Activity-based costing for competition against generic products: the case of an herbicide product company

Activity-based costing (ABC) enables management to use activity cost information to formulate more effective strategy against competitors. Based on the case of herbicide product company, this paper examines how DCPM, a subsidiary of a multinational company, uses activity cost information to revise its pricing strategy to compete with the generic herbicide products, as the patent protection of its main herbicide product is coming to an end. The management of DCPM faces serious challenges of not only having to sustain its market share but also to achieve the profit target expected by its parent company. Using the activity cost information, DCPM is able to set competitive prices for different combinations of product and services to cater for customers with differing product/service price-sensitiveness. In the long term, however, the company would have to improve the overall cost efficiency in its product manufacturing and logistics services, as well as to educate users more extensively on the importance of quality and safety standards for herbicide products to sustain its market share

D crop protection Malaysia: competition from generic herbicides

Case overview: This case illustrates how emergence of generic products had threatened the survival of DCPM and forced its management to urgently review the company's existing approach to pricing of its main herbicide product. The case presents opportunities for readers to discuss the deficiencies of DCPM's existing product costing approach and recommend modifications to meet the price and gross profit margin targets specified. It also highlights issues relating to supply chain management and human resource practices that might have to be improved to enhance DCPM's long‐term competitiveness. Expected learning outcomes: To understand the effects of globalisation and emergence of generic products on intensity of market competition for branded products. To identify deficiencies of the current product costing system of DCPM for pricing decision. To apply alternative contemporary approach to product costing and pricing of Metrix and the other value‐added services. To identify measures to enhance supply chain management and inventory management in DCPM. To assess DCPM's human resources practices. To evaluate the effectiveness of DCPM's existing competitive strategy and formulate new competitive strategy to sustain DCPM's long‐term competitiveness

A review of emotion sensing: Categorization models and algorithms

Sentiment analysis consists in the identification of the sentiment polarity associated with a target object, such as a book, a movie or a phone. Sentiments reflect feelings and attitudes, while emotions provide a finer characterization of the sentiments involved. With the huge number of comments generated daily on the Internet, besides sentiment analysis, emotion identification has drawn keen interest from different researchers, businessmen and politicians for polling public opinions and attitudes. This paper reviews and discusses existing emotion categorization models for emotion analysis and proposes methods that enhance existing emotion research. We carried out emotion analysis by inviting experts from different research areas to produce comprehensive results. Moreover, a computational emotion sensing model is proposed, and future improvements are discussed in this paper

Production of the virus-like particles of nipah virus matrix protein in Pichia pastoris as diagnostic reagents

The matrix (M) protein of Nipah virus (NiV) is a peripheral protein that plays a vital role in the envelopment of nucleocapsid protein and acts as a bridge between the viral surface and the nucleocapsid proteins. The M protein is also proven to play an important role in production of virus-like particles (VLPs) and is essential for assembly and budding of NiV particles. The recombinant M protein produced in Escherichia coli assembled into VLPs in the absence of the viral surface proteins. However, the E. coli produced VLPs are smaller than the native virus particles. Therefore, the aims of this study were to produce NiV M protein in Pichia pastoris, to examine the structure of the VLPs formed, and to assess the potential of the VLPs as a diagnostic reagent. The M protein was successfully expressed in P. pastoris and was detected with anti-myc antibody using Western blotting. The VLPs formed by the recombinant M protein were purified with sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography (IMAC). Immunogold staining and transmission electron microscopy confirmed that the M protein assembled into VLPs as large as 200 nm. ELISA revealed that the NiV M protein produced in P. pastoris reacted strongly with positive NiV sera demonstrating its potential as a diagnostic reagent

Biosensing of hepatitis B antigen with poly(acrylic acid) hydrogel immobilized with antigens and antibodies

Hydrogel based on poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) polymers was successfully fabricated as the biosensor for detecting hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg). Specifically, the pendant HBcAg and the anti-hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) antibody were first immobilized on the PAAc, which were then covalently cross-linked via radical polymerization to form the HBcAg-sensitive (HBPAAc) hydrogel. The non-covalent affinity binding between the immobilized HBcAg and anti-HBc would be disrupted by the presence of free HBcAg in the HBPAAc hydrogel. The competitive binding of free HBcAg on the immobilized anti-HBc triggered the swelling of HBPAAc hydrogel. The equilibrium swelling ratio and the oscillatory swelling-deswelling kinetics of the HBPAAc hydrogel in response to protein concentration were studied. The swelling ratio of HBPAAc hydrogel increased along with an increase in HBcAg concentration until equilibrium was achieved at 4 mg/mL HBcAg. The HBPAAc hydrogel did not exhibit swelling/deswelling behavior when interacted with the negative control, i.e., bovine serum albumin (BSA). Based on the result of oscillatory swelling-deswelling of HBPAAc hydrogel, the minimum duration for HBcAg detection by the HBPAAc hydrogel was ∼20 min, whereas the regeneration of HBPAAc hydrogel took about 60 min. These results confirmed the reversibility and the reusability of this HBcAg-sensing HBPAAc hydrogel. Besides, the hydrogel demonstrated zero cross-reactivity to the hepatitis B surface antigen, a common serological marker for hepatitis B patients. The high sensitivity of HBPAAc hydrogel to the HBcAg was successfully demonstrated with quartz crystal microgravimetry. The magnitude of resonance frequency was inversely correlated with the swelling of HBPAAc hydrogel, which is governed by the concentration of analyte HBcAg. The application of HBPAAc hydrogel as a biosensor component in the detection and surveillance of hepatitis B holds great promises

Mindful gratitude journaling: psychological distress, quality of life and suffering in advanced cancer: a randomised controlled trial

Context Numerous studies have shown that gratitude can reduce stress and improve quality of life. Objective Our study aimed to examine the effect of mindful gratitude journaling on suffering, psychological distress and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer. Methods We conducted a parallel-group, blinded, randomised controlled trial at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia. Ninety-two adult patients with advanced cancer, and an overall suffering score ≥4/10 based on the Suffering Pictogram were recruited and randomly assigned to either a mindful gratitude journaling group (N=49) or a routine journaling group (N=43). Results After 1 week, there were significant reductions in the overall suffering score from the baseline in both the intervention group (mean difference in overall suffering score=−2.0, 95% CI=−2.7 to −1.4, t=−6.125, p=0.000) and the control group (mean difference in overall suffering score=−1.6, 95% CI=−2.3 to −0.8, t=−4.106, p=0.037). There were also significant improvements in the total Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale score (mean difference=−3.4, 95% CI=−5.3 to −1.5, t=−3.525, p=0.000) and the total Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being score (mean difference=7.3, 95% CI=1.5 to 13.1, t=2.460, p=0.014) in the intervention group after 7 days, but not in the control group. Conclusion The results provide evidence that 7 days of mindful gratitude journaling could positively affect the state of suffering, psychological distress and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer