Nan Sun, Beibei Tan, Bolun Sun, Jinjie Zhang, Chao Li and Wenge Yang
Sargassum fusiforme is a popular edible seaweed in coastal cities of China that contains diverse nutrients including iodine. Cooking is an effective way to improve food safety…
Abstract
Purpose
Sargassum fusiforme is a popular edible seaweed in coastal cities of China that contains diverse nutrients including iodine. Cooking is an effective way to improve food safety, but it can alter both the contents of elements along with speciation and bioavailability. Three common cooking methods, the soaking, steaming and boiling, were evaluated for their effects on the protein structures, protein digestibility, iodine content and iodine bioavailability of S. fusiforme.
Design/methodology/approach
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study the structural changes of protein, and an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture system was used to evaluate the digestibility of protein, bioaccessibility and bioavailability of iodine.
Findings
Boiling and steaming altered the protein secondary structure demonstrated by increased a-helix and random coil and decreased β-sheet, which improved the in vitro protein digestibility. Iodine content was reduced by cooking, with the highest loss observed after boiling, followed by soaking and steaming, while it was found that both bioaccessibility and cellular uptake of iodine were significantly elevated by boiling and steaming using an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture system. The presence of ascorbic acid, citric acid or tyrosine was beneficial for the iodine absorption, while oxalic acid and phytic acid hindered the iodine bioavailability.
Originality/value
The present finding suggested that cooking was conducive to the digestion and absorption of iodine in S. fusiforme. In addition, different dietary factors could have a certain impact on the absorption of iodine. Results of the study are essential for improving the application value of S. fusiforme to ensure reasonable consumption of seaweeds.
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Zhong Ning, Yangbo Chen and Yalin Luo
Anhui Winall Hi-Tech Seed Co., Ltd., a high-tech seed enterprise integrating crop seed research, production, processing and marketing at home and abroad, is the first seed company…
Abstract
Anhui Winall Hi-Tech Seed Co., Ltd., a high-tech seed enterprise integrating crop seed research, production, processing and marketing at home and abroad, is the first seed company listed on GEM in China. Its main business is research and development, breeding and marketing of seeds of hybrid rice, edible rape, cotton, melon and vegetable, with hybrid rice as its leading product. In terms of business model, Winall Hi-tech is engaged in procurement, production, sales and promotion of modified varieties and after-sales service. However, Winall Hi-tech also has to face a few potential problems.
Zhen Ma, Degan Zhang, Si Liu, Jinjie Song and Yuexian Hou
The performance of the measurement matrix directly affects the quality of reconstruction of compressive sensing signal, and it is also the key to solve practical problems. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The performance of the measurement matrix directly affects the quality of reconstruction of compressive sensing signal, and it is also the key to solve practical problems. In order to solve data collection problem of wireless sensor network (WSN), the authors design a kind of optimization of sparse matrix. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the sparse random matrix, it optimizes the seed vector, which regards elements in the diagonal matrix of Hadamard matrix after passing singular value decomposition (SVD). Compared with the Toeplitz matrix, it requires less number of independent random variables and the matrix information is more concentrated.
Findings
The performance of reconstruction is better than that of Gaussian random matrix. The authors also apply this matrix to the data collection scheme in WSN. The result shows that it costs less energy and reduces the collection frequency of nodes compared with general method.
Originality/value
The authors design a kind of optimization of sparse matrix. Based on the sparse random matrix, it optimizes the seed vector, which regards elements in the diagonal matrix of Hadamard matrix after passing SVD. Compared with the Toeplitz matrix, it requires less number of independent random variables and the matrix information is more concentrated.
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Jinjie Xue, Hongping Yuan and Zizhen Geng
This study aims to investigate impacts of classic transaction cost-related factors (i.e. partner selection cost, specific asset investment and extorting rent cost) on joint…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate impacts of classic transaction cost-related factors (i.e. partner selection cost, specific asset investment and extorting rent cost) on joint venture (JV) partner’s cooperative and opportunistic behaviour, from the perspective of transaction cost economics.
Design/methodology/approach
Item measurements, based on which the questionnaire was developed, were derived according to a thorough search and review of related literature. In all, 226 valid responses from manufacturing enterprises in China were collected. A structural equation modelling approach was used to analyse the data and examine the fitness of the proposed model.
Findings
This study shows that partner selection cost, specific asset investment and extorting rent cost are positively related to a JV partner’s cooperative behaviour. Specific asset investment exerts the most significant influence on partner’s cooperative behaviour. The results also reveal that partner’s opportunistic behaviour is not significantly affected by specific asset investment but is negatively influenced by extorting rent cost. Both partner selection cost and extorting rent cost show positive impacts on specific asset investment.
Research limitations/implications
The investigation focused on only manufacturing enterprises in one country. Future research could be directed to investigating other countries to increase the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that increasing the extorting rent cost to promote the probability of specific asset investment is a core element to enhance JV partner cooperation.
Originality/value
The study not only empirically investigates the relative importance of classic transaction cost-related factors on JV partner opportunism and cooperation, but also enables a deeper understanding of the interrelationship among the classic transaction cost-related factors and their influences on partner cooperation and opportunism.
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This study aims to explore why Chinese consumers pay for digital content products by investigating the experiences of Chinese consumers living in first-tier and second-tier cities…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore why Chinese consumers pay for digital content products by investigating the experiences of Chinese consumers living in first-tier and second-tier cities regarding paid digital knowledge products.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 19 in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data, and the phenomenological reduction was adopted to analyze data.
Findings
This study reveals that Chinese consumers use paid digital knowledge products to alleviate stress and anxiety stemming from real-life competition and the fear of falling behind. While consumers acknowledge the limited assistance that paid knowledge products can offer, their acceptance and expectations of paid digital knowledge products remain positive.
Originality/value
Paid digital knowledge represents an innovative phenomenon, with few scholars outside China having studied it. This study contributes a conceptual framework to understand the motivations of Chinese consumers with high purchasing power residing in first-tier and second-tier cities to invest in digital content.
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Jinjie Xue, Shaokai Lu, Benshan Shi and Haiping Zheng
The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual model for examining the effects of trust (competence trust, goodwill trust) and cooperation on partner opportunism and for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual model for examining the effects of trust (competence trust, goodwill trust) and cooperation on partner opportunism and for exploring the moderating effects of guanxi on the relationships among trust, cooperation and opportunism in joint ventures.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample for this paper comprises 981 manufacturing joint ventures from various industrial sectors. A total of 354 valid questionnaires were collected, representing a 36 per cent response rate. The conceptual model is tested with structural equation modeling adopting AMOS software.
Findings
The empirical findings indicate that both competence trust and goodwill trust reduce partner opportunism in a joint venture through fostering cooperation. Competence trust also exerts significant influence on preventing opportunism, whereas opportunistic behavior is not greatly affected by goodwill trust. Additionally, the results reveal that guanxi helps strengthen the negative relationship between cooperation and opportunism.
Originality value
This paper makes a threefold contribution: First, it investigates empirically the direct influence of two types of trust on partner opportunism. Second, it tests indirect influence of trust on partner opportunism through the path of cooperation. Third, it explores the moderating effects of guanxi in relationships on trust, cooperation and partner opportunism. Implications offers suggestions for management practice to reduce partner opportunism in joint-venture manufacturing.
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Mohamed A. Tawhid and Kevin B. Dsouza
In this paper, we present a new hybrid binary version of bat and enhanced particle swarm optimization algorithm in order to solve feature selection problems. The proposed…
Abstract
In this paper, we present a new hybrid binary version of bat and enhanced particle swarm optimization algorithm in order to solve feature selection problems. The proposed algorithm is called Hybrid Binary Bat Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (HBBEPSO). In the proposed HBBEPSO algorithm, we combine the bat algorithm with its capacity for echolocation helping explore the feature space and enhanced version of the particle swarm optimization with its ability to converge to the best global solution in the search space. In order to investigate the general performance of the proposed HBBEPSO algorithm, the proposed algorithm is compared with the original optimizers and other optimizers that have been used for feature selection in the past. A set of assessment indicators are used to evaluate and compare the different optimizers over 20 standard data sets obtained from the UCI repository. Results prove the ability of the proposed HBBEPSO algorithm to search the feature space for optimal feature combinations.