Mapowanie produktów polskiego eksportu produktów rolno spożywczych kierowanego do wybranych krajów Unii Europejskiej w 2020 roku

The article focuses on the search for growth prospects for Polish exports of agri-food products with economies belonging to the European Union and being the most important export markets for Poland in terms of agri-food products. Groups of these goods were identified that are characterized by positive and negative indicators of revealed comparative advantages and indicators of the trade balance. The study used a method based on the product mapping matrix.

Salam financing: from common local issues to a potential international framework

Purpose This research is concerned with the development of Salam, which caters for the specific needs of farmers, who form a vital yet fragile group in most developing nations. Based on the local context of Aceh Province in Indonesia which is considered to be parallel with other developing countries, the purpose of this paper is to embrace the whole set of issues and sketch out an extended Business Model Canvas (BMC) for Salam financing by delineating the three W’s of What, Why and How Salam can be offered by Islamic Banks (IBs). Design/methodology/Approach In-depth interviews were conducted with key stakeholders comprising of farmers, higher-ranking bankers of IBs, members of the Syariah Supervisory Board and academicians who are experts in Islamic finance. The re sults of the interviews added to a review of the literature were also mapped onto an extended canvas model. Findings Several interesting insights are derived and, primarily, that Salam is a feasible product to be offered by IBs, provided that there is a significant change in the thinking paradigm and risk mitigation models by all stakeholders, but mainly the IBs and the regulators. Research limitations/implications This study may be limited in the number and range of respondents who were chosen for interview. There are possibly other key informants, such as regulators and local custom figures, who may willing to provide useful information. The application of BMC for Salam may also be relatively new, hence its justification for a wider implementation may still need further analysis. Originality/value This study is deemed to add significant perspectives on product development and innovation in Islamic banking and particularly regarding Salam. This study advances the method used to study Salam by contextualising the product mapping of Salam into an extended BMC.

Enhanced lignin biodegradation by consortium of white rot fungi: microbial synergistic effects and product mapping

Background As one of the major components of lignocellulosic biomass, lignin has been considered as the most abundant renewable aromatic feedstock in the world. Comparing with thermal or catalytic strategies for lignin degradation, biological conversion is a promising approach featuring with mild conditions and diversity, and has received great attention nowadays. Results In this study, a consortium of white rot fungi composed of Lenzites betulina and Trametes versicolor was employed to enhance the ligninolytic enzyme activity of laccase (Lac) and manganese peroxidase (MnP) under microbial synergism. The maximum enzymatic activity of Lac and MnP was individually 18.06 U mL−1 and 13.58 U mL−1 along with a lignin degradation rate of 50% (wt/wt), which were achieved from batch cultivation of the consortium. The activities of Lac and MnP obtained from the consortium were both improved more than 40%, as compared with monocultures of L. betulina or T. versicolor under the same culture condition. The enhanced biodegradation performance was in accordance with the results observed from scanning electron microscope (SEM) of lignin samples before and after biodegradation, and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Finally, the analysis of heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) provided a comprehensive product mapping of the lignin biodegradation, suggesting that the lignin has undergone depolymerization of the macromolecules, side-chain cleavage, and aromatic ring-opening reactions. Conclusions Our results revealed a considerable escalation on the enzymatic activity obtained in a short period from the cultivation of the L. betulina or T. versicolor due to the enhanced microbial synergistic effects, providing a potential bioconversion route for lignin utilization.

Enhanced Lignin Biodegradation by Consortium of White rot Fungi: Microbial Synergistic Effects and Product Mapping

Background : As one of the major components in lignocellulosic biomass, lignin has been considered as the most abundant renewable aromatic feedstock in the world. Featuring with mild conditions and diversity, biological degradation of lignin is a promising approach comparing with thermal or catalytic ones. Results : In this study, a consortium of white rot fungi composed of Lenzites betulina and Trametes versicolor was employed in order to enhance the ligninolytic enzyme activity of laccase (Lac) and manganese peroxidase (MnP) under microbial synergism. The maximum enzymatic activity of Lac and MnP was individually 18.06 U·mL-1 and 13.58 U·mL-1 along with a lignin degradation rate of 50%, which were achieved from batch cultivation of the consortium. The activity of Lac and MnP obtained from the consortium was all improved more than 40%, compared with monocultures of L. betulina or T. versicolor under the same culture condition. Our findings of enhanced biodegradation were in accordance with the results observed from scanning electron microscope (SEM) and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Finally, the analysis of heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) provided a comprehensive product mapping of the lignin biodegradation, suggesting that the lignin has undergone depolymerization of the macromolecules, side-chain cleavage, and aromatic ring-opening reactions. Conclusions : Our results revealed a considerable escalation on the enzymatic activities obtained in a short period from the cultivation of the L. betulina or T. versicolor due to the enhanced microbial synergistic effects, providing a potential bioconversion route for the applications of lignin utilization.

Design and Validation of a Method to Characterize Human Interaction Variability

Human interactions are paramount to the user experience, satisfaction, and risk of user errors. For products, anthropometry has traditionally been used in product sizing. However, structured methods that accurately map static and dynamic capabilities (e.g., functional mapping) of musculoskeletal regions for the conceptualization and redesign of product applications and use cases are limited. The present work aims to introduce and validate the effectiveness of the Interaction Variability method, which maps product components and musculoskeletal regions to determine explicit design parameters through limiting designer variation in the classification of human interaction factors. This study enrolled 16 engineering students to evaluate two series of interactions for (1) water bottle and (2) sunglasses applications enabling method validity and designer consistency assessments. For each interaction series, subjects identified and characterized product applications, components, and human interaction factors. Primary interactions, product mapping, and application identification achieved consensus between ranges of 31.25% and 100.00%, with significance (p < 0.1) observed at consensus rates of ≥75.00%. Significant levels of consistency were observed amongst designers, for at least one measure in all phases except anthropometric mapping for the sunglasses application indicating method effectiveness. Interaction variability was introduced and validated in this work as a standardized approach to identify, define, and map human and product interactions, which may reduce unintended use cases and user errors, respectively, in consumer populations.

The Czech Agrarian Trade Comparative Advantages Distribution Based on Value and Volume Approach

In the last two decades, the Czech agrarian trade has undergone a very significant transformation. It had been considerably influenced by several dynamically developing factors, which originate not only in the area of economics, but also within the political and social sphere. The objective of this paper is to identify the roots of Czech agrarian trade competitiveness in relation to EU and non-EU countries. The results of comparative advantages analyses are discussed in relation to Czech agrarian trade nominal value and volume performance. The paper identifies the set of items when trade performance is induced by increasing volume (increasing exports in kg) and the set of items when trade performance is induced by increasing unit value performance. To accomplish the above mentioned tasks, the following methods have been applied: The LFI, RCA and TBI indices, product mapping and logarithmic decomposition. Based on individual applied methods the analyzed paper provides the results. However, Czech agricultural trade does not have comparative advantages in general (both in relation to EU and also non-EU countries), there are existing bilateral comparative advantages in the case of individual export items (non-EU: CN04, CN17, CN01, CN24, CN12, CN19, CN11, CN13 and CN18; EU: CN10, CN24, CN01, CN12, CN15, CN04, CN22, CN11, CN17, CN03, CN16, CN09, CN13 and CN14). The problems of Czech comparative advantages development in relation to the EU are constantly decreasing volume performance and decreasing unit value. On the other hand, in relation to non-EU countries, the relationship between increasing volume and value performance is more balanced and the comparative advantages are related to quality and higher added value aspects.

CZECH AGRARIAN FOREIGN TRADE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES DISTRIBUTION: TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

This paper primarily focuses on Czech agrarian foreign trade comparative advantage issues. The structure and comparative advantages distribution are analyzed in the period before (2001) and after the Czech EU accession (2015/2016). The main central aim of this paper is to identify and analyze changes in comparative advantages distribution and trade commodity structure which have occurred. Trade structure and comparative advantages distribution are analysed in relation to the EU and rest of the World (Developing countries, OECD members, CIS, etc.). Commodity structure (we applied HS system) is analysed specifically in relation to unit value development, trade volume development and comparative advantages distribution development. To successfully accomplish the above mentioned objectives, this paper applies Lafay index and Trade balance index. The results derived from individual analyses are highlighted through the “Product mapping method”. The product mapping matrix divides the entire set of exported products into 4 groups. The LFI index has been chosen for the “product mapping” approach because of its ability to take into consideration only those transactions which are truly related to individual countries’ trade performance. The TBI index has been utilized for its ability to divide the products according to their real trade performance into the above specified four quadrants. In the analysed period, Czech agrarian trade increased its dependency on EU Countries. The share of EU countries in regards to Czech agrarian trade turnover has increased from 78% to nearly 90%. Czech agrarian exports are dominated by low processed and semi-processed aggregations having a low unit value. On the other hand, imports can be characterized by a much higher unit value and a much higher processing level. Unfortunately, the unit value of Czech agrarian exports has been constantly decreasing on the other hand the unit value of imports is increasing. Czech trade comparative advantages exist in relation to the following set of products: HS10, HS12, HS01, HS04, HS15, HS24, HS22, HS11, HS17, HS03, HS16, HS09, HS13 and HS14.