Quality comparisons were made on mature green and firm red tomato fruits of three cultivars harvested at ,different times throughout the season. Fruits were harvested at the mature green stage and ripened at 20°C in humidified air for the room ripened treatment. Quality measurements included reduced ascorbic acid content, Iocular material content, pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, soluble solidsacidity ratio and moisture content. Field ripened fruits had greater ascorbic acid contents relative to room ripened fruits, but variations occurred with harvest time. Field ripened fruits were judged as better in overall quality and flavor relative to room ripened fruits. Correlations were made between quality measurements and sensory evaluations.

INTRODUCTIONThe finding that heat pre-treatment of the seeds of certain species of desert annuals quantitatively promotes their germination (Capon and Van Asdall, 1967) has led to a consideration of the relative effect of this factor on seeds from areas other than the desert. It was thought to be of particular interest to determine the comparative effects of heat pre-treatment on the germination of seeds of the same species from diverse habitats. Salvia columbariae Benth. is a plant ideally suited to such a study. Its distribution

Digital platform business models are disrupting traditional business processes and reveal a new way of creating value. Current validation processes for business models are designed to assess pipeline business models. They cannot grasp the logic of digital platforms, which increasingly integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure success. This study developed a new validation process for early market validation of digital platform business models by following the Design Science Research methodology. The designed process, the Smart Platform Experiment Cycle (SPEC), is created by combining the Four-Step Iterative Cycle of business experiments, the Customer Development Process, and the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop of the Lean Startup approach and enriching it with the knowledge of digital platforms. It consists of five iterative steps showing the startup how to design their platform business model and corresponding experiments and how to run, measure, analyze, and learn from the outcomes and results. To assess its efficacy, applicability, and validity, SPEC was applied in the German startup GassiAlarm, a service marketplace business model. The application of SPEC revealed shortcomings in the pricing strategy and highlighted to what extent their current business model would be successful. SPEC reduces the risk of building a product or service the market deems redundant and gives insights into its success rate. More applications of the SPEC are needed to validate its robustness further and to extend it to other types of digital platform business models for improved generalization.

The incidence of brown stain on crisphead type lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. cv. Calmar) was highly dependent on postharvest temperature. Following exposure to 2% O2 + 5% CO2 for 5 days at constant temperatures from 0° to 20°C, brown stain decreased as simulated transit temperature increased and was negligible at 10°C and above. Simulated market temperatures following exposure to 2% O2 + 5% CO2 at 0°C markedly influenced brown stain expression with near maximum expression present after a 3-day period in air at 10°C. Low O2 (2%) was more effective in reducing respiration (CO2 production) of lettuce at temperatures above 5°C than at 5°C, or lower.

Improving the quality and consistency of the fresh mangos that are available to consumers in the United States is an important goal of the National Mango Board (NMB). The NMB-funded project, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Mango Supply Chain to Improve Mango Quality (referred to hereafter as the Mango Quality Project), was conducted from December 2007 through April 2009 to identify impediments to successfully meeting that goal. The final deliverable of the Mango Quality Project is this best management practices manual for harvesting and handling mangos marketed in the US. The manual includes quality-control procedures to use when monitoring the maturity and quality of mangos in commercial handling operations.