Market opportunity identification for minor crops for food security through value chain studies

The brochure is to contribute to the overall goal of stimulating the adaptation of pro-poor agri-food systems innovations to improve food security and sustainable natural resource management among rural poor farmers. The paper seeks to identify and exploit opportunities for expanding market access for minor crops and NRM products. The minor crops studied included cow pea, sorghum, groundnut, sweet potato and yam.

Chemical, bacteriological and sensory examination of split, dried, smoked bream on the market in Zambia

A critical examination of the market quality of split, dried and smoked bream (Tilapia spp.) was chemically, bacteriologically and organoleptically conducted for the period of August 1968 to January 1969. The aim of this survey was to obtain basic information for the development of national quality standards for the commodity. Relationships of cooked meat score to pH, fish size, appearance and smell score, and water content wcre significantly correlated and responsive. Therefore, these parameters were proposed to be used as indices for the quality standards of the products.

Secondary structures of mRNAs and splicing of introns in eukaryotes.

After analyzing the secondary structures of 68 exon-intron-exon and the corresponding exon-exon sequence segments, it is found that about 90% of 5' and 3' terminal bases G (splicing sites) of introns are situated in the loops of secondary structures or at the ends of stems near the loops, and most of "G" s in loops are closed to the ends of loops. Approximately 92% of the connecting sites of the adjoining exons also show the similar features. About 82% of the branch point "A" s are situated in loops or at the ends of stems near the loops. Splicing sites and branch points approach each other in space because of the folding.

Secondary structure of yeast genomic downstream region and polyadenylation signals

Polyadenylation of 3 ' -forming in eukaryote concerns three elements located in precursor mRNA downstream region: efficiency element (EE), position element (PE) and the actual site for cleavage and polyadenylation. Several base sequences of EE and PE have

Phylogenetic analysis of the family Thermaceae with an emphasis on signature position and secondary structure of 16S rRNA

The sequences of the 16S rRNA genes from 38 strains of the family Thermaceae were compared by alignment analysis. The genus-specific and species-specific base substitutions or base deletions (signature positions) were found in three hypervariable regions (in the helices 6, 10 and 17). The differentiation of secondary structures of the high variable regions in the 5' end (38-497) containing several signature positions further supported the concept. Based on the comparisons of the secondary structures in the segments of 16S rRNAs, a key to the species of the family Thermaceae was proposed. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies.

The relation between translation speed and protein secondary structure

Based on the statistical analysis of 119 human and 92 E. coli proteins it was found that for both human and E. coli, the mRNA sequences consisting of tri-codon and tetra-codon with high translation speed preferably code for alpha helices more than for coils. For beta strand, the preference/ avoidance oscillates with the translation speed. Moreover, the non-homogeneous usages of tri-codon and tetra-codon with different translation speeds in a given secondary structure have also been found. These results cannot be simply explained by the effect of stochastic fluctuation.

Statistical correlation between protein secondary structure and messenger RNA stem-loop structure

Anew integrated sequence-structure database, called IADE (Integrated ASTRAL-DSSP-EMBL), incorporating matching mRNA sequence, amino acid sequence, and protein secondary structural data, is constructed. It includes 648 protein domains. Based on the IADE database, we studied the relation between RNA stem-loop frequencies and protein secondary structure. It was found that the alpha-helices and beta-strands on proteins tend to be preferably "coded" by mRNA stem region, while the coils on proteins tend to be preferably "coded" by mRNA loop region. These tendencies are more obvious if we observe the structural words (SWs). An SW is defined by a four-amino-acid-fragment that shows the pronounced secondary structural (alpha-helix or beta-strand) propensity. It is demonstrated that the deduced correlation between protein and mRNA structure can hardly be explained as the stochastic fluctuation effect. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Exploring consensus mRNA secondary (folding) structure units by stochastic sampling and folding simulation

It is extremely difficult to explore mRNA folding structure by biological experiments. In this report, we use stochastic sampling and folding simulation to test the existence of the stable secondary structural units of-mRNA, look for the folding units, and explore the probabilistic stabilization of the units. Using this method, We made simulations for all possible local optimum secondary structures of a single strand mRNA within a certain range, and searched for the common parts of the secondary structures. The consensus secondary structure units (CSSUs) extracted from the above method are mainly hairpins, with a few single strands. These CSSUs suggest that the mRNA folding units could be relatively stable and could perform specific biological function. The significance of these observations for the mRNA folding problem in general is also discussed. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Beyond niche thinking: Market selection in science-based ventures

Matching a new technology to an appropriate market is a major challenge for new technology-based firms (NTBF). Such firms are often advised to target niche-markets where the firms and their technologies can establish themselves relatively free of incumbent competition. However, technologies are diverse in nature and do not benefit from identical strategies. In contrast to many Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations which build on an established knowledge base for fairly specific applications, technologies based on emerging science are often generic and so have a number of markets and applications open to them, each carrying considerable technological and market uncertainty. Each of these potential markets is part of a complex and evolving ecosystem from which the venture may have to access significant complementary assets in order to create and sustain commercial value. Based on dataset and case study research on UK advanced material university spin-outs (USO), we find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the more commercially successful ventures were targeting mainstream markets by working closely with large, established competitors during early development. While niche markets promise protection from incumbent firms, science-based innovations, such as new materials, often require the presence, and participation, of established companies in order to create value. © 2012 IEEE.