Learning from subsistence marketplaces and beyond: A cross-sectoral comparison in Benin

Subsistence Marketplaces publishes studies that study consumers, entrepreneurs, and marketplaces from a broad range of low income contexts in their own right, transcending the boundaries between sectors and disciplines to derive practically meaningful implications. This paper contributes to accomplishing the mission of the new journal by contextualizing market learning theory to subsistence marketplaces. More specifically, the study links two modes of market learning (exploration and exploitation) with producers’ livelihood performance. It hypothesizes that within subsistence marketplaces, producers benefit the most from exploration but to seize a market opportunity beyond the subsistence context, BoP producers should strengthen their exploitative learning processes. We use producer survey data from 389 producers from shrimp fishing and shea butter production, two sectors selected by the Beninese Government for their development potential. The sectors vary systematically in their level of high-income market integration. We employ item-response theory to develop measures that allow to formally compare the two sectors while paying respect to their contextual differences. The results show partial support and imply that development policies and corporate procurement should support BoP producers in strengthening the appropriate learning processes

Evaluatie "Understanding Company-Level marketing strategies for sustainability" (WP-047)

Dit TransForum project is uitgevoerd binnen het wetenschappelijke programma Mobilisatie van de vraag naar duurzame producten, en richt zich specifiek op de vraag hoe voedselverwerkingsbedrijven gemotiveerd worden duurzaam te ondernemen door de contacten met andere bedrijven in de voedselketen

Defining malnutrition: a plea to rethink

In a recent consensus report in Clinical Nutrition the undernourished category of malnutrition was proposed to be defined and diagnosed on the basis of a low BMI or unintentional weight loss combined with low BMI or FFMI with certain cut off points. The definition was endorsed by ESPEN despite recent endorsement of a very different definition. The approach aims to assess whether nutritional intake is sufficient but is imprecise because a low BMI does not always indicate malnutrition and individuals with increasing BMI's may have decreasing FFM's. The pathophysiology of individuals, considered to be malnourished in rich countries and in areas with endemic malnutrition, results predominantly from deficient nutrition combined with infection/inflammation. Both elements jointly determine body composition and function and consequently outcome of disease, trauma or treatment. When following the consensus statement only an imprecise estimate is acquired of nutritional intake without knowing the impact of inflammation. Most importantly, functional abilities are not assessed. Consequently it will remain uncertain how well the individual can overcome stressful events, what the causes are of dysfunction, how to set priorities for treatment and how to predict the effect of nutritional support. We therefore advise to consider the pathophysiology of malnourished individuals leading to inclusion of the following elements in the definition of malnutrition: a disordered nutritional state resulting from a combination of inflammation and a negative nutrient balance, leading to changes in body composition, function and outcome. A precise diagnosis of malnutrition should be based on assessment of these element

Right Scaling for Right Pricing: A Case Study on Total Cost of Ownership Measurement for Cloud Migration

Cloud computing promises traditional enterprises and independent software vendors a myriad of advantages over on-premise installations including cost, operational and organizational efficiencies. The decision to migrate software configured for on-premise delivery to the cloud requires careful technical consideration and planning. In this chapter, we discuss the impact of right-scaling on the cost modelling for migration decision making and price setting of software for commercial resale. An integrated process is presented for measuring total cost of ownership, taking in to account IaaS/PaaS resource consumption based on forecast SaaS usage levels. The process is illustrated with a real world case study

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

Psoriasin, one of several new proteins identified in nasal lavage fluid from allergic and non-allergic individuals using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

BACKGROUND: Extravasation and luminal entry of plasma occurs continuously in the nose. This process is markedly facilitated in patients with symptomatic allergic rhinitis, resulting in an increased secretion of proteins. Identification of these proteins is an important step in the understanding of the pathological mechanisms in allergic diseases. DNA microarrays have recently made it possible to compare mRNA profiles of lavage fluids from healthy and diseased patients, whereas information on the protein level is still lacking. METHODS: Nasal lavage fluid was collected from 11 patients with symptomatic allergic rhinitis and 11 healthy volunteers. 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to separate proteins in the lavage fluids. Protein spots were picked from the gels and identified using mass spectrometry and database search. Selected proteins were confirmed with western blot. RESULTS: 61 spots were identified, of which 21 were separate proteins. 6 of these proteins (psoriasin, galectin-3, alpha enolase, intersectin-2, Wnt-2B and hypothetical protein MGC33648) had not previously been described in nasal lavage fluids. The levels of psoriasin were markedly down-regulated in allergic individuals. Prolactin-inducible protein was also found to be down-regulated, whereas different fragments of albumin together with Ig gamma 2 chain c region, transthyretin and splice isoform 1 of Wnt-2B were up-regulated among the allergic patients. CONCLUSION: The identification of proteins in nasal lavage fluid with 2-dimensional gelelectrophoresis in combination with mass spectrometry is a novel tool to profile protein expression in allergic rhinitis and it might prove useful in the hunt for new therapeutic targets or diagnostic markers for allergic diseases. Psoriasin is a potent chemotactic factor and its down-regulation during inflammation might be of importance for the outcome of the disease

A possible role for miRNA silencing in disease phenotype variation in Swedish transthyretin V30M carriers

Our results are the first to show the presence of a 3'UTR polymorphism on the V30M haplotype in Swedish carriers, which can serve as a miRNA binding site potentially leading to down-regulated expression from the mutated TTR allele. This finding may be related to the low penetrance and high age at onset of the disease observed in the Swedish patient population