Product Ideas Research Articles

The Impact of Green Consumerism on The Chinese Commodity Market

Recently, the idea of sustainable products has gained popularity all around the world. The market for environmental protection products is expanding as a result of the weakening of the economy, the worsening of global environmental issues, and the increase in public awareness of environmental protection. Environmental consciousness is growing in China, and the government has boosted the promotion of green products. The commodity markets in China are being impacted by green consumerism. This report, based on literature research, evaluates the influences of green consumerism on consumer behavior, the second-hand market, and individual firms in China. The findings indicate that China's commodity market has undergone a significant transformation as a result of eco-friendly consumerism. The second-hand market has grown a lot; the green management of companies has accelerated; social media and government policies have played a huge role in promoting the concept of environmentally friendly consumption among individuals and companies. However, the market for sustainable consumption in China is still in its infancy. There are still numerous issues that need to be resolved, such as green premiums and false environmental propaganda. In the future, as environmental consumerism intensifies, the commodity market in China will experience more significant adjustments.

Service Delivery Considerations for Introducing New Injectable Contraceptives Lasting 4 and 6 Months in Nigeria and Uganda: A Qualitative Study.

New family planning (FP) product introduction requires understanding the target market and support from stakeholders from across the health sector. We aimed to understand the perspectives of FP providers and other stakeholders on the potential introduction of new subcutaneous (SC) depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injectable contraceptives lasting 4 and 6 months in Nigeria and Uganda. Between July 2021 and February 2022, we conducted 48 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and 11 focus group discussions (FGDs) with FP providers and other stakeholders involved with service delivery, program management, and policymaking in Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria and Kampala and Luwero in Uganda. IDIs and FGDs explored respondents' reactions to and preferences for the new injectables lasting 4 and 6 months. Most respondents liked the idea of longer-acting DMPA-SC products, noting the potential for reduced facility visits for clients and workloads for providers, cost savings for users and the health system, and potential for improved commodity logistics. Some nonproviders raised concerns about confusion among providers and clients with the availability of multiple injectable products; however, providers did not share this concern. The greatest interest among all groups was for the 6-month injectable, even without the option for self-injection. Several respondents reported that self-injection is not widespread in either context, and some noted that contact with a provider would be important for products with longer durations. Respondents' acceptability of the new injectables assumed that side effects would be no worse than the existing 3-month product. Family planning stakeholders in Nigeria and Uganda are supportive of expanding the method mix with new injectables, which they see as having the potential to meet the needs of more users. Concerted engagement of health providers, policymakers, and the community will be necessary for successful introduction once these new contraceptive products are available.

Keys to Building an Innovative and Entrepreneurial Campus Ecosystem: Practices to Policies

More than 40 years after the Bayh-Dole Act empowered universities to capitalize on their research discovery and invention, significant opportunities remain in the vast potential for translating this intellectual property (IP) for the benefit of society. In the meantime, corporations have shrunk their basic research laboratories and sought further-developed, less-risky product ideas while the need for new problem-solving knowledge and innovation, from health and energy to technology and ecology, expands. Colleges and universities, regardless of their Carnegie classification, can seize this opportunity to leverage the expertise, creativity, and passion for making a difference in their faculty, students, and staff by developing entrepreneurial ecosystems of discovery, development, and commercialization. This article identifies experiences, opportunities, infrastructure, policies, and practices to stimulate such an ecosystem drawing on the author's experiences and observations at three diverse institutions over two decades. Those stimulants include increased creative and entrepreneurial activity; integration of curricular and co-curricular activities beginning with undergraduates; focus on entrepreneurship career options; more opportunities to advance IP; transdisciplinary collaboration; collaborative spaces; streamlined, supported translation and licensing processes; and impact on faculty and staff evaluation. This approach advances higher education's mission to serve students and society and opens the potential for new solutions that elevate well-being.

CuCo2O4@ACoNi-LDH (A=Fe, Cu, Zn, Cr) as efficient electrocatalyst for freshwater, seawater and urea oxidation reaction

Water electrolysis has a promising prospect in the production of green hydrogen energy, but its oxygen evolution reaction kinetics is relatively slow. Therefore, in this experiment, CuCo2O4@ACoNi-LDH (A = Fe, Cu, Zn, Cr) with heterogeneous core-shell catalytic material was firstly prepared by means of hydrothermal and calcination process, and its anodic oxidation reaction in freshwater, seawater and urea was investigated. In the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of electrolytic water, CuCo2O4@CuCoNi-LDH displays the best catalytic activity. When the current density is 10 mA cm−2, only the overpotential of 199 mV is needed (potential of 1.429 V). The competitive oxidation and corrosion of chloride ions in seawater result in the decrease of catalytic activity. For urea oxidation reaction (UOR), CuCo2O4@FeCoNi-LDH displays the best catalytic performance, only potential of 1.292 V was required with the same current density, and the catalyst had good stability during the reaction for 12 h. Density functional theory calculation shows that CuCo2O4 plays an important role in the catalytic process. The synergistic catalysis of FeCoNi-LDH and CuCo2O4 results in the improvement of catalyst activity and stability. The CuCo2O4 material plays a key role in catalyzing urea splitting and the FeCoNi-LDH material protects CuCo2O4 from corrosion according to experimental results and density functional theory calculations. This experiment provides a new idea for the hydrogen production, exploration and the treatment of urea wastewater for transition metal oxides and layered hydroxides electrocatalyst with core-shell heterostructure.

Entrepreneurial Culture and Innovation by 1-3 Star Rated Hotels in Kenya

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to assess the effect of entrepreneurial culture as a driver of innovation by 1-3 star rated hotels in Kenya.
 Methodology: This study considered positivism philosophy, a quantitative measurement paradigm. The study targeted 111 hotels (1-3 star rated) through census, of which 3 respondents per hotel (CEO, Finance manager, and Operations manager) were considered, from the hotels’ list provided by the Kenya Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA). A cross-sectional survey was conducted where the self-administered questionnaire was used. Both the reliability and validity tests were done before the data analysis. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of Excel and SPSS version 25.0. The hypotheses were presented and tested using multiple analysis and accepted at 95 percent confidence level.
 Results: The study hypothesized that the effect of entrepreneurial culture on innovation by 1-3 stars rated hotels in Kenya is not statistically significant. The study revealed that entrepreneurial culture has a positive and significant effect on hotel innovation by 1-3 star rated hotels in Kenya (β=0.567, p=0.000). This implies that improvement in 1 unit of the aspects related to entrepreneurial culture leads to an improvement in hotel innovation by 1-3 star rated hotels in Kenya by 0.567 units. This implies that an increase in entrepreneurial culture results in an increase in hotel innovation by 1-3 star rated hotels in Kenya. The study concludes that there is an entrepreneurial culture that can be concluded to enhance the innovation of the hotels. This has been noted where the hotel management always appreciates new business ideas from employees and other stakeholders. The management portrays the visionary leadership style that ensures the continuity of the business. In extension, the hotels that have excelled in innovation, encourage and support employees to continue pursuing new opportunities even when their previous ones had failed to pick up as expected; values communication as a tool for effective innovative strategies; appreciates the use of modern technology as a mechanism to offer reinforcement to innovation; employs risk management strategies in the course of innovation process and always embraces new changes that come with new ideas discovered and exploited.
 Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The study recommends that hotel entrepreneurs be proactive in seeking new product ideas and customer product information which will in turn enable them to create ideas for coming up with innovative products. Studies have shown that there is a positive and significant impact of entrepreneurial culture on all the perceived performance measures, with the exception of perceived financial performance measures.

Clean and efficient Zr/Hf(Ⅳ) separation system constructed by bisamide ionic liquid

Nuclear energy is an indispensable clean energy. We design a new type functional ILs [(RNCO)2Cn·H]2[MCl6] (M = Zr,Hf) by using the green solvent bisamide to separate the key metals Zr(IV) and Hf(IV) of nuclear energy field [(RNCO)2Cn·H2][Cl]2 was obtained by protonation reaction of bisamide (RNCO)2Cn, it can be used as an ionic liquid (ILs) to provide a cationic center [(RNCO)2CnH]+, but also has a dual function as a solvent. The ionic liquid (ILs) [(RNCO)2Cn·H]2[MCl6] can be rapidly formed by [(RNCO)2CnH]+ and transition metal anions ZrCl62−/HfCl62− in an acidic chloride system at a room temperature. From the perspective of material energy and frontier molecular orbital (FMO), it is confirmed that [(RNCO)2Cn·H]2[MCl6] is formed by an anion association mechanism [(RNCO)2Cn·H]2[MCl6] can be stable in organic solvents when contacting with a high concentration acidic chloride system. At the same time, the ILs have high thermal stability that decomposes temperature above 300 °C. It is surprising that separation and purification of Zr/Hf(Ⅳ) can be done efficiently via the different stability of anion centers formed by Zr/Hf(Ⅳ) in acidic chloride systems. When the concentration of (RNCO)2Cn is 25 %, the separation coefficient of Zr(IV) and Hf(IV) can reach 11.4. And this work proposes the concept of recycling of organic solvents and acidic solutions, which provides an effective research idea for the clean production of nuclear energy metals.

Risk management for barter exchange policy under retail industry

Nowadays, barter exchange has become growingly popular in the national and global industries as an alternative to excessive inventory transfers. Many companies exchange their surplus products on barter platforms for products they need without using money. In a traditional supply chain, the retailer holds unsold products that hinder the supply chain's profitability from reaching its maximum level. This paper solves this issue by proposing a stochastic model of two players (single manufacturer, single retailer) with trade-credit (delayed payment) and barter exchange policy under a supply chain management. In this work, to entice the retailer and increase sales, the manufacturer grants a credit payment facility to the retailer on the items ordered for a specified period, and the manufacturer does not charge any interest on the outstanding amount during this credit period. The concept of a credit period raises the possibility of default risk. In this case, some interest is charged. Several investments are made here to diminish setup and ordering costs and improve the product quality of the system. This work focuses on the flexible production to manage the demand uncertainty and the marginal reduction technology to lessen carbon emissions that occur during the production and inventory holding. In contrast, a retailer can exchange unsold items in the barter market for its required products, which is extensively discussed in this study. Finally, the maximum profit is assessed in terms of credit period, investments, quality improvement, and production rate. The result numerically and graphically proves a huge impact of the barter platform for any business industry on overstock transfers, conserving cash, managing unpredictable demand, and reaching the maximum profit. Moreover, the significant finding is observed in the proposed work that the idea of the flexible production, barter exchange policy, and several investments increase the system profit up to 50.55%.

Fatigue‐crack‐propagation behavior and mechanism of long hemp‐fiber‐enhanced styrene–butadiene rubber/carbon black compounds

AbstractBiomass renewable fiber has the advantages of low cost and environmental friendliness; however, its application as a reinforcement material is limited owing to its poor reinforcement effect. Thus, expanding its application is still a major challenge. This study investigates the effect of hemp fiber (HF) of different lengths on the mechanical properties and fatigue behavior of styrene‐butadiene rubber/carbon black (SBR/CB) compounds using high‐pressure low‐shear extrusion. The results showed that the length of the HF retained by the extrusion process was approximately 10 times that of the traditional internal mixing process (internal mixing and open mixing). Interface bonding between the long HF coated with butadiene‐vinyl pyridine latex (VPL) and the SBR/CB matrix was improved significantly. This inhibited the fatigue‐crack propagation and considerably improved the dynamic fatigue life of the notched specimens. The dynamic fatigue life of the notched specimens of the composite prepared by the extrusion process was approximately nine times longer than that of the traditional internal mixing process. The results showed that the long HF length retained after the extrusion process effectively enhanced the strength of the rubber composites and significantly improved the dynamic fatigue life of rubber products under alternating stress.Highlights The raw material, hemp fiber, is a renewable resource, low cost and environmentally friendly. Pioneering a new process for preparing rubber composite materials, replacing the traditional process for preparing composite materials. High‐pressure, low‐shear extrusion process retains the length of the hemp fibers and improves rubber composites properties. Compared to traditional processes，long fiber length is 10 times longer by the extrusion process and fatigue life is increased to 9 times. High‐pressure, low‐shear extrusion process enables mass production, opening up new ideas for rubber industrial production.

New strategies to address world food security and elimination of malnutrition: future role of coarse cereals in human health.

As we face increasing challenges of world food security and malnutrition, coarse cereals are coming into favor as an important supplement to human staple foods due to their high nutritional value. In addition, their functional components, such as flavonoids and polyphenols, make them an important food source for healthy diets. However, we lack a systematic understanding of the importance of coarse cereals for world food security and nutritional goals. This review summarizes the worldwide cultivation and distribution of coarse cereals, indicating that the global area for coarse cereal cultivation is steadily increasing. This paper also focuses on the special adaptive mechanisms of coarse cereals to drought and discusses the strategies to improve coarse cereal crop yields from the perspective of agricultural production systems. The future possibilities, challenges, and opportunities for coarse cereal production are summarized in the face of food security challenges, and new ideas for world coarse cereal production are suggested.

Who responds to critical feedback? The effects of self-leadership on entrepreneurial product pivoting behavior

This paper draws on the self-leadership literature to explore who is more likely to respond to critical performance feedback in an early-stage entrepreneurial context. We perform a multi-round laboratory experiment in which participants brainstorm ideas for cricket-based food products, select their best idea, receive randomly generated feedback indicating that their idea is either above average (i.e., non-critical feedback) or below average (i.e., critical feedback), and then decide whether to stick with their original or pivot to a different idea. Results reveal that individuals low in behavioral awareness and constructive cognition, and those high in task motivation, are more likely to pivot to a new product in response to critical feedback. Given the central role responding to feedback plays in entrepreneurship (and in other contexts), these results shed needed light on the question of who is more likely to adapt in response to critical feedback and who is predisposed toward inaction.

Bionic leaf-inspired catalyst bed structure for solar membrane reactor aiming at efficient hydrogen production and separation

Membrane reactor technology permits efficient solar thermochemical conversion at low temperatures, but the performance is often limited by concentration polarization. To cope with the hydrogen (H2) concentration polarization in solar membrane reactors, this study proposes a bionic solar membrane reactor (BSMR) inspired by the excellent production-transport management ability of leaves. Designing the structural parameters of the bionic catalyst bed obtains the efficient BSMR, and mechanistically analyzes its reaction and separation performance enhancement. The results show that the BSMR achieves a synergistic reinforcement pattern of ordered H2 separation driving reaction and reaction providing H2 separation pressure at >90° pore block tilt angle, while large porosity differences and small pore block lengths can further amplify this synergy. Currently, the BSMR with pore blocks of 140° tilt angle, 20 mm length and 0.3 low porosity has the optimal performance, which improves methane conversion and hydrogen recovery by 13.4–99.0% and 13.7–99.0%, respectively, relative to the conventional solar membrane reactor under different operating conditions. Also, it is shown that optimal performance enhancement is achieved at high steam-to-methane ratios, low inlet temperatures and high inlet flow rates. In general, the design referring to leaves makes BSMR well inherit the consistently superior performance of leaves, providing new ideas for efficient hydrogen production and separation.

Sick Time: Medicine, Management, and Slavery in Louisiana and Cuba, 1763–1868

Capitalist ideas of productivity became central to medicine under slavery. They shaped how physicians treated enslaved patients, crafted a scientific basis for medicine, and conceived of themselves as professionals. Between the late-eighteenth-century and the mid-nineteenth-century, white male physicians in Louisiana and Cuba distinguished themselves from other healers: first, by aligning with Spanish colonialism, and then, by making themselves essential to a new form of plantation management that used clock-time discipline, hierarchical divisions of labor, and complex accounting systems. These technologies helped planters track the hours and days each enslaved person spent working, eating, sleeping, birthing, suffering from sickness and injuries, and recovering. This in turn enabled precise interpretations of enslaved health in terms of productivity, which was primarily measured in work time and the number of commodities produced. Physicians, who were seeking a rigorous intellectual foundation for medical knowledge production, latched onto planter methods of calculating and controlling enslaved health. One of those methods was what planters and physicians called “sick time,” which was an allotment of time away from work intended to manage illness enough for enslaved people to return to work. However, as physicians used plantation management to cast an air of scientific accuracy over their knowledge, enslaved people reconfigured their own medical practices to make themselves less visible and countable. Fugitive practices involving trees, animals, and natural springs helped enslaved people to heal by taking their own forms of sick time.

Not just for play: Why the metaverse should be leveraged for cocreation

Cocreation acknowledges consumers as collaborators rather than as mere recipients of products. While web-based platforms have facilitated the cocreation process by enabling firms to interact with a large number of consumers directly, continuously, and in real time, this article proposes that the metaverse, which refers to an interconnected network of virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously by an unlimited number of users, should also be considered as a platform for cocreation. Although many firms are focusing on leveraging the metaverse to increase consumer engagement or to enhance retail experiences, this article focuses on its potential to eliminate knowledge and experience boundaries, which have been identified as a limitation of cocreating with consumers. Specifically, the metaverse enables consumers to develop innovative new product ideas by creating immersive environments that blend physical and virtual worlds to provide near-realistic experiences that were once beyond the scope of consumers’ normal experiences. I propose that the metaverse allows firms to incorporate essential elements of cocreation in immersive environments, and I provide guidelines on how the metaverse can be used effectively by integrating new experiences (extended reality), new motivations (shared experiences), and new partners (Gen Z).

Customers’ Motives to Engage in Social Media-based Product Idea Contests – Empirical Evidence from Germany

An empirical motive study based on the design science approach is presented. The aim of the study is to develop specific problem-solving knowledge in the form of artefacts that can be directly applied in marketing practice. The problem-solving knowledge relates to consumers’ motives for participating in product idea contests (PICs) in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. The research phases underlying the motive study are guided by a five-phase design science research process. As a result of this research process, two artefacts are developed: a multi-item motive scale and a factor analytic motive model. The motive model includes six participation motives – three intrinsic (enjoyment with creative tasks, altruism and search for new/better product solutions) and three extrinsic motives (material–financial reward, identification with the user community and positive feedback from participants/company). Finally, the motive model enables the derivation of recommendations for action for the PIC management.

Mechanism of amino acid delay on thermal aggregation behavior of liquid egg yolk: Thermal aggregation, water distribution, molecular structure

Liquid Egg yolk (LEY) tend to aggregate during pasteurization and lead to pipe blockage, which has become a thorny problem in food industry. In this paper, the mechanism of two common amino acid osmolytes (betaine and proline) delaying thermal aggregation of LEY was investigated. The result showed that addition of 3% betaine or proline improved thermal denaturation temperature of LEY in rheology and also reduced its viscoelasticity. The addition of amino acid shrinked particle size distribution of LEY. Betaine LEY (BLEY) had strong surface hydrophobicity while proline LEY (PLEY) had excellent solubility, both of which maintained its emulsifying property. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that BLEY and PLEY had more porous surfaces, and the structure was more loose compared with LEY at the same temperature. The relaxation time T2 indicated that betaine and proline can alleviate conversion of free water to immobilized and bound water during heat treatment process, thereby reducing the degree of thermal aggregation and viscosity. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) demonstrated the tendency of α-helix transformed to β-sheet as heating progress. Compared with LEY, the structure of BLEY and PLEY was more ordered, suggesting that orderliness of structure was the foundation for delaying thermal aggregation. In conclusion, this study provided a new idea and theoretical basis for production of heat-resistant LEY.

The Effect of Polypropylene Fibers on the Behavior of Fiber Self-Compacting Concrete

Fiber self-compacting concrete (FSCC), is a concrete that has been combined with fiber in its mix design. Extensive benefits of self-compacting concrete (SCC) in full fill the mold and achieving full compaction without vibration, with good behavior after concrete cracking, raise the idea of self-compacting concrete production. The fundamental challenge in this area is the unsatisfactory performance of concrete with fibers; In other words, using fibers in concrete will reduce concrete fluidity. Therefore, determining the appropriate percentage of fibers in SCC can be a precursor to extending the use of FSCC. In this study, polypropylene fibers with 0.5, 1, 0.1, and 2% of concrete mix design have been added to the self-compacting concrete mix design. Its impact on the performance of concrete has been evaluated using time and diameter of slump-flow, L-Box, J-ring, and V-funnel flow time tests. Based on the criteria defined by EFNARC standard, it was indicated that the FSCC containing 0.5% polypropylene fibers has an acceptable performance. Additionally, the effect of polypropylene fiber on the mechanical properties of hardened concrete has been studied using compressive strength and tensile tests and shown that changes in FSCC compressive strength and tensile with 0.5% polypropylene fiber are negligible.

Research on Marketing Strategy Innovation of Agricultural Products under the Background of Digital Economy

Based on the research background of digital economy, this paper puts forward the basic idea of agricultural products marketing model, focusing on the key words of "flow", "big data", "cross-border" to promote the innovation of agricultural products marketing strategy. And on this basis, this paper explores five modes of agricultural products marketing innovation: promoting the whole process of visual marketing of agricultural products, relying on social platform personal IP marketing of agricultural products, live broadcast + factory + farm marketing mode, agricultural products crowdfunding platform sales mode, agricultural products + adoption marketing mode and agricultural products F2C marketing mode. In order to effectively promote the operation of these modes, this paper also puts forward three countermeasures and suggestions from the aspects of brand building of agricultural products, value perception of agricultural products and innovation of agricultural products consumption scene.

Unique architecture in conditions of conflicting objectives and subjective factors (stadium case studies) (Moscow)

Unique buildings reflect a social demand for innovative urban space organization, new perspectives of human activities, and growing need for a safe and favorable environment. Architectural design of unique buildings, especially at early stages, is complicated by uncertainty of functional tasks, absence of regulatory requirements, and necessity for significant modifications during the process. The design experience of stadiums for 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia shows the development of a productive creative idea. The development of this typology is identified by a comprehensive analysis of the architectural heritage and scientific literature. Requirements of international sports organizations for spatial and planning solutions of sports arenas are summarized herein, which form the basis of the Russian construction standardization. Recommendations are provided for the architectural concept preservation.

An Analysis of Product Innovation and Competitive Advantage in Selected Plastic Manufacturing Industries in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria

This study examined product innovation and competitive advantage in selected plastic manufacturing industries in Onitsha. The precise goals of this study are to ascertain the contribution of sensing capability, seizing capability, and transformation capability to the achievement of competitive advantage. The dynamic capability theory underlies this investigation. The study used a descriptive research design for its study. Personnel from four specific Onitsha plastic factories make up the study's population of 168. Taro Yamane’s formula was employed to get a sample size of 120. The study's data were produced using a structured questionnaire. Primary data were collected from the respondent. The data gathered were analyzed using multiple regression method. The study found that sensing capability, seizing capability and transforming capability had significant positive relationship with competitive advantage. The study concludes that product innovation has significant positive relationship with competitive advantage in plastic manufacturing industries in Onitsha. The study made several recommendations, including that businesses constantly strive to invest in diverse new product ideas and improve the existing products in order to get a competitive advantage over rivals.

Polyimide/ZnIn2S4 heterostructures toward outstanding photocatalytic H2O2 production from pure water and air

The photocatalytic production of H2O2 using the abundant water and air on earth is promising. Herein, the flower-like polyimide/ZnIn2S4 heterostructures were prepared by a simple two-step solvothermal method, where the tight interface formed between polyimide (PI) and ZnIn2S4 microspheres facilitated the separation and migration of photo-generated charges. Under air condition, the photocatalytic H2O2 production rate without any sacrificial agent is as high as 411.07 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 15.4 and 3.2 times higher than that of the pristine PI and ZnIn2S4 microspheres, respectively. Meanwhile, the PI/ZnIn2S4-2 has excellent reusability, and the H2O2 production of PI/ZnIn2S4-2 maintained 80% of its original value after five cycles. Moreover, the as-prepared samples underwent comprehensive characterization using various techniques, and the photocatalytic mechanism was also studied in detail. Active species capture experiments showed that e− and ·O2− played the primary role in this reaction system. This work provides a novel idea for photocatalytic H2O2 production in pure water and air.