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<p class="title">Background</p> | <p class="title">Background</p> | ||
− | <p class="content">The popularity of the Internet has been increasing considerably in the 21st century, and purchasing in virtual shops has thus become the mainstream consumer pattern. By investigating through our online questionnaire, we’ve found that at least 95.5% of customers do care about what happens with the items they have ordered during the delivery process. As such, we started to think of a way to ensure that the goods are placed in an optimal and safe environment during the whole process of delivery and transportation. Buyers and sellers usually do not know in what kind of environment the cargoes have been stored and transported. As a result, when the consumer receives defective goods, they have no way of knowing which party is at fault. Is it the manufacturer or the transportation company? And this might lead to unpleasant disputes or legal issues. Who should be responsible? The answer often remains unknown. | + | <p class="content">The popularity of the Internet has been increasing considerably in the 21st century, and purchasing in virtual shops has thus become the mainstream of consumer pattern. By investigating through our online questionnaire, we’ve found that at least 95.5% of customers do care about what happens with the items they have ordered during the delivery process. As such, we started to think of a way to ensure that the goods are placed in an optimal and safe environment during the whole process of delivery and transportation.</p> |
− | <p class="content">To get a more thorough understanding of problems with the current operation in the market | + | <p class="content">Buyers and sellers usually do not know in what kind of environment the cargoes have been stored and transported. As a result, when the consumer receives defective goods, they have no way of knowing which party is at fault. Is it the manufacturer or the transportation company? And this might lead to unpleasant disputes or legal issues. Who should be responsible? The answer often remains unknown. |
+ | <p class="content">To get a more thorough understanding of problems with the current operation in the market, we then carried out a questionnaire survey focusing on four aspects, which are the factory, the transportation company, the retailer, and the consumer. The results we got pinpointed two primary factors that lead to products being damaged or deteriorating, and they are external impact and high temperature. The first kind of damage can be easily observed and takes only one glance to discern. Thus, we chose to work on finding the solution to the remaining problem. Our idea was to design a sticker that changes color when exposed to inadequate temperature. The sticker can be attached to the boxes or products right before they are about to get transported, and when the sticker changes color, it means that the environment of the transportation is not adequate and therefore needs to be improved.</p> | ||
+ | </p> | ||
<p class="title">Overview</p> | <p class="title">Overview</p> | ||
− | <p class="content">We implant a modified gene into <span style="font-style:italic;">E. coli</span>, and after drying them up, we put these <span style="font-style:italic;">E. coli</span> into a specialized sticker, and this completes our device for long-term quality monitoring. The sticker monitors the temperature and UV light in the whole delivery process and will change color if it detects excessive amounts of the above two factors. By simply taking a glance at it, the customer can directly confirm the condition of the merchandise.(see <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:TCFSH_Taiwan/Design" style="color:#ff3333;">Design</a> & <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:TCFSH_Taiwan/Demonstrate" style="color:#ff3333;">Device</a>)</p> | + | <p class="content"> After interviewing VEDAN, a leading food company, we learned that UV light will cause the loss of nutrition of the vitamin drinks. Therefore, we decided to invent a sticker to sense both temperature and UV light. We implant a modified gene into <span style="font-style:italic;">E. coli</span>, and after drying them up, we put these <span style="font-style:italic;">E.coli</span> into a specialized sticker, and this completes our device for long-term quality monitoring. The sticker monitors the temperature and UV light in the whole delivery process, and will change color if it detects excessive amounts of the above two factors. By simply taking a glance at it, the customer can directly confirm the condition of the merchandise.(see <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:TCFSH_Taiwan/Design" style="color:#ff3333;">Design</a> & <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:TCFSH_Taiwan/Demonstrate" style="color:#ff3333;">Device</a>)</p> |
− | <p class="content">In normal conditions, the color of the sticker will be light green, which indicates “safe.” Nonetheless, if the products are exposed to sunlight or a temperature higher than 37 degrees Celsius, the color will change gradually into red or blue, which indicates “not safe.” The longer the sticker is exposed to these less than ideal conditions, the darker its color will become. The cause of both colors is the synthesis of chromoprotein. Chromoproteins | + | <p class="content">In normal conditions, the color of the sticker will be light green, which indicates “safe.” Nonetheless, if the products are exposed to sunlight or a temperature higher than 37 degrees Celsius, the color will change gradually into red or blue, which indicates “not safe.” The longer the sticker is exposed to these less than ideal conditions, the darker its color will become. The cause of both colors is the synthesis of chromoprotein. Chromoproteins are very stable, which means that the color can last for a long period of time.</p> |
</div> | </div> | ||
</section> | </section> |
Revision as of 06:55, 1 November 2017