Development time and new product sales: A contingency analysis of product innovativeness and price

Opposing theories and conflicting empirical results with regard to the effect of development time on new product sales suggest the need for a contingency analysis into factors affecting this relationship. This study uses a unique combination of accounting and perceptual data from 129 product development projects to test the combined contingency effect of product innovativeness and new product price on the relationship between development time and new product sales. The results show that for radically new products with short development times, price has no effect on new product sales. When the development time is long, price has a negative effect on the sales of radical new products. The findings additionally show that price has no effect on sales for incremental new products with short development times and a negative effect for incremental new products with long development times. Together, these findings shed new light on the relationship between development time and new product sales

The Biology and Economics of Coral Growth

To protect natural coral reefs, it is of utmost importance to understand how the growth of the main reef-building organisms—the zooxanthellate scleractinian corals—is controlled. Understanding coral growth is also relevant for coral aquaculture, which is a rapidly developing business. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of factors that can influence the growth of zooxanthellate scleractinian corals, with particular emphasis on interactions between these factors. Furthermore, the kinetic principles underlying coral growth are discussed. The reviewed information is put into an economic perspective by making an estimation of the costs of coral aquaculture

Physiology and Biochemistry of the Aerobic Methanotrophs

Methanotrophs are a widely distributed group of aerobic bacteria that use methane as their source of carbon and energy. They play key roles in the global carbon cycle, including controlling anthropogenic and natural emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. Methanotrophs oxidize methane using the unique enzyme methane monooxygenase which exists in two structurally and biochemically distinct forms. One form, the membrane-associated or particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), is found in most known methanotrophs and is located in the cytoplasmic membrane. Another form, the soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO), is found in some methanotrophs and is located in the cytoplasm. Both forms of MMO can co-oxidize a range of hydrocarbons and chlorinated pollutants and hence are interesting with respect to the biotechnological potential of methanotrophs. Methanol is further oxidized to formaldehyde, formate, and CO2, by specific methylotrophic enzymes, while biomass is built from formaldehyde, formate, CO2, or a combination thereof via three cyclic biochemical pathways: the ribulose monophosphate (RuMP) cycle, the serine pathway, and the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. The availability of genome sequences of methanotrophs enables postgenomic studies to investigate the regulation of methane oxidation in the laboratory and in the environment by natural methanotrophs and in laboratory or industrial conditions by platform organisms. Recent studies have included synthetic biology approaches and in future may incorporate the design of new pathways