CD147 ELISA Kit

Business simulation games (BSGs) are educational tools that help students develop business management knowledge and skills. However, to date, relatively little research has investigated the factors that influence students' BSG usage intention. Grounded on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, this study helped to fill this gap by exploring intention to use BSGs. Specifically, this study investigated the influence of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, and price value on behavioral intention to use BSGs. Data collected from 141 useful respondents were tested against the research model using partial least square approach. The results of this study indicated that behavioral intention to use BSGs was influenced by facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, and price value. Unexpectedly, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence were not predictive of students' behavioral intention to use BSGs. These findings enhanced our understanding of students' BSG usage behavior and provided several important theoretical and practical implications for the application of BSG in the context of business and management education.

Lignocellulolytic enzymes from low-cost sources are gaining attention as a tool to reduce production costs. Such enzymes can be obtained sustainably by diverse fungal strains via solid-state fermentation (SSF) of lignocellulosic-derived residues as substrates. Besides, these enzymes allow hydrolyzing the same residue, releasing fermentable sugars that can be transformed into value-added products. This study shows a two-stage valorization approach for the lignocellulosic leftover brewer's spent grain (BSG): first, by producing lignocellulolytic enzymes through the SSF of BSG using three fungal strains and, second, by using the self-produced enzymes to hydrolyze the same BSG and obtaining sugar-rich hydrolysates that serve as an alternative carbon source for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production. From the evaluated set,Aspergillus nigerandThermoascus aurantiacusproduced the highest xylanase activities compared withTrichoderma reesei(268 +/- 24, 241 +/- 10, and 150 +/- 24 U per gram of dry BSG, respectively).Also,A. nigerextracts resulted in the most effective for releasing sugars from BSG, obtaining up to 0.56 g per gram of dry BSG after 24 h without any pretreatment needed. Thus, the sugar-rich hydrolysate obtained withA. nigerwas used as a source for producing PHA by using two bacterial strains, namely,Burkholderia cepaciaandCupriavidus necator. Maximum PHA yield was achieved by usingC. necatorafter 48 h with 9.0 +/- 0.44 mg PHA center dot g(-1)dry BSG. These results show the significant potential of BSG as raw material for obtaining value-added bioproducts and the importance of multiple valorization schemes to improve the feasibility of similar residue-based systems.