Innovative Strategies to Fuel Organic Food Business Growth: A Qualitative Research.

This study aimed to identify the factors affecting consumer behavior and customer loyalty toward organic food. Whether consumers seek organic food for a healthy body or more as food for thought continues to be debated. However, since consumers' purchase habits are based on their honest life experiences, which shape the building of a brand, this study reviewed the extant literature to understand the factors influencing the purchasing behavior for organic food. The follow-up problems highlighted in the research are related to organic business marketing strategy. Based on our methodology, we conducted semi-structured interviews to gain themes for qualitative research. The study found that availability, variety, and taste were the top three factors affecting consumers' purchase decisions; surprisingly, neither price nor health-consciousness was the first concern. Using market-led innovation as an innovative lens to understand customer loyalty, this research highlights sustainable and advantageous business practices in the organic food market to enrich the literature on organic food purchasing behavior from multiple stakeholders.

How Geographical Isolation and Aging in Place Can Be Accommodated Through Connected Health Stakeholder Management: Qualitative Study With Focus Groups.

BACKGROUND: In remote areas, connected health (CH) is needed, but as local resources are often scarce and the purchasing power of residents is usually poor, it is a challenge to apply CH in these settings. In this study, CH is defended as a technological solution for reshaping the direction of health care to be more proactive, preventive, and precisely targeted-and thus, more effective. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the identity of CH stakeholders in remote areas of Taiwan and their interests and power in order to determine ideal strategies for applying CH. We aimed to explore the respective unknowns and discover insights for those facing similar issues. METHODS: Qualitative research was conducted to investigate and interpret the phenomena of the aging population in a remote setting. An exploratory approach was employed involving semistructured interviews with 22 participants from 8 remote allied case studies. The interviews explored perspectives on stakeholder arrangements, including the power and interests of stakeholders and the needs of all the parties in the ecosystem. RESULTS: Results were obtained from in-depth interviews and focus groups that included identifying the stakeholders of remote health and determining how they influence its practice, as well as how associated agreements bring competitive advantages. Stakeholders included people in government sectors, industrial players, academic researchers, end users, and their associates who described their perspectives on their power and interests in remote health service delivery. Specific facilitators of and barriers to effective delivery were identified. A number of themes, such as government interests and power of decision making, were corroborated across rural and remote services. These themes were broadly grouped into the disclosure of conflicts of interest, asymmetry in decision making, and data development for risk assessment. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to current knowledge by exploring the features of CH in remote areas and investigating its implementation from the perspectives of stakeholder management. It offers insights into managing remote health through a CH platform, which can be used for preliminary quantitative research. Consequently, these findings could help to more effectively facilitate diverse stakeholder engagement for health information sharing and social interaction.

"Nomen Omen": Exploring Connected Healthcare through the Perspective of Name Omen.

Background: The evolution of names, from "medical informatics" to "connected health", implies that the evolvement of technology in health care has been shifted from technology-oriented to healthcare-oriented implementation. Connected healthcare, a healthcare platform of remote monitoring and self-management through technological measures, is suggested to contribute to the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and satisfaction of healthcare recipient enhancement. However, limited understanding of related connected health (CH) terminology may constrain its implementation. Whether CH is a buzzword only or a practice that can contribute to an aging society is controversial. Objective: This study aims to distinguish CH-related terminology and to identify the trend of CH through reviewing its definition, initiation, development, and evolvement, in order to offer management insights and implications. The objective is to understand what is connected and who is cared about in the connected health model so that better applications can be addressed for the benefit of society. Method: This study reviews the evolution of names, from "medical informatics" in the 1970s to "connected health" after 2000, as well as relevant literature of CH, including e-health, telemedicine, telehealth, telecare, and m-health, to discover the trend of technology-related healthcare innovations. Results: The current status and issues facing accessibility, quality, and cost were presented. Its future trends will be explored through reviewing how changes in healthcare are managed, in addition to its operation and practice. Pre-conditions and requirements for implementing CH are identified to select a typical case to study. Findings suggest that areas with a complete business ecosystem-isolated locations, advanced information technology, aging in population, integrated health, and social care system-are prevalent for designing friendly CH environments. Conclusion: The evidence and tendency of technological convergence create a demand for innovation and partnering with start-up companies that offer a competitive advantage in innovation.

Factors Influencing the Application of Connected Health in Remote Areas, Taiwan: A Qualitative Pilot Study.

This pilot study investigated factors influencing the application of connected health (CH) in Taiwanese remote areas. These factors cover issues of cost, infrastructure, technology, business sustainability, business model, collaboration, and communication. It aimed to explore the significance and to assess the feasibility of researching CH in Taiwan. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted by interviewing relevant stakeholders (n = 18). The majority were healthcare providers as most of them are the CH end users. Their feedback was essential in reflecting the effectiveness of CH products and services. Therefore, understanding their views is significant in the design of a successful and user-friendly interactive system. A theoretical framework on the introduction of innovations in healthcare was employed to guide data collection and thematic analysis. Additionally, stakeholders proposed strategies for enhancing the implementation of CH in remote areas. This pilot study also contributed to identifying future directions and information for conducting the multi-stage interviews for collecting the data more effectively. Although the results reveal that the study of CH is meaningful, there is an issue of business sustainability which is obscured by some barriers that need to be addressed. These barriers will be further investigated in the first-stage interview and second-stage interview in future research. The research findings also suggest that strategies and sustainability for CH implementation should be included from the planning phase to benefit all the stakeholders in the CH ecosystem.

Synthesis, characterization and n-hexane hydroisomerization performances of Pt supported on alkali treated ZSM-22 and ZSM-48.

ZSM-48 and ZSM-22 zeolites with similar Si/Al molar ratio have been treated with alkali to modify the pore structures and acidity, and alkali treated ZSM-22 and ZSM-48 samples have been characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption/desorption, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), NH3-Temperature Programmed Desorption (NH3-TPD) and Pyridine-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (Py-FTIR). Characterization results indicate that NaOH treatment could improve the mesoporous structure for both ZSM-22 and ZSM-48. NaOH treatment modifies the acidity of ZSM-22 and ZSM-48 diversely. The n-hexane hydroisomerization performances of Pt supported protonic form ZSM-22 and ZSM-48 (Pt/HZSM-22 and Pt/HZSM-48) bifunctional catalysts have been evaluated in a fixed bed reactor. Catalytic results indicate that catalytic activity and selectivity depend on both pore structure and acidity of zeolites. In comparison of Pt/HZSM-22 and Pt/HZSM-48, Pt/HZSM-22 shows better n-hexane hydroisomerization performance at relatively low temperature (<300 °C), meanwhile, at relatively high temperature (>300 °C) Pt/HZSM-48 exhibits better catalytic performance. Moreover, alkali treated Pt/HZSM-48 could produce more di-branched isomer compared with alkali treated Pt/HZSM-22.

Differential gene expression analysis of 'Chili' (Pyrus bretschneideri) fruit pericarp with two types of bagging treatments.

Preharvest bagging is a simple, grower-friendly and safe physical protection technique commonly applied to many fruits, and the application of different fruit bags can have various effects. To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the fruit quality effects of different bagging treatments, digital gene expression (DGE) profiling of bagged and unbagged 'Chili' (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.) pear pericarp during development was performed. Relative to unbagged fruit, a total of 3022 and 769 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in the polyethylene (PE)-bagged and non-woven fabric-bagged fruit, respectively. DEGs annotated as photosynthesis-antenna proteins and photosynthesis metabolism pathway were upregulated in non-woven fabric-bagged fruit but downregulated in the PE-bagged fruit. Non-woven fabric bagging inhibited lignin synthesis in 'Chili' pear pericarp by downregulating DEGs involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis; consequently, the fruit lenticels in non-woven fabric-bagged fruit were smaller than those in the other treatments. The results indicate that the non-woven fabric bagging method has a positive effect on the appearance of 'Chili' pear fruit but neither of the two bagging treatments is conducive to the accumulation of soluble sugar.