through an online questionnaire filled out by 1913 consumers in Italy and Spain. The main results show that receiving traceability information was mainly important for the Italian population, while, although fish sustainability is increasingly important, respondents did not demonstrate that they frequently buy fish products with sustainability labels. The study also highlighted how the main characteristics of the respondents may influence their habits and perceptions regarding the issues.

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INDUSTRIAL INNOVATIONS

The article is devoted to the study of existing approaches to the economic evaluation of the effectiveness of commercial opportunities of intellectual property and industrial innovations in the production and commercial activities of industrial enterprises. The most important groups of indicators characterizing the effectiveness of commercial opportunities of intellectual property and industrial innovations are defined and substantiated. These groups include: indicators characterizing the market characteristics of intellectual property (market target indicator, market prospects (development) indicator, intellectual technology positioning indicator on the market); cost characteristics reflecting the real costs of developers and consumers of intellectual property; commercial characteristics reflecting the consumer value of the intelligent technology for potential use; patent-legal characteristics of intellectual property and industrial innovations that reflect the patent purity of the object of intellectual property, the protection of exclusive rights to it, the impossibility (or in the extreme case - significant difficulty) of copying and counterfeiting. The currently used methods of assessing the effectiveness of the use of commercial opportunities of intellectual property and industrial innovations, which are based on the ratio of results and costs, i.e. are considered in detail. on the comparison of the obtained effect and costs. The feasibility of checking the obtained values of economic efficiency, as well as the organization of strict control over the spending of funds and compliance with the planned deadlines, has been proven.

Attitudes to consumption of edible insects by indigenous Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand: future commercial opportunities

Abstract Entomophagy (eating insects) can be a sustainable and efficient source of protein, prevalent in many cultures worldwide. However, there is limited research on the perceptions of entomophagy in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly indigenous Māori perceptions. This work explores Māori perspectives on entomophagy, gaining understanding of the history of entomophagy in Māori culture, how entomophagy is currently perceived, and the potential of edible insect-derived products amongst Māori. An online survey was conducted via Qualtrics™ in 2021 recruiting via close contacts and social media platforms. Within the sample (n = 172), 42% of participants indicated insects play a significant role in Māori culture as food, and 10% as rongoā (traditional Māori medicine). Additionally, insects were described as part of cultural narratives. For insects as food, 47% of participants have eaten or know of their whānau (family) eating insects, with the huhu grub (larvae of a large wood-eating beetle) being the most consumed. We also found that 87% of participants were willing to consume insects in some form. Age had little effect on the likelihood of participants eating insects, except for those aged over 55 who were less likely to consume them. Participants with a flexitarian diet were significantly more willing to consume insects than those with a meat-eating or pescatarian diet. Conversely, participants with a vegetarian diet were more likely to say they would not eat insects. Participants were significantly more likely to consume insects if they were native to Aotearoa New Zealand or fed rongoā rākau (medicinal plants) and farmed sustainably, or if they knew that the type of insect was once eaten by Māori. Our findings show that indigenous Māori already recognise insects as being culturally significant and are relatively open to consuming insects. This presents an opportunity for Māori-led businesses or collaborations with Māori to revitalise insects as a food source.

Soft Bioelectronics for Therapeutics.

Soft bioelectronics play an increasingly crucial role in high-precision therapeutics due to their softness, biocompatibility, clinical accuracy, long-term stability, and patient-friendliness. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the latest representative therapeutic applications of advanced soft bioelectronics, ranging from wearable therapeutics for skin wounds, diabetes, ophthalmic diseases, muscle disorders, and other diseases to implantable therapeutics against complex diseases, such as cardiac arrhythmias, cancer, neurological diseases, and others. We also highlight key challenges and opportunities for future clinical translation and commercialization of soft therapeutic bioelectronics toward personalized medicine.

Wrestling with unevenness: Sino-American rivalry, state strategy and the reformation of German capitalism

This article focuses on the case of Germany to demonstrate how the lens of ‘uneven and combined development’ (U&CD) can help critical scholars of Global Political Economy (GPE) make sense of a worldwide but nationally specific movement towards an augmented role for the state in the regulation of capitalism. The first section finds that the prevailing comparative-institutional literature suffers from a narrow conception of the international environment in which the German political economy is drifting in the direction of its main organisational rival – US-style neoliberalism. By contrast, the second section shows that the alternative lens of U&CD provides a richer picture of the systemic forces experienced by German state actors: they flow from a technologically leading US as well as a leapfrogging China, they increase competition but also present commercial opportunities, and they do not point towards freer markets but rather novel forms of state intervention that are best explored as a creative, if contested, process of ‘re-combination’. The third section details the structural, strategic and institutional reasons for why the German state cannot emulate either the US or China. It concludes that – in lieu of strong support from capital and labour and independent state capacities like the Chinese party apparatus or the US military-industry complex – German attempts to expand the remit of the state follow a substitutive process of ‘bricolage’ that patches together foreign and domestic techniques and a motley of special interests.

Speculating on social life

AbstractThis article addresses how a group of people in the San Francisco Bay Area turns social encounters into opportunities to make money. This group participated in sales schemes known as multi‐level marketing (MLM). MLM companies use a sales model in which participants earn money by selling products on behalf of companies while also recruiting people to join the companies as fellow salespeople. MLM participants earn financial commissions through selling products and recruiting others to join their network, leading them to hunt for new customers in public spaces or among existing social connections. The subjects of the study perceived social life as a commercial opportunity that could lead to financial gain, deliberately turning Saturday morning at the farmers' market or Sunday night dinner at a restaurant into an opportunity to recruit new customers. I interpret these activities as a form of social speculation: MLM participants invested their time in relationships that may 1 day be profitable, but they never knew whether their efforts would succeed. The potential to make money from social encounters was a constant motivator. Social speculation is an expression of a development in the United States in which people perceive social relationships in terms of economic potential because of precarious market conditions.

Commerce and Cultural Diplomacy: The British Council in Iran during the 1970s

This article examines UK cultural diplomacy in Iran during the 1970s. As the primary UK-based agency operating in this field, it pays particular attention to the British Council’s activities. The paper examines how escalating oil prices in the 1973–4 Arab Oil Embargo’s wake compelled the agency to move away from English language teaching provision and more towards cultural policies. Anthony Parsons, the UK Ambassador to Iran, helped frame these initiatives. Together, they organised the 1977 Festival of Britain in Tehran, which showcased high-brow British culture. The paper makes three key points. First, it illustrates the extent economic imperatives shape UK cultural diplomacy. Second, it reveals the UK Embassy and British Council’s reticence to interact with Iranians, with framing events like the Festival of Britain as purely commercial opportunities. Finally, the paper demonstrates how popular indifference, combined with the Iranian Revolution’s outbreak, undermined the UK’s cultural diplomacy campaign.

Chatterton's Precious Things

If Thomas Chatterton had been born to Generation Alpha, my children’s generation, he would have been one of those obnoxiously attention-hungry, fashionable, razor-sharp social-media influencers. Self-promotion drove Chatterton. Precocious and sensitive, he used whatever literary and visual tropes seemed most popular to his inexperienced, but culturally acute eyes. His poetics was gorgeously fashionable and fraudulent, an inchoate grab at whatever professional relationships or commercial opportunities were likely to enhance his literary and pecuniary standing, and his success. More than anything, he wished to demonstrate his skills as a professional gentleman of letters, to those he perceived as his coterie circle of peers, patrons and publishers.
 The material experiment that Chatterton is best known for still is the Rowley manuscripts, and their often-repeated story of antiquarian fraudulence and forgery. But when I began researching Chatterton’s poetry and other textual forms, I discovered that his interest in the material was not only some kind of ill-informed, adolescent, historical conmanship; instead, it was a broad-based, ambitious and purposeful attempt to harness the power of material things for his own professional advantage. That said, in this paper I do use the Rowley manuscripts as a case study, because they are the most well-developed and frankly entertaining of Chatterton’s precious things.

Effect of pressure-shift freezing treatment on gelling and structural properties of grass carp surimi

The damage of conventional freezing (CF) to the quality of surimi products is an urgent problem in the food industry. In the study, the effect of different freezing treatments [CF, pressure shift freezing (PSF), pressure-shift freezing pretreatment (Pr-PSF), unfrozen control] on gelling properties [gel strength, texture profile analysis (TPA), color], water-holding capacity (WHC) and protein structure characteristics of the grass carp surimi gel were evaluated and compared. Compared with other freezing treatment groups, surimi gel strength was increased three to four times after PSF treatment, which was mainly caused by the change in the microstructure and the WHC of the surimi gel. The study showed that PSF treatment could significantly improve the quality of the surimi gel and overcome the negative effect of freezing on the surimi gel. This indicates that PSF technology has a wide application prospect in the surimi gel processing industry, food processing and related material fields.Industrial relevance: PSF can enhance the commodity value of low-value freshwater fish products and has potential in surimi gel new product development. The development of new products and the use of new resources are very important in addressing the global food crisis and resource shortages. In addition, PSF units with self-cooling systems offer opportunities for scale-up and commercialization.

Production of pharmaceutical micro and nano particles by subcritical water based technologies: A review

Low bioavailability of the drug caused by two factors of low aqueous solubility and low rate of drug dissolution is one of the most important challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. The reduction of particle size to micro or nano scale is one of the methods utilized in recent years to increase the solubility and dissolution rate of drugs with low aqueous solubility. In recent years, much attention has been paid to subcritical water as a green and bio-friendly solvent. The process of subcritical water has eliminated many of the disadvantages of conventional methods for reducing particle size. Thus, the present study performed a comprehensive review of the studies and the latest advances in the production of pharmaceutical micro and nano particles with low solubility in water using subcritical water based technologies. Subcritical water based technologies were divided into three main categories: a combination of subcritical water technology with a supercritical fluid process, a spray drying process, and anti-solvent precipitation. Nano-drugs that have been produced by these methods so far have been listed. The influence of operating parameters on the properties of the produced particles has been examined. Special emphasis has been put on the method of production of pharmaceutical micro and nano particles using the method of combining subcritical water technology with the anti-solvent precipitation method. Finally, the prospects of existing challenges and opportunities for scale-up and commercialization of particle production technology using subcritical water are discussed.

Human Health on the Moon and Beyond and the Results of the Spaceflight for Everybody Symposium.

INTRODUCTION:In 2022, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began launching missions to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon. One key to success will be maintaining human health. In preparation for longer missions with more diverse crews, the Spaceflight for Everybody Symposium was held to review currently known human spaceflight biomedical knowledge, the future of exploration space medicine, and the ability of NASA to manage the spaceflight human health risks and enable exploration. The symposium highlighted the future of precision health/personalized medicine, the possible spaceflight health acute and lifetime illnesses, and the challenge of identifying appropriate prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and autonomous medical systems for long-duration spaceflight. The symposium was organized to look back at NASA exploration, science, and leadership successes, celebrate NASA women's leadership, and focus on future Artemis activities, including research and development that will benefit both spaceflight and terrestrial life. NASA current preparations for returning to the Moon have led to increased acknowledgment of the importance of workforce diversity, i.e., to use the best candidate in every work position, including the plan for the first woman and person of color to land on the Moon. NASA is developing plans to use commercial spaceflight research opportunities when the International Space Station is no longer available. Astronaut health decisions will consist of individualized health risk determinations and mitigation strategies and increased medical self-care. Research findings include improved exploration cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and radiation risk reduction and improved interpersonal support for both astronaut crews and mission control personnel.Schneider V, Siegel B, Allen JR. Human health on the Moon and beyond and the results of the Spaceflight for Everybody Symposium. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2023; 94(8):634-643.

Review on microalgae protein and its current and future utilisation in the food industry

SummaryMicroalgae, the photosynthetic microorganisms, open novel commercial opportunities for developing new products because of their abundance in protein, carbohydrates, pigments, vitamins and minerals. These microorganisms possess several advantages such as rapid growth, minimal land and water requirements and adaptability to various environmental conditions. As concerns arise regarding the ability of animal and plant‐based sources to meet future protein demands, researchers have turned their attention to microalgae like Spirulina and Chlorella for various applications. Microalgae typically contain around 30% protein and in case of few cyanobacteria it can reach up to 55%–60%, surpassing the protein content of conventional sources. Numerous studies have investigated the utilisation of algal biomass to enhance the protein content of a wide range of food products, including cookies, bread, yoghurt, snacks, dairy alternatives and soups. This comprehensive review aims to provide a systematic exploration of microalgae protein and its current and future utilisation in the food industry.

Negating Non-proliferation? The Potential Sino-South Challenge to Nuclear Market Regulation

ABSTRACT Developing industrial-scale nuclear energy projects requires substantial technical expertise, access to complex fuel supply chains and long-term financial capital. For developing countries investing in civil nuclear energy programmes, securing external support is crucial. However, the nuclear technology trade market is heavily regulated and rather thin. Exporter states must balance commercial opportunity with security interests, given nuclear technology’s dual use. Because of this, incumbent exporters bear responsibility in crafting and enforcing market regulations. As highlighted by the budding Chinese-Argentinian relationship, newly capable market entrants, particularly the People’s Republic of China (PRC), have the potential to challenge international non-proliferation norms by fulfilling market demand where other, predominately Western, states have demurred. The strength of nuclear markets’ non-proliferation-oriented regulatory structures hinges on nascent relationships between entrepreneurial exporters and participating Global South states.

Antibacterial and catalytic performance of rGO-CNT-ZrO2 composite

ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been a rise in public awareness regarding antibacterial properties and commercial opportunities for their use in the medical field. The current study describes the fabrication of a ternary composite, reduced graphene oxide-carbon nanotubes-zirconium oxide (rGO-CNT-ZrO2), and their potential applications for antimicrobial activity and catalytic degradation of neutral red, indigo carmine and eriochrome black-T dyes. In addition, the capability of nanocomposite for UV sensing was examined. These nanocomposites were made using the hydrothermal method. TEM, SEM, FTIR, TGA and XRD were used to characterise and investigate the properties of nanocomposite, and the disc diffusion technique was used to assess their antimicrobial activity. These findings suggest that the developed composite has excellent antimicrobial properties, which could be helpful in the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

Biological activity of dried infused sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) leaf tea formulated with different milk and sugar contents

Milk tea is a popular global beverage, but it also has high sugar and fat contents that can lead to chronic diseases. Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) leaves contain various phenolic compounds with significant antioxidant and health benefits, but the biological impacts of interactions between sapodilla and other food ingredients in food systems have not been investigated. This study assessed ingredient interactions with the biological properties of functional sapodilla milk tea. Dried sapodilla leaves were infused with hot water at 1 g/120 mL and 1 g/68 mL and formulated with almond milk, soy milk, fat-free cow milk, and lactose-free cow milk. Each formulation was determined for color, total phenolic content, and total antioxidant activity using ABTS and FRAP assays. Two sweeteners, white sugar and smart-branded sugar, were added and tested for antioxidant capacity and sensory acceptability. The formulations were measured for estimated glycemic index (GI), antioxidant capacity, and sensory acceptability compared to commercial products. Results revealed a prototype with a lower estimated GI than commercial products (p<0.05) and high overall liking score of 7.6 (n=30). Functional ingredients from natural sources such as sapodilla leaves can be successfully incorporated into foods, providing novel functional product categories and new commercial opportunities.

Robinson Crusoe: After the island

ABSTRACT Charting an anti-colonial or even postcolonial current, this article recovers ironic and satirical meanings in Robinson Crusoe. After he leaves the island, Crusoe trades isolation for commercial opportunities in Asia. Alongside other books plundered by Defoe, Dampier’s Voyages is comparable because the pirate-navigator-cartographer is one among many models. As Defoe was negotiating the politics of the English Royal Court at the time of the wars of the Spanish succession, the Farther Adventures (book two) involves Crusoe in a transformative crisis. Reading Defoe and Dampier together supports an argument about postcoloniality, understood in Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s ironic and restricted sense of a critical broadside against the decolonial hoax that smuggles in neocolonial ideologies. In parallel with Dampier, Crusoe ends up hauling opium from Bengal and running from the East India Company in Cochinchina (present-day Vietnam), as Defoe launches a Lockean critique of violence, and profit remains the currency of the realm.

Transgender healthcare, telehealth, venture capital and community

Accessing reliable and competent gender-affirming medical care is often difficult for transgender people. FOLX is a telehealth and pharmaceutical delivery start-up which launched in late 2020, primarily offering gender-affirming hormone therapy for a monthly fee. FOLX’s marketing makes extensive use of social media and online influencers, and the company frequently highlights a goal of being created ‘by and for’ transgender people. This article examines FOLX’s deployment of narratives of community, collectivity, unmet need and commercial opportunity, examining the company’s website, social media posts and media coverage and interviews with the founder. Ultimately, it argues that while the core business offering of FOLX meets a need for a marginalized and underserved population, their deployment of narratives about community support should be regarded with some scepticism. These narratives appear in some cases to co-opt community values of collectivity, mutual aid and support for the benefit of venture capital firms.

Incentivizing sustainable fire management in Australia's northern arid spinifex grasslands

Fire management across Australia's fire-prone 1.2 M km2 northern savannas region has been transformed over the past decade supported by the inception of Australia's national regulated emissions reduction market in 2012. Today, incentivised fire management is undertaken over a quarter of that entire region, providing a range of socio-cultural, environmental, and economic benefits, including for remote Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) communities and enterprises. Building on those advances, here we explore the emissions abatement potential for expanding incentivised fire management opportunities to include a contiguous fire-prone region, extending to monsoonal but annually lower (<600 mm) and more variable rainfall conditions, supporting predominantly shrubby spinifex (Triodia) hummock grasslands characteristic of much of Australia's deserts and semi-arid rangelands. Adapting a standard methodological approach applied previously for assessing savanna emissions parameters, we first describe fire regime and associated climatic attributes for a proposed ∼850,000 km2 lower rainfall (600–350 mm MAR) focal region. Second, based on regional field assessments of seasonal fuel accumulation, combustion, burnt area patchiness, and accountable methane and nitrous oxide Emission Factor parameters, we find that significant emissions abatement is feasible for regional hummock grasslands. This applies specifically for more frequently burnt sites under higher rainfall conditions if substantial early dry season prescribed fire management is undertaken resulting in marked reduction in late dry season wildfires. The proposed Northern Arid Zone (NAZ) focal envelope is substantially under Indigenous land ownership and management, and in addition to reducing emissions impacts associated with recurrent extensive wildfires, development of commercial landscape-scale fire management opportunities would significantly support social, cultural and biodiversity management aspirations as promoted by Indigenous landowners. Combined with existing regulated savanna fire management regions, inclusion of the NAZ under existing legislated abatement methodologies would effectively provide incentivised fire management covering a quarter of Australia's landmass. This could complement an allied (non-carbon) accredited method valuing combined social, cultural and biodiversity outcomes from enhanced fire management of hummock grasslands. Although the management approach has potential application to other international fire-prone savanna grasslands, caution is required to ensure that such practice does not result in irreversible woody encroachment and undesirable habitat change.

METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF MONITORING INDICATORS OF ENERGY SECURITY IN THE ACTIVITIES OF BUSINESS STRUCTURES

The article proves that the energy security monitoring system of business structures is an effective tool for monitoring and ensuring the normal functioning of various types of economic objects and processes. This economic category has been used for a long time and quite widely in the field of production and business activity of industrial enterprises. In order to increase the efficiency of the economy, along with the reforms carried out at the macro level, it is necessary to reform the activities of individual enterprises as subjects of the micro level. At the same time, the role and significance of the management component of the functioning of industrial enterprises is determined, based on the analysis of the information received by the enterprise and the monitoring of production, sales and management processes. A methodical approach to monitoring the energy security of business structures has been developed. An analytical monitoring function is proposed, which can be sufficiently objective to reflect the existence of economic security at the enterprise. The theoretical and methodical foundations of energy security monitoring, which are based on production, commercial and financial performance indicators of the enterprise, are considered. Existing monitoring systems consider its possibilities extremely broadly, including anti-crisis, environmental, financial, innovative and other types of monitoring. It is proven that the theory and practice of economic monitoring does not sufficiently illuminate its possibilities in relation to industrial and commercial activity. A meaningful sequence of stages of monitoring financial and production and commercial activity of an industrial enterprise is proposed. It has been proven that an enterprise's assessment of its commercial opportunities, the state of its target market, economic changes in it, the determination of its position on the market in relation to similar goods and substitute goods, and the determination of possible prospects and directions of innovative development can be carried out quite effectively using the principles and methods of economic monitoring. Methodical provisions for monitoring the energy security of an industrial enterprise have been developed. with the use of monitoring functions. The proposed function is defined in the interval [-1; +1] and due to its non-linearity, it becomes possible to track the gradient of changes in the energy security results of the enterprise. The size of this change is the basis for monitoring the level of energy security of an industrial enterprise.

أثر الوسائل المادية في إنقاذ المشاريع التجارية المتعثرة

Giving troubled commercial projects legal opportunities to rearrange their affairs, and then return them to commercial life is similar to returning the dying person to his normal life. The commercial law is either a cause of bankruptcy which causes many employees layoff or it can give a legal chance as to make the merchant make use of his mistakes and back to his work. It is necessary to find solutions represented by means that prevent bankruptcy on stumbling projects, and at the forefront of these material means is the release of the debts, which represents a real guarantee to get out of the financial crisis of these commercial projects, through which it is possible to convince the mass of creditors to absolve the troubled project or company from debts, as well as the release. The acquisition method can be relied on to save the troubled projects, and this requires that there be an agreement Effective control, according to legal procedures, by a company with a strong financial position, over a reluctant, sick, troubled company.