Search results for "firm"

Warm and wet: robust lipase-producing bacteria from the indoor environment

2017

Lipases are key biocatalysts with important biotechnological applications. With the aim of isolating robust lipolytic microbial strains, we have analyzed the bacterial communities inhabiting two domestic extreme environments: a thermophilic sauna and a dishwasher filter. Scanning electron microscopy revealed biofilm-forming and scattered microorganisms in the sauna and dishwasher sample, respectively. A culture-independent approach based on 16S rRNA analysis indicated a high abundance of Proteobacteria in the sauna sample; and, a large amount of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria in the dishwasher filter. With a culture-dependent approach, we isolated 48 bacterial …

Instrumental and sensory evaluation of eating quality of peaches and nectarines

2012

The influence of flesh firmness on consumer acceptance and its relationship with total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TTA) and sensory analysis were studied for fruits of ‘September Sun’ and ‘Sweet September’ (low acid) peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch), and ‘Maria Dolce’ (low acid) and ‘Venus’ nectarine (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var. nucipersica) cultivars. Sensory descriptors, assessed by a short-trained panel, were firmness, sweetness, sourness, aroma, acceptability. Different stages of fruit firmness did not always result in significant differences of TSS, TTA and their ratio, but the panel was able to discriminate fruit ripening stages, in terms of fruit firmness, aroma …

Metagenomic Analysis of Milk of Healthy and Mastitis-Suffering Women.

2015

Background: Some studies have been conducted to assess the composition of the bacterial communities inhabiting human milk, but they did not evaluate the presence of other microorganisms, such as fungi, archaea, protozoa, or viruses. Objective: This study aimed to compare the metagenome of human milk samples provided by healthy and mastitis-suffering women. Methods: DNA was isolated from human milk samples collected from 10 healthy women and 10 women with symptoms of lactational mastitis. Shotgun libraries from total extracted DNA were constructed and the libraries were sequenced by 454 pyrosequencing. Results: The amount of human DNA sequences was ≥ 90% in all the samples. Among the bacteri…

Export Barrier Perceptions in Tanzania: The Influence of Social Networks

2012

In this article, the author empirically examines export barriers Tanzanian firms encounter in attempting to initiate and/or expand export activities and the strategies they use for overcoming these barriers. Based on a social network perspective, the research hypothesizes that firms exploiting diverse networks should normally encounter fewer export barriers. Using a survey dataset collected from 122 manufacturing firms, the findings support the notion that networking reduces export barriers. More specifically, exploiting a large number of strong ties relative to weak ties, and a large number of institutional ties relative to business ties, can substantially enhance firms’ capabilities of ov…

Body image during sexual activity in the population of Polish adult women

2020

Introduction. Recently it has been shown that body image during sexual activities is a better predictor of the diversity of sexual experience than body image as a psychological trait. To measure contextual body image (as a state) the Body Exposure During Sexual Activity Questionnaire (BESAQ) was developed. Material and methods. 845 women aged 18-55 years were included in the study. The original model was first translated into Polish and consulted to create the version to be further validated. The original model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The population was divided in two equal groups – group 1 was used for exploratory factor analysis. Discriminant and convergent va…

A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Growth and Profit Rate Distribution: The Spanish Case

2022

We analyse the time evolution of the empirical cross-sectional distribution of firms’ profit and growth rates. In particular, we analyse the conditional properties of the empirical distributions depending on the size of the firms and the business cycle phase. In order to do so, we employ the Laplace distribution as a benchmark, further considering the Subbotin and Asymmetric Exponential Power (AEP hereafter) distributions, to capture the potential asymmetry and leptokurtosis of the empirical distribution. Our results show that the profit rates of large firms are characterised by an asymmetric Laplace distribution with parameters largely independent of the business cycle phase. Small firms, …

Structural Growth Disengagement and Entrepreneurship in Small and Micro-Firms. Mapping Pathologies and Physiologies of “Business Dwarfism” in a Dynam…

This paper focuses growth disengagement, in the perspective of those firms who have been keeping their structures, processes and relational systems unchanged for a very long time. The implicit hypothesis according to which such businesses are affected by a structural disease, are not able to create any significant value, and characterised by similar features, is critically discussed. Through an analysis of the phenomenon in the business growth and dynamic resource-based-view, a first attempt taxonomy, based on case-studies, is sketched. It is demonstrated how the implicit assumption according to which such firms are affected by a pathological condition is false, at least if seen as an a pri…

Reconsidering learning by exporting

2012

Self-selection and learning by exporting are the main explanations for the higher productivity of exporting firms. But, whereas evidence on self-selection is largely undisputed, results on learning by exporting are mixed and far from conclusive. However, recent research by De Loecker (J Int Econ 73(1):69–98, 2007) has shown that the conclusions from previous learning by exporting studies may have been driven by strong assumptions about the evolution of productivity and the role of export status. Relaxing these assumptions turns out to be critical to find evidence of learning by exporting in a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing firms. Our results indicate that the yearly average …

Implementation of a PLC Field Analyzer on a G3 Modem Platform

2021

Nowadays, power line communications (PLC) are a widely used technology in distribution grids, both for automatic meter reading and automation applications. PLC performances (in terms of capacity, coverage, robustness, and data transmission rate) can be significantly affected by electrical network topologies, connected loads and disturbances. Thus, utilities and modem manufacturers are increasing their interest in electrical network characterization. In this framework, a software tool is proposed in this paper to measure received signal and noise levels. As case study, it is implemented on a G3 PLC transceiver, widely used for smart metering purposes. In this way, a PLC channel characterizat…

Entry Barriers of Small and Medium-sized Software Firms in the Japanese Market

2007

The Japanese software market size was 131,773 million U.S. dollars in 2004. Due to limited domestic software production, Japan is highly dependent on imported software products. Despite the market potential for foreign software firms in Japan, almost no research exists on what kind of challenges foreign software firms encounter when they are entering the market. To fill this gap, this paper investigates the entry barriers of small and medium-sized software firms in the Japanese market by using a multi case-study. The findings suggest that most of the barriers are firm-specific and mainly related to firms’ resources and capabilities to operate in the market. The entry barriers encountered al…