Constructive Consumer Choice Processes.

OpenAIRE

Bettman, James R; Luce, Mary Frances; Payne, John W

1998-01-01

Consumer decision making has been a focal interest in consumer research, and consideration of current marketplace trends ( e.g., technological change, an information explosion) indicates that this topic will continue to be critically important. We argue that consumer choice is inherently constructive. Due to limited processing capacity, consumers often do not have well-defined existing preferences, but construct them using a variety of strategies contingent on task demands. After describing c...

Current trends in nursing theories.

Science.gov (United States)

Im, Eun-Ok; Chang, Sun Ju

2012-06-01

To explore current trends in nursing theories through an integrated literature review. The literature related to nursing theories during the past 10 years was searched through multiple databases and reviewed to determine themes reflecting current trends in nursing theories. The trends can be categorized into six themes: (a) foci on specifics; (b) coexistence of various types of theories; (c) close links to research; (d) international collaborative works; (e) integration to practice; and (f) selective evolution. We need to make our continuous efforts to link research and practice to theories, to identify specifics of our theories, to develop diverse types of theories, and to conduct international collaborative works. Our paper gives implications for future theoretical development in diverse clinical areas of nursing research and practice. © 2012 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Current Trends In Educational Technology: Implication On ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper presents the current trends in educational technology and the implication on educational managers in Nigeria. The current trends in the field of educational technology are centred on the influence of information and communication technology on the development of educational management. Various challenges ...

Analysis of current trends on the Czech food market with a focus on a healthy lifestyle.

OpenAIRE

Bartůňková, Eva

2013-01-01

The thesis of this work is to map current trends on the Czech food market with focus on a healthy lifestyle. In particular, it focuses on foodstuff labelling and GDA labels. The paper begins by surveying the development of the healthy lifestyle trend, as well as the activities of the Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic involved in a healthy lifestyle; furthermore, the work elaborates on segmentation of the consumer and evaluation of a healthy lifestyle, obesity a...

Current Challenge in Consumer Health Informatics: Bridging the Gap between Access to Information and Information Understanding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurence Alpay

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The number of health-related websites has proliferated over the past few years. Health information consumers confront a myriad of health related resources on the internet that have varying levels of quality and are not always easy to comprehend. There is thus a need to help health information consumers to bridge the gap between access to information and information understanding—i.e. to help consumers understand health related web-based resources so that they can act upon it. At the same time health information consumers are becoming not only more involved in their own health care but also more information technology minded. One way to address this issue is to provide consumers with tailored information that is contextualized and personalized e.g. directly relevant and easily comprehensible to the person’s own health situation. This paper presents a current trend in Consumer Health Informatics which focuses on theory-based design and development of contextualized and personalized tools to allow the evolving consumer with varying backgrounds and interests to use online health information efficiently. The proposed approach uses a theoretical framework of communication in order to support the consumer’s capacity to understand health-related web-based resources.

24th Current Trends in Computational Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

2017-05-17

Corps of Engineers Army Research Office Conference on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry 2016 NOVEMBER 11-12, 2016 JACKSON, MS... Chemistry and Biochemistry Jackson, MS 39217 U.S.A. Tel: 6019793723 E-mail: shonda@icnanotox.org Richard Alo Dean College of Science, Engineering ...Report: 24th Current Trends in Computational Chemistry The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should

Current technological trends in development of NPP systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florescu, Gheorghe; Panaitescu, Valeriu

2010-01-01

The recent nuclear research issues look for new technologies and continuous progress in finding different and efficient solutions for sustained and upraising energy demand. The trend of increasing energy consumption and occurring of new and large consumers, especially from Asian countries, imposes finding of new means for clean, large scale and sustained energy production. NPPs availability was continuously monitored and improved; at the same time the safety of the nuclear energy production was under surveillance. The present development of the new technologies, the discoveries of new materials and development of efficient technological processes offer the opportunities for their appropriate implementation and use in the NPP system configurations and functioning/operation. The new technologies and scientific discoveries, and also the international cooperation, offer the opportunities to mitigate the actual barriers in order to cumulate and use advanced energy production, to find new energy sources and to build improved, reliable and safe power plants. The monitoring systems, intelligent sensors and SSCs, nanotechnologies and new/intelligent materials constitute the main ways for improvement of the NPP systems configuration and processes. The paper presents: - The state of the art in the level of the currently applied technologies for nuclear power systems development; - The actual technological limits that need to be over passed for improving the NPP systems ; - The main systems that need improvement and reconfiguration for development of currently operating NPPs as well as raising the operation efficiency, availability and total safety; - The actual energy production issues; - The key arguments in sustaining the R and D new NPP systems development; - Future trends in NPP development; - The limitations in industrial processes knowledge and use. Appropriate R and D in the field of NPP systems have specific characteristics that were considered in paper completion

The Effect of Current Trends in Mobile Marketing on Traditional Marketing Communications and Customer Relationship Management

OpenAIRE

Hoffmann, Kristina

2011-01-01

As consumers increasingly prefer mobile devices as their main communication and entertainment channel, it becomes more and more important for marketers as well. Mobile marketing today does not only include sending SMS and E-mail but rather is becoming a whole new interactive, rich-media marketing channel with possibilities for direct engagement with ads and brands like never before. This research attempts to provide a greater understanding about the effects of current trends in mobile mark...

Current economic trends in equine practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Andrew R

2009-12-01

Current economic trends in equine practice are trends of weakness. Most practices, after a decade of double-digit growth, have migrated to survival mode within a few months. Understanding that all regions and disciplines are affected differently, using the Porter five forces model, we can identify changes that must be made in our business models first to survive and then to position ourselves to prosper when the recession ends. If we are to avoid long-term damage to our practices, we must use cost control and work efficiency in addition to price concessions.

Virtual Universities: Current Models and Future Trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Guri-Rosenblit, Sarah

2001-01-01

Describes current models of distance education (single-mode distance teaching universities, dual- and mixed-mode universities, extension services, consortia-type ventures, and new technology-based universities), including their merits and problems. Discusses future trends in potential student constituencies, faculty roles, forms of knowledge…

Trends in direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription contraceptives.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Min H; Bartz, Deborah; Avorn, Jerry; Seeger, John D

2016-05-01

Despite much speculation about the role of direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) in increasing demand for prescription contraceptives in the United States, there is little published research on this topic. We sought to quantify the prevalence and magnitude of DTCA for prescription contraceptives over the last decade. Using cross-sectional data from January 2005 through December 2014, we performed descriptive analyses on trends in DTCA expenditure for prescription contraceptives. We also quantified the amount of DTCA according to contraceptive method category and individual brand. During the study period, pharmaceutical companies spent a total of US$1.57 billion in the United States on DTCA of prescription contraceptives. Annual expenditure for contraceptive DTCA reached a peak value of US$260 million in 2008, with a progressive decline to a nadir of US$69 million by 2013. Of the contraceptive methods, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) have been the most heavily promoted, with Yaz (drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol) - the most advertised brand - accounting for US$347 million of cumulative DTCA expenditure. However, DTCA spending on OCPs peaked in 2007 and was overtaken in 2012 by the DTCA of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), the contraceptive method now receiving the largest amount of DTCA promotion. DTCA is a major form of promotion for prescription contraceptives. Recent trends in DTCA expenditure indicate a shift from promotion of the OCPs to the LARCs. DTCA's effect on provider and patient utilization of various contraceptive methods has yet to be determined. This study provides the first quantitative evaluation of DTCA of prescription contraceptive methods and reveals DTCA's importance as a form of promotion. Recent DTCA trends indicate increased promotion of LARCs, coinciding with greater uptake of LARC methods by patients and prescribers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Digital library research : current developments and trends

OpenAIRE

Shiri, Ali

2003-01-01

This column gives an overview of current trends in digital library research under the following headings: digital library architecture, systems, tools and technologies; digital content and collections; metadata; interoperability; standards; knowledge organisation systems; users and usability; legal, organisational, economic, and social issues in digital libraries.

Current trends in ion implantation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gwilliam, R.M.

2001-01-01

As semiconductor device dimensions continue to shrink, the drive beyond 250 nm is creating significant problems for the device processor. In particular, trends toward shallower-junctions, lower thermal budgets and simplified processing steps present severe challenges to ion implantation. In parallel with greater control of the implant process goes the need for a better understanding of the physical processes involved during implantation and subsequent activation annealing. For instance, the need for an understanding of dopant-defect interaction is paramount as defects mediate a number of technologically important phenomena such as transient enhanced diffusion and impurity gettering. This paper will outline the current trends in the ion implantation and some of the challenges it faces in the next decade, as described in the semiconductor roadmap. It will highlight some recent positron annihilation work that has made a contribution to addressing one of these challenges, namely the need for tighter control of implant uniformity and dose. Additionally, some vacancy-mediated processes are described with the implication that these may provide areas in which positron annihilation spectroscopy could make a significant contribution. (orig.)

Current trends in methods for neutron diffusion calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, C.H.

1977-01-01

Current work and trends in the application of neutron diffusion theory to reactor design and analysis are reviewed. Specific topics covered include finite-difference methods, synthesis methods, nodal calculations, finite-elements and perturbation theory

Current Trends in Associate Degree Nursing Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackstone, Elaine Grant

This study was designed to ascertain current trends in associate degree nursing programs and to discover innovative ideas and techniques which could be applied to the existing program at Miami-Dade Community College (Florida). Data was compiled from interviews with representatives of ten associate degree nursing programs in six states. Information…

Current trends in nuclear material transportation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ravenscroft, Norman; Oshinowo, Franchone

1997-01-01

The business of radioactive material transportation has evolved considerably in the past 40 years. Current practices reflect extensive international experience in handling radioactive cargo within a mature and tested regulatory framework. Nevertheless, new developments continue to have an impact on how shipments of nuclear material are planned and carried out. Entities involved in the transport of radioactive materials must keep abreast of these developments and work together to find innovative solutions to ensure that safe, smooth transport activities may continue. Several recent trends in the regulatory environment and political atmosphere require attention. There are four key trends that we'll be examining today: 1) the reduction in the pool of available commercial carriers; 2) routing restrictions; 3) package validation issues; and 4) increasing political sensitivities. Careful planning and cooperative measures are necessary to alleviate problems in each of these areas. (author)

Current Trends in Higher Education Technology: Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Damewood, Andrea M.

2016-01-01

This paper is focused on how technology in use changes over time, and the current trend of simulation technology as a supported classroom technology. Simulation-based training as a learning tool is discussed within the context of adult learning theories, as is the technology used and how today's higher education technology administrators support…

The new consumer - Implications for pharmacy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morgall, Janine M.; Almarsdóttir, Anna B.

1999-01-01

In this article, we argue that the extended role of the pharmacy profession appears to be driven more by professional interests than by the interests of the consumer. We believe that a better understanding of market trends in general, as well as research into consumer needs, will ultimately give...... the best results for the profession. We focus on the rise of consumerism and what is referred to as the 'new' or 'aggressive' consumer. We argue that unless the pharmacy profession understands this widespread phenomenon, it will continue to shoot wide of its goal to increase public support and to develop...... an appreciation of the pharmacist's professional skills. We propose that pharmacy practice research should analyse the current situation from the consumer perspective within the context of changes in society, specifically within the health care system....

Natural gas 1995: Issues and trends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1995-11-01

Natural Gas 1995: Issues and Trends addresses current issues affecting the natural gas industry and markets. Highlights of recent trends include: Natural gas wellhead prices generally declined throughout 1994 and for 1995 averages 22% below the year-earlier level; Seasonal patterns of natural gas production and wellhead prices have been significantly reduced during the past three year; Natural gas production rose 15% from 1985 through 1994, reaching 18.8 trillion cubic feet; Increasing amounts of natural gas have been imported; Since 1985, lower costs of producing and transporting natural gas have benefitted consumers; Consumers may see additional benefits as States examine regulatory changes aimed at increasing efficiency; and, The electric industry is being restructured in a fashion similar to the recent restructuring of the natural gas industry.

Current trends in chloroplast genome research | Khan | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

comprise of DOGMA for annotation, SCAN-SE, ARAGON and PREP suit for RNA analyses and CG viewer for circular map construction/comparative analysis. Faster algorithms for gene-order based phylogenetic reconstruction and bootstrap analysis have attracted the attention of research community. Current trends in ...

Trends in prices to commercial energy consumers in the competitive Texas electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zarnikau, Jay; Fox, Marilyn; Smolen, Paul

2007-01-01

To date, the price of electricity to commercial or business energy consumers has generally increased at greater rates in the areas of Texas where retail competition has been introduced than in areas that do not enjoy competition. Trends in commercial competitive prices have largely mirrored trends in residential prices. Market restructuring has tended to increase the sensitivity of retail electricity prices to changes in the price of natural gas, the marginal fuel used for generation in Texas. Consequently, the rapid increases in the commodity price of natural gas following restructuring led to increases in competitive electric rates which exceeded the increases in areas not exposed to restructuring, where the fuel component of electric rates tend to reflect a weighted average of the utilities' fuel costs. There is some evidence that pricing behavior by competitive retailers changed when the retailers affiliated with the incumbent utilities were permitted some pricing flexibility, resulting in a reduction in prices. (author)

Current trends in context-aware applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Loayza

2013-12-01

Full Text Available (Received: 2013/10/07 - Accepted: 2013/12/10Context-aware applications adapt their behavior and settings according to the environment conditions and to the user preferences. This state-of-the-art survey identifies the current trends related to the technics and tools for the development of this kind of software, as well as the areas of interest of the scientific community on the subject. It stands out the research on multimodal interfaces, localization, activity detection, interruptions control, predictive and wellbeing applications.

Secular trends in reported portion size of food and beverages consumed by Irish adults.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Sinead A; Livingstone, M Barbara E; McNulty, Breige A; Lyons, Jacqueline; Walton, Janette; Flynn, Albert; Segurado, Ricardo; Dean, Moira; Spence, Michelle; McCaffrey, Tracy A; Pourshahidi, L Kirsty; Nugent, Anne P; Gibney, Eileen R

2015-04-14

The present analysis aimed to investigate the changes in the reported portion sizes (PS) of foods and beverages commonly consumed by Irish adults (18-64 years) from the North South Ireland Food Consumption Survey (NSIFCS) (1997-2001) and the National Adult Nutrition Survey (NANS) (2008-10). Food PS, which are defined as the weight of food (g) consumed per eating occasion, were calculated for comparable foods and beverages in two nationally representative cross-sectional Irish food consumption surveys and were published in NSIFCS and NANS. Repeated measure mixed model analysis compared reported food PS at the total population level as well as subdivided by sex, age, BMI and social class. A total of thirteen commonly consumed foods were examined. The analysis demonstrated that PS significantly increased for five foods ('white sliced bread', 'brown/wholemeal breads', 'all meat, cooked', 'poultry, roasted' and 'milk'), significantly decreased for three ('potatoes', 'chips/wedges' and 'ham, sliced') and did not significantly change for five foods ('processed potato products', 'bacon/ham', 'cheese', 'yogurt' and 'butter/spreads') between the NSIFCS and the NANS. The present study demonstrates that there was considerable variation in the trends in reported food PS over this period.

Current Trends in Higher Education Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, R. J.

2012-01-01

Current trends in higher education learning and teaching focuses on the use of technology, integrated learning through "blended learning" and writing for academic purposes. This introductory article initiates the debate around the context of South African higher education teaching and learning. It does so by contextualizing the South…

Current ethical and legal issues in health-related direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Niemiec, Emilia; Kalokairinou, Louiza; Howard, Heidi Carmen

2017-09-01

A variety of health-related genetic testing is currently advertized directly to consumers. This article provides a timely overview of direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC GT) and salient ethical issues, as well as an analysis of the impact of the recently adopted regulation on in vitro diagnostic medical devices on DTC GT. DTC GT companies currently employ new testing approaches, report on a wide spectrum of conditions and target new groups of consumers. Such activities raise ethical issues including the questionable analytic and clinical validity of tests, the adequacy of informed consent, potentially misleading advertizing, testing in children, research uses and commercialization of genomic data. The recently adopted regulation on in vitro diagnostic medical devices may limit the offers of predisposition DTC GT in the EU market.

Trends and Gaps in Awareness of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests From 2007 to 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Apathy, Nate C; Menser, Terri; Keeran, Lindsay M; Ford, Eric W; Harle, Christopher A; Huerta, Timothy R

2018-06-01

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests for inherited disease risks have gained recent approvals from the Food and Drug Administration, and interest in these tests has continued to grow. Broad use of these tests coupled with planning and discussion with health providers regarding genetic risks and potential protective behavior changes have been proposed as preventive tools to reduce health disparities and improve equity in health outcomes. However, awareness of direct-to-consumer genetic testing has historically demonstrated differences by education, income, and race; these disparities could jeopardize potential benefits by limiting access and use. The national survey data from the Health Information National Trends Survey was analyzed to understand how overall awareness of direct-to-consumer genetic testing and disparities in awareness across sociodemographic groups have changed since 2007. The findings showed persistent disparities, as well as a widening gap in awareness between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites (OR 2007 =1.52, OR 2014 =0.58, p change =0.0056), despite overall increases in awareness over time. Given these findings, policies regulating direct-to-consumer genetic tests should prioritize equitable distribution of benefits by including provisions that counteract prevailing disparities in awareness. Copyright © 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Current Trends in Aerospace Engineering Education on Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Sheng-Jii

A proposal for current trends in Aerospace Engineering Education on Taiwan has been drawn from the suggestions made after a national conference of "Workshop on Aerospace Engineering Education Reform." This workshop was held in January 18-20, 1998, at the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,…

The wine market – an empicrical examination of in-store consumer behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartłomiej Pierański

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Business success in the current highly competitive environment determines primarily the ability to understand the customer and his needs and identify the factors that influence consumer behavior. Therefore, the examination of consumer behavior and obtaining feedback on the development and state of the market as well as identifying current trends is an essential part of any successful business. Producers and traders are increasingly forced to adapt to the rapid development and changes in the market. This is especially important with food products, given the wide range of assortment, substitutability of particular groceries and strengthening competitive pressure of manufacturers and retailers. In general, consumer decision-making related to food is influenced by a number of different factors that are changing under the influence of new trends (greater emphasis on quality, country of origin etc.. Even more specific category is the wine market, which is subject to specific criteria of consumer choice, since from a consumer perspective, it is not a product of daily consumption. The world wine market is increasing; new producers as well as new groups of customers are emerging on the market. The distribution channels are becoming more diversified and wine is offered in both specialty stores and self-service outlets; hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores. Due to this trend the investigation of in-store consumer behavior becomes crucial. The aim of the paper is to discuss the usefulness of eye tracking based research for examining perceptions of people shelf displays. The research integrates measurements with a mobile eye camera (Eye tracker glasses in real conditions of a wine shop in order to reveal the impact of merchandising (display of domestic and foreign wines on the visual attention of the consumer. The results of qualitative research carried out in March 2015 will be presented.

Cobalt 60 gamma irradiation current status, trends and insights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corley, John T.

1998-01-01

This paper discusses the current status, trends and insights into the continued, safe use of cobalt 60 gamma irradiation. Also presented are some of the many initiatives undertaken at MDS Nordion. Topics covered include our investment for the future supply of raw materials and the latest news from source production. Briefly presented are the tasks associated with the safe transport of cobalt 60 around the world. Discussed is cobalt 60 usage at the customer site; more specifically maintaining source integrity, source utilization and irradiator design trends. Highlighted are industry trends for North America, Europe and the rest of the world. Finally presented are the challenges and opportunities for the industry. Stressed in the paper is the need to work together

Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Pieniążek

2014-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses social funding and how it affects consumer behaviour. Crowdfunding contributes to the support and development of interesting products and services. Consumers have become not only the recipients but also co-creators of new products.The changes also apply to the consumption model.So far, the customer has received product already formed by the manufacturers. Now, the customer may pre-order the product via a crowdfunding site, by financially supporting the manufacturing process of the product. Online community which the consumer belongs to has the power to market the products which might never be created or would be created after a long period of time. It may also have influence on their appearance and functionality. The purpose of this article is to present the phenomenon of crowdfunding and an attempt at defining consumer attitudes related to the new model of funding, promotion and sale of products online.The article provides an overview of the literature on the subject and an analysis of selected crowdfunding sites.

The emergence of diverse organic consumers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Thomas Bøker; Andersen, Laura Mørch; Jensen, Katherine

polarised. It can also be said to have matured insofar as positively oriented segments that differ in their food involvement, shopping behaviour and levels of ethical concern have appeared, while marketing and distribution strategies have co-developed with these trends. We discuss the current relevance......This study uses qualitative and quantitative data as well as household panel data regarding actual purchases of organic food in order to examine organic consumer profiles and recent developments of organic demand in Denmark. Six different segments of Danish households are identified, of which three...... of segmenting organic consumers in mature markets with a view to improving strategies of production, distribution and marketing of organic foods....

Correlates of consumer trust in online health information: findings from the health information national trends survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Yinjiao

2011-01-01

The past few decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in consumers seeking health information online. However, the quality of such information remains questionable, and the trustworthiness of online health information has become a hot topic, whereas little attention has been paid to how consumers evaluate online health information credibility. This study builds on theoretical perspectives of trust such as personal-capital-based, social-capital-based, and transfer-based, and it examines various correlates of consumer trust in online health information. The author analyzed the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey data (N = 7,674). Results showed that consumer trust in online health information did not correlate with personal capital such as income, education, and health status. Social capital indicated by visiting social networking Web sites was not associated with trust in online health information either. Nevertheless, trust in online health information transferred from traditional mass media and government health agencies to the Internet, and it varied by such information features as easiness to locate and to understand. Age appeared to be a key factor in understanding the correlates of trust in online health information. Theoretical and empirical implications of the results are discussed.

Current trends in Bayesian methodology with applications

CERN Document Server

Upadhyay, Satyanshu K; Dey, Dipak K; Loganathan, Appaia

2015-01-01

Collecting Bayesian material scattered throughout the literature, Current Trends in Bayesian Methodology with Applications examines the latest methodological and applied aspects of Bayesian statistics. The book covers biostatistics, econometrics, reliability and risk analysis, spatial statistics, image analysis, shape analysis, Bayesian computation, clustering, uncertainty assessment, high-energy astrophysics, neural networking, fuzzy information, objective Bayesian methodologies, empirical Bayes methods, small area estimation, and many more topics.Each chapter is self-contained and focuses on

The future of consumer cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Battiato, Sebastiano; Moltisanti, Marco

2015-03-01

In the last two decades multimedia, and in particular imaging devices (camcorders, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) have been dramatically diffused. Moreover the increasing of their computational performances, combined with an higher storage capability, allows them to process large amount of data. In this paper an overview of the current trends of consumer cameras market and technology will be given, providing also some details about the recent past (from Digital Still Camera up today) and forthcoming key issues.

Trends in the exchange current for hydrogen evolution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørskov, Jens Kehlet; Bligaard, Thomas; Logadottir, Ashildur

2005-01-01

A density functional theory database of hydrogen chemisorption energies on close packed surfaces of a number of transition and noble metals is presented. The bond energies are used to understand the trends in the exchange current for hydrogen evolution. A volcano curve is obtained when measured...... exchange currents are plotted as a function of the calculated hydrogen adsorption energies and a simple kinetic model is developed to understand the origin of the volcano. The volcano curve is also consistent with Pt being the most efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. (c) 2005...

"Hold on, I have to post this on Instagram": Trends, Talk, and Transactions of the Experiential Consumer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steve Kent

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Just a few years ago, consumers proudly showcased material purchases of the latest fashion accessory or technological gadget. Now they are more likely to post online about experiences, rather than the consumption of products.By its very nature, hospitality is a natural beneficiary of these trends in consumption-but how can the industry target audiences to capitalize financially on experiences?

Changes in seafood consumer preference patterns and associated changes in risk exposure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jensen, Helen H. [Iowa State University, Department of Economics, 578 Heady Hall, Ames, IA 50011 (United States)]. E-mail hhjensen@iastate.edu

2006-07-01

Consumers world-wide are driving changes in the agriculture and food sector. Rising consumer income, changing demographics and lifestyles, and shifting preferences due to new information about the links between diet and health all contribute to new demands for foods. At the same time, technological changes in production, processing and distribution, growth in large-scale retailing, and changes in product availability, as well as expansion of trade world wide, have contributed to a rapidly changing market for food products. Changes in seafood consumption reflect these changes. The changes in consumer consumption patterns, new technologies and trade in product offer both expanded markets as well as new challenges to consumer exposure to food-borne risks. The strict quality control requirements of retail brokers, growth of private labels, and development of value-protecting marketing channels have become increasingly important in food markets. This paper addresses major trends that affect seafood consumption and the market for seafood products and the implications of these changes for consumer risk exposure to food safety hazards. The current economic environment highlights similarities and differences between the developed and developing countries, as well as diversity worldwide in consumption of seafood. Within this context, four major trends affect consumer consumption of foods, including seafood and fish products today: rising income; changing demographics; changing markets for food; and an increasingly global market for food products. Changes in consumer risk exposure to food safety problems are addressed in the context of these trends.

Changes in seafood consumer preference patterns and associated changes in risk exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jensen, Helen H. . E-mail hhjensen@iastate.edu

2006-01-01

Consumers world-wide are driving changes in the agriculture and food sector. Rising consumer income, changing demographics and lifestyles, and shifting preferences due to new information about the links between diet and health all contribute to new demands for foods. At the same time, technological changes in production, processing and distribution, growth in large-scale retailing, and changes in product availability, as well as expansion of trade world wide, have contributed to a rapidly changing market for food products. Changes in seafood consumption reflect these changes. The changes in consumer consumption patterns, new technologies and trade in product offer both expanded markets as well as new challenges to consumer exposure to food-borne risks. The strict quality control requirements of retail brokers, growth of private labels, and development of value-protecting marketing channels have become increasingly important in food markets. This paper addresses major trends that affect seafood consumption and the market for seafood products and the implications of these changes for consumer risk exposure to food safety hazards. The current economic environment highlights similarities and differences between the developed and developing countries, as well as diversity worldwide in consumption of seafood. Within this context, four major trends affect consumer consumption of foods, including seafood and fish products today: rising income; changing demographics; changing markets for food; and an increasingly global market for food products. Changes in consumer risk exposure to food safety problems are addressed in the context of these trends

Changes in seafood consumer preference patterns and associated changes in risk exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Helen H

2006-01-01

Consumers world-wide are driving changes in the agriculture and food sector. Rising consumer income, changing demographics and lifestyles, and shifting preferences due to new information about the links between diet and health all contribute to new demands for foods. At the same time, technological changes in production, processing and distribution, growth in large-scale retailing, and changes in product availability, as well as expansion of trade world wide, have contributed to a rapidly changing market for food products. Changes in seafood consumption reflect these changes. The changes in consumer consumption patterns, new technologies and trade in product offer both expanded markets as well as new challenges to consumer exposure to food-borne risks. The strict quality control requirements of retail brokers, growth of private labels, and development of value-protecting marketing channels have become increasingly important in food markets. This paper addresses major trends that affect seafood consumption and the market for seafood products and the implications of these changes for consumer risk exposure to food safety hazards. The current economic environment highlights similarities and differences between the developed and developing countries, as well as diversity worldwide in consumption of seafood. Within this context, four major trends affect consumer consumption of foods, including seafood and fish products today: rising income; changing demographics; changing markets for food; and an increasingly global market for food products. Changes in consumer risk exposure to food safety problems are addressed in the context of these trends.

Current Trends in Sustainability of Bitcoins and Related Blockchain Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pasquale Giungato

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Bitcoin is a digital currency based on a peer-to-peer payment system managed by an open source software and characterized by lower transaction costs, greater security and scalability than fiat money and no need of a central bank. Despite criticisms about illegal uses and social consequences, it is attracting the interest of the scientific community. The purpose of this work is to define and evaluate the current trends of the literature concerned with the sustainability of bitcoin, considering the environmental impacts, social issues and economic aspects. From the analysis it emerges that the transition of the whole monetary system in the new cryptocurrency will result in an unacceptable amount of energy consumed to mine new bitcoins and to maintain the entire virtual monetary system, and probably bitcoin will remain a niche currency. Blockchain, which is the base for a distributed and democratically-sustained public ledger of the transactions, could foster new and challenging opportunities. Sharing the framework of medical data, energy generation and distribution in micro-grids at the citizen level, block-stack and new state-driven cryptocurrencies, may benefit from the wide spread of blockchain-based transactions. Under the perspective of its being a driver of social change, bitcoins and related blockchain technologies may overcome the issues highlighted by numerous detractors.

Current Technology Trends for School Library Media Specialists

OpenAIRE

Leticia Ekhaml; Joan Hubbard

2003-01-01

An overview of some of the current technology trends used in classroom instruction and school library media centers in provided in this article such as the use of handheld electronic organizers, CD recorders, digital video cameras, and interactive whiteboards. The article offers some suggestions or ideas on how to acquire new technologies to school library media centers that are low in budgetary funds.

Five Aspects of Current Trends in German Library Science

Science.gov (United States)

Steierwald, Ulrike

2006-01-01

The specialisation Library Science at the Hochschule Darmstadt/University of Applied Science Darmstadt is the newest academic program in Germany for the higher education of librarians. Five current trends in library science in Germany reflect the new "Darmstadt Model": (1) The delimitation of a specific professional field…

Current Trends in Neonatal Tracheostomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Isaiah, Amal; Moyer, Kelly; Pereira, Kevin D

2016-08-01

The indications for neonatal tracheostomy may have changed with current noninvasive respiratory therapies compared with previous decades. To study the current trends in neonatal tracheostomy and identify the primary indication for the procedure and risk factors for failed extubation. This retrospective medical record review included 47 neonates who underwent tracheostomy from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2013, at the University of Maryland Children's Hospital. Group 1 included infants undergoing tracheostomy for the primary indication of upper airway obstruction; group 2, infants with primary pulmonary disease. Data on weight, gestational age, comorbid conditions, congenital abnormalities, complications, outcomes, and indications for tracheostomy were compared statistically between groups. Differences in gestational age, birth weight, and age at tracheostomy. Among the 47 infants included in the study (30 boys; 17 girls, mean [SD] age, 113 [73] days), 31 (66%) demonstrated anatomical causes of airway obstruction, and 16 (34%) had significant pulmonary disease. Among infants with anatomical causes, subglottic stenosis represented the largest group (11 of 31 [35%]). The mean age at the time of tracheostomy was significantly lower in the group with airway obstruction (98.9 vs 146.9 days; difference, 48 [95% CI, 4.8-91.2] days; P = .04). No procedure-related morbidity or mortality was encountered. Anatomical upper airway obstruction may be returning as the most common indication for a neonatal tracheostomy, thereby supporting the belief that current respiratory therapies have lowered the burden of chronic lung disease and the need for prolonged ventilatory care.

Labour Markets Trends, Financial Globalization and the current crisis in Developing Countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R.E. van der Hoeven (Rolph)

2010-01-01

textabstractThe current wave of globalization has profound labour market effects, accentuated, in many cases, by the current financial and economic crisis. This paper reviews general labour market trends and country examples, arguing that the current globalization process makes labour’s position

Current Technology Trends for School Library Media Specialists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leticia Ekhaml

2003-03-01

Full Text Available An overview of some of the current technology trends used in classroom instruction and school library media centers in provided in this article such as the use of handheld electronic organizers, CD recorders, digital video cameras, and interactive whiteboards. The article offers some suggestions or ideas on how to acquire new technologies to school library media centers that are low in budgetary funds.

Demand for luxury cars in China: development, trends and prospects

OpenAIRE

Heinonen, Tommi

2014-01-01

Purpose of this thesis was to investigate what is demand for luxury cars in People's Republic of China and how it has developed, what trends there are and what direction development is going currently. The topic of this thesis was selected based on how interesting it is and how current the topic is at the moment. Objective was to find out what is the demand of luxury cars in China, what kind of buyers Chinese consumers are in field of luxury cars, what trends there are and what are the charac...

Organizational Development of Russian SMEs: Current trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emil Velinov

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The research paper sheds a light on Russian SMEs transition and specifically on their current development and evolution. The paper attempts to explain what are the main drivers and antecedents on SMEs during the period 2010-2015. Along with it, it is applied detailed analysis of Russian SMEs in terms of key performance indicators, turnover and volume of sales. Further, are given potential developments and trends within SMEs in Russia. The paper draws attention to socio-economic and political factors influencing SMEs development.

78 FR 54629 - Consumer Advisory Board meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-05

... consumer financial products or services industry, including regional trends, concerns, and other relevant... consumer financial products or services industry, including regional trends, concerns, and other relevant... business so requires; in such event, the public will be given notice at the earliest practicable time. (3...

Credibility and Consumer Behavior of Islamic Bank in Indonesia: A Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naufal BACHRI

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The concept “credibility” has become significant attention from academics and practitioners because it played an important role in creating and maintaining consumer behavior. This study uses twenty- seven references relates to credibility, customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty. Several studies have discussed the relationship between credibility and consumer behavior and also elaborated dimensions of credibility. It also presented the shortcomings of current research and the trends for future study in Islamic banking.

Making sense of the "clean label" trends: A review of consumer food choice behavior and discussion of industry implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Asioli, Daniele; Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Caputo, Vincenzina; Vecchio, Riccardo; Annunziata, Azzurra; Næs, Tormod; Varela, Paula

2017-09-01

Consumers in industrialized countries are nowadays much more interested in information about the production methods and components of the food products that they eat, than they had been 50years ago. Some production methods are perceived as less "natural" (i.e. conventional agriculture) while some food components are seen as "unhealthy" and "unfamiliar" (i.e. artificial additives). This phenomenon, often referred to as the "clean label" trend, has driven the food industry to communicate whether a certain ingredient or additive is not present or if the food has been produced using a more "natural" production method (i.e. organic agriculture). However, so far there is no common and objective definition of clean label. This review paper aims to fill the gap via three main objectives, which are to a) develop and suggest a definition that integrates various understandings of clean label into one single definition, b) identify the factors that drive consumers' choices through a review of recent studies on consumer perception of various food categories understood as clean label with the focus on organic, natural and 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products and c) discuss implications of the consumer demand for clean label food products for food manufacturers as well as policy makers. We suggest to define clean label, both in a broad sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by assumption and through inference looking at the front-of-pack label and in a strict sense, where consumers evaluate the cleanliness of product by inspection and through inference looking at the back-of-pack label. Results show that while 'health' is a major consumer motive, a broad diversity of drivers influence the clean label trend with particular relevance of intrinsic or extrinsic product characteristics and socio-cultural factors. However, 'free from' artificial additives/ingredients food products tend to differ from organic and natural products. Food

Fast or slow food? Explaining trends in food-related time in the Netherlands, 1975-2005

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mandemakers, J.J.; Roeters, A.

2015-01-01

The current study analysed trends in the time spent preparing and consuming food and the frequency of outsourcing (going out for dinner and take-out) in the Netherlands from 1975 to 2005. We investigated differences between trends on week and weekend days and for different socio-demographic groups.

Current Trends in Foreign Trade Theory and Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zdzisław W. Puślecki

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this research work, Author focus on the current analysis trends in foreign trade theory and policy. Accordance with the foreign trade policy theory further trade liberalisation and improved framework policies would increase trade and promote growth. It must be emphasized that openness to trade is associated with higher incomes and growth and there is the need for new approaches to trade cooperation in light of the forces that are currently re-shaping international business. What indicates the importance and innovativeness of the research is the presentation of the new models of the foreign trade policy and trade interests. First of all, it must underline that in the new theoretical terms in demand for trade policy very important is factor specificity. The low specificity of factors means that factor returns are equalized throughout a region’s economy. On the other hand, some factors are stuck in their present uses; therefore, factor returns are not equalized throughout a region’s economy but are industry specific. The main objective of the research task is to give a comprehensive analysis of current trends in foreign trade theory and policy and in particular models of foreign trade policy, trade interests indicated by export orientation and import sensitivity, foreign trade policy in different types of authoritarian regimes, protectionist pressures in different political system, the level of protectionist pressures, the tendencies to bilateralism in the foreign trade policy. It should be stressed that free trade in itself is not responsible for economic growth, but more significant are the determining macroeconomic stability and increasing investment.

Counseling in Malaysia: History, Current Status, and Future Trends

Science.gov (United States)

See, Ching Mey; Ng, Kok-Mun

2010-01-01

This article presents an overview of the history of counseling in Malaysia, provides an update of its current status, and discusses some anticipated future trends for the profession in light of recent developments in the country. Counseling in Malaysia began with school guidance in the 1960s and has now achieved recognition as a profession in…

Cardiovascular disease mortality in the Americas: current trends and disparities.

Science.gov (United States)

de Fatima Marinho de Souza, Maria; Gawryszewski, Vilma Pinheiro; Orduñez, Pedro; Sanhueza, Antonio; Espinal, Marcos A

2012-08-01

To describe the current situation and trends in mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Americas and explore their association with economic indicators. This time series study analysed mortality data from 21 countries in the region of the Americas from 2000 to the latest available year. Age-adjusted death rates, annual variation in death rates. Regression analysis was used to estimate the annual variation and the association between age-adjusted rates and country income. Currently, CVD comprised 33.7% of all deaths in the Americas. Rates were higher in Guyana (292/100 000), Trinidad and Tobago (289/100 000) and Venezuela (246/100 000), and lower in Canada (108/100 000), Puerto Rico (121/100 000) and Chile (125/100 000). Male rates were higher than female rates in all countries. The trend analysis showed that CVD death rates in the Americas declined -19% overall (-20% among women and -18% among men). Most countries had a significant annual decline, except Guatemala, Guyana, Suriname, Paraguay and Panama. The largest annual declines were observed in Canada (-4.8%), the USA (-3.9%) and Puerto Rico (-3.6%). Minor declines were in Mexico (-0.8%) and Cuba (-1.1%). Compared with high-income countries the difference between the median of death rates in lower middle-income countries was 56.7% higher and between upper middle-income countries was 20.6% higher. CVD death rates have been decreasing in most countries in the Americas. Considerable disparities still remain in the current rates and trends.

Current trends in plant breeding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalani, B.S.; Rajanaidu, N.

2000-01-01

The current world population is 6 billion and it is likely to reach 7 billion in 2010 and 8 billion 2025. Sufficient food must be produced for the ever increasing human population. The available suitable land for intensive agriculture is limited. We have to produce more food from less land, pesticide, labour and water resources. Hence, increase in crop productivity are essential to feed the world in the next century. Plant breeding provides the avenue to increase the food production to feed the growing world population. Development of a cultivar involves (I) Construction of a genetic model (II) creating a gene pool (III) selection among plants and (IV) testing the selected genotypes for adaptation to the biotic and abiotic environments (Frey, 1999). This paper discusses the trends in plant breeding using the oil palm as a model. It covers (i) genetic resources (ii) physiological traits (III) exploitation of genotype x environment interaction (IV) oil palm clones, and (v) biotechnology application. (Author)

AMS-11 in Rome, 2008: Past achievements, current and future trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fink, David

2010-01-01

The volume of scientific work and achievements of the international Accelerator Mass Spectrometry community over the past 30 years is presented by quantifying the annual increases in past AMS conference participation, trends in technical developments and applications, the rate of growth of new AMS facilities, sample throughput, publications and general scientific impact. Also a brief summary with some highlights of the International AMS-11 Rome Conference is presented with some flavour of current trends and future directions in AMS.

Online Consumer Ethnocentrism of Danish Consumers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bujac, Andreea Ioana

2017-01-01

No doubt that consumer ethnocentrism is an important phenomenon in international marketing. However, not much attention has been paid to consumer ethnocentrism in an online context. The current study aims to fill in this gap. Specifically, the ethnocentric tendency of Danish online consumers...

Fast or slow food? Explaining trends in food-related time in the Netherlands, 1975–2005

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mandemakers, Jornt; Roeters, Anne|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304837865

2015-01-01

The current study analysed trends in the time spent preparing and consuming food and the frequency of outsourcing (going out for dinner and take-out) in the Netherlands from 1975 to 2005. We investigated differences between trends on week and weekend days and for different socio-demographic groups.

A Study of Current Trends and Issues Related to Technical/Engineering Design Graphics.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Aaron C.; Scales Alice

2000-01-01

Presents results from a survey of engineering design graphics educators who responded to questions related to current trends and issues in the profession of graphics education. Concludes that there is a clear trend in institutions towards the teaching of constraint-based modeling and computer-aided manufacturing. (Author/YDS)

Effective methods of consumer protection in Brazil. An analysis in the context of property development contracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deborah Alcici Salomão

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study examines consumer protection in arbitration, especially under the example of property development contract disputes in Brazil. This is a very current issue in light of the presidential veto of consumer arbitration on May 26, 2015. The article discusses the arbitrability of these disputes based on Brazilian legislation and relevant case law. It also analyzes of the advantages, disadvantages and trends of consumer arbitration in the context of real estate contracts. The paper concludes by providing suggestions specific to consumer protection in arbitration based on this analysis.

Current trends in molecular diagnostics of chronic myeloid leukemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinhas, Raquel; Cordeiro, Milton; Pedrosa, Pedro; Fernandes, Alexandra R; Baptista, Pedro V

2017-08-01

Nearly 1.5 million people worldwide suffer from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), characterized by the genetic translocation t(9;22)(q34;q11.2), involving the fusion of the Abelson oncogene (ABL1) with the breakpoint cluster region (BCR) gene. Early onset diagnosis coupled to current therapeutics allow for a treatment success rate of 90, which has focused research on the development of novel diagnostics approaches. In this review, we present a critical perspective on current strategies for CML diagnostics, comparing to gold standard methodologies and with an eye on the future trends on nanotheranostics.

Current trends of tropical fruit waste utilization.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheok, Choon Yoong; Mohd Adzahan, Noranizan; Abdul Rahman, Russly; Zainal Abedin, Nur Hanani; Hussain, Norhayati; Sulaiman, Rabiha; Chong, Gun Hean

2018-02-11

Recent rapid growth of the world's population has increased food demands. This phenomenon poses a great challenge for food manufacturers in maximizing the existing food or plant resources. Nowadays, the recovery of health benefit bioactive compounds from fruit wastes is a research trend not only to help minimize the waste burden, but also to meet the intensive demand from the public for phenolic compounds which are believed to have protective effects against chronic diseases. This review is focused on polyphenolic compounds recovery from tropical fruit wastes and its current trend of utilization. The tropical fruit wastes include in discussion are durian (Durio zibethinus), mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.), rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), mango (Mangifera indica L.), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), papaya (Carica papaya), passion fruit (Passiflora edulis), dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp), and pineapple (Ananas comosus). Highlights of bioactive compounds in different parts of a tropical fruit are targeted primarily for food industries as pragmatic references to create novel innovative health enhancement food products. This information is intended to inspire further research ideas in areas that are still under-explored and for food processing manufacturers who would like to minimize wastes as the norm of present day industry (design) objective.

New contractual trends in world petroleum industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arzu, M.; Clerici, C.

1992-01-01

Oil industry contractual practices have gone through a rapid evolution starting from the 1970's, mainly determined by a change in the relationship between producer and consumer countries. Current steady price trends have led to a new equilibrium causing the petroleum companies and producer countries to re-examine their contractual strategies. This article highlights the new contractual trends in the petroleum industry by tracing the evolution of international business relationships and by comparing the main types of contractual schemes, e.g., concession, production sharing, services and services support, adopted today by the key hydrocarbon producing countries of the world

Consumer Mobile Health Apps: Current State, Barriers, and Future Directions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kao, Cheng-Kai; Liebovitz, David M

2017-05-01

This paper discusses the current state, barriers, and future directions of consumer-facing applications (apps). There are currently more than 165,000 mobile health apps publicly available in major app stores, the vast majority of which are designed for patients. The top 2 categories are wellness management and disease management apps, whereas other categories include self-diagnosis, medication reminder, and electronic patient portal apps. Apps specific to physical medicine and rehabilitation also are reviewed. These apps have the potential to provide low-cost, around-the-clock access to high-quality, evidence-based health information to end users on a global scale. However, they have not yet lived up to their potential due to multiple barriers, including lack of regulatory oversight, limited evidence-based literature, and concerns of privacy and security. The future directions may consist of improving data integration into the health care system, an interoperable app platform allowing access to electronic health record data, cloud-based personal health record across health care networks, and increasing app prescription by health care providers. For consumer mobile health apps to fully contribute value to health care delivery and chronic disease management, all stakeholders within the ecosystem must collaborate to overcome the significant barriers. Copyright © 2017 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Educational Research in Mainland China: Current Situation and Developmental Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Miantao

2011-01-01

The influence of Confucian culture in Chinese Mainland China is reflected in the current situation and contextual trends of educational research content of educational thought of Confucianism, educational issues grounded on theoretical views of Confucianism, and the influence of the inclusiveness of Confucianism. In terms of research method, the…

Current Trends in European Quality Assurance. ENQA Workshop Report 8

Science.gov (United States)

Bozo, Dhurata; Damian, Radu; Gonzalez, Cecilia de la Rosa; Helle, Emmi; Imoda, Franco; Kohler, Alexander; Papazoglou, Vassilios J.; Dalmau, Gemma Rauret; Shopov, Todor

2009-01-01

The present report is a product of two ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) seminars, held in 2007, on current trends in European Quality Assurance. The first seminar, hosted by the Bulgarian National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (NEAA), examined the situation in South-Eastern Europe. The second seminar…

West Virginia Women Business Owners: Current Study and Trends Report.

Science.gov (United States)

Holup, Linda L.; FitzGerald, Kathleen M.

This report profiles current West Virginia women business owners and notes significant trends in the last eight years. It highlights a subgroup of women business owners, specifically low income, single women with children. These survey areas are discussed: industry sector, type of ownership, reasons for going/not going into business, planning…

Research on Current Trends and Developments in Library Automation Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Clyde, Laurel A.

A research project was undertaken in 1992 in order to identify, describe, and analyze current trends and developments in library automation systems and library software. The starting point is work conducted in 1988/1989 that formed the foundation of the book "Computer Software for School Libraries: A Directory." A 1992 survey of software…

Computers in nuclear medicine - current trends and future directions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1994-01-01

Previously, a decision to purchase computing equipment for nuclear medicine usually required evaluation of the 'local' needs. With the advent of Pacs and state of the art computer techniques for image acquisition and manipulation, purchase and subsequent application is to become much more complex. Some of the current trends and future possibilities which may influence the choice and operation of computers within and outside the nuclear medicine environment is discussed. (author)

Management of infantile hemangiomas: Current trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gomathy Sethuraman

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Infantile hemangiomas (IH are common vascular tumours. IH have a characteristic natural course. They proliferate rapidly during the early infantile period followed by a period of gradual regression over several years. Most of the uncomplicated IH undergo spontaneous involution, with a small proportion of cases requiring intervention. These are children with IH in life-threatening locations, local complications like haemorrhage, ulceration and necrosis and functional or cosmetic disfigurements. Systemic corticosteroids have been the first line of treatment for many years. Recently, non-selective beta-blockers, such as oral propranalol and topical timolol, have emerged as promising and safer therapies. Other treatment options include interferon α and vincristine which are reserved for life-threatening haemangiomas that are unresponsive to conventional therapy. This review mainly focuses on the current trends and evidence-based approach in the management of IH.

A History of Drug Advertising: The Evolving Roles of Consumers and Consumer Protection

Science.gov (United States)

Donohue, Julie

2006-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs in the United States is controversial. Underlying the debate are disagreements over the role of consumers in medical decision making, the appropriateness of consumers engaging in self-diagnosis, and the ethics of an industry promoting potentially dangerous drugs. Drug advertising and federal policy governing drug advertising have both responded to and reinforced changes in the consumer's role in health care and in the doctor-patient relationship over time. This article discusses the history of DTCA in the context of social movements to secure rights for health care patients and consumers, the modern trend toward consumer-oriented medicine, and the implications of DTCA and consumer-oriented medicine for contemporary health policy debates about improving the health care system. PMID:17096638

A history of drug advertising: the evolving roles of consumers and consumer protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Donohue, Julie

2006-01-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs in the United States is controversial. Underlying the debate are disagreements over the role of consumers in medical decision making, the appropriateness of consumers engaging in self-diagnosis, and the ethics of an industry promoting potentially dangerous drugs. Drug advertising and federal policy governing drug advertising have both responded to and reinforced changes in the consumer's role in health care and in the doctor-patient relationship over time. This article discusses the history of DTCA in the context of social movements to secure rights for health care patients and consumers, the modern trend toward consumer-oriented medicine, and the implications of DTCA and consumer-oriented medicine for contemporary health policy debates about improving the health care system.

CURRENT TRENDS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES IN MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angel Doraliyski

2017-03-01

Full Text Available One of the key components of the management system is the organizational structure of management. This report presents the current trends of development and improvement of organizational structures of management. The semantics of the term "organizational structure" used in the report is clarified. Key aspects of structural policy of organizations are discussed, as well as the introduction of flexible organizational forms. The main directions for analysis of organizational policy of organizations are also mentioned. It is stressed that the analysis of current trends for the future development of organizational structures of management should be an integral component of the management policy of every organization. The trends are flexibility and adaptability of the organizational structure, rational proportion between centralization and decentralization, an appropriate balance between the rights, duties and responsibilities, reducing regulations, rules and other normative documents. A recommendetaion is made that organizational governance structures must be adapted constantly in accordance with changes in the overall management system, as they are one of its main components.

The consumer behavior towards an ecological fitness club

OpenAIRE

Aguilar Pérez, Rocío

2017-01-01

The Gen Z is a new generation that, among others, cares about healthy and sustainable lifestyles. These two new tendencies together give rise to a new market opportunity, which has been taken by us by creating a new fitness concept: an ecologically-friendly gym called GreenMonkeyGym. Throughout this paper the reader will find two important parts. The first one consists of information about the current market trends, about important theoretical concepts regarding consumer behavior as well a...

Correlating consumer perception and consumer acceptability of traditional Doenjang in Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Mina K; Lee, Kwang-Geun

2014-11-01

Doenjang is a traditional Korean food and is widely used for many Korean foods. Consumer perception and consumer acceptability on the typical sensory characteristics of traditional Doenjang remain unknown. The objective of the current study was to determine the consumer perception on traditional Doenjang characteristics and how preexisting consumer perception influenced the consumer liking for traditionally and commercially manufactured Doenjang. A consumer survey was conducted by presenting 26 sensory descriptions to consumers (n = 82) for check-all-that-apply measurement. Then, a consumer acceptance test was conducted over 2 d on 2 Doenjang samples representing commercially produced Doenjang and traditionally produced Doenjang: Day 1 consumers evaluated without any information (n = 182), and day 2 consumers evaluated samples informed that both samples were made by the "traditional" method (n = 109). Two-way ANOVA and multivariate analyses were conducted. Consumers' preexisting perceptions on the typical sensory characteristics of traditionally made Doenjang were similar in that they associate "gu-soo flavor," "dark color," "flavorful," and "well-fermented flavor" regardless of consumer demographics and Doenjang user status. However, these consumer perceptions on sensory attributes of traditional Doenjang did not agree with desirable sensory attributes for consumer liking, in that consumers preferred the commercially made Doenjang regardless of the evaluation condition and consumer user status. Findings from the current study therefore suggested a discrepancy between the preexisting current consumer perception and actual consumer acceptability of traditional Doenjang products. © 2014 Institute of Food Technologists®

Corporate Social responsibility in the petrochemical industry: Exploring current trends in social and environmental disclosure

OpenAIRE

Lei, Juan

2006-01-01

Current trends indicate that we are entering a new phase of corporate responsibility reporting that more emphasis is paid on social responsibility, but significant variation still remains in the maturity of reporting content and styles in industries, and even in the same industry. This study explores the current trend of corporate social and environmental reporting in petrochemical industry. It offers a detailed review of the development of corporate social responsibility reporting, and of th...

The rise of digital direct-to-consumer advertising?: Comparison of direct-to-consumer advertising expenditure trends from publicly available data sources and global policy implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Mackey, Tim K; Cuomo, Raphael E; Liang, Bryan A

2015-06-19

Pharmaceutical marketing is undergoing a major shift in the United States, in part due to new transparency regulations under the healthcare reform act. Changes in pharmaceutical marketing practices include a possible shift from more traditional forms of direct-to-consumer advertising towards emerging use of Internet-based DTCA ("eDTCA") given the growing importance of digital health or "eHealth." Though legally allowed only in the U.S. and New Zealand, eDTCA poses novel regulatory challenges, as it can cross geopolitical boundaries and impact health systems and populations outside of these countries. We wished to assess whether changes in DTCA and eDTCA expenditure trends was occurring using publicly available pharmaceutical marketing data. DTCA data was analyzed to compare trends in aggregate marketing expenditures and to assess if there were statistically significant differences in trends and magnitudes for data sources and DTCA sub-categories (including eDTCA). This was accomplished using regression lines of DTCA trend data and conducting pairwise comparisons of regression coefficients using t-tests. Means testing was utilized for comparing magnitude of DTCA expenditure. Data from multiple data sources indicate that aggregate DTCA expenditures have slightly declined during the period from 2005-2009 and are consistent with results from other studies. For DTCA sub-categories, television remained the most utilized form of DTCA, though experienced trends of declining expenditures (-13.2 %) similar to other traditional media platforms such as radio (-30.7 %) and outdoor ads (-12.1 %). The only DTCA sub-category that experienced substantial increased expenditures was eDTCA (+109.0 %) and it was the only medium that had statistically significant differences in its marketing expenditure trends compared to other DTCA sub-categories. Our study indicates that traditional DTCA marketing may be on the decline. Conversely, the only DTCA sub-category that experienced

The current state and trends of the development of universities in Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.B. Morhulets

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Education is the basis of social, political, economic, spiritual, and cultural development. Therefore, the study of the current state and trends of the development of Ukrainian universities is a significant factor of social and economic progress of the country.The paper reflects the general state of universities in Ukraine, in particular, the trends in dynamics: the number of students in terms of entry/graduation, sources of financing, education fields; the number of universities in the context of accreditation, types and forms of ownership; the number of outbound Ukrainian and inbound foreign students; quantitative and qualitative characteristics of teaching staff; spending on higher education and the cost of funding per student compared with other countries. The purpose of the study is the assessment of economic activity of higher educational establishments in Ukraine, the identification of problems and tendencies of their development in the context of national transformational processes in education and formation of the society of knowledge. The methodical base used in the study is analysis and synthesis, methods of comparison and generalization, extrapolation, index and graphical methods. The practical value of the study is based on the results of a thorough analysis of university activities. Such results reveal the current state and trends of the development of universities under conditions of higher education transformation in Ukraine and its integration into the European educational area. The results of research improve understanding of the state and problems of the universities and provide the foundations for further research in the field of the national education system development and for improving of the quality of young professionals’ training. The trends of the university development indicate that the reorganization of higher education which is being currently taken place, already results in the emergence of new competencies of

Current trends in the global tourism industry: evidence from the United States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nejdet Delener

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Tourism is one of the largest U.S. industries, serving millions of international and domestic tourists yearly. Tourists visit the U.S. to see natural wonders, cities, historic landmarks, and entertainment venues. Americans seek similar attractions as well as recreation and vacation areas. Tourism competes in the global market, so it is important to understand current trends in the U.S. travel industry. Therefore, this article offers insight into important trends and suggests strategies for policy makers involved in the travel and tourism industry.

Current issues in the understanding of consumer food choice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

2002-01-01

Consumer food choice is framed in terms of the formation of quality expectations before and quality experience after the purchase. For the formation of quality expectations, lack of consumer ability to form expectations that will be predictive of later experience is mentioned as a problem......-called credence qualities - qualities which are invisible to the consumer both before and after the purchase. Such qualities provide a challenge for communication about the product, not only to induce consumers to buy the product, but also to reinforce their choice after the purchase. Concerning experienced...... quality after the purchase, the role of home production - turning products into meals - is mentioned as important, but underresearced topic. Finally, differences in consumer behaviour between normal situations and situations of food crises are addressed. Udgivelsesdato: AUG...

Survey Exploring Views of Scientists on Current Trends in Chemistry Education

Science.gov (United States)

Vamvakeros, Xenofon; Pavlatou, Evangelia A.; Spyrellis, Nicolas

2010-01-01

A survey exploring the views of scientists, chemists and chemical engineers, on current trends in Chemistry Education was conducted in Greece. Their opinions were investigated using a questionnaire focusing on curricula (the content and process of chemistry teaching and learning), as well as on the respondents' general educational beliefs and…

Disability in the Classroom: Current Trends and Impacts on Music Education

Science.gov (United States)

Abramo, Joseph

2012-01-01

This article covers current trends in disability rights and raises questions about how society's views of disability influence the music education of students in need of special education services. Brief overviews of the disability-rights movement in the United States and of federal laws pertaining to disabilities and education are included. Next,…

Consumer Behavior Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaveh Peighambari

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes 12 years of recent scholarly research on consumer behavior published in the five leading international journals in this field. Analyzing academic contributions to a specific area of research provides valuable insights into how it has evolved over a defined period. The approach was to briefly discuss content analysis and its application in scholarly literature review studies. The methodology used here involves the classification of topics to evaluate key trends in consumer behavior literature. It includes a ranking of topics published, typology of the published articles, the research classification in terms of methodologies, and analysis techniques. The most cited articles in the field and within each journal are also examined. The comprehensive literature review of consumer behavior research undertaken in this article could advance the discipline of consumer behavior research by elucidating the evolution of consumer behavior literature in the studied period.

Oil development in China: Current status and future trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Linwei; Fu Feng; Li Zheng; Liu Pei

2012-01-01

The future of oil has become an important topic of the discussion of energy policy in China. This paper attempts to present a full picture of the current status and future trends of China’s oil development through system analysis. First, we map a Sankey diagram of China’s oil flow to reveal the physical pattern of China’s oil supply and consumption. Then, we present the historical and ongoing trends of China’s oil flow from key aspects such as oil demand, oil resource availability, technology improvement, and policy adjustment. Based on these understandings, we design three scenarios of China’s oil demand in 2030, and analyze policy implications for oil saving, automotive energy development, and energy security. From the analysis, we draw some conclusions for policy decisions, such as to control the total oil consumption to avoid energy security risks, to enhance oil saving in all sectors with road transportation as the emphasis, and to increase the investment on oil production and refining to secure oil supply and reduce emissions. - Highlights: ► A Sankey Diagram to reveal the physical pattern of China’s oil supply and consumption. ► Present the ongoing trends of China’s oil development. ► Discuss important policy issues such as oil saving, energy security, and emissions reduction.

Future trends and consumer lifestyles with regard to meat consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

2006-01-01

Using the food-related lifestyle model as a conceptual framework, one possible trend each is discussed for the following four components of food-related lifestyle: quality aspects, ways of shopping, cooking methods, and purchase motives. These trends refer to the increasing use of extrinsic cues ...... in quality perception, shopping fast and easy vs. shopping in specialized outlets, the role of convenience and meat avoidance in cooking, and the role of concerns about the meat production process in purchasing. Indicators for each of these trends are discussed.......Using the food-related lifestyle model as a conceptual framework, one possible trend each is discussed for the following four components of food-related lifestyle: quality aspects, ways of shopping, cooking methods, and purchase motives. These trends refer to the increasing use of extrinsic cues...

Future trends and consumer lifestyles with regard to meat consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

Using the food-related lifestyle model as a conceptual framework, one possible trend each is discussed for the following four components of food-related lifestyle: quality aspects, ways of shopping, cooking methods, and purchase motives. These trends refer to the increasing use of extrinsic cues ...... in quality perception, shopping fast and easy vs. shopping in specialized outlets, the role of convenience and meat avoidance in cooking, and the role of concerns about the meat production process in purchasing. Indicators for each of these trends are discussed.......Using the food-related lifestyle model as a conceptual framework, one possible trend each is discussed for the following four components of food-related lifestyle: quality aspects, ways of shopping, cooking methods, and purchase motives. These trends refer to the increasing use of extrinsic cues...

Energy Trends 2012; Energie Trends 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van Dril, T. (ed.); Gerdes, J. (ed.) [ECN Beleidsstudies, Petten (Netherlands); Marbus, S. (ed.) [Energie-Nederland, Den Haag (Netherlands); Boelhouwer, M. (ed.) [Netbeheer Nederland, Arnhem (Netherlands)

2012-11-15

In Energy Trends 2012, all figures and developments in the field of energy in the Netherlands are presented in conjunction. The book provides information on energy use by consumers and businesses, provides insight into the international energy trade, energy production and development of energy networks [Dutch] In Energie Trends 2012 staan alle cijfers en ontwikkelingen op het gebied van energie in Nederland in samenhang gepresenteerd. Het boek biedt informatie over energiegebruik door consumenten en bedrijven, geeft inzage in de internationale energiehandel en energieproductie en biedt inzicht in de ontwikkeling van de energienetten.

The impact of ethnocentrism on Serbian consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veljković Saša

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of consumer ethnocentrism on the intention to buy local products by Serbian consumers. Modern business trends and market changes are followed by new trends in consumer behaviour. Many changes in all segments of economy and society occurred in last few years in Republic of Serbia. Changes were especially influenced by: strong foreign competition, transition, change in values, economy and society liberalization, local culture, and as well by globalization and all other kinds of socio­economic and psychological factors. The globalization of markets presents considerable challenges and opportunities for domestic and international marketers. All these have been influencing on people differentiation concerning ethnocentrism.

Health Information System Role-Based Access Control Current Security Trends and Challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

de Carvalho Junior, Marcelo Antonio; Bandiera-Paiva, Paulo

2018-01-01

This article objective is to highlight implementation characteristics, concerns, or limitations over role-based access control (RBAC) use on health information system (HIS) using industry-focused literature review of current publishing for that purpose. Based on the findings, assessment for indication of RBAC is obsolete considering HIS authorization control needs. We have selected articles related to our investigation theme "RBAC trends and limitations" in 4 different sources related to health informatics or to the engineering technical field. To do so, we have applied the following search query string: "Role-Based Access Control" OR "RBAC" AND "Health information System" OR "EHR" AND "Trends" OR "Challenges" OR "Security" OR "Authorization" OR "Attacks" OR "Permission Assignment" OR "Permission Relation" OR "Permission Mapping" OR "Constraint". We followed PRISMA applicable flow and general methodology used on software engineering for systematic review. 20 articles were selected after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria resulting contributions from 10 different countries. 17 articles advocate RBAC adaptations. The main security trends and limitations mapped were related to emergency access, grant delegation, and interdomain access control. Several publishing proposed RBAC adaptations and enhancements in order to cope current HIS use characteristics. Most of the existent RBAC studies are not related to health informatics industry though. There is no clear indication of RBAC obsolescence for HIS use.

Consumer acceptance of irradiated food

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loaharanu, P [Head, Food Preservation Section, Joint FAO/ IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Wagramerstr. 5, A-1400, Vienna (Austria)

1998-12-31

There was a widely held opinion during the 1970`s and 1980`s that consumers would be reluctant to purchase irradiated food, as it was perceived that consumers would confuse irradiated food with food contaminated by radionuclides. Indeed, a number of consumer attitude surveys conducted in several western countries during these two decades demonstrated that the concerns of consumers on irradiated food varied from very concerned to seriously concerned.This paper attempts to review parameters conducting in measuring consumer acceptance of irradiated food during the past three decades and to project the trends on this subject. It is believed that important lessons learned from past studies will guide further efforts to market irradiated food with wide consumer acceptance in the future. (Author)

Consumer acceptance of irradiated food

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loaharanu, P. [Head, Food Preservation Section, Joint FAO/ IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Wagramerstr. 5, A-1400, Vienna (Austria)

1997-12-31

There was a widely held opinion during the 1970`s and 1980`s that consumers would be reluctant to purchase irradiated food, as it was perceived that consumers would confuse irradiated food with food contaminated by radionuclides. Indeed, a number of consumer attitude surveys conducted in several western countries during these two decades demonstrated that the concerns of consumers on irradiated food varied from very concerned to seriously concerned.This paper attempts to review parameters conducting in measuring consumer acceptance of irradiated food during the past three decades and to project the trends on this subject. It is believed that important lessons learned from past studies will guide further efforts to market irradiated food with wide consumer acceptance in the future. (Author)

Consumer acceptance of irradiated food

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loaharanu, P.

1997-01-01

There was a widely held opinion during the 1970's and 1980's that consumers would be reluctant to purchase irradiated food, as it was perceived that consumers would confuse irradiated food with food contaminated by radionuclides. Indeed, a number of consumer attitude surveys conducted in several western countries during these two decades demonstrated that the concerns of consumers on irradiated food varied from very concerned to seriously concerned.This paper attempts to review parameters conducting in measuring consumer acceptance of irradiated food during the past three decades and to project the trends on this subject. It is believed that important lessons learned from past studies will guide further efforts to market irradiated food with wide consumer acceptance in the future. (Author)

Food and Health Some Current Issues and Future Trends

OpenAIRE

Gormley, T. R. (Thomas Ronan)

1991-01-01

This paper deals with some of the many current issues and future trends in the area of food, diet and health in Europe. A complete coverage would be impossible in a short article in view of the extent and complexity of the food system and its major interaction with health. It is also important to stress at the outset that food/diet is only one component of health and other factors such as environment, overall lifestyle and genetics also play a major role. The genetic dimension is of particula...

Current Trends in High-Level Synthesis of Asynchronous Circuits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sparsø, Jens

2009-01-01

This paper is a survey paper presenting what the author sees as two major and promising trends in the current research in CAD-tools and design-methods for asynchronous circuits. One branch of research builds on top of existing asynchronous CAD-tools that perform syntax directed translation, e...... a conventional synchronous circuit as the starting point, and then adds some form of handshake-based flow-control. One approach keeps the global clock and implements discrete-time asynchronous operation. Another approach substitutes the clocked registers by asynchronous handshake-registers, thus creating truly...

The current waste generation and management trends in South Africa: A Review

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Nkosi, N

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper, a continuation and expansion of the work of Muzenda et al, 2012 [1] looks at the current waste generation and management trends in South Africa. The waste tyre problem in South Africa is also briefly discussed. Solid waste management...

Predicting the future trend of popularity by network diffusion

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, An; Yeung, Chi Ho

2016-06-01

Conventional approaches to predict the future popularity of products are mainly based on extrapolation of their current popularity, which overlooks the hidden microscopic information under the macroscopic trend. Here, we study diffusion processes on consumer-product and citation networks to exploit the hidden microscopic information and connect consumers to their potential purchase, publications to their potential citers to obtain a prediction for future item popularity. By using the data obtained from the largest online retailers including Netflix and Amazon as well as the American Physical Society citation networks, we found that our method outperforms the accurate short-term extrapolation and identifies the potentially popular items long before they become prominent.

Predicting the future trend of popularity by network diffusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, An; Yeung, Chi Ho

2016-06-01

Conventional approaches to predict the future popularity of products are mainly based on extrapolation of their current popularity, which overlooks the hidden microscopic information under the macroscopic trend. Here, we study diffusion processes on consumer-product and citation networks to exploit the hidden microscopic information and connect consumers to their potential purchase, publications to their potential citers to obtain a prediction for future item popularity. By using the data obtained from the largest online retailers including Netflix and Amazon as well as the American Physical Society citation networks, we found that our method outperforms the accurate short-term extrapolation and identifies the potentially popular items long before they become prominent.

World petrochemical outlook: Is the current weakness a trend or an aberration?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baggett, P.E.

1995-01-01

While the focus of this conference is methanol, a review of the general petrochemical industry might be enlightening and valuable to understanding the methanol market. Methanol is certainly a commodity with similarities to hydrocarbons such as gasoline and similarities to base petrochemicals such as ethylene. Methanol stands with one foot in the fuels market via MTBE and the other in the chemicals business for acetic acid and formaldehyde, among many others. Is the world petrochemical market moving into a new trend of weak prices and profits or is the strong growth seen in 1994 and 1995 continuing and the current situation an aberration? In order to determine whether the current market is a trend or aberration, the author looks at issues that he believes caused the current situation and then considers where the world's economies and petrochemical markets are heading. The issues discussed are: unusually high price increase in a short period; inventory increase/decrease because of price changes; reduction in demand caused by high prices; increase in capacity caused by high prices; changes in growth of world economies; and political/economic issues in China

Functional and organic eggs as an alternative to conventional production: a conjoint analysis of consumers' preferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesías, Francisco J; Martínez-Carrasco, Federico; Martínez, José M; Gaspar, Paula

2011-02-01

In the current context of growing consumer demand for foodstuffs that are healthy and safe and that are obtained in a manner respectful to the welfare of animals, the analysis of consumer preferences towards attributes of this type takes on particular importance. These trends are especially clear in the case of the consumption of eggs because of their strong negative association with cholesterol levels and their extremely intensive systems of production. The introduction of variants that are more in harmony with current consumer demands represents an interesting market alternative. The present study was aimed at investigating the preferences of Spanish consumers for these alternative types of egg that are entering the market. The survey was conducted with 361 consumers from October 2007 to March 2008. The conjoint analysis allowed us to estimate the relative importance of the main attributes that affect consumer preferences for eggs and to distinguish segments of consumers with similar preference profiles. It was found that price is the most important attribute determining consumer preferences, followed by the hens' feed and their rearing conditions. It was also found that only some groups of consumers are willing to pay the premium necessary for alternative methods of production. 2010 Society of Chemical Industry.

Trend report on Market Process and Consumers' Trust in the Energy Market. Second half-year 2011; Trendrapportage Marktwerking en Consumentenvertrouwen in de energiemarkt. Tweede halfjaar 2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-03-15

This report addresses the trends of knowledge indicators on the energy market for consumers. It offers a brief overview of the factual state of affairs. The report observes that the market share of the largest three energy companies is decreasing slightly; the potential saving by switching can be up to 480 euro; consumers indicate more interest in switching compared to the previous year (11% between 1 July 2011 - 1 July 2012); and the price threshold for consumers to switch has lowered [Dutch] Deze rapportage bevat trends van kernindicatoren over de energiemarkt voor consumenten. Het is een beknopte weergave van de feitelijke stand van zaken. In de rapportage wordt geconstateerd dat: het marktaandeel van de grootste drie energiebedrijven licht daalt; er de mogelijkheid is tot besparen bij een overstap tot 480 euro; consumenten aangeven meer interesse te hebben om te gaan overstappen; consumenten dat ook daadwerkelijk meer doen dan voorgaand jaar (11% tussen 1 juli 2011 - 1 juli 2012); en de prijsdrempel voor consumenten om over te stappen is gedaald.

Trend report on Market Process and Consumers' Trust in the Energy Market. First half-year 2012; Trendrapportage Marktwerking en Consumentenvertrouwen in de energiemarkt. Eerste halfjaar 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-03-15

This report addresses the trends of knowledge indicators on the energy market for consumers. It offers a brief overview of the factual state of affairs. The report observes that the market share of the largest three energy companies is decreasing slightly; the potential saving by switching can be up to 480 euro; consumers indicate more interest in switching compared to the previous year (11% between 1 July 2011 - 1 July 2012); and the price threshold for consumers to switch has lowered [Dutch] Deze rapportage bevat trends van kernindicatoren over de energiemarkt voor consumenten. Het is een beknopte weergave van de feitelijke stand van zaken. In de rapportage wordt geconstateerd dat (a) het marktaandeel van de grootste drie energiebedrijven licht daalt; (b) er de mogelijkheid is tot besparen bij een overstap: tot 480 euro; (c) consumenten aangeven meer interesse te hebben om te gaan overstappen; (d) consumenten dat ook daadwerkelijk meer doen dan voorgaand jaar (11% tussen 1 juli 2011 - 1 juli 2012); de prijsdrempel voor consumenten om over te stappen is gedaald.

Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing

Science.gov (United States)

Calvert, Sandra L.

2008-01-01

Marketing and advertising support the U.S. economy by promoting the sale of goods and services to consumers, both adults and children. Sandra Calvert addresses product marketing to children and shows that although marketers have targeted children for decades, two recent trends have increased their interest in child consumers. First, both the…

Evolution and Current Trends in Liquid and Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

OpenAIRE

Fekete, Szabolcs; Grand-Guillaume-Perrenoud, Alexandre; Guillarme, Davy

2014-01-01

The current trend in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tends toward the achievement of higher separation efficiency and shorter analysis time. Indeed, better performance in LC has become increasingly important in recent years mainly driven by the challenges of either analyzing more complex samples or increasing the numbers of samples per time unit. In the recent development of particle technology, the use of fully porous sub-2 m particles and sub-3 m shell particles have received ...

Consumer engagement: An insight from smart grid projects in Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gangale, Flavia; Mengolini, Anna; Onyeji, Ijeoma

2013-01-01

This paper provides an insight into consumer engagement in smart grid projects in Europe. Projects analysed are those included in the catalogue annexed in the JRC Report “Smart Grid projects in Europe: lessons learned and current developments”. The analysis suggests an increase in the interest in consumer engagement projects at European level and a strong focus on the residential sector, and emphasises the key importance of public funding to support these projects. The study also reveals that projects involving consumers are characterised by the pursuit of two main objectives: gaining deeper knowledge of consumer behaviour (observing and understanding the consumer) and motivating and empowering consumers to become active energy customers (engaging the consumer). The paper reviews the main activities undertaken to obtain these objectives and highlights trends and developments in the field. Finally, the paper discusses obstacles to consumer engagement and the strategies adopted by the projects surveyed to tackle them, highlighting the need to build consumer trust and to design targeted campaigns taking into consideration different consumer segments. The conclusions are in line with findings and analyses presented in the literature and underscore the need for further research and action at European level. - Highlights: • Consumers' key role in the success of the future electricity system (smart grids). • Survey on consumer engagement experiences in European smart grid projects. • Focus is on observing and understanding the consumers and on engaging them. • Trust and confidence as central elements. • Need to take into consideration different consumer segments/motivational factors

A decade of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

Science.gov (United States)

Donohue, Julie M; Cevasco, Marisa; Rosenthal, Meredith B

2007-08-16

Evidence suggests that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs increases pharmaceutical sales and both helps to avert underuse of medicines and leads to potential overuse. Concern about such advertising has increased recently owing to the withdrawal from the market of heavily advertised drugs found to carry serious risks. Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been criticized for its weak enforcement of laws regulating such advertising. We examined industry-wide trends in spending by pharmaceutical companies on direct-to-consumer advertising and promotion to physicians during the past decade. We characterized the drugs for which such advertising is used and assessed the timing of advertising after a drug is introduced. Finally, we examined trends in the FDA's regulation of drug advertising. Total spending on pharmaceutical promotion grew from $11.4 billion in 1996 to $29.9 billion in 2005. Although during that time spending on direct-to-consumer advertising increased by 330%, it made up only 14% of total promotional expenditures in 2005. Direct-to-consumer campaigns generally begin within a year after the approval of a product by the FDA. In the context of regulatory changes requiring legal review before issuing letters, the number of letters sent by the FDA to pharmaceutical manufacturers regarding violations of drug-advertising regulations fell from 142 in 1997 to only 21 in 2006. Spending on direct-to-consumer advertising has continued to increase in recent years in spite of the criticisms leveled against it. Our findings suggest that calls for a moratorium on such advertising for new drugs would represent a dramatic departure from current practices. Copyright 2007 Massachusetts Medical Society.

Computational approaches to analogical reasoning current trends

CERN Document Server

Richard, Gilles

2014-01-01

Analogical reasoning is known as a powerful mode for drawing plausible conclusions and solving problems. It has been the topic of a huge number of works by philosophers, anthropologists, linguists, psychologists, and computer scientists. As such, it has been early studied in artificial intelligence, with a particular renewal of interest in the last decade. The present volume provides a structured view of current research trends on computational approaches to analogical reasoning. It starts with an overview of the field, with an extensive bibliography. The 14 collected contributions cover a large scope of issues. First, the use of analogical proportions and analogies is explained and discussed in various natural language processing problems, as well as in automated deduction. Then, different formal frameworks for handling analogies are presented, dealing with case-based reasoning, heuristic-driven theory projection, commonsense reasoning about incomplete rule bases, logical proportions induced by similarity an...

Mechanics of Biological Tissues and Biomaterials: Current Trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amir A. Zadpoor

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Investigation of the mechanical behavior of biological tissues and biomaterials has been an active area of research for several decades. However, in recent years, the enthusiasm in understanding the mechanical behavior of biological tissues and biomaterials has increased significantly due to the development of novel biomaterials for new fields of application, along with the emergence of advanced computational techniques. The current Special Issue is a collection of studies that address various topics within the general theme of “mechanics of biomaterials”. This editorial aims to present the context within which the studies of this Special Issue could be better understood. I, therefore, try to identify some of the most important research trends in the study of the mechanical behavior of biological tissues and biomaterials.

Future trends and consumer lifestyles with regard to meat consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

2006-01-01

Using the food-related lifestyle model as a conceptual framework, one possible trend each is discussed for the following four components of food-related lifestyle: quality aspects, ways of shopping, cooking methods, and purchase motives. These trends refer to the increasing use of extrinsic cues...... in quality perception, shopping fast and easy vs. shopping in specialized outlets, the role of convenience and meat avoidance in cooking, and the role of concerns about the meat production process in purchasing. Indicators for each of these trends are discussed....

Future trends and consumer lifestyles with regard to meat consumption.

Science.gov (United States)

Grunert, Klaus G

2006-09-01

Using the food-related lifestyle model as a conceptual framework, one possible trend each is discussed for the following four components of food-related lifestyle: quality aspects, ways of shopping, cooking methods, and purchase motives. These trends refer to the increasing use of extrinsic cues in quality perception, shopping fast and easy vs. shopping in specialized outlets, the role of convenience and meat avoidance in cooking, and the role of concerns about the meat production process in purchasing. Indicators for each of these trends are discussed.

CURRENT TRENDS OF ROMANIAN RURAL FAMILY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adina IORGA

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The profound changes experienced by the Romanian society had a profound social impact on the structure and functions of the rural family. The paper aims to highlight the main trends recorded using a number of indicators: ruralization rate, birth rate, infant mortality rate, percentage of children born outside marriage, fertility rate, percentage of population aged 65 and over. Statistics from censuses and statistical yearbooks were processed to identify the trends of the Romanian rural family: changes in reproductive behavior, increased aging, declining birth rates.

Present and Future Trends in Consumer Health Informatics and Patient-Generated Health Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, A M; Hsueh, P-Y S; Choi, Y K; Austin, R R

2017-08-01

Objectives: Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) and the use of Patient-Generated Health Data (PGHD) are rapidly growing focus areas in healthcare. The objective of this paper is to briefly review the literature that has been published over the past few years and to provide a sense of where the field is going. Methods: We searched PubMed and the ACM Digital Library for articles published between 2014 and 2016 on the topics of CHI and PGHD. The results of the search were screened for relevance and categorized into a set of common themes. We discuss the major topics covered in these articles. Results: We retrieved 65 articles from our PubMed query and 32 articles from our ACM Digital Library query. After a review of titles, we were left with 47 articles to conduct our full article survey of the activities in CHI and PGHD. We have summarized these articles and placed them into major categories of activity. Within the domain of consumer health informatics, articles focused on mobile health and patient-generated health data comprise the majority of the articles published in recent years. Conclusions: Current evidence indicates that technological advancements and the widespread availability of affordable consumer-grade devices are fueling research into using PGHD for better care. As we observe a growing number of (pilot) developments using various mobile health technologies to collect PGHD, major gaps still exist in how to use the data by both patients and providers. Further research is needed to understand the impact of PGHD on clinical outcomes. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.

Neuroimaging in refractory epilepsy. Current practice and evolving trends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ramli, N. [Department of Biomedical Imaging, University Malaya Research Imaging Centre (Malaysia); Rahmat, K., E-mail: katt_xr2000@yahoo.com [Department of Biomedical Imaging, University Malaya Research Imaging Centre (Malaysia); Lim, K.S.; Tan, C.T. [Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

2015-09-15

Highlights: • Neuroimaging is imperative in diagnostic work up and therapeutic assessment of refractory epilepsy. • Identification of epileptogenic zone on EEG, MRI and functional imaging improves the success of surgery. • High performance MRI greatly enhanced metabolic information and elucidate brain functions. • Optimisation of epilepsy protocols in structural and functional MRI are presented in this article. - Abstract: Identification of the epileptogenic zone is of paramount importance in refractory epilepsy as the success of surgical treatment depends on complete resection of the epileptogenic zone. Imaging plays an important role in the locating and defining anatomic epileptogenic abnormalities in patients with medically refractory epilepsy. The aim of this article is to present an overview of the current MRI sequences used in epilepsy imaging with special emphasis of lesion seen in our practices. Optimisation of epilepsy imaging protocols are addressed and current trends in functional MRI sequences including MR spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging and fusion MR with PET and SPECT are discussed.

Neuroimaging in refractory epilepsy. Current practice and evolving trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramli, N.; Rahmat, K.; Lim, K.S.; Tan, C.T.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Neuroimaging is imperative in diagnostic work up and therapeutic assessment of refractory epilepsy. • Identification of epileptogenic zone on EEG, MRI and functional imaging improves the success of surgery. • High performance MRI greatly enhanced metabolic information and elucidate brain functions. • Optimisation of epilepsy protocols in structural and functional MRI are presented in this article. - Abstract: Identification of the epileptogenic zone is of paramount importance in refractory epilepsy as the success of surgical treatment depends on complete resection of the epileptogenic zone. Imaging plays an important role in the locating and defining anatomic epileptogenic abnormalities in patients with medically refractory epilepsy. The aim of this article is to present an overview of the current MRI sequences used in epilepsy imaging with special emphasis of lesion seen in our practices. Optimisation of epilepsy imaging protocols are addressed and current trends in functional MRI sequences including MR spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging and fusion MR with PET and SPECT are discussed

Current Trends in Malaysian Higher Education and the Effect on Education Policy and Practice: An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Grapragasem, Selvaraj; Krishnan, Anbalagan; Mansor, Azlin Norhaini

2014-01-01

Malaysia has evolved from a production-based to knowledge-based economy in order to stay relevant and compete in the global marketplace. Thus, the purpose of this article is to discuss current trends in Malaysian higher education and how these affect education policies and practices. Four main trends are discussed in this study: Globalization,…

Profiling Consumer Trend-setters in the Canadian Healthy-foods Market

OpenAIRE

West, Gale E.; Larue, Bruno

2004-01-01

The agri-food industry faces new challenges as consumer demand for new, healthier foods increases. Media headlines frequently mention health benefits from certain foods and food components, and consumers are more health conscious because they are aging. They realize their food choices can reduce their risk of developing chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. The competitive advantages for firms who are the first to bring their food innovations to market will depend in part on the...

Extending FDA guidance to include consumer medication information (CMI) delivery on mobile devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Sage, Adam; Blalock, Susan J; Carpenter, Delesha

This paper describes the current state of consumer-focused mobile health application use and the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on the distribution of consumer medication information (CMI), and discusses recommendations and considerations for the FDA to expand CMI guidance to include CMI in mobile applications. Smartphone-based health interventions have been linked to increased medication adherence and improved health outcomes. Trends in smartphone ownership present opportunities to more effectively communicate and disseminate medication information; however, current FDA guidance for CMI does not outline how to effectively communicate CMI on a mobile platform, particularly in regards to user-centered design and information sourcing. As evidence supporting the potential effectiveness of mobile communication in health care continues to increase, CMI developers, regulating entities, and researchers should take note. Although mobile-based CMI offers an innovative mechanism to deliver medication information, caution should be exercised. Specifically, considerations for developing mobile CMI include consumers' digital literacy, user experience (e.g., usability), and the quality and accuracy of new widely used sources of information (e.g., crowd-sourced reviews and ratings). Recommended changes to FDA guidance for CMI include altering the language about scientific accuracy to address more novel methods of information gathering (e.g., anecdotal experiences and Google Consumer Surveys) and including guidance for usability testing of mobile health applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trends that FCS Education Should Address: A Delphi Study Reveals Top 16

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Karen L.; Davis, Kimberlee

2011-01-01

This study used the Delphi method to identify trends of importance to family and consumer sciences (FCS) education. A panel of 21 FCS education experts identified 16 trends and evaluated them by importance, desirability, feasibility, and confidence in validity of the trend. Nutrition appeared as a top priority, followed by consumer economics. The…

Audiovisual quality assessment in communications applications: Current status, trends and challenges

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Korhonen, Jari

2010-01-01

Audiovisual quality assessment is one of the major challenges in multimedia communications. Traditionally, algorithm-based (objective) assessment methods have focused primarily on the compression artifacts. However, compression is only one of the numerous factors influencing the perception...... addressed in practical quality metrics is the co-impact of audio and video qualities. This paper provides an overview of the current trends and challenges in objective audiovisual quality assessment, with emphasis on communication applications...

National trends in beverage consumption in children from birth to 5 years: analysis of NHANES across three decades

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fulgoni Victor L

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Given the epidemic of childhood obesity, it is crucial to assess food and beverage intake trends. Beverages can provide a large number of calories and since consumption patterns seem to develop at a young age we examined beverage consumption trends over three decades. The objective of this study was to assess the beverage (milk, fruit juice, fruit drinks, tea, soy beverages, and soft drinks consumption trends in children Methods Data from individuals ages Results During the NHANES 1976–1980 and 1988–1994 periods, approximately 84–85% of children were consuming milk, whereas only 77% were consuming milk during NHANES 2001–2006. Flavored milk intake was relatively low, but increased to 14% during the last decade (p  Conclusions Given concerns about childhood obesity and the need to meet nutrition requirements, it is prudent that parents, educators and child caretakers replace some of the nutrient poor beverages young children are currently consuming with more nutrient dense sources like low-fat and fat-free milk.

Consumer Information. NASFAA Task Force Report. Consumer Information

Science.gov (United States)

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, 2014

2014-01-01

The National Association of Student Financial Aid and Administrators (NASFAA) Consumer Information Task Force was convened to conduct a thorough review of the current student consumer information requirements and propose ways to streamline both the content and delivery of those requirements. The proposals in the this report were produced for…

Trends in Mediation Analysis in Nursing Research: Improving Current Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Hertzog, Melody

2018-06-01

The purpose of this study was to describe common approaches used by nursing researchers to test mediation models and evaluate them within the context of current methodological advances. MEDLINE was used to locate studies testing a mediation model and published from 2004 to 2015 in nursing journals. Design (experimental/correlation, cross-sectional/longitudinal, model complexity) and analysis (method, inclusion of test of mediated effect, violations/discussion of assumptions, sample size/power) characteristics were coded for 456 studies. General trends were identified using descriptive statistics. Consistent with findings of reviews in other disciplines, evidence was found that nursing researchers may not be aware of the strong assumptions and serious limitations of their analyses. Suggestions for strengthening the rigor of such studies and an overview of current methods for testing more complex models, including longitudinal mediation processes, are presented.

Current trends in radiation protection in Egypt. Vol. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomma, M.A.

1996-01-01

The treatise presents the development of radiation protection in egypt over the past four decades. The contents will include a historical synopsis, and the current state of art regarding competent authorities, the hierarchy involved, and the respective responsibilities. The recent publications of the international trends in radiation protection are also mentioned. The efforts made towards the implementation of the new recommendations on radiation protection, and updating of the radiation protection legislations are also discussed. The 1994 international safety standards, and the collective opinion of the committee on radiation protection and public health (CRPPH) of the organization for economic Co-operation and development of the Nuclear energy agency OECD/NEA are also summarized

Current trends in radiation protection in Egypt. Vol. 1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gomma, M A [Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo (Egypt)

1996-03-01

The treatise presents the development of radiation protection in egypt over the past four decades. The contents will include a historical synopsis, and the current state of art regarding competent authorities, the hierarchy involved, and the respective responsibilities. The recent publications of the international trends in radiation protection are also mentioned. The efforts made towards the implementation of the new recommendations on radiation protection, and updating of the radiation protection legislations are also discussed. The 1994 international safety standards, and the collective opinion of the committee on radiation protection and public health (CRPPH) of the organization for economic Co-operation and development of the Nuclear energy agency OECD/NEA are also summarized.

CURRENT TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evgeny V. Ryabinin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The methodological bases of researchof international business are stated in the article. The great attention is focused on analysis of main trends in development of international. The comparison of competitiveness to of most used forms ofinternational business, as well as identified the main problems and barriers of theinternational business structures.

CLUSTERING OF THE COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX AND EVALUATING WITH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seda BAĞDATLI KALKAN

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Consumer confidence index is a national indicator that suggest about current and future expectations of the economic conditions. With consumer confidence index, it is aimed to determine the trends and expectations of consumers according to their general economic situation, employment opportunities, their financial situations and developments in the markets. Another parameter is also the Human Development Index (HDI. This index is an indicator that examines the development of countries both economically and socially. Countries are sorted by these two indices and are considered as basic parameters in international platforms. The purpose of this study is to group the selected countries according to the consumer confidence index and reveal the features of the groups and then determine the position of the grouped countries with the Human Development Index. According to the results of cluster analysis, it is shown that India, China, Sweden and USA have the highest total consumer confidence index, employment, expectation and investment index

Consumer Behavior of College Students in the Czech Republic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Horakova Monika

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This contribution is a follow-up to the topic of consumer behavior which is analyzed from the economic theory perspective on microeconomic as well as a macroeconomic level. The main objective of the article is to reveal the structure of college students’ consumer basket determined according to disposable income and its changes. In this article, the methodology of a consumer basket was used. The division of it was done by Czech Statistical Office to calculate the inflation rate in the environment of the Czech Republic. In this article, the analysis of college students’ consumer basket was done. The pressure on having a higher qualification in tertiary education is a typical trend across Europe, which is also one of strategic goals of EU Strategy 2020 and its concept. There is clear evidence of a growing segment of college students that represents a significant demand group on the product and service market. The knowledge of their consumer habits is definitely beneficial for companies regarding their competitive advantage and reaching higher incomes from the products offered. The market product consumption is dependent on the total disposable income mainly. That is fundamentally dependent on hours of paid work or other fund contributions. The current disposable income shows the differences regarding consumption expenditures of a consumer basket and its various categories. A lower disposable income is typical for flowing the highest consumer expenditures from class 1 (Food and non-alcoholic beverages to class 4 (Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels of a higher disposal income. If the current disposable income of college students increases, there would be higher consumption expenditures regarding classes 9, 3 and 5 (Recreation and culture; Clothing and footwear; Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance. On the contrary, a lower disposable income would mean lower expenditures regarding classes 3, 2 and 9

eHealth in Saudi Arabia: Current Trends, Challenges and Recommendations.

Science.gov (United States)

Alsulame, Khaled; Khalifa, Mohamed; Househ, Mowafa

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to explore the current status of eHealth in Saudi Arabia from the perspective of health informatics professionals. We used a case study approach and analyzed participant data using thematic analysis. The study took place between July and August 2013. Data collection included interviews with nine senior health information professionals in Saudi Arabia. The findings describe participant views on current eHealth trends in Saudi Arabia and show differences among Saudi healthcare organizations in terms of eHealth adoption. Participants also describe the challenges relating to organizational and cultural issues, end user attitudes towards eHealth projects, and the lack of specialized human resources to implement eHealth systems. Two main recommendations made by the participants were to form a new national body for eHealth and to develop a unified plan for the implementation of Saudi eHealth initiatives.

Perspectives on...Special Collections at ARL Libraries and K-12 Outreach: Current Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Visser, Michelle

2006-01-01

This article examines the results of a survey sent to Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Special Collections requesting information on outreach to K-12 students. Over half of the respondents work with K-12 and many of those who currently do not are planning to. New pressures and changing philosophies contribute to this trend.

Current research topics and trends in the software architecture community : ICSA 2017 Workshops summary

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Malavolta, Ivano; Capilla, Rafael

2017-01-01

This summary reports the workshops accepted in the 1st International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA 2017), held by Chalmers University at Gothenburg (Sweden). We gather the description of current and new research trends in different software architecture topics to provide a wide view to

Risks and opportunities for plastic surgeons in a widening cosmetic medicine market: future demand, consumer preferences, and trends in practitioners' services.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Amico, Richard A; Saltz, Renato; Rohrich, Rod J; Kinney, Brian; Haeck, Phillip; Gold, Alan H; Singer, Robert; Jewell, Mark L; Eaves, Felmont

2008-05-01

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery launched a joint Cosmetic Medicine Task Force to address the growing trend of non-plastic surgeons entering the cosmetic medicine field. The task force commissioned two surveys in 2007 to determine consumer attitudes about choosing cosmetic medicine providers and to learn about the cosmetic services that plastic surgeons offer. The first survey obtained responses from 1015 women who had undergone a cosmetic procedure or were considering having one within 2 years. The second survey obtained responses from 260 members of the two societies. Compared with other practitioners, plastic surgeons enjoy higher rates of satisfaction among their patients who undergo noninvasive procedures. Injectables present a particularly promising market for plastic surgeons. Half of consumers surveyed said they were very concerned about complications associated with injectables, and generally, the higher the perceived risk of the procedure, the higher the likelihood that a patient would choose a plastic surgeon to perform it. In addition, injectables were among the noninvasive treatments most frequently being considered by consumers. However, almost half of consumers said that if they had a positive experience with a non-plastic surgeon core provider for a noninvasive procedure, that physician would likely be their first choice for a surgical procedure. These findings suggest that plastic surgeons, and especially those who are building young practices, must expand their offerings of nonsurgical cosmetic services to remain at the core of the cosmetic medicine field.

Trends and Design Relating literature to industry practice

OpenAIRE

Muir Wood, Andrew; Moultrie, James; Eckert, Claudia

2009-01-01

In a crowded market place, where technology and functionality are not enough to differentiate a product from its competitors, the product’s appearance is a major driver of consumer preference. But preferences change over time, and product forms need to reflect this in order to stay relevant. This paper addresses the usage of trends by designers to inform the design and evolution of their products. Published theory regarding trends in product form exists in the fashion and consumer behaviour ...

Current and future trends in cloud CRM

OpenAIRE

Nemček, Sebastian

2011-01-01

The diploma thesis is committed to mapping CRM applications available in cloud and trends within. The goal is to describe what CRM is, how it evolved into Cloud CRM, analyze main differences between the two approaches and analyze trends that can be observed in CRM market and CRM applications. This is coupled with description of the most common CRM solutions and products available both on-premises as well as on-demand. In the first part, the thesis introduces theory behind Customer Relationshi...

Rehabilitation strategies for partially edentulous-prosthodontic principles and current trends.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Souza, Dsj; Dua, Parag

2011-07-01

The prosthetic considerations for treatment of partially edentulous patients involve evaluation of important aspects such as presence of certain functional or skeletal deficits, orientation of the occlusal plane, free-way space, size and location of edentulous areas, number, strategic location and quality of the likely abutment teeth, vertical dimension, and the type of occlusion. A comprehensive evaluation, multidisciplinary approach and a sequential treatment plan, worked out in harmony with the patient's perceptions are important factors to ensure a successful outcome. This article discusses the principles, current trends and importance of clinical decisions in designing a treatment strategy when confronted with complex situations of partial edentulism.

Radiation sterilization of medical products- current trends and future prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, G.

1997-01-01

In medical practice use of sterile pharmaceuticals and single use disposable medical devices is steadily increasing. Sterile pharmaceuticals like injections and ophthalmic ointments are required for therapy. Medical devices are employed for diagnostic, drug administration or corrective purposes, and as implants for temporary, short term or long term residence in the human system. All these products are made available in sterile form by treating them to a suitable process of sterilization i.e. dry/wet heat, ethylene oxide (EtO) gas or ionizing radiation. In this paper current trends and future prospects of radiation sterilization of medical products are given in detail. 9 refs., 7 tabs

Smooth handling: The lack of safety‐related consumer information in car advertisements

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Nick; Maher, Anthony; Thomson, George; Keall, Michael

2007-01-01

Objective To examine the content and trends of safety‐related consumer information in magazine vehicle advertisements, as a case study within the worldwide marketing of vehicles. Methods Content analysis of popular current affairs magazines in New Zealand for the 5‐year period 2001–2005 was undertaken (n  =  514 advertisements), supplemented with vehicle data from official websites. Results Safety information in advertisements for light passenger vehicles was relatively uncommon with only 27% mentioning one or more of nine key safety features examined (average: 1.7 out of nine features in this 27%). Also included were potentially hazardous features of: speed imagery (in 29% of advertisements), power references (14%), and acceleration data (4%). The speed and power aspects became relatively more common over the 5‐year period (p consumer choice and improve injury prevention, governments should consider regulating the content of vehicle advertisements and vehicle marketing – as already occurs with many other consumer products. PMID:17916885

Current Trends in the Nuclear Power Global Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariya Mikhailovna Osetskaya

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The review of the nuclear energy technologies market, namely the main processes of the initial and final stages of the nuclear fuel cycle (NTC was shown. The authors reveal key players in the markets of natural uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, fabrication of nuclear fuel, direct disposal, and reprocessing as well as determine their market shares. The article shows the fundamental factors influencing the development trends of the global nuclear power market such as: units’ commissioning in China, India, the Republic of Korea and other countries, the restart of the Japanese nuclear power plants, growth of uranium supplies long-term contracting planned for the period up to 2025, volatility of world prices of the NFC initial and final stages, political, economic and environmental reasons for the nuclear power generation choice. The article presents the results of analyses of Russian and world prices on the NFC initial and final stages main processes’ allowing to draw a conclusion about the current competitiveness of Russian nuclear energy technologies

Trends in U.S. food prices, 1950-2007.

Science.gov (United States)

Christian, Thomas; Rashad, Inas

2009-03-01

The potential effect that food prices may have on the health of the U.S. population needs to be further explored, particularly in light of the rising food prices currently being observed. Declining food prices over time have been singled out as a main contributor, for example, to the rising trend in obesity. In this paper we use data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association, the Consumer Expenditure Survey, and the United States Department of Agriculture to analyze trends in various types of food prices, to create a food price index, and to estimate the price of a calorie. Results may be used by future researchers in estimating the health implications of these trends. We find that while the general trend in food prices has been declining, that of restaurant meal prices and prices of fruits and vegetables has risen over time. It is doubtful that the decline in food prices has been sufficiently large to account for the large increase in caloric intake that is said to have contributed to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.

The Effects of Chinese Dietary Trends on Global and Local Land Use

Science.gov (United States)

Anthony, J.

2015-12-01

Global land scarcity is a major concern, which, due to climate change, lifestyle changes, and population growth, will only continue to worsen. It is a major driver of global environmental degradation, famine, and sociopolitical conflicts. With some 33% of the world's dwindling supply of arable land dedicated to grossly inefficient animal husbandry or animal feed production, it is easy to see that dietary consumption patterns play an important role. Although population growth in East Asia has stagnated, changing dietary trends mean that China is now the world's largest consumers of meat, consuming 25% of global meat production, despite having less than half of the American per capita equivalent. This paper assesses changing dietary consumption patterns of Taiwan, whose current per capita meat consumption surpasses all other East Asian countries, over the past 30 years and considers the relationship this has had on overall land consumption. We then consider dietary trends of Mainland China, which shares a common cultural heritage and whose current Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is similar to Taiwanese PPP levels in 1985. Finally we retrospectively project three alternative Taiwanese consumption patterns over the past 30 years, consider the effect of each scenario on per capita land consumption, and finally consider these results in terms of culturally analogues Mainland China.

Fit for purpose? Validation of a conceptual framework for personal recovery with current mental health consumers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bird, Victoria; Leamy, Mary; Tew, Jerry; Le Boutillier, Clair; Williams, Julie; Slade, Mike

2014-07-01

Mental health services in the UK, Australia and other Anglophone countries have moved towards supporting personal recovery as a primary orientation. To provide an empirically grounded foundation to identify and evaluate recovery-oriented interventions, we previously published a conceptual framework of personal recovery based on a systematic review and narrative synthesis of existing models. Our objective was to test the validity and relevance of this framework for people currently using mental health services. Seven focus groups were conducted with 48 current mental health consumers in three NHS trusts across England, as part of the REFOCUS Trial. Consumers were asked about the meaning and their experience of personal recovery. Deductive and inductive thematic analysis applying a constant comparison approach was used to analyse the data. The analysis aimed to explore the validity of the categories within the conceptual framework, and to highlight any areas of difference between the conceptual framework and the themes generated from new data collected from the focus groups. Both the inductive and deductive analysis broadly validated the conceptual framework, with the super-ordinate categories Connectedness, Hope and optimism, Identity, Meaning and purpose, and Empowerment (CHIME) evident in the analysis. Three areas of difference were, however, apparent in the inductive analysis. These included practical support; a greater emphasis on issues around diagnosis and medication; and scepticism surrounding recovery. This study suggests that the conceptual framework of personal recovery provides a defensible theoretical base for clinical and research purposes which is valid for use with current consumers. However, the three areas of difference further stress the individual nature of recovery and the need for an understanding of the population and context under investigation. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014.

Consumer health consciousness and the organic foods boom: Fact or fiction?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brunsø, Karen; Scholderer, Joachim

2001-01-01

scales (three items each) assessed the importance of organic foods, healthiness, freshness, novelty, and the price/quality relation to consumers' food choices. Trends in the importance of these aspects were modeled using multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis with structured means. Results indicate...... that, contrary to widespread expectations, the importance of healthy/unprocessed foods, organic foods, and fresh foods has been declining in all three countries since the early 1990s. The pattern suggests that the actual consumer trend to organic foods already peaked several years ago......Sales of organic foods have tremendously increased over the last years. The conclusion seems obvious: European consumers have become more health-conscious. Or have they? In fact, it is not quite clear from previous research whether rising market shares reflect changes in consumer attitudes, changes...

Consumer health consciousness and the organic foods boom: Fact or fiction?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brunsø, Karen; Scholderer, Joachim

scales (three items each) assessed the importance of organic foods, healthiness, freshness, novelty, and the price/quality relation to consumers' food choices. Trends in the importance of these aspects were modeled using multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis with structured means. Results indicate...... that, contrary to widespread expectations, the importance of healthy/unprocessed foods, organic foods, and fresh foods has been declining in all three countries since the early 1990s. The pattern suggests that the actual consumer trend to organic foods already peaked several years ago......Sales of organic foods have tremendously increased over the last years. The conclusion seems obvious: European consumers have become more health-conscious. Or have they? In fact, it is not quite clear from previous research whether rising market shares reflect changes in consumer attitudes, changes...

Trends in Internet Marketing

OpenAIRE

Panchanathan, Nitin

2005-01-01

Internet marketing involves the usage of the Internet to market and sell goods or services. In this thesis we wished to seek answers for the following questions with the help of web, email surveys taking into consideration consumer perspective, company perspective and 3rd party internet marketing agency perspective. Our survey sample was based on a small set of companies, consumers and internet marketing agencies. The survey results helped us in predicting the trends in internet marketing. We...

Consuming apart, together

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bartels, Jos; Reinders, M.J.

2016-01-01

Although consumers' awareness of the environmental and ethical consequences of their behaviour has grown, research on the role of multiple consumer identities in sustainability behaviours is scarce. The aim of the current study was to explain sustainable behaviour from a social identity

Smooth handling: the lack of safety-related consumer information in car advertisements.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Nick; Maher, Anthony; Thomson, George; Keall, Michael

2007-10-01

To examine the content and trends of safety-related consumer information in magazine vehicle advertisements, as a case study within the worldwide marketing of vehicles. Content analysis of popular current affairs magazines in New Zealand for the 5-year period 2001-2005 was undertaken (n = 514 advertisements), supplemented with vehicle data from official websites. Safety information in advertisements for light passenger vehicles was relatively uncommon with only 27% mentioning one or more of nine key safety features examined (average: 1.7 out of nine features in this 27%). Also included were potentially hazardous features of: speed imagery (in 29% of advertisements), power references (14%), and acceleration data (4%). The speed and power aspects became relatively more common over the 5-year period (p advertisements and vehicle marketing - as already occurs with many other consumer products.

Behavioral Targeting—Consumer Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Srimani, P. K.; Srinivas, A.

2011-12-01

Behavioral targeting is an online marketing method that collects data on the browsing activities of consumers, in order to `target' more relevant online advertising. Behavioral targeting enables marketers to reach in-market consumers and increases the value of publisher inventory. At the heart of behavioral targeting is a learning-based investigation of consumer behaviors. It helps marketers understand consumers' purchase patterns over time, mapping out a customer's activities based not only on a single purchase but also on an annual or even lifetime basis. As marketers increasingly appreciate the importance of customer lifetime value, behavioral targeting can be a foundation for creating a continuous analytical study of consumer trends and patterns. But as behavioural-targeting systems become more sophisticated and invasive, it is vital that the companies behind them are open with users about what is going on, and give them control over their personal information. The aim of this paper is to explore the various tools and techniques of behavioral targeting and its benefits to online marketing. A multiple—case study approach was used for exploring the effectiveness and acceptance of online marketing in the area of the online marketing.

Current trends in degradation assesment on metallic materials of industrial components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrera Palma, Victoria

2007-01-01

To needs to assess objectively a structural integrity analysis in nuclear and termal power-, oil- and chemical- industry system, represents a large challenge for engineer and researches related to Materials Science, equipment manufactures or users. These systems share many of their problems with regards to aging mechanism of components metallic materials, high replacement costs and increasing requirements on efficiency and safety. This paper makes an attempt to give an overview of the current trends on material damage and residual life assessment for installation of power-, oil- and chemical industry. Some of the currently existing ideas on components inspection, as an activity for damage detection are shown. A summary on mechanism of material damage and experimental techniques for their characterization is also presented. Finally, some analytical methods with wide appliance in materials damage evaluation and residual life assesment of components are described

New Trends in the Chinese Diet: Cultural Influences on Consumer Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Cicia, Gianni; Grunert, Klaus G.; Krystallis, Athanasios K.; Zhou, Yanfeng; Cembalo, Luigi; Verneau, Fabio; Caracciolo, Francesco

2016-01-01

China is one of the most dynamic regions in the world in terms of economic growth and development. Such development has inevitably influenced the structure and habits of Chinese society. Whilst the economic condition of the middle class and high-income segment has steadily improved, cultural changes are also under way: ancient Chinese traditions now include major elements from other cultures, most notably the West. The above scenario is the background to this paper. A structured research-administered survey was developed to investigate the changes in the Chinese consumer food culture: 500 urban participants were randomly selected from six reference cities, covering geographically almost the whole country. This study aims not only to analyze the propensity of consumers to include food products from other countries in their ancient Chinese culinary culture, but also represents an initial attempt to perform a market segmentation of Chinese consumers according to their degree of cultural openness towards non-Chinese food, taking into account socio-demographic, cognitive and psychographic variables. PMID:27800438

New Trends in the Chinese Diet: Cultural Influences on Consumer Behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Del Giudice, Teresa; Cicia, Gianni; Grunert, Klaus G; Krystallis, Athanasios K; Zhou, Yanfeng; Cembalo, Luigi; Verneau, Fabio; Caracciolo, Francesco

2016-04-19

China is one of the most dynamic regions in the world in terms of economic growth and development. Such development has inevitably influenced the structure and habits of Chinese society. Whilst the economic condition of the middle class and high-income segment has steadily improved, cultural changes are also under way: ancient Chinese traditions now include major elements from other cultures, most notably the West. The above scenario is the background to this paper. A structured research-administered survey was developed to investigate the changes in the Chinese consumer food culture: 500 urban participants were randomly selected from six reference cities, covering geographically almost the whole country. This study aims not only to analyze the propensity of consumers to include food products from other countries in their ancient Chinese culinary culture, but also represents an initial attempt to perform a market segmentation of Chinese consumers according to their degree of cultural openness towards non-Chinese food, taking into account socio-demographic, cognitive and psychographic variables.

Understanding Consumer Buying Behavior in Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuada, John Ernest; Bujac, Andreea Ioana

2017-01-01

Recent economic growth trends in Africa have raised awareness among businesses about the attractiveness of its market potential. There is therefore an increasing academic interest in understanding the attitudes, preferences and behavior of African consumers. This chapter reviews some...

Counseling Directory and Consumer's Guide: Implementing Professional Disclosure and Consumer Protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, John L.

1979-01-01

The publication of a "counseling directory" and "consumer's guide" is a new approach that can be used to respond to the current professional issues of professional disclosure and consumer protection. Reviews the purposes, format, and content of both the directory and guide. (Author)

How changes in consumer behaviour and retailing affect competence requirements for food producers and processors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

2006-01-01

are singled out as especially important: consumer understanding, relationship management, and new product development. The development of market-related competencies aimed at exploiting trends in consumer behaviour and retailing will also entail changing forms of cooperation among members of the value chain......This paper analyses the changing competence requirements which members of the food chain face in their pursuit of competitive advantage. Two groups of trends serve as point of departure: more dynamic and heterogeneous consumer demands, which can be analysed in terms of consumer demands for sensory......, which favour both new ways of adding value but also new ways of matching consumer heterogeneity with heterogeneity in agricultural raw materials....

How changes in consumer behaviour and retailing affect competence requirements for food producers and processors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

are singled out as especially important: consumer understanding, relationship management, and new product development. The development of market-related competencies aimed at exploiting trends in consumer behaviour and retailing will also entail changing forms of cooperation among members of the value chain......This paper analyses the changing competence requirements which members of the food chain face in their pursuit of competitive advantage. Two groups of trends serve as point of departure: more dynamic and heterogeneous consumer demands, which can be analysed in terms of consumer demands for sensory......, which favour both new ways of adding value but also new ways of matching consumer heterogeneity with heterogeneity in agricultural raw materials....

Consumers' behaviours and attitudes toward healthy food products: The case of organic and functional foods

OpenAIRE

Annunziata, Azzurra; Pascale, Paola

2009-01-01

Over the last decade consumers’ health consciousness is becoming an important factor driving the agrofood market. Healthier food products have entered the global markets with force in the past years and rapidly gained market share. Consequently, the food industry has reacted to this trend by developing a growing variety of new products with health-related claims and images, including organic and functional foods that are selected by consumers for their health-promoting properties. Currently, ...

Current Trends in Adolescent Substance Use in Jamaica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

U Atkinson

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: National secondary school-based drug surveys facilitate the identification and understanding of patterns of substance use among adolescents, associated risk and protective factors which exist and inform prevention and treatment interventions and policies which are appropriate for resource constrained settings. This paper analyses current trends as well as reviews trends from the last National School Survey conducted by the National Council on Drug Abuse in 2006. Method: The study utilized a survey design that included a representative sample of secondary school students. Data were collected from 3365 students from 38 schools across the island. The study made specific reference to the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco cigarette, marijuana and inhalant use among secondary school students. Results: The most widely used substances among the sample were alcohol, tobacco cigarettes, marijuana and solvents/inhalants. A large number of students (64% reported a lifetime prevalence of alcohol use. Alcohol use was also the highest for one-year (44% and one-month (33.6% use. While lifetime use of tobacco cigarette was higher than marijuana, one-year and one-month use of marijuana was higher than that of tobacco cigarette. There has been a slight increase in the age of initiation for alcohol, tobacco cigarette and marijuana use. There has also been a significant decrease (approximately 50% in lifetime, past year and past month prevalence of inhalant use since the 2006 secondary school survey. Conclusions: Alcohol continues to be the substance most widely used by Jamaican adolescents, followed by tobacco, marijuana and inhalants. Though the average age of first use has slightly increased for all substances, prevalence remains a concern. As such, innovative school-based interventions are required to assist in reducing substance use among Jamaican adolescents.

The Electrification of Energy: Long-Term Trends and Opportunities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsao, Jeffrey Y. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Fouquet, Roger [London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom); Schubert, E. Fred [Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)

2017-11-01

Here, we present and analyze three powerful long-term historical trends in energy, particularly electrical energy, as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with these trends. The first trend is from a world containing a diversity of energy currencies to one whose predominant currency is electricity, driven by electricity’s transportability, exchangeability, and steadily decreasing cost. The second trend is from electricity generated from a diversity of sources to electricity generated predominantly by free-fuel sources, driven by their steadily decreasing cost and long-term abundance. These trends necessitate a just-emerging third trend: from a grid in which electricity is transported uni-directionally, traded at near-static prices, and consumed under direct human control; to a grid in which electricity is transported bi-directionally, traded at dynamic prices, and consumed under human-tailored agential control. Early acceptance and appreciation of these trends will accelerate their remaking of humanity’s energy landscape into one in which energy is much more affordable, abundant and efficiently deployed than it is today; with major economic, geo-political, and environmental benefits to human society.

Current Trends in Nuclear and Radiation Sensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McHugh, Harold R.; Quam, William

2009-01-01

This paper provides a brief overview of radiation detector history, a summary of the present state of the art, and some speculation on future developments in this field. Trends in the development of radiation detectors over the years are analyzed. Rapid progress in detection technology was experienced between WWII and the 1970s. Since then, fewer dramatic improvements have been seen. The authors speculate about the reasons for this trend and where the technology might take us in the next 20 years. Requirements for radiation detection equipment have changed drastically since 9/11; this demand is likely to accelerate detector development in the near future

Special Issue: Current Trends in Research in Accounting Finance and Management Control

OpenAIRE

Lassala, Carlos; Ripoll Feliu, Vicente

2017-01-01

On January 27, 2016, an agreement was signed with OmniaScience to select articles to be published in the journal Intangible Capital, in a special issue titled "Current Trends in Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Control." The agreement was reached within the framework of three events at the University of Valencia, from June 27 to 30, 2016: XXI Workshop on Accounting and Management Control. “Memorial Raymond Konopka”, X Iberoamerican Congress of Management Accounting, III  Int...

The trend of the research and development for the upgrade of the high current energy system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-01-01

The high current energy technology ranges from a basic technology of the electric power field to a state-of-the-art technology and has been used extremely variously. In addition, as the energy technology advances, the expansion of applied field, such as the nuclear fusion and the exhaust thing processing, etc., requires a further upgrade of the large current technology. In this report, the trend of the research and development for the upgrade of the high current energy technology are summarized. In the following, the elemental technology including arc/plasma phenomena and the pulse power system is described in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, the trend of the research and development for the upgrade of various equipments and devices such as the nuclear fusion development, the superconducting applications of SMES and the maglev transportation system, and the arc application of the exhaust processing for a medical waste, the radio active waste and a detrimental gas and the next generation lithography system. In Chapter 4, the analysis and the measurement technology of the arc phenomenon and the standardization of current shunt, etc are described. We hope this research report can contribute to the promotion of technical exchanges in different fields, and offer guidelines for future development in this high current energy technology. (author)

New trends in the Chinese diet: cultural influences on consumer behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Del Giudice

2016-04-01

Full Text Available China is one of the most dynamic regions in the world in terms of economic growth and development. Such development has inevitably influenced the structure and habits of Chinese society. Whilst the economic condition of the middle class and high-income segment has steadily improved, cultural changes are also under way: ancient Chinese traditions now include major elements from other cultures, most notably the West. The above scenario is the background to this paper. A structured research-administered survey was developed to investigate the changes in the Chinese consumer food culture: 500 urban participants were randomly selected from six reference cities, covering geographically almost the whole country. This study aims not only to analyze the propensity of consumers to include food products from other countries in their ancient Chinese culinary culture, but also represents an initial attempt to perform a market segmentation of Chinese consumers according to their degree of cultural openness towards non-Chinese food, taking into account socio-demographic, cognitive and psychographic variables.

DEVELOPMENT TRENDS IN THE GLOBAL DENTAL MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronica BULAT

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the key trends of the market, and segments the global dental equipment and consumables market by components and into various geographic regions in way of market size. It discusses the key market drivers, main players, restraints and opportunities of the global dental equipment and consumables market.

Current research trends and perspectives on materials-based hydrogen storage solutions: A critical review

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Ren, Jianwei

2016-01-01

Full Text Available BrunauereEmmetteTeller (BET) surface areas and larger pore volumes . . . . 00 Tailoring reaction enthalpies... consumption. Re-produced ] with permission. this article in press as: Ren J, et al., Current research trends view, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016), htcountries to think about energy security. Fossil fuels will one day be inevitably used up...

Exploring global consumer attitudes toward nutrition information on food labels.

Science.gov (United States)

Wills, Josephine M; Schmidt, David B; Pillo-Blocka, Francy; Cairns, Georgina

2009-05-01

In many parts of the world, food companies, consumers, and governments are re-examining the provision of nutrition information on food labels. It is important that the nutrition information provided be appropriate and understandable to the consumer and that it impact food-choice behaviors. Potentially, food labeling represents a valuable tool to help consumers make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle. Food information organizations worldwide have been following consumer trends in the use of this information as well as consumer attitudes about food, nutrition, and health. This paper summarizes a workshop that examined consumer attitudes gathered regionally with the aim of establishing commonalities and differences.

Understanding Consumer Purchase of Free-of Cosmetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Torben; Risborg, Marie Søndergaard; Steen, Christina Donslund

2012-01-01

consumers' personal values and their attitude and behaviour associated with purchasing free-of cosmetics. A quantitative online survey of 250 Danish female consumers was conducted using self-administering questionnaires. The findings indicate that consumers' willingness to purchase free-of cosmetics (R......This study concerns the free-of trend on the cosmetics market as expressed by a tendency among consumers to prefer cosmetics that are free of certain ingredients. Combining the Theory of Reasoned Action with a value-driven approach, this study empirically investigates the association between......² = .48) is both influenced by attitude (β = .65) and perceived subjective norm (β = .21) with attitude having the largest predictive power. Moreover, consumers' attitude towards willingness to purchase free-of cosmetics seems to be value driven. Our results indicate that two values, self-transcendence (β...

Consumer Acceptance of Novel Foods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fischer, A.R.H.; Reinders, M.J.

2016-01-01

The success of novel foods depends to a considerable extent on whether consumers accept those innovations. This chapter provides an overview of current knowledge relevant to consumer acceptance of innovations in food. A broad range of theories and approaches to assess consumer response to

Current trends in free software research

OpenAIRE

Navarro Bosch, Ramon; Vila Marta, Sebastià

2009-01-01

This report analyzes how scientific research is studying free software. We find which research is being done on free software by looking into scientific journals and conferences publications. The data thus obtained is analized and the most salient trends related to free software discovered. We also reviewed the main works published in each free software research area.

Recent Trends in Veteran Unemployment as Measured in the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Savych, Bogdan; Klerman, Jacob A; Loughran, David S

2008-01-01

This technical report explores recent trends in the unemployment of recent veterans as estimated from two nationally representative surveys, the Current Population Survey "CPS" and the American Community Survey "ACS...

Current market trends in hospital/physician integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauman, Randy R

2009-01-01

This article explores recent trends that are dramatically changing the landscape of typical hospital/physician integration models and provides the reader with useful insights to better evaluate this dynamically changing marketplace.

Patient centric approach for clinical trials: Current trend and new opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Neha Shankar

2015-01-01

The clinical research industry today is undergoing a major facelift. Companies are continuously looking to adopt and implement effective and innovative ways to accelerate drug launches in the market. Companies today are more open and do not view patients as mere "subjects" who generate data, - but as informed collaborators whose participation is "core" to the overall success of trials leading to the emergence of the concept of "patient-centric trials." This paper is intended to highlight the current trends and new opportunities that can be seen in industry -indicative of crucial role patients today play in their own health care using technology, social media and self education.

Patient centric approach for clinical trials: Current trend and new opportunities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neha Shankar Sharma

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The clinical research industry today is undergoing a major facelift. Companies are continuously looking to adopt and implement effective and innovative ways to accelerate drug launches in the market. Companies today are more open and do not view patients as mere "subjects" who generate data, - but as informed collaborators whose participation is "core" to the overall success of trials leading to the emergence of the concept of "patient-centric trials." This paper is intended to highlight the current trends and new opportunities that can be seen in industry -indicative of crucial role patients today play in their own health care using technology, social media and self education.

Utility Green Pricing Programs: Design, Implementation, and Consumer Response

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bird, L.; Swezey, B.; Aabakken, J.

2004-02-01

The term green pricing refers to programs offered by utilities in traditionally regulated electricity markets, which allow customers to support the development of renewable energy sources by paying a small premium on their electric bills. Since the introduction of the concept in the United States, the number of unique utility green pricing programs has expanded from just a few programs in 1993 to more than 90 in 2002. About 10% of U.S. utilities offered a green pricing option to about 26 million consumers by the end of 2002. This report provides: (1) aggregate industry data on consumer response to utility programs, which indicate the collective impact of green pricing on renewable energy development nationally; and (2) market data that can be used by utilities as a benchmark for gauging the relative success of their green pricing programs. Specifically, the paper presents current data and trends in consumer response to green pricing, as measured by renewable energy sales, participants, participation rates, and new renewable energy capacity supported. It presents data on various aspects of program design and implementation, such as product pricing, ownership of supplies, retention rates, marketing costs, the effectiveness of marketing techniques, and methods of enrolling and providing value to customers.

Current Trends in Communication Graduate Degrees: Survey of Communications, Advertising, PR, and IMC Graduate Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Quesenberry, Keith A.; Coolsen, Michael K.; Wilkerson, Kristen

2015-01-01

A survey of 61 master's degree advertising programs reveals significant trends in program titles, curriculum design, course delivery, and students served. The results provide insight for current and planned master's degree programs as research predicts a continued increase in demand for master's education over the next decade. Survey results are…

What Motivate Muslim Consumer to Patronage Islamic Based–Retail Store?

OpenAIRE

Fauzi, Waida Irani Mohd; Muhammad, Nazlida; Mokhtar, Sany Sanuri Mohd; Yusoff, Rushamie Zain

2016-01-01

There is a significant trend among Muslim consumers in reverting to Islamic way of life. The phenomenon somehow affected the Malaysian retail industry with specialty Islamic stores mushrooming, and retailers customizing retail elements to win the Muslim consumers segment. As the mainstream studies on retailing acknowledges the adaptation of retail elements to suit consumers’ segment, there are less report on customizing retail elements to religious consumer group such as Muslim consumers’ seg...

Current Trends in Science | Overview | Publications | Indian ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Emerging trends at the interface of Chemistry and Biology: Applications to the design of human therapeutics ... Interplay between multiple length and time scales in complex chemical systems ... A tutorial introduction to financial engineering.

Collation of Scientific Evidence on Consumer Acceptance of New Food Technologies: Three roads to consumer choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fischer, A.R.H.; Trijp, van J.C.M.; Hofenk, D.J.B.; Ronteltap, A.; Tudoran, A.A.

2012-01-01

The current report investigates consumer acceptance of new food technologies by reviewing the scientific literature. The review is organised along three routes to consumer acceptance of new technologies: The consumer benefit road: the central road of technology features influencing experienced

The emergence of diverse organic consumers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Thomas Bøker; Andersen, Laura Mørch; Jensen, Katherine O'Doherty

2013-01-01

as positively oriented segments that differ in their food involvement, shopping behaviour and levels of ethical concern have appeared, while marketing and distribution strategies have co-developed with these trends. We discuss our findings in the light of the attitude-behaviour gap that is said to exist......This study uses qualitative and quantitative data as well as household panel data regarding actual purchases of organic food in order to make a psychographic profiling of organic consumers and examine recent developments of organic demand in Denmark. It is shown that contemporary organic consumers...... in regard to organic consumption and the consequences that are thought to follow from the detachment of consumers from organic producers according to the much debated conventionalisation thesis....

THE ROMANIAN CONSUMER UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE GLOBAL CRISIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SAVU MIHAELA

2015-03-01

Full Text Available At present, consumers focus on meeting their higher needs, as opposed to previously meeting the base ones. However this trend is not among priorities for the Romanian consumer. He/she uses almost 43% of the total consumption expenditures for the purchase of food, being restricted in his/her choices by the income and the price of products. The food products analysed in the period 2001 – 2012 have an upward trend, but with no substantial differences. The only product category that has a downward trend is represented by wine and wine products. Consumption in Romania was negatively influenced by the effects of the global crisis for the products analysed, except for meat and meat products. Despite the fact that we are far from the average annual meat consumption, however, the highest quantity recorded in our country was in 2009.

Marketing strategy for luxury retail : how to attract international consumers of luxury in Portugal : Fashion Clinic case study

OpenAIRE

Candeias, Marta Pimentel

2012-01-01

Nowadays the luxury market is characterized by the high competitiveness and current globalization, with retailers and brands themselves making a great effort to achieve success. In Portugal, despite the unfavorable economic situation that the country undergoes, the luxury retail market has accompanied this increase global trend. Such a growth is meaningfully due to the increasing demand of international luxury brands by foreigners from emerging countries like Angola or Brazil. These consumers...

Determinants influencing consumer behaviour in organic food market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monika Frýdlová

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This is a treatise of consumer behaviour in the Czech foods market, respectively, organic food market. This concerns comprehensive analysis of consumer behaviour, which places great emphasis on the motivating factors and barriers, which substantially influence the individual consumers when deciding between conventional foods and organic foods and are operationally broken down into a set of empirical indicators. The database comes from a questionnaire survey to ascertain the trends in the development of the consumption of conventional foods and organic foods including the shopping behaviour of the individual consumers. The results of the questionnaire survey were evaluated by analysis of the qualitative features and other sophisticated statistical methods were also used. Based on the results obtained, the influence of the individual factors on the decision-making behaviour of the consumers when purchasing foods. The main factors that influence consumer behaviour were considered to be the income of the consumers, price of the foods, attitudes that influence the purchase of foods.

The origins of the consumer society: socio-philosophical analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. O. Serdyuk

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This article investigates the prerequisites of the consumer society and the theories of «consumer revolution». According to these theories, the formation of consumer society began long before the industrial age, consumerism revolution is represented by a consequence of economic development of production and markets at the end of the eighteenth century, which contributed to a significant expansion of public participation in the consumption and the changing of role of things in social life. It is shown that in this time consumption becomes more demonstrative, the status of things, is changing which is beginning to be appreciated not its durability, utility, and compliance with the latest fashion trends and prestige. The author believes that in the eighteenth century consumption only began to emerge and was not spread to the in public general, was part of a private rather than public life, being limited practice of general population. Concepts of consumer revolution are retrospective theories aimed to study of the origins of the trends of development of the society acquired relevance in our time. The author concludes that in traditional and premodern societies consumption due to objective reasons could not be widespread.

Consumer loyalty in retailing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drinić Dragana

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Loyal consumers are partner enterprises and they represent stable source of income. Companies are more interested in maintaining the existing consumers, rather than attracting the newones, because loyal consumers are the most valuable asset. The aim of this article is to develop an integrative conceptual framework for creating and maintaining consumer loyalty, and ,at the same time, to be based on a thorough review of the relevant literature and the current market situation . In this context, empirical research was carried out by using the survey method on a random sample of 165 respondents. Based on the research conducted, important factors that influence consumer loyalty were identified.

Current trends in medical English education and the Japan College of Rheumatology International School.

Science.gov (United States)

Jego, Eric Hajime; Amengual, Olga

2017-11-01

In light of the present revolution happening in medical education in Japan as medical schools implement new curricula to conform to global standards, there is a growing demand for more internationalization and higher quality practical medical English education. In response, many institutions including governmental organizations, universities and academic associations are moving ahead with new initiatives to adapt to these changing demands. This paper reviews the current trends and innovations in medical English education in Japan. This paper also describes one initiative by the Japan College of Rheumatology (JCR) known as the JCR International School held yearly in Karuizawa. By examining recent trends and innovations in medical English education in Japan, the most relevant and applicable can be elucidated to illuminate a path forward for improved medical English education within the JCR.

Current trends in gamma radiation detection for radiological emergency response

Science.gov (United States)

Mukhopadhyay, Sanjoy; Guss, Paul; Maurer, Richard

2011-09-01

Passive and active detection of gamma rays from shielded radioactive materials, including special nuclear materials, is an important task for any radiological emergency response organization. This article reports on the current trends and status of gamma radiation detection objectives and measurement techniques as applied to nonproliferation and radiological emergencies. In recent years, since the establishment of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office by the Department of Homeland Security, a tremendous amount of progress has been made in detection materials (scintillators, semiconductors), imaging techniques (Compton imaging, use of active masking and hybrid imaging), data acquisition systems with digital signal processing, field programmable gate arrays and embedded isotopic analysis software (viz. gamma detector response and analysis software [GADRAS]1), fast template matching, and data fusion (merging radiological data with geo-referenced maps, digital imagery to provide better situational awareness). In this stride to progress, a significant amount of inter-disciplinary research and development has taken place-techniques and spin-offs from medical science (such as x-ray radiography and tomography), materials engineering (systematic planned studies on scintillators to optimize several qualities of a good scintillator, nanoparticle applications, quantum dots, and photonic crystals, just to name a few). No trend analysis of radiation detection systems would be complete without mentioning the unprecedented strategic position taken by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to deter, detect, and interdict illicit trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive materials across international borders and through the global maritime transportation-the so-called second line of defense.

The female innovation-generation consumer's evaluation

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

to date is the millennial consumer segment ... consumers (Eastman et al, 2014; Pérez-Luño et al, 2011), due to their love of technology and the virtual world. Consumers of the innovation- generation were born between 1980 and 2000 and currently fall in the age ... The constantly changing media habits of consumers ...

Reflection of Bratislava Retail Network in Selected Aspects of Consumer Behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavol Kita

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper analyses the evolution of the retail network of the capital city of Slovakia Bratislava affecting buying behavior and lifestyle of its consumers. From the marketing point of view, it characterizes the current retail network in Bratislava and presents the main trends in the development of retail stores in Bratislava. It shows, on the one hand, how the importance of consumer behaviour rise in the decline economic prosperity during last years, while on the other hand, how the concentration in retail declines the chances for success of small independant food retail stores during last recent years. The authors used methodes, e. g. multidimentional scaling, GIS, for testing assesses the significance of these changes on the sample involving 11.389 repondents interviewed. The paper presents the results of research project VEGA No. 1/0039/11 Geographical Information System as a Source of Strategic Innovation of Enterprise from the Point of View of Strengthening its Competitiveness.

Energy efficiency versus gains in consumer amenities—An example from new cars sold in Sweden

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sprei, Frances; Karlsson, Sten

2013-01-01

Technological developments that increase energy efficiency result in net energy-saving benefits, provided the increased efficiency is not offset by enhanced consumer amenities. This paper analyzes the technology development/consumer amenities trade-off for new cars sold in Sweden between 1975 and 2010. We combine lessons learned from the policies in place and interviews with key actors in the car-purchasing process with statistical modeling of trends in vehicle attributes and technological development. Until 2007, consumer amenities were continuously enhanced, offsetting most of the efficiency gains of technological development; there was no strong policy push toward energy efficiency. In recent years, two major shifts have occurred. First, there has been a shift in the majority of new cars sold, from gasoline-powered engines to diesel engines. Flex-fuel vehicles have also contributed to a decline in the sales-share of pure gasoline engines. The observed shift of fuels, especially to flex-fuels, has been encouraged by policies. Second, after 2007 there have been major technological improvements, while attributes related to consumer amenities have remained flat, reversing the trends so that 77% of the technological development resulted in actual reduction of specific fuel consumption. EU targets, tax reforms, and consumer awareness have contributed to this trend change. - Highlights: ► Trade-offs between consumer amenities and fuel consumption of new cars in Sweden. ► Methods: Statistical modeling, policy analysis and interviews. ► Until 2007 a majority of technological development is offset by consumer amenities. ► After 2005 a shift from gasoline to diesel and flex-fuels takes place. ► Policy change and environmental awareness result in a reversion of trends.

Suicide: current trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, Rahn K; Patel, Tejas C; Avenido, Jaymie; Patel, Milapkumar; Jaleel, Mohammad; Barker, Narviar C; Khan, Jahanzeb Ali; Ali, Shahid; Jabeen, Shagufta

2011-07-01

Suicide is the act of a human being intentionally causing his or her own death. More than 1 million people commit suicide every year. It is the 13th leading cause of death worldwide, with China, India, and Japan accounting for almost half of all suicides. In less than 50 years, the rate of suicide among Sri Lankans has risen from a modest level to one of the highest in the world (118 per 100,000). Suicide is a major preventable cause of premature death. It is influenced by psychosocial, cultural, and environmental risk factors. The impact of suicide can be devastating for all concerned. It is common in people who are living with chronic mental illness. Individuals with severe clinical depression and alcohol use disorders are at highest risk if untreated. On an interpersonal level, friends and families of suicide victims require social support. On a national level, governments need to recognize the causes of suicide and protect those most vulnerable. If governments commit to defining national responses to prevent suicide, significant progress can be made. On a global scale, research and health organizations can identify global trends and encourage the sharing of information in effective prevention activities. In September 2010, World Suicide Prevention Day, with a theme of "Many faces, many places: suicide prevention across the world," encouraged public awareness worldwide to unite in commitment and action to promote understanding about suicide and removal of stigmatization'. There is compelling evidence that adequate prevention and awareness can reduce suicide rates.

Food safety concerns of fast food consumers in urban Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Omari, Rose; Frempong, Godfred

2016-03-01

In Ghana, out-of-home ready-to-eat foods including fast food generally have been associated with food safety problems. Notwithstanding, fast food production and consumption are increasing in Ghana and therefore this study sought to determine the food safety issues of importance to consumers and the extent to which they worry about them. First, through three focus group discussions on consumers' personal opinions about food safety issues, some emergent themes were obtained, which were used to construct an open-ended questionnaire administered face-to-face to 425 respondents systematically sampled from 20 fast food restaurants in Accra. Findings showed that most fast food consumers were concerned about food hazards such as pesticide residue in vegetables, excessive use of artificial flavour enhancers and colouring substances, bacterial contamination, migrated harmful substances from plastic packages, and general unhygienic conditions under which food is prepared and sold. Consumers also raised concerns about foodborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, food poisoning, diarrhoea, bird flu and swine flu. The logistic regression model showed that being male increased the likelihood of worrying about general food safety issues and excessive use of flavour enhancers than in females while being youthful increased the likelihood of being worried about typhoid fever than in older consumers. These findings imply that consumers in urban Ghana are aware and concerned about current trends of food safety and foodborne disease challenges in the country. Therefore, efforts targeted at improving food safety and reducing incidences of foodborne diseases should not only focus on public awareness creation but should also design more comprehensive programmes to ensure the making of food safety rules and guidelines and enforcing compliance to facilitate availability and consumers' choice of safe foods. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Home drinking in the UK: trends and causes.

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, John H; Ferguson, Colin S

2012-01-01

To explore the trend in the UK to consume alcohol at home rather than at licensed premises. A Medline search entering the terms 'home drinking', 'alcohol' and 'adult' covering the period 2000-2011 yielded 48 articles, of which 6 met the criteria to be included in the review. Grey literature including survey and market research data were reviewed. In the UK, since 1970 there has been trend for beer to be consumed at home more often than in licensed premises and that the overall trend towards greater home drinking has increased since 2000. The main reasons given are convenience, cost, safety, autonomy and stress relief. There has also been an increase in the practice known as 'pre-loading' (drinking before going out). Adults who drink mainly at home report that they are aware that they run a risk of higher overall alcohol consumption but tend to play down the possibility that increased consumption may lead to longer-term harm. Home drinking trends may have long-term public health consequences. Greater understanding of the drivers of this trend will help policy-makers to respond to these societal changes.

Emerging Global Trends in Advanced Manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

facility. Such distributed manufacturing could be made accessible to large masses even in remote areas (Ehmann 2011). For example, Zara is a Spanish...consumers. It has tightened its supply-chain management so that the consumer “pulls” the design. Zara uses state-of-the-art IT and distribution...systems to collect data daily on trends so they can quickly turn out new designs. Zara keeps costs down by using existing materials in stock and through

The current state of engineered nanomaterials in consumer goods and waste streams: the need to develop nanoproperty-quantifiable sensors for monitoring engineered nanomaterials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wise K

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Kelsey Wise, Murphy BrasuelDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, USAAbstract: As nanomaterials are harnessed for medicine and other technological advances, an understanding of the toxicology of these new materials is required to inform our use. This toxicological knowledge will be required to establish the medical and environmental regulations required to protect consumers and those involved in nanomaterial manufacturing. Nanoparticles of titanium oxide, carbon nanotubes, semiconductor quantum dots, gold, and silver represent a high percentage of the nanotechnology currently available or currently poised to reach consumers. For these nanoparticles, this review aims to identify current applications, the current methods used for characterization and quantification, current environmental concentrations (if known, and an introduction to the toxicology research. Continued development of analytical tools for the characterization and quantification of nanomaterials in complex environmental and biological samples will be required for our understanding of the toxicology and environmental impact of nanomaterials. Nearly all materials exhibit toxicity at a high enough concentration. Robust, rapid, and cost effective analytical techniques will be required to determine current background levels of anthropogenic, accidental, and engineered nanoparticles in air, water, and soil. The impact of the growing number of engineered nanoparticles used in consumer goods and medical applications can then be estimated. This will allow toxicological profiles relevant to the demonstrated or predicted environmental concentrations to be determined.Keywords: titanium dioxide nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, semiconductor quantum dots, gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, nanoparticles environmental concentrations

Consumer-perceived quality in 'traditional' food chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krystallis, Athanasios; Chryssochoidis, George; Scholderer, Joachim

2007-01-01

pressing yet? The present paper seeks to answer this question based on a survey conducted in the Athens area, involving a sample of 268 participants responsible for food purchasing decisions. The survey mainly aims to develop an integrated model of factors that affect consumer-perceived meat quality...... as efforts to decrease risk of the purchasing decision. Moreover, consumers with such behaviour seem to relate domestic country of origin of meat mostly with perceptions of general safety. Finally, a small, but promising trend with substantial marketing implications of frequent purchases of chicken and pork...... and to develop the profile of different consumer segments in relation to these perceptions. The substantial findings of the survey include the fact that, despite their enormous per capita consumption, the majority of consumers are not particularly involved in the meat-purchasing process. Rather they attach...

Matching, Demand, Maximization, and Consumer Choice

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Victoria K.; Foxall, Gordon R.

2013-01-01

The use of behavioral economics and behavioral psychology in consumer choice has been limited. The current study extends the study of consumer behavior analysis, a synthesis between behavioral psychology, economics, and marketing, to a larger data set. This article presents the current work and results from the early analysis of the data. We…

Proceedings of the BRNS-AEACI first symposium on current trends in analytical chemistry: book of abstracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reddy, A.V.R.

2015-01-01

The symposium was very useful for the scientists on various aspects of current trends in analytical chemistry like separation science, speciation, nuclear analytical techniques, thermo analytical techniques, electro analytical techniques, spectrochemical and microscopic techniques, environmental studies, geochemical studies, chemical metrology, analytical instrumentation. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

[Trends in the utilization of food additives].

Science.gov (United States)

Szűcs, Viktória; Bánáti, Diána

2013-11-17

The frequent media reports on food additives weakened consumers' trust in food producers and food control authorities as well. Furthermore, consumers' uncertainty is also raised by the fact that they obtain their information from inadequate, mistrustful sources and, therefore, consumers might avoid the consumption of certain foodstuffs. While food producers may react by replacing artificial components by natural ones, they try to emphasize the favourable characteristics of their products. The authors describe the main trends and efforts related to food additives. On the basis of the overview it can be concluded that - besides taking into consideration consumers' needs - product development and research directions are promising. Food producers' efforts may help to restore consumer confidence and trust and they may help them to have informed choice.

Pharmaceutical advertising as a consumer empowerment device.

Science.gov (United States)

Rubin, P H

2001-01-01

Pharmaceutical companies have greatly increased their level of "direct-to-consumer" (DTC) advertising in recent years. For 1998, estimates are that over $1.1 billion was spent on this form of advertising, increased from $850 million in 1997 and $600 million in 1996. In 1998, 84 separate drugs were advertised to consumers. The impetus was a decision in August of 1997 by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce the restrictions on DTC advertising on television. As a result, such ads have become very common on TV, and 32 products were advertised on TV in 1998. Pharmaceutical companies advertise because they think that advertising will make money for them. But how will this make money? It will make money by providing consumers with the information they need to make proper decisions about medication. That is, DTC advertising is profitable exactly because it empowers consumers and enables them to purchase useful drugs. The goals of advertising companies and consumers are both for consumers to have information about the most beneficial drug for particular conditions, and so advertising is beneficial both to manufacturers and to consumers. This article describes emerging trends in DTC within the context of the life sciences sector.

Current issues in the analysis of consumer food choice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.

2001-01-01

before or during purchase, and then have a quality experience after the purchase. However, an increasing role of credence characteristics in food choice assigns communication a stronger role in understanding food choice, and consumer concern for food production technologies gives prior attitudes...

LIFELONG LEARNING THROUGH SECOND LIFE: CURRENT TRENDS, POTENTIALS AND LIMITATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nil GOKSEL-CANBEK

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Lifelong Learning (LLL has been a remarkable response to people-centered educational demand of 21st century. In order to provide effective formal, non-formal, and informal learning, immersive educational activities undertaken throughout life should be aimed to create a learning society in which people can experience individual and collective learning with no constrains of time or location. The concept of lifelong learning within the context of distance immersive education encompasses diverse 3D activities. The three dimensional, Web-based structured activities supported by distance learning technologies can be viewed as interactive tools which foster LLL. In this perspective, Second Life (SL can be regarded as one of the learning simulation milieus that allow learners to participate in various educational LLL activities in individual or group forms. The following paper examines how SL, taking advantage of its simulative nature and the possibility for creative interaction among participants, which are also common in games, allows the learners to participate in immersive constructivist learning activities. The article will also touch on the current uses of SL as a tool for LLL, as well as its potentials for further development according to the current trends in adult education. Further, the authors will discuss its limitations and will make suggestions towards a more complete pedagogical use.

Information Technology in New Zealand: Review of Emerging Social Trends, Current Issues, and Policies

OpenAIRE

Erturk, Emre; Fail, Derwyn

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the general state of information technology in New Zealand society, current issues, and policies. It is a qualitative study that reviews recent scholarly articles, periodicals, and surveys in order to create an understanding of some of the information technology issues and trends in New Zealand. After reviewing previous research, it assesses the potential existence and nature of a 'digital divide' in New Zealand society whilst also evaluating possible strategic responses ...

Improving behaviour in self-testing (IBIS): Study on frequency of use, consequences, information needs and use, and quality of currently available consumer information (protocol).

Science.gov (United States)

Grispen, Janaica E J; Ickenroth, Martine H P; de Vries, Nanne K; Dinant, Geert-Jan; Ronda, Gaby; van der Weijden, Trudy

2010-08-03

Self-tests are available to consumers for more than 25 conditions, ranging from infectious diseases to cardiovascular risk factors. Self-tests are defined as in-vitro tests on body materials such as blood, urine, faeces, or saliva that are initiated by consumers to diagnose a particular disorder or risk factor without involving a medical professional. In 2006, 16% of a sample of Dutch Internet users had ever used at least one self-test and 17% intended to use a self-test in the future. The objectives of this study are to determine (1) the frequency of self-test use, (2) the consumers' reasons for using or not using a self-test, (3) the information that is used by self-testers in the different self-test stages and the consumers' interpretation of the quality of this information, (4) the consumers' response to self-test results in terms of their confidence in the result, reassurance by the test result, and follow-up behaviour, (5) the information consumers report to need in the decision making process of using or not using a self-test, and in further management on the basis of the self-test result, and (6) the quality of the currently available consumer information on a selected set of self-tests. Mixed methods study with (1) a cross-sectional study consisting of a two-phase Internet-questionnaire, (2) semi-structured interviews with self-testers and consumers who intend to use a self-test, and (3) the assessment of the quality of consumer information of self-tests. The Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour will serve as the theoretical basis for the questionnaires and the interview topic guides. The self-testing area is still in a state of flux and therefore it is expected that self-test use will increase in the future. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which combines quantitative and qualitative research to identify consumers' information needs and use concerning self-testing, and the consumers' actual follow-up behaviour based

CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS AND PREFERENCES OF MEAT TYPES IN HARAR AND HARAMAYA TOWNS, ETHIOPIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsegay Teklebrhan

2012-12-01

Full Text Available A study was conducted to investigate the acceptability and preference of meat in Harar and Haramaya towns. The study was carried out from January to March, 2012. One hundred twenty (120 questionnaires were randomly distributed, completed and retrieved for analysis. The results showed that gender had no effect on livestock meat consumption. However, religious had impact on the types of meat consumption. Accordingly, pork was not consumed by both Muslim and Christian, camel meat was consumed by Muslim. Majority of consumers had prefer chicken, beef, and chevon meat as their first choice followed by mutton as compared to other meat. In addition, the study showed a high level of acceptability for the meat of middle aged than old aged. Lean and red color meat got highest acceptability by majority of the consumers than fatty and white meat. The result confirmed that religious and socio-cultural taboos as the major variables that would affect meat preference and consumption of a population in the study area. This study suggested that current preference trend of consumers were not inclusive in that some potential meat animals were hardly utilized or totally ignored from the dish. Therefore, professionals and other stakeholders should made intervention and promote widely utilization of this species to meet animal protein requirement of the community.

Advertising to Early Trend Propagators: Evidence from Twitter

OpenAIRE

Lambrecht, A.; Tucker, C. M.; Wiertz, C.

2018-01-01

In the digital economy, influencing and controlling the spread of information is a key concern for firms. One way firms try to achieve this is to target firm communications to consumers who embrace and propagate the spread of new information on emerging and `trending' topics on social media. However, little is known about whether early trend propagators are indeed responsive to firm-sponsored messages. To explore whether early propagators of trending topics respond to advertising messages, we...

Advertising to early trend propagators: evidence from Twitter

OpenAIRE

Lambrecht, A; Tucker, C; Wiertz, C

2018-01-01

In the digital economy, influencing and controlling the spread of information is a key concern for firms. One way firms try to achieve this is to target firm communications to consumers who embrace and propagate the spread of new information on emerging and `trending' topics on social media. However, little is known about whether early trend propagators are indeed responsive to firm-sponsored messages. To explore whether early propagators of trending topics respond to advertising messages, we...

Modeling and managing urban water demand through smart meters: Benefits and challenges from current research and emerging trends

Science.gov (United States)

Cominola, A.; Giuliani, M.; Castelletti, A.; Piga, D.; Rizzoli, A. E.

2015-12-01

Urban population growth, climate and land use change are expected to boost residential water demand in urban contexts in the next decades. In such a context, developing suitable demand-side management strategies is essential to meet future water demands, pursue water savings, and reduce the costs for water utilities. Yet, the effectiveness of water demand management strategies (WDMS) relies on our understanding of water consumers' behavior, their consumption habits, and the water use drivers. While low spatial and temporal resolution water consumption data, as traditionally gathered for billing purposes, hardly support this understanding, the advent of high-resolution, smart metering technologies allowed for quasi real-time monitoring water consumption at the single household level. This, in turn, is advancing our ability in characterizing consumers' behavior, modeling, and designing user-oriented residential water demand management strategies. Several water smart metering programs have been rolled-out in the last two decades worldwide, addressing one or more of the following water demand management phases: (i) data gathering, (ii) water end-uses characterization, (iii) user modeling, (iv) design and implementation of personalized WDMS. Moreover, the number of research studies in this domain is quickly increasing and big economic investments are currently being devoted worldwide to smart metering programs. With this work, we contribute the first comprehensive review of more than 100 experiences in the field of residential water demand modeling and management, and we propose a general framework for their classification. We revise consolidated practices, identify emerging trends and highlight the challenges and opportunities for future developments given by the use of smart meters advancing residential water demand management. Our analysis of the status quo of smart urban water demand management research and market constitutes a structured collection of information

Medical telerobotic systems: current status and future trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Avgousti, Sotiris; Christoforou, Eftychios G; Panayides, Andreas S; Voskarides, Sotos; Novales, Cyril; Nouaille, Laurence; Pattichis, Constantinos S; Vieyres, Pierre

2016-08-12

Teleoperated medical robotic systems allow procedures such as surgeries, treatments, and diagnoses to be conducted across short or long distances while utilizing wired and/or wireless communication networks. This study presents a systematic review of the relevant literature between the years 2004 and 2015, focusing on medical teleoperated robotic systems which have witnessed tremendous growth over the examined period. A thorough insight of telerobotics systems discussing design concepts, enabling technologies (namely robotic manipulation, telecommunications, and vision systems), and potential applications in clinical practice is provided, while existing limitations and future trends are also highlighted. A representative paradigm of the short-distance case is the da Vinci Surgical System which is described in order to highlight relevant issues. The long-distance telerobotics concept is exemplified through a case study on diagnostic ultrasound scanning. Moreover, the present review provides a classification into short- and long-distance telerobotic systems, depending on the distance from which they are operated. Telerobotic systems are further categorized with respect to their application field. For the reviewed systems are also examined their engineering characteristics and the employed robotics technology. The current status of the field, its significance, the potential, as well as the challenges that lie ahead are thoroughly discussed.

Obtaining consumer perspectives using a citizens' jury: does the current country of origin labelling in Australia allow for informed food choices?

Science.gov (United States)

Withall, Elizabeth; Wilson, Annabelle M; Henderson, Julie; Tonkin, Emma; Coveney, John; Meyer, Samantha B; Clark, Jacinta; McCullum, Dean; Ankeny, Rachel; Ward, Paul R

2016-12-09

Contemporary food systems are vast and complex, creating greater distance between consumers and their food. Consequently, consumers are required to put faith in a system of which they have limited knowledge or control. Country of origin labelling (CoOL) is one mechanism that theoretically enables consumer knowledge of provenance of food products. However, this labelling system has recently come under Australian Government review and recommendations for improvements have been proposed. Consumer engagement in this process has been limited. Therefore this study sought to obtain further consumer opinion on the issue of CoOL and to identify the extent to which Australian consumers agree with Australian Government recommendations for improvements. A citizens' jury was conducted with a sample of 14 South Australian consumers to explore their perceptions on whether the CoOL system allows them to make informed food choices, as well as what changes (if any) need to be made to enable informed food choices (recommendations). Overall, jurors' perception of usefulness of CoOL, including its ability to enable consumers to make informed food choices, fluctuated throughout the Citizens' Jury. Initially, the majority of the jurors indicated that the labels allowed informed food choice, however by the end of the session the majority disagreed with this statement. Inconsistencies within jurors' opinions were observed, particularly following delivery of information from expert witnesses and jury deliberation. Jurors provided recommendations for changes to be made to CoOL, which were similar to those provided in the Australian Government inquiry. Consumers in this study engaged with the topical issue of CoOL and provided their opinions. Overall, consumers do not think that the current CoOL system in Australia enables consumers to make informed choices. Recommendations for changes, including increasing the size of the label and the label's font, and standardising its position, were made.

Making Current Trends in School Design Feasible.

Science.gov (United States)

North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction, Raleigh. Div. of School Support.

This report describes new and innovative approaches to school facilities as they relate to their communities by exploring the trends towards smaller schools, presenting the pros and cons of smaller schools, and examining the solutions and strategies in smart growth planning. The report addresses the following questions: if school leaders,…

Current trends in electrochemical sensing and biosensing of DNA methylation.

Science.gov (United States)

Krejcova, Ludmila; Richtera, Lukas; Hynek, David; Labuda, Jan; Adam, Vojtech

2017-11-15

DNA methylation plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes. Several genetic diseases and most malignancies tend to be associated with aberrant DNA methylation. Among other analytical methods, electrochemical approaches have been successfully employed for characterisation of DNA methylation patterns that are essential for the diagnosis and treatment of particular diseases. This article discusses current trends in the electrochemical sensing and biosensing of DNA methylation. Particularly, it provides an overview of applied electrode materials, electrode modifications and biorecognition elements applications with an emphasis on strategies that form the core DNA methylation detection approaches. The three main strategies as (i) bisulfite treatment, (ii) cleavage by restriction endonucleases, and (iii) immuno/affinity reaction were described in greater detail. Additionally, the availability of the reviewed platforms for early cancer diagnosis and the approval of methylation inhibitors for anticancer therapy were discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Consumers as tutors – legitimate teachers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Owen Cathy

2004-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of this study was to research the feasibility of training mental health consumers as tutors for 4th year medical students in psychiatry. Methods A partnership between a consumer network and an academic unit in Psychological Medicine was formed to jointly develop a training package for consumer tutors and a curriculum in interviewing skills for medical students. Student attitudes to mental health consumers were measured pre and post the program. All tutorial evaluation data was analysed using univariate statistics. Both tutors and students evaluated the teaching program using a 4 point rating scale. The mean scores for teaching and content for both students and tutors were compared using an independent samples t-test. Results Consumer tutors were successfully trained and accredited as tutors and able to sustain delivery of tutorials over a 4 year period. The study found that whilst the medical students started with positive attitudes towards consumers prior to the program, there was a general trend towards improved attitude across all measures. Other outcomes for tutors and students (both positive and negative are described. Conclusions Consumer tutors along with professional tutors have a place in the education of medical students, are an untapped resource and deliver largely positive outcomes for students and themselves. Further possible developments are described.

Market Analysis and Consumer Impacts Source Document. Part II. Review of Motor Vehicle Market and Consumer Expenditures on Motor Vehicle Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

1980-12-01

This source document on motor vehicle market analysis and consumer impacts consists of three parts. Part II consists of studies and review on: motor vehicle sales trends; motor vehicle fleet life and fleet composition; car buying patterns of the busi...

Effect of direct-to-consumer genetic tests on health behaviour and anxiety: a survey of consumers and potential consumers.

Science.gov (United States)

Egglestone, Corin; Morris, Anne; O'Brien, Ann

2013-10-01

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests can be purchased over the internet. Some companies claim to provide relative genetic risks for various diseases and thus encourage healthy behaviour. There are concerns that exposure to such information may actually discourage healthy behaviour or increase health anxiety. An online survey was conducted (n = 275). Respondents were composed of individuals who had purchased a DTC genetic test and received their results (consumers, n = 189), as well as individuals who were either awaiting test results or considering purchasing a test (potential consumers, n = 86). Consumers were asked if their health behaviour or health anxiety had changed after receiving their results. Respondents' current health behaviour and health anxiety were queried and compared. In total, 27.3 % of consumers claimed a change in health behaviour, all either positive or neutral, with no reported cessation of any existing health behaviour. A change in health anxiety was claimed by 24.6 % of consumers, 85.3 % of which were a reduction. Consumers had significantly better health behaviour scores than potential consumers (p = 0.02), with no significant difference in health anxiety. This study points towards an association between receipt of DTC genetic test results and increased adoption of healthy behaviours for a minority of consumers based on self-report, with more mixed results in relation to health anxiety.

The measurement of China's consumer market development based on CPI data

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Jiang; Wang, Minggang; Tian, Lixin; Zhen, Zaili

2018-01-01

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a comprehensive index which contains a large amount of market information. In order to effectively measure the running status of China's consumer market and analyze the dynamic evolution characteristics of regional economic consumption in China, the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of random matrix are proposed to quantitatively describe the evolution relationship of provincial and regional CPI in China. Based on the provincial data of China's CPI, system risk entropy, synchronicity ratio, stability and market induction are introduced to characterize the market evolution characteristics, and analyze the regional differences and synchronicity of the consumer price index of China and evaluate the development of China's consumer market. The results show that the average system risk entropy of China's consumer market for the period 2000-2015 is 0.1646, fluctuating in the range of 0.0512-0.3288, indicating a higher system risk of China's consumer market. The system risk of China's consumer market is still higher than the average in nearly 15 years. Fluctuating in the range of 0.3871-0.9355, the market synchronicity ratio has a mean of 0.7225, which reveals a higher market consistency level, a rising trend in fluctuation but an increasing tendency in the degree of unbalanced regional development. Evolution results of market induction demonstrate that the evolution of China's consumer market has experienced four stages. The market induction has possessed a sustained growth trend since August 2010. Scenario analysis indicates that the key to effectively improve China's consumer market system is to solve the lagging issue of China's western region market on the basis of controlling and resolving of the existing risk.

Research on the Current Telecommuting Trends in United States and European Union Markets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catalina Georgiana PICU

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of globalization and due to the accelerated progress made in information and communication technology, more and more companies offer their employees the option of telecommuting. For the past twenty years, telecommuting has been on an asceding trend, an incresing number of people embracing the ability to work from home, using a computer and internet connection to communicate for their jobs. The goal of the paper is to explain the overall notion of telecommuting and to analyze the current trends in the United States and European Union markets. Another objective is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting and the important role played by this concept within the striving purpose of corporations to achieve their strategic targets. The study is based upon specialized literature reviews regarding the emergence of telecommuting and the role it plays in organizations. A comparative analysis was conducted by the authors on two regional markets, United States and the European Union, in order to assess the trend in telecommuting and the factors that influence it. The outcome of the research shows that although the benefits of telecommuting are numerous, it does not come without challenges, both being applicable for both the employer, as well as for the employee. The research results of this study can be used by organizations when considering to offer their employees flexible work opportunities which can positively influence the long term business performance.

Family and Consumer Sciences: A Facility Planning and Design Guide for School Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Maryland State Dept. of Education, Baltimore.

This document presents design concepts and considerations for planning and developing middle and high school family and consumer sciences education facilities. It includes discussions on family and consumer sciences education trends and the facility planning process. Design concepts explore multipurpose laboratories and spaces for food/nutrition…

Workplace Trends In HVAC/R

Science.gov (United States)

Strang, Lynn; Todd, CeCe

2013-01-01

This article presents trends in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) industry, with an emphasis on the importance of technician training programs as exemplified at the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) in Mesa, Arizona. The article states that HVAC workers are increasingly helping their consumers "go…

Improving behaviour in self-testing (IBIS: Study on frequency of use, consequences, information needs and use, and quality of currently available consumer information (protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

de Vries Nanne K

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Self-tests are available to consumers for more than 25 conditions, ranging from infectious diseases to cardiovascular risk factors. Self-tests are defined as in-vitro tests on body materials such as blood, urine, faeces, or saliva that are initiated by consumers to diagnose a particular disorder or risk factor without involving a medical professional. In 2006, 16% of a sample of Dutch Internet users had ever used at least one self-test and 17% intended to use a self-test in the future. The objectives of this study are to determine (1 the frequency of self-test use, (2 the consumers' reasons for using or not using a self-test, (3 the information that is used by self-testers in the different self-test stages and the consumers' interpretation of the quality of this information, (4 the consumers' response to self-test results in terms of their confidence in the result, reassurance by the test result, and follow-up behaviour, (5 the information consumers report to need in the decision making process of using or not using a self-test, and in further management on the basis of the self-test result, and (6 the quality of the currently available consumer information on a selected set of self-tests. Methods Mixed methods study with (1 a cross-sectional study consisting of a two-phase Internet-questionnaire, (2 semi-structured interviews with self-testers and consumers who intend to use a self-test, and (3 the assessment of the quality of consumer information of self-tests. The Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour will serve as the theoretical basis for the questionnaires and the interview topic guides. Conclusions The self-testing area is still in a state of flux and therefore it is expected that self-test use will increase in the future. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study which combines quantitative and qualitative research to identify consumers' information needs and use concerning self

Review: Current trends in coral transplantation – an approach to preserve biodiversity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ABDELNABY ORABI

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Ammar MSA,El-Gammal F, Nassar M, Belal A, Farag W, El-Mesiry G, El-Haddad K, Orabi A, Abdelreheem A, Shaaban A. 2013. Review: Current trends in coral transplantation – an approach to preserve biodiversity. Biodiversitas 14: 43-53. The increasing rates of coral mortality associated with the rise in stress factors and the lack of adequate recovery worldwide have urged recent calls for actions by the scientific, conservation, and reef management communities. This work reviews the current trends in coral transplantation. Transplantation of coral colonies or fragments, whether from aqua-, mariculture or harvesting from a healthy colony, has been the most frequently recommended action for increasing coral abundance on damaged or degraded reefs and for conserving listed or “at-risk” species. Phytoplanktons are important for providing transplanted corals with complex organic compounds through photosynthesis. Artificial surfaces like concrete blocks, wrecks or other purpose-designed structures can be introduced for larval settlement. New surfaces can also be created through electrolysis. Molecular biological tools can be used to select sites for rehabilitation by asexual recruits. Surface chemistry and possible inputs of toxic leachate from artificial substrates are considered as important factors affecting natural recruitment. Transplants should be carefully maintained , revisited and reattached at least weekly in the first month and at least fortnightly in the next three months. Studies on survivorship and the reproductive ability of transplanted coral fragments are important for coral reef restoration. A coral nursery may be considered as a pool for local species that supplies reef-managers with unlimited coral colonies for sustainable management. Transplanting corals for making artificial reefs can be useful for increasing biodiversity, providing tourist diving, fishing and surfing; creating new artisanal and commercial fishing opportunities

Current and future trends in marine image annotation software

Science.gov (United States)

Gomes-Pereira, Jose Nuno; Auger, Vincent; Beisiegel, Kolja; Benjamin, Robert; Bergmann, Melanie; Bowden, David; Buhl-Mortensen, Pal; De Leo, Fabio C.; Dionísio, Gisela; Durden, Jennifer M.; Edwards, Luke; Friedman, Ariell; Greinert, Jens; Jacobsen-Stout, Nancy; Lerner, Steve; Leslie, Murray; Nattkemper, Tim W.; Sameoto, Jessica A.; Schoening, Timm; Schouten, Ronald; Seager, James; Singh, Hanumant; Soubigou, Olivier; Tojeira, Inês; van den Beld, Inge; Dias, Frederico; Tempera, Fernando; Santos, Ricardo S.

2016-12-01

. Integration into available MIAS is currently limited to semi-automated processes of pixel recognition through computer-vision modules that compile expert-based knowledge. Important topics aiding the choice of a specific software are outlined, the ideal software is discussed and future trends are presented.

The patient as consumer: empowerment or commodification? Currents in contemporary bioethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldstein, Melissa M; Bowers, Daniel G

2015-01-01

Discussions surrounding patient engagement and empowerment often use the terms "patient" and "consumer" interchangeably. But do the two terms hold the same meaning, or is a "patient" a passive actor in the health care arena and a "consumer" an informed, rational decision-maker? Has there been a shift in our usage of the two terms that aligns with the increasing commercialization of health care in the U.S. or has the patient/consumer dynamic always been a part of the buying and selling of health care in the American system? Recent discussions of the issue exist in the popular press and in social media forums such as TEDMED, but few direct analyses of the ethical, legal, and policy ramifications of this possible shift in terminology are available in the academic literature. This paper analyzes our usage of the terms and any recent changes in the dynamic and discusses the ethical, legal, and policy implications of this simple terminology for the physicianpatient relationship. © 2015 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Collation of Scientific Evidence on Consumer Acceptance of New Food Technologies: Three roads to consumer choice

OpenAIRE

Fischer, A.R.H.; Trijp, van, J.C.M.; Hofenk, D.J.B.; Ronteltap, A.; Tudoran, A.A.

2012-01-01

The current report investigates consumer acceptance of new food technologies by reviewing the scientific literature.The review is organised along three routes to consumer acceptance of new technologies: The consumer benefit road: the central road of technology features influencing experienced product attributes; the technology apprehension road: a socio-political road where unfamiliarity and dread may lead to negative technologyattitudes, which may create categorical rejection of any product ...

Consumer world-mindedness, social-mindedness, and store image

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijssen, E.J.; Douglas, S.P.

2008-01-01

As advances in communications technology shrink the impact of geographic distance, consumers are likely to become more aware of and familiar with products and services in other parts of the world, as well as global social and ethical issues. Retailers have responded to these trends (termed here

Caffeine-based food supplements and beverages: Trends of consumption for performance purposes and safety concerns.

Science.gov (United States)

Bessada, Sílvia M F; Alves, Rita C; Oliveira, M Beatriz P P

2018-07-01

Nowadays, daily food supplementation regarding the improvement of physical and mental performance is a growing trend in sport practitioners, young students and active people. Food supplements are foodstuffs, labeled under food law and not obliged to safety assessments before their commercialization. Several products are commercialized claiming ergogenic effects as marketing strategies. Caffeine is often one of their main ingredients, as it increases both physical performance and concentration. This manuscript presents a general overview of the current caffeine-based food supplements and energy drinks available in the Portuguese market, as well as the consuming trends regarding their ergogenic effects, performance purposes, and active ingredients. Product claims, recommended daily intakes, caffeine pharmacology, and safety concerns aspects are also discussed aspects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temporal trends (1999–2010) of perfluoroalkyl acids in commonly consumed food items

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johansson, Jana H.; Berger, Urs; Vestergren, Robin; Cousins, Ian T.; Bignert, Anders; Glynn, Anders; Darnerud, Per Ola

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine how dietary exposure to PFAAs has changed over the period when major production changes occurred. Archived samples (1999–2010) of eggs, milk and farmed rainbow trout were analyzed by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Statistically significant decreasing trends were observed for concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) in fish (p < 0.002 and p < 0.032, respectively) and eggs (p < 0.001 for both compounds). Concentrations of PFOS in fish and eggs decreased by a factor of 10 and 40, respectively. In eggs there was also a statistically significant decreasing trend in concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The results of this study demonstrate that PFAA concentrations in food items from agricultural food chains and aquatic food chains close to sources respond rapidly to changes in environmental emissions. Implications for the overall understanding of human exposure are discussed. - Highlights: • Food items sampled yearly (1999–2010) were analyzed for perfluoroalkyl acids. • Significantly declining trends were observed for PFOS and PFHxS in farmed fish and eggs. • In eggs, an additional significant decreasing trend was found for PFOA. • A decrease in human dietary exposure to PFHxS, PFOS and PFOA is suggested. - Concentrations of PFOS in farmed fish and in hen's eggs decreased between 1999 and 2010. Furthermore, we observed decreasing trends of PFOA in eggs and PFHxS in fish

Consumer empowerment in health care amid the internet and social media.

Science.gov (United States)

Lober, William B; Flowers, Janine L

2011-08-01

Consumer empowerment in health and rapid change in health information and communication technologies have their roots in broader social trends. This article reviews the activities at the intersection of consumer empowerment and technology. Technical reports, white papers, books, journal articles, and Web sites. Social trends are visible in the integration of information and communication technologies into health care, in both searching for and sharing information on the Internet, in the use of social media to create new types of interactions with family, providers, and peers, and in the e-patient, who integrates these new roles and new technologies. Changes in both patients and technology will impact oncology nursing practice as new, patient-centered, interactions emerge. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Consumer Engagement in Health IT: Distinguishing Rhetoric from Reality

Science.gov (United States)

Gold, Marsha; Hossain, Mynti; Mangum, Amy

2015-01-01

Rationale: Policymakers want health information technology (health IT) to support consumer engagement to help achieve national health goals. In this paper, we review the evidence to compare the rhetoric with the reality of current practice. Current Reality and Barriers: Our environmental scan shows that consumer demand exists for electronic access to personal health information, but that technical and system or political barriers still limit the value of the available information and its potential benefits. Conclusions and Policy Implications: There is a gap between current reality and the goals for consumer engagement. Actions that may help bridge this gap include: (1) resolving technical barriers to health information exchange (HIE); (2) developing more consumer-centric design and functionality; (3) reinforcing incentives that attract provider support by showing that consumer engagement is in their interest; and (4) building a stronger empirical case to convince decision makers that consumer engagement will lead to better care, improved health outcomes, and lower costs. PMID:26665120

Attitudes of nursing students on consumer participation: the effectiveness of the Mental Health Consumer Participation Questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, Louise; Happell, Brenda; Platania-Phung, Chris

2015-01-01

The aims of this article were to evaluate the Mental Health Consumer Participation Questionnaire, and measure nursing students' attitudes to consumer participation. Undergraduate nursing students (n = 116) completed the Mental Health Consumer Participation Questionnaire at the start of a course on recovery for mental health nursing practice. The current findings confirm an endorsement of consumer participation in individual care processes, but less agreement with participation in organizational-level processes, such as management of mental health services and education of providers. This article also confirms that the questionnaire can effectively measure attitudes to consumer participation. The participation of consumers is critical for achieving person-centered services mental health services. It is important that nursing education influence positive attitudes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Australian consumers' insights into potatoes - Nutritional knowledge, perceptions and beliefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Katie; Carragher, John; Davis, Robbie

2017-07-01

There has been a decline in the consumption of potatoes in developed countries worldwide due to many factors including the introduction of new foods and meal trends. In turn, this shift in eating patterns has dramatically affected the Australian potato industry which represents the largest horticulture contributor to gross food revenue. Many factors may influence consumers' food preferences, including the individual's nutrition knowledge, lifestyle factors, personal preferences, attitudes and beliefs. The present study aimed to capture an understanding of the consumer's level of nutritional knowledge and what currently drives consumer decision making. Participants aged between 25 and 54 years responded to an online survey which included 52 questions specifically looking at potatoes, nutritional knowledge, views, eating habits and lifestyle factors, preferences and beliefs. Questions in the survey included multiple choice, rank and scale responses and free answers. A total of 1208 males and females (males n = 598, females n = 610) were included in the final analysis. The results show that the majority (88.5%) of the participants consume potatoes (not including hot chips/french fries) 4 times per week or less (41.6% ≤ 1 week; 46.9% 2-4 times/week). Overall, 33% of the participants stated that their potato consumption over the last five years had decreased. The main reasons stated for this decrease were that potatoes were high in carbohydrates (30%) and that starchy vegetables were not a healthy option (23%). Results showed that consumers believe that potatoes are good for all ages, are versatile, convenient, good value for money and delicious. However, the results indicate the majority of people have limited knowledge regarding the nutrient composition of potatoes and associate them negatively with carbohydrates. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Consumer energy conservation options - professional and consumer perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ritchie, B.J.R.; Claxton, J.D.; McDougall, G.H.G.

1980-01-01

The objectives of this study were to: identify government policies for reducing Canadian consumption of home heating fuel, electricity, and gasoline; assess probable effectiveness of different policy alternatives as a means of reducing consumer energy consumption; and measure the acceptability to Canadian consumers of the different policy alternatives. Interviews were conducted with energy conservation professionals to identify and evaluate existing energy conservation programs, and interviews were conducted with consumers who had evaluated selected programs previously reviewed by the professionals. Information was also gathered on energy conservation activities of consumers surveyed. A directory of 34 energy conservation programs was also compiled. Some of the conclusions reached in this report are as follows. There is a need for an information system to gather data on existing conservation programs in order to increase the knowledge of relevant parties as to the outcomes of operating programs. This would help evaluation and improvement of current programs and suggest new program possibilities. The professionals rated six of the 34 programs highly, including the Energuide and the Canadian Home Insulation Program (CHIP). Retrofitting programs for houses are recommended for continuation and expansion, with some consideration given to linking these kinds of programs with home audit programs. In the private transport sector, any new conservation programs should be thoroughly tested on a small scale before widespread implementation, as evidence indicates that certain programs favorably evaluated by professionals may not be received favorably by consumers. 3 refs., 24 tabs.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Special issue on Current Trends in Integrability and Nonlinear Phenomena Special issue on Current Trends in Integrability and Nonlinear Phenomena

Science.gov (United States)

Gómez-Ullate, D.; Lombardo, S.; Mañas, M.; Mazzocco, M.; Nijhoff, F.; Sommacal, M.

2009-12-01

may be found at www.iop.org/Journals/jphysa. Contributions to the special issue should if possible be submitted electronically by web upload at www.iop.org/Journals/jphysa, or by email to jphysa@iop.org, quoting 'JPhysA Special Issue: Current Trends in Integrability and Nonlinear Phenomena' Submissions should ideally be in standard LaTeX form. Please see the website for further information on electronic submissions. Authors unable to submit electronically may send hard-copy contributions to: Publishing Administrators, Journal of Physics A, IOP Publishing, Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK. Please quote 'JPhysA Special Issue—Current Trends in Integrability and Nonlinear Phenomena'. All contributions should be accompanied by a read-me file or covering letter giving the postal and e-mail addresses for correspondence. The Publishing Office should be notified of any subsequent change of address. This special issue will be published in the paper and online version of the journal.

Current Status and Trend of Internet and E-Commerce Market in Korea

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LEE Hongjoo; KIM Jongwoo; PARK Sungjoo

2004-01-01

After the remarkable increase of Internet users and broadband Internet subscribers at the end of the 20th century, the size of Korean Internet and e-commerce market steadily increased but the growth rate has been either stagnant or decreased. Trends of Korean Internet and e-commerce market are summarized in this paper the trends on Internet usage are introduced. Trends of online games, blogs and wireless Internet are introduced. The trends of Korean Internet market may have implications for China and Japan.

Under consumers' scrutiny - an investigation into consumers' attitudes and concerns about nudging in the realm of health behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Junghans, Astrid F; Cheung, Tracy T L; De Ridder, Denise D T

2015-04-09

Nudging strategies have recently attracted attention from scholars and policy makers for their potential in influencing people's behaviors on large scales. But is the fact that nudges do not forbid any choice-options or significantly alter people's economic incentives sufficient to conclude that nudges should be implemented? While this is discussed amongst scholars from various disciplines the voices of consumers, the target-group of nudges, remain unheard. Since understanding their knowledge about nudging and their opinions on being nudged are crucial for the evaluation of the moral appropriateness of nudging, the current study examines consumers' knowledge of and attitudes toward nudging in general and the realm of health behavior. In this qualitative investigation in-depth semi-structured interviews with UK consumers were conducted to examine consumers' attitudes to four domains of inquiry around which the scholarly discussions about nudging have revolved: consumers' approval of nudging, consumers' views on the origin of nudges, consumers' perceived effectiveness of nudging, and consumers' concerns about manipulative aspects of nudging. Interviews revealed that consumers are largely unfamiliar with the concept of nudging altogether. Once defined and explained to them most consumers approve of the concept, especially in the realm of health behavior, given particular conditions: 1. Nudges should be designed for benefiting individuals and society; 2. consumers comprehend the decision-making context and the reasoning behind the promotion of the targeted behavior. Interviews revealed very limited concerns with manipulative aspects of nudges. These findings call for better information-management to ensure consumers knowledge of nudges and awareness of their current implementation. Under that condition the findings encourage the implementation of nudges benefitting individuals and society in domains that consumers comprehend, such as health behaviors. Further research

Postmodern consumers' consciousness of climate change

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

produced goods, services and communication, we now face a different scenario with rapidly evolving consumer segments that display fragmented and unstable purchasing identities. (Berner & van Tonder, 2003). As it stands currently, consumers are finding it increasingly challenging to find a common-ground between.

Unveiling health attitudes and creating good-for-you foods: the genomics metaphor, consumer innovative web-based technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Moskowitz, H R; German, J B; Saguy, I S

2005-01-01

This article presents an integrated analysis of three emerging knowledge bases in the nutrition and consumer products industries, and how they may effect the food industry. These knowledge bases produce new vistas for corporate product development, especially with respect to those foods that are positioned as 'good for you.' Couched within the current thinking of state-of-the-art knowledge and information, this article highlights how today's thinking about accelerated product development can be introduced into the food and health industries to complement these three research areas. The 3 knowledge bases are: the genomics revolution, which has opened new insights into understanding the interactions of personal needs of individual consumers with nutritionally relevant components of the foods; the investigation of food choice by scientific studies; the development of large scale databases (mega-studies) about the consumer mind. These knowledge bases, combined with new methods to understand the consumer through research, make possible a more focused development. The confluence of trends outlined in this article provides the corporation with the beginnings of a new path to a knowledge-based, principles-grounded product-development system. The approaches hold the potential to create foods based upon people's nutritional requirements combined with their individual preferences. Integrating these emerging knowledge areas with new consumer research techniques may well reshape how the food industry develops new products to satisfy consumer needs and wants.

An investigation on Iranian consumer behavior towards famous luxury brands

OpenAIRE

Seyed Hamidreza Moteshakereh; Masoumeh sadat Abtahi; Ahmad Rahchamani

2013-01-01

During the past few years, there has been a growing trend on luxury good consumption among Iranian consumers. Many rich people change their mobile devices, purchase new expensive cars, etc. This paper investigates the effects of three factors including consumer perceived value, sensitivity to social norms and need for uniqueness on consumer’s intention to purchase luxury products based on the theory of planned behavior. The proposed study uses clustering technique and randomly chooses a sampl...

Current status and future trends of medical physics in Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Azorin Nieto, J.

2015-01-01

Medical Physics is an area that applies the principles of physics to medicine, particularly in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases using ionizing and nonionizing radiation. The main attractive of medical physics is that it has a direct impact on the quality and safety of medical care in humans; this social component with direct implications for the population is of high value for Mexico. This paper describes the concepts of medical physics, trends and the current status of this discipline as a profession, which is directly related to the efforts of clinical research. It is also described what is, in my opinion, the future of medical physics in Mexico, emphasizing the fact that this field requires a substantial boost from universities and hospitals to recruit highly qualified young medical physicists and the support from government agencies such as Secretaria de Salud, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social and Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores del Estado through clinical research projects that allow the necessary evolution of medical physics into the hospital setting.

Current status and future trends of medical physics in Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nieto, J Azorin

2015-01-01

Medical Physics is an area that applies the principles of physics to medicine, particularly in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases using ionizing and nonionizing radiation. The main attractive of medical physics is that it has a direct impact on the quality and safety of medical care in humans; this social component with direct implications for the population is of high value for Mexico. This paper describes the concepts of medical physics, trends and the current status of this discipline as a profession, which is directly related to the efforts of clinical research. It is also described what is, in my opinion, the future of medical physics in Mexico, emphasizing the fact that this field requires a substantial boost from universities and hospitals to recruit highly qualified young medical physicists and the support from government agencies such as Secretaria de Salud, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social and Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores del Estado through clinical research projects that allow the necessary evolution of medical physics into the hospital setting

Current Trends in Internet Usage and Cyber Crimes against Youth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Divya Bansal

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Based on a written survey, this paper examines the current trends in internet use and cyber crime against youth for a given set of demographic conditions and presents suggestions for related safety measures and precautions. A written survey of young internet users aged between 10 and 17 years was conducted in the schools of Chandigarh, India. It showed that nearly 84 percent of the youth surveyed have internet connectivity at their homes. Seventy percent of the youth surveyed use the internet for social networking, the majority of whom share photographs, videos and personal information online. Fifteen percent of the youth reported online harassment, and approximately 30 percent reported online interaction with unknown people. According to the youth surveyed, the parents or guardians of more than 90 percent know about their browsing habits. In most cases parents or guardians had talked to their children about internet safety and possible threats. Schools and parents/guardians should ensure that the children are aware of internet dangers, including the dangers of sharing personal information and trusting unknown people online, and regulate their browsing activities.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Review of Current Trends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulfatai B. Olokoba

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM is a chronic metabolic disorder in which prevalence has been increasing steadily all over the world. As a result of this trend, it is fast becoming an epidemic in some countries of the world with the number of people affected expected to double in the next decade due to increase in ageing population, thereby adding to the already existing burden for healthcare providers, especially in poorly developed countries. This review is based on a search of Medline, the Cochrane Database of Systemic Reviews, and citation lists of relevant publications. Subject heading and key words used include type 2 diabetes mellitus, prevalence, current diagnosis, and current treatment. Only articles in English were included. Screening and diagnosis is still based on World Health Organization (WHO and American Diabetes Association (ADA criteria which include both clinical and laboratory parameters. No cure has yet been found for the disease; however, treatment modalities include lifestyle modifications, treatment of obesity, oral hypoglycemic agents, and insulin sensitizers like metformin, a biguanide that reduces insulin resistance, is still the recommended first line medication especially for obese patients. Other effective medications include non-sulfonylurea secretagogues, thiazolidinediones, alpha glucosidase inhibitors, and insulin. Recent research into the pathophysiology of type 2 DM has led to the introduction of new medications like glucagon-like peptide 1 analogoues: dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibitors, inhibitors of the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 and 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1, insulin-releasing glucokinase activators and pancreatic-G-protein-coupled fatty-acid-receptor agonists, glucagon-receptor antagonists, metabolic inhibitors of hepatic glucose output and quick-release bromocriptine. Inhaled insulin was licensed for use in 2006 but has been withdrawn from the market because of low patronage.

Crowdsourcing: Global search and the twisted roles of consumers and producers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Robert M; Gegenhuber, Thomas

2015-09-01

Crowdsourcing spreads and morphs quickly, shaping areas as diverse as creating, organizing, and sharing knowledge; producing digital artifacts; providing services involving tangible assets; or monitoring and evaluating. Crowdsourcing as sourcing by means of 'global search' yields four types of values for sourcing actors: creative expertise, critical items, execution capacity, and bargaining power. It accesses cheap excess capacities at the work realm's margins, channeling them toward production. Provision and utilization of excess capacities rationalize society while intimately connecting to a broader societal trend twisting consumers' and producers' roles: leading toward 'working consumers' and 'consuming producers' and shifting power toward the latter. Similarly, marketers using crowdsourcing's look and feel to camouflage traditional approaches to bringing consumers under control preserve producer power.

Current situation of energy conservation in high energy-consuming industries in Taiwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, D.Y.-L.; Yang, K.-H.; Hsu, C.-H.; Chien, M.-H.; Hong, G.-B.

2007-01-01

Growing concern in Taiwan has arisen about energy consumption and its adverse environmental impact. The current situation of energy conservation in high energy-consuming industries in Taiwan, including the iron and steel, chemical, cement, pulp and paper, textiles and electric/electrical industries has been presented. Since the energy consumption of the top 100 energy users (T100) comprised over 50% of total industry energy consumption, focusing energy consumption reduction efforts on T100 energy users can achieve significant results. This study conducted on-site energy audits of 314 firms in Taiwan during 2000-2004, and identified potential electricity savings of 1,022,656 MWH, fuel oil savings of 174,643 kiloliters (KL), steam coal savings of 98,620 ton, and natural gas (NG) savings of 10,430 kilo cubic meters. The total potential energy saving thus was 489,505 KL of crude oil equivalent (KLOE), representing a reduction of 1,447,841 ton in the carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide absorption capacity of a 39,131-ha plantation forest

The Models of Inter-temporal Consume

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nora Mihail

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The articol presents a category of consumption models which shows the manner how theexpenses of consume in an economy are related to the available income achieved by this economy and theinterest rate from the financial market. Since the income as well as the expenses of consume are realizedin time, such dynamic models of consume are also referred to as models of inter-temporal consume,emphasizing therefore the fact that the available income achieved at a certain moment may be used forconsume at a future moment, whereas the decision of consume taken at a current moment may consider theincome that is to be achieved in the future.

Review on the current trends in tongue diagnosis systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Chang Jin; Jeon, Young Ju; Kim, Jong Yeol; Kim, Keun Ho

2012-12-01

Tongue diagnosis is an essential process to noninvasively assess the condition of a patient's internal organs in traditional medicine. To obtain quantitative and objective diagnostic results, image acquisition and analysis devices called tongue diagnosis systems (TDSs) are required. These systems consist of hardware including cameras, light sources, and a ColorChecker, and software for color correction, segmentation of tongue region, and tongue classification. To improve the performance of TDSs, various types TDSs have been developed. Hyperspectral imaging TDSs have been suggested to acquire more information than a two-dimensional (2D) image with visible light waves, as it allows collection of data from multiple bands. Three-dimensional (3D) imaging TDSs have been suggested to provide 3D geometry. In the near future, mobile devices like the smart phone will offer applications for assessment of health condition using tongue images. Various technologies for the TDS have respective unique advantages and specificities according to the application and diagnostic environment, but this variation may cause inconsistent diagnoses in practical clinical applications. In this manuscript, we reviewed the current trends in TDSs for the standardization of systems. In conclusion, the standardization of TDSs can supply the general public and oriental medical doctors with convenient, prompt, and accurate information with diagnostic results for assessing the health condition.

Selling to Consumers with Endogenous Types

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boone, J.; Shapiro, J.

2006-01-01

For many goods (such as experience goods or addictive goods), consumers' preferences may change over time.In this paper, we examine a monopolist's optimal pricing schedule when current consumption can affect a consumer's valuation in the future and valuations are unobservable.We assume that

Direct-to-consumer advertising: its effects on stakeholders.

Science.gov (United States)

Montoya, Isaac D; Lee-Dukes, Gwen; Shah, Dhvani

2008-01-01

The escalating growth in the development of pharmaceutical drugs has caused the pharmaceutical industry to market drugs directly to consumers. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising has increased immensely in the past 15 years and continues to grow each year. The advantages of DTC advertising include an increase in consumer knowledge, patient autonomy, and possibly providing physicians and pharmacists with up-to-date information about the recent trends in the marketplace. However, there is also an equally notable list of disadvantages, which include concerns about the quality of information provided, loss in physician productivity due to time spent convincing patients that what they want is not in their best interest, and increases in the reimbursement expenditure of the insurers. Because of these conflicting outcomes, the issue of DTC advertising has become controversial. This report offers an overview of DTC advertising and focuses on its effects on physicians, pharmacists, consumers, insurers, the government, and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Biosurfactants in cosmetic formulations: trends and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Vecino, X; Cruz, J M; Moldes, A B; Rodrigues, L R

2017-11-01

Cosmetic products play an essential role in everyone's life. People everyday use a large variety of cosmetic products such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, skin care, perfume, make-up, among others. The cosmetic industry encompasses several environmental, social and economic impacts that are being addressed through the search for more efficient manufacturing techniques, the reduction of waste and emissions and the promotion of personal hygiene, contributing to an improvement of public health and at the same time providing employment opportunities. The current trend among consumers is the pursuit for natural ingredients in cosmetic products, as many of these products exhibit equal, better or additional benefits in comparison with the chemical-based products. In this sense, biosurfactants are natural compounds with great potential in the formulation of cosmetic products given by their biodegradability and impact in health. Indeed, many of these biosurfactants could exhibit a "prebiotic" character. This review covers the current state-of-the-art of biosurfactant research for cosmetic purposes and further discusses the future challenges for cosmetic applications.

Trends in Food Packaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Ott, Dana B.

1988-01-01

This article discusses developments in food packaging, processing, and preservation techniques in terms of packaging materials, technologies, consumer benefits, and current and potential food product applications. Covers implications due to consumer life-style changes, cost-effectiveness of packaging materials, and the ecological impact of…

A Study on Consumer Perspective towards Green Products in Bengaluru City, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pusarla Lakshmi Padmaja

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Sustainability is a trending concept of the 21st century. With an increase in global warming and carbon emissions, green marketing gained importance and subsequently encouraging green products, which can further contribute to sustainable environment. The consumer play a major role in determining the demand for any product and since green products are eco-friendly, they have created niche for those environmental consciousness customers. In this context, a study on consumer perspective and attitude towards green products will be quite useful for marketers, to understand both, consumers and market. This study focus on the consumer awareness, attitude and purchase intention towards green products.

Perceived Usefulness and Trust towards Consumer Behaviors: A Perspective of Consumer Online Shopping

OpenAIRE

Lim Yi Jin; Abdullah Bin Osman; Mohd Suberi Bin AB.Halim

2014-01-01

In this globalization era, the Internet has become an important tool for web browsing, social networking and even making online purchases. In Malaysia, few studies have examined the influence of perceived usefulness and trust on the online shopping behavior of consumers. Thus, the current study intends to investigate whether perceived usefulness and trust influence the online shopping behavior of consumers in northern Malaysia which comprises Kedah, Perlis, Penang and Perak. The relationship ...

An investigation on Iranian consumer behavior towards famous luxury brands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyed Hamidreza Moteshakereh

2013-08-01

Full Text Available During the past few years, there has been a growing trend on luxury good consumption among Iranian consumers. Many rich people change their mobile devices, purchase new expensive cars, etc. This paper investigates the effects of three factors including consumer perceived value, sensitivity to social norms and need for uniqueness on consumer’s intention to purchase luxury products based on the theory of planned behavior. The proposed study uses clustering technique and randomly chooses a sample of 250 rich people and distributes a questionnaire among them. The study uses structural equation modeling and the implementation of the proposed model has been executed using LISREL software package. The results indicate the all three factors, consumer perceived value, sensitivity to social norms and need for uniqueness, influence consumer intention to buy luxury goods. In addition, consumer knowledge is a mediator factor between need for uniqueness and purchase intention.

Trends and developments in industrial machine vision: 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Niel, Kurt; Heinzl, Christoph

2014-03-01

When following current advancements and implementations in the field of machine vision there seems to be no borders for future developments: Calculating power constantly increases, and new ideas are spreading and previously challenging approaches are introduced in to mass market. Within the past decades these advances have had dramatic impacts on our lives. Consumer electronics, e.g. computers or telephones, which once occupied large volumes, now fit in the palm of a hand. To note just a few examples e.g. face recognition was adopted by the consumer market, 3D capturing became cheap, due to the huge community SW-coding got easier using sophisticated development platforms. However, still there is a remaining gap between consumer and industrial applications. While the first ones have to be entertaining, the second have to be reliable. Recent studies (e.g. VDMA [1], Germany) show a moderately increasing market for machine vision in industry. Asking industry regarding their needs the main challenges for industrial machine vision are simple usage and reliability for the process, quick support, full automation, self/easy adjustment at changing process parameters, "forget it in the line". Furthermore a big challenge is to support quality control: Nowadays the operator has to accurately define the tested features for checking the probes. There is an upcoming development also to let automated machine vision applications find out essential parameters in a more abstract level (top down). In this work we focus on three current and future topics for industrial machine vision: Metrology supporting automation, quality control (inline/atline/offline) as well as visualization and analysis of datasets with steadily growing sizes. Finally the general trend of the pixel orientated towards object orientated evaluation is addressed. We do not directly address the field of robotics taking advances from machine vision. This is actually a fast changing area which is worth an own

Consumer values and eco-fashion in the future

OpenAIRE

Niinimäki, Kirsi

2009-01-01

This paper discusses the consumer values, attitudes and expectations regarding sustainable textiles and clothing. Consumers' interest in ethical issues is currently raising ethical questions in the mass market. What does a consumer expect from sustainable products in the apparel industry? and what is future eco-fashion?

Consumer acceptance of and willingness to pay for food nanotechnology: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Giles, Emma L; Kuznesof, Sharron; Clark, Beth; Hubbard, Carmen; Frewer, Lynn J

Consumer's attitudes to, and acceptance of, emerging technologies and their applications, are important determinants of their successful implementation and commercialisation. Understanding the range of socio-psychological, cultural and affective factors which may influence consumer responses to applications of nanotechnology will help "fine-tune" the development of consumer products in line with their expectations and preferences. This is particularly true of applications in the food area, where consumer concerns about technologies applied to food production may be elevated. This research applied systematic review methodology to synthesise current knowledge regarding societal acceptance or rejection of nanotechnology applied to agri-food production. The objective was to aggregate knowledge derived from different research areas to gain an overall picture of consumer responses to nanotechnology applied to food production. Relevant electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature were searched from the earliest date available, for peer-reviewed papers which reported primary empirical data on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology, using a formal systematic review protocol. Inclusion criteria for papers to be included in the review were: empirical peer-reviewed papers written in English; a population sample of adults aged 18 years and over used in the research; a research focus on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology; and research on attitudes towards, and willingness to pay for, different applications of agri-food nanotechnology. Two researchers independently appraised the papers using NVivo 10 QSR software. Studies examining consumer and expert acceptance were thematically analysed, and key information was collated. The results were synthesised in order to identify trends in information relevant to consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applied to food production. Eight key themes were identified from the 32 papers which were

Consumer acceptance of and willingness to pay for food nanotechnology: a systematic review

Science.gov (United States)

Giles, Emma L.; Kuznesof, Sharron; Clark, Beth; Hubbard, Carmen; Frewer, Lynn J.

2015-12-01

Consumer's attitudes to, and acceptance of, emerging technologies and their applications, are important determinants of their successful implementation and commercialisation. Understanding the range of socio-psychological, cultural and affective factors which may influence consumer responses to applications of nanotechnology will help "fine-tune" the development of consumer products in line with their expectations and preferences. This is particularly true of applications in the food area, where consumer concerns about technologies applied to food production may be elevated. This research applied systematic review methodology to synthesise current knowledge regarding societal acceptance or rejection of nanotechnology applied to agri-food production. The objective was to aggregate knowledge derived from different research areas to gain an overall picture of consumer responses to nanotechnology applied to food production. Relevant electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature were searched from the earliest date available, for peer-reviewed papers which reported primary empirical data on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology, using a formal systematic review protocol. Inclusion criteria for papers to be included in the review were: empirical peer-reviewed papers written in English; a population sample of adults aged 18 years and over used in the research; a research focus on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology; and research on attitudes towards, and willingness to pay for, different applications of agri-food nanotechnology. Two researchers independently appraised the papers using NVivo 10 QSR software. Studies examining consumer and expert acceptance were thematically analysed, and key information was collated. The results were synthesised in order to identify trends in information relevant to consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applied to food production. Eight key themes were identified from the 32 papers which were

Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Buying Intention of Consumers in UK: Need for Cognition as the Moderating Role

OpenAIRE

Ruba Obiedat

2013-01-01

World wide web has offered a strong competitive platform for online marketing which turned out the online shopping important for consumers in todayཿs world particularly those consumers which view the online reviews as effectual conduit of having important product information prior to purchasing decisions. However, the current study attempts to find the impact of online consumer reviews on buying intention of consumers in the context of UK with need for cognition as the mediating role on ...

Trends in awareness and use of electronic cigarettes among US adults, 2010-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Brian A; Patel, Roshni; Nguyen, Kimberly H; Dube, Shanta R

2015-02-01

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) marketing has increased considerably since the product entered the US market in 2007, thereby warranting additional surveillance to monitor recent trends in population-level awareness and utilization. We assessed the prevalence, characteristics, and trends in e-cigarette awareness and use among nationally representative samples of US adults during 2010-2013. Data came from the 2010-2013 HealthStyles survey, an annual consumer-based web survey of US adults aged ≥ 18 years. Sample sizes ranged from 2,505 (2010) to 4,170 (2012). Descriptive statistics were used to assess e-cigarette awareness, ever use, and current use (use within the past 30 days) overall and by sex, age, race/ethnicity, education, income, US region, and cigarette smoking status. Trends were assessed using logistic regression. During 2010-2013, increases (p e-cigarette awareness (40.9%-79.7%), ever use (3.3%-8.5%), and current use (1.0%-2.6%). Awareness increased among all socio demographic subpopulations during 2010-2013 (p impact of e-cigarettes, continued surveillance of emerging use patterns is critical for public health planning. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE IN FASHION TRENDS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2013

OpenAIRE

Alexandra Mocenco; Sabina Olaru; Georgeta Popescu

2013-01-01

Globally there is mobility market and a manufacturers orientation to innovative products of small series or personalized. Adaptability and compliance with these fashion trends subordinate to client requirements is the key to developing big consumer brands known worldwide. Product design and development based extensive knowledge in fashion trends are extremely important capabilities for companies in the garment industry. Aligning economic agents to flexibility, mobility and speed of change in ...

Consumer reporting of adverse events following immunization.

Science.gov (United States)

Clothier, Hazel J; Selvaraj, Gowri; Easton, Mee Lee; Lewis, Georgina; Crawford, Nigel W; Buttery, Jim P

2014-01-01

Surveillance of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) is an essential component of vaccine safety monitoring. The most commonly utilized passive surveillance systems rely predominantly on reporting by health care providers (HCP). We reviewed adverse event reports received in Victoria, Australia since surveillance commencement in July 2007, to June 2013 (6 years) to ascertain the contribution of consumer (vaccinee or their parent/guardian) reporting to vaccine safety monitoring and to inform future surveillance system development directions. Categorical data included were: reporter type; serious and non-serious AEFI category; and, vaccinee age group. Chi-square test and 2-sample test of proportions were used to compare categories; trend changes were assessed using linear regression. Consumer reporting increased over the 6 years, reaching 21% of reports received in 2013 (PConsumer reports were 5% more likely to describe serious AEFI than HCP (P=0.018) and 10% more likely to result in specialist clinic attendance (Preporting increased to 32% of all report since its introduction in 2010, 85% of consumers continued to report by phone. Consumer reporting of AEFI is a valuable component of vaccine safety surveillance in addition to HCP reporting. Changes are required to AEFI reporting systems to implement efficient consumer AEFI reporting, but may be justified for their potential impact on signal detection sensitivity.

Current Trends in Retirement: Implications for Career Counseling and Vocational Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

Lytle, Megan C.; Clancy, Megan E.; Foley, Pamela F.; Cotter, Elizabeth W.

2015-01-01

This article provides an overview of emerging trends in retirement, examines demographic trends in the labor force, and provides practical recommendations for working with older workers across cultures (e.g., women and racial/ethnic minorities, and among others). Increasingly, older workers in the United States remain in the workforce for reasons…

Nanotechnology patenting trends through an environmental lens: analysis of materials and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leitch, Megan E.; Casman, Elizabeth; Lowry, Gregory V.

2012-01-01

Many international groups study environmental health and safety (EHS) concerns surrounding the use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). These researchers frequently use the “Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies” (PEN) inventory of nano-enabled consumer products to prioritize types of ENMs to study because estimates of life-cycle ENM releases to the environment can be extrapolated from the database. An alternative “snapshot” of nanomaterials likely to enter commerce can be determined from the patent literature. The goal of this research was to provide an overview of nanotechnology intellectual property trends, complementary to the PEN consumer product database, to help identify potentially “risky” nanomaterials for study by the nano-EHS community. Ten years of nanotechnology patents were examined to determine the types of nano-functional materials being patented, the chemical compositions of the ENMs, and the products in which they are likely to appear. Patenting trends indicated different distributions of nano-enabled products and materials compared to the PEN database. Recent nanotechnology patenting is dominated by electrical and information technology applications rather than the hygienic and anti-fouling applications shown by PEN. There is an increasing emphasis on patenting of nano-scale layers, coatings, and other surface modifications rather than traditional nanoparticles, and there is widespread use of nano-functional semiconductor, ceramic, magnetic, and biological materials that are currently less studied by EHS professionals. These commonly patented products and the nano-functional materials they contain may warrant life-cycle evaluations to determine the potential for environmental exposure and toxicity. The patent and consumer product lists contribute different and complementary insights into the emerging nanotechnology industry and its potential for introducing nanomaterials into the environment.

Nanotechnology patenting trends through an environmental lens: analysis of materials and applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leitch, Megan E. [Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) (United States); Casman, Elizabeth [Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) (United States); Lowry, Gregory V., E-mail: glowry@cmu.edu [Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) (United States)

2012-12-15

Many international groups study environmental health and safety (EHS) concerns surrounding the use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). These researchers frequently use the 'Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies' (PEN) inventory of nano-enabled consumer products to prioritize types of ENMs to study because estimates of life-cycle ENM releases to the environment can be extrapolated from the database. An alternative 'snapshot' of nanomaterials likely to enter commerce can be determined from the patent literature. The goal of this research was to provide an overview of nanotechnology intellectual property trends, complementary to the PEN consumer product database, to help identify potentially 'risky' nanomaterials for study by the nano-EHS community. Ten years of nanotechnology patents were examined to determine the types of nano-functional materials being patented, the chemical compositions of the ENMs, and the products in which they are likely to appear. Patenting trends indicated different distributions of nano-enabled products and materials compared to the PEN database. Recent nanotechnology patenting is dominated by electrical and information technology applications rather than the hygienic and anti-fouling applications shown by PEN. There is an increasing emphasis on patenting of nano-scale layers, coatings, and other surface modifications rather than traditional nanoparticles, and there is widespread use of nano-functional semiconductor, ceramic, magnetic, and biological materials that are currently less studied by EHS professionals. These commonly patented products and the nano-functional materials they contain may warrant life-cycle evaluations to determine the potential for environmental exposure and toxicity. The patent and consumer product lists contribute different and complementary insights into the emerging nanotechnology industry and its potential for introducing nanomaterials into the environment.

Current trends in pedicle screw stimulation techniques: lumbosacral, thoracic, and cervical levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Isley, Michael R; Zhang, Xiao-Feng; Balzer, Jeffrey R; Leppanen, Ronald E

2012-06-01

justification" of intraoperative neuromonitoring"... is the perception that the safety and efficacy of pedicle screw fixation are enhanced..." (Resnick et al. 2005b). However in summarizing a massive (over 1000 papers taken from the National Library of Medicine), contemporary, literature review spanning nearly a decade (1996 to 2003), this invited panel (Resnick et al. 2005b) recognized that the evidence-based documents contributing to the parts related to pedicle screw fixation and neuromonitoring were "... full of potential sources of error ..." and lacked appropriate, randomized, prospective studies for formulating rigid standards and guidelines. Nevertheless, current trends support the routine use and clinical utility of these neuromonitoring techniques. In particular free-run and triggered EMG have been well recognized in numerous publications for improving both the accuracy and safety of pedicle screw implantation. Currently, treatment with pedicle screw instrumentation routinely involves all levels of the spine - lumbosacral, thoracic, and cervical. Significant historical events, various neuromonitoring modalities, intraoperative alarm criteria, clinical efficacy, current trends, and caveats related to pedicle screw stimulation along the entire vertebral column will be reviewed.

Impact of scarcity on consumer behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T.U. Kulakovsky

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the impact of scarcity on consumer behavior and on perception of scarce goods consumer qualities. The author examines and subjects to the critical analysis the impact of scarcity on consumer behavior within economic theory, the theory of reactance and commodity theory. The differences in explaining the impact of scarcity on consumer behavior in economic and psychological sciences is highlighted. The current researcher experimentally proves the impact of the scarcity as an isolated factor on consumer behavior and the impact of scarcity on consumer perception of product quality. According to the reactance theory, an individual perceives scarcity as the restriction of his freedom that causes resistance in response to a possible restriction of freedom of actions. This reinforces the desire to have such a scarce product. To confirm the psychological impact of scarcity on a domestic consumer the author designs and conducts the experiment that confirms the following hypotheses: scarcity affects consumer behavior and stimulates consumers to purchase scarce commodities; scarcity has impact on the perception of scarce product consumer qualities. Such consumer behavior relatively to scarce goods can be used by marketers to promote products on the market.

A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE TOURISM SECTOR - CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES IN THE BULGARIAN TOURIST BUSINESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kostadin Valkov

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Thе analysis presented in current article deepens and summarizes the results of an economic study focused on the management of human resources in the sector "Tourism". The expected changes in organizational and technological terms are taken into account. The law on tourism in the Republic of Bulgaria and the types of taxes that directly and indirectly affect those employed in tourism are considered. Leading accents are the current trends and issues that arise from the lack of skilled workers in this sector and their deficit caused by the seasonal nature of employment. Growing gray economy is concerned as a major obstacle to development of the tourism industry and its future.

Culinary Tourism. A New Trend on the Tourism Market

OpenAIRE

Oana DURALIA

2017-01-01

Seen as a new form of manifestation of the behavior of the consumer of tourism products and services, culinary tourism has recorded an ascending trending the last years, with a positive forecast for the following years. A possible explanation for this phenomenon is the orientation and encouragement of the tourist services providers to adopt regional development strategies that harness traditional local resources and products in a context where the contemporary consumer no longer only pursues ...

Review on the current trends in tongue diagnosis systems

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Chang Jin Jung

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Tongue diagnosis is an essential process to noninvasively assess the condition of a patient's internal organs in traditional medicine. To obtain quantitative and objective diagnostic results, image acquisition and analysis devices called tongue diagnosis systems (TDSs are required. These systems consist of hardware including cameras, light sources, and a ColorChecker, and software for color correction, segmentation of tongue region, and tongue classification. To improve the performance of TDSs, various types TDSs have been developed. Hyperspectral imaging TDSs have been suggested to acquire more information than a two-dimensional (2D image with visible light waves, as it allows collection of data from multiple bands. Three-dimensional (3D imaging TDSs have been suggested to provide 3D geometry. In the near future, mobile devices like the smart phone will offer applications for assessment of health condition using tongue images. Various technologies for the TDS have respective unique advantages and specificities according to the application and diagnostic environment, but this variation may cause inconsistent diagnoses in practical clinical applications. In this manuscript, we reviewed the current trends in TDSs for the standardization of systems. In conclusion, the standardization of TDSs can supply the general public and oriental medical doctors with convenient, prompt, and accurate information with diagnostic results for assessing the health condition.

Analytical Chemistry: A retrospective view on some current trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Niessner, Reinhard

2018-04-01

In a retrospective view some current trends in Analytical Chemistry are outlined and connected to work published more than a hundred years ago in the same field. For example, gravimetric microanalysis after specific precipitation, once the sole basis for chemical analysis, has been transformed into a mass-sensitive transducer in combination with compound-specific receptors. Molecular spectroscopy, still practising the classical absorption/emission techniques for detecting elements or molecules experiences a change to Raman spectroscopy, is now allowing analysis of a multitude of additional features. Chemical sensors are now used to perform a vast number of analytical measurements. Especially paper-based devices (dipsticks, microfluidic pads) celebrate a revival as they can potentially revolutionize medicine in the developing world. Industry 4.0 will lead to a further increase of sensor applications. Preceding separation and enrichment of analytes from complicated matrices remains the backbone for a successful analysis, despite increasing attempts to avoid clean-up. Continuous separation techniques will become a key element for 24/7 production of goods with certified quality. Attempts to get instantaneous and specific chemical information by optical or electrical transduction will need highly selective receptors in large quantities. Further understanding of ligand - receptor complex structures is the key for successful generation of artificial bio-inspired receptors. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

What the Current System Development Trends tell us about Systems Development Methodologies: Toward explaining SSDAM, Agile and IDEF0 Methodologies

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Abdulla F. Ally

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Systems integration, customization and component based development approach are of increasing attention. This trend facilitates the research attention to also focus on systems development methodologies. The availability of systems development tools, rapid change in technologies, evolution of mobile computing and the growth of cloud computing have necessitated a move toward systems integration and customization rather than developing systems from scratch. This tendency encourages component based development and discourages traditional systems development approach. The paper presents and evaluates SSADM, IDEF0 and Agile systems development methodologies. More specifically, it examines how they fit or not fit into the current competitive market of systems development. In the view of this perspective, it is anticipated that despite of its popularity, SSADM methodology is becoming obsolete while Agile and IDEF0 methodologies are still gaining acceptance in the current competitive market of systems development. The present study more likely enrich our understanding of the systems development methodologies concepts and draw attention regarding where the current trends in system development are heading.

Consumer acceptance of and willingness to pay for food nanotechnology: a systematic review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giles, Emma L.; Kuznesof, Sharron; Clark, Beth; Hubbard, Carmen; Frewer, Lynn J.

2015-01-01

Consumer’s attitudes to, and acceptance of, emerging technologies and their applications, are important determinants of their successful implementation and commercialisation. Understanding the range of socio-psychological, cultural and affective factors which may influence consumer responses to applications of nanotechnology will help “fine-tune” the development of consumer products in line with their expectations and preferences. This is particularly true of applications in the food area, where consumer concerns about technologies applied to food production may be elevated. This research applied systematic review methodology to synthesise current knowledge regarding societal acceptance or rejection of nanotechnology applied to agri-food production. The objective was to aggregate knowledge derived from different research areas to gain an overall picture of consumer responses to nanotechnology applied to food production. Relevant electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature were searched from the earliest date available, for peer-reviewed papers which reported primary empirical data on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology, using a formal systematic review protocol. Inclusion criteria for papers to be included in the review were: empirical peer-reviewed papers written in English; a population sample of adults aged 18 years and over used in the research; a research focus on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology; and research on attitudes towards, and willingness to pay for, different applications of agri-food nanotechnology. Two researchers independently appraised the papers using NVivo 10 QSR software. Studies examining consumer and expert acceptance were thematically analysed, and key information was collated. The results were synthesised in order to identify trends in information relevant to consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applied to food production. Eight key themes were identified from the 32 papers

Consumer acceptance of and willingness to pay for food nanotechnology: a systematic review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giles, Emma L., E-mail: e.giles@tees.ac.uk [Teesside University, Health and Social Care Institute (United Kingdom); Kuznesof, Sharron; Clark, Beth; Hubbard, Carmen; Frewer, Lynn J. [Newcastle University, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (United Kingdom)

2015-12-15

Consumer’s attitudes to, and acceptance of, emerging technologies and their applications, are important determinants of their successful implementation and commercialisation. Understanding the range of socio-psychological, cultural and affective factors which may influence consumer responses to applications of nanotechnology will help “fine-tune” the development of consumer products in line with their expectations and preferences. This is particularly true of applications in the food area, where consumer concerns about technologies applied to food production may be elevated. This research applied systematic review methodology to synthesise current knowledge regarding societal acceptance or rejection of nanotechnology applied to agri-food production. The objective was to aggregate knowledge derived from different research areas to gain an overall picture of consumer responses to nanotechnology applied to food production. Relevant electronic databases of peer-reviewed literature were searched from the earliest date available, for peer-reviewed papers which reported primary empirical data on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology, using a formal systematic review protocol. Inclusion criteria for papers to be included in the review were: empirical peer-reviewed papers written in English; a population sample of adults aged 18 years and over used in the research; a research focus on consumer and expert acceptance of agri-food nanotechnology; and research on attitudes towards, and willingness to pay for, different applications of agri-food nanotechnology. Two researchers independently appraised the papers using NVivo 10 QSR software. Studies examining consumer and expert acceptance were thematically analysed, and key information was collated. The results were synthesised in order to identify trends in information relevant to consumer acceptance of nanotechnology applied to food production. Eight key themes were identified from the 32 papers

Impact of the internet on consumers

OpenAIRE

Mihaela BADEA; Bogdan PÎRVULESCU

2014-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to show the current opportunities, prospects and the impact of the Internet on the consumer. This will be achieved by comparing the behaviour of the British consumer and the Romanian consumer and the changes that appeared under the influence of the Internet. Among the actions undertaken by the Internet marketing, which deals with the promotion of products at a certain price, a concept that has become significant in recent years, there is the placement of prod...

Novel trends in engineered milk products.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandrapala, Jayani; Zisu, Bogdan

2016-08-01

Food engineering within the dairy sector is an ever developing field of study purely based on the application of engineering principles and concepts to any aspect of dairy product manufacturing and operations. The last 25 years of science and technology devoted to milk and milk products have led to major advances. The purpose of this paper is to review the history and current status of some engineered milk products and to speculate regarding future trends. Much of the advancement has been directed towards production capacity, mechanisation, automation, hygiene within the processing plant, safety, extensions in shelf life, and new product introductions that bring variety and convenience for the consumer. Significant advancements in product quality have been made, many of these arising from improved knowledge of the functional properties of ingredients and their impact on structure and texture. In addition, further improvements focused on energy efficiency and environmental sustainability have been made and will be needed in the future.

A food recall case study in Australia – Towards the development of food safety applications for consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Changes in consumer attitudes, behaviours and purchasing preferences towards different types of food highlight the increased demand for better quality information on safety, quality and provenance of food products and on sustainability of food production processes. These changes offer both new opportunities and risks for food producers who require mechanisms to better understand and respond to changing consumers’ decision-making trends on food.  In the area of food safety, investigation of consumer and producer responses during recall incidents provide an opportunity to holistically understand existing information flows and elicit user requirements necessary for the development of more effective consumer food safety applications.This paper reports on a case study conducted with an Australian premium manufacturing company that experienced a food recall in 2014. The investigation confirms that current Australian food recall response mechanisms do not guarantee a closed loop of communication with all purchasers of a recalled product. It also highlights that producers still face difficulties in understanding how best to effectively understand and respond to different types of consumers. It emerges that recovery from a food incident relies on many factors including pre-existing brand reputation, effective information management, control mechanisms and supply chain partner response. From a consumer perspective, it is evident that consumers’ responses are influenced by various factors that require sensitivity around the choice of information modality and information platform adopted to enhance communications during food recall. The paper highlights the need for further research into understanding consumer food safety behaviours post-purchase to improve the development of consumer food safety applications.

Do European consumers use nutrition labels?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wills, Josephine M.; Grunert, Klaus G.; Celemín, Laura Fernández

2009-01-01

Nutrition labelling on food packages becomes more and more widespread in the European Union. Such information is not compulsory, unless a nutrition or health claim is made. However, how do consumers use nutrition information? Two European studies are currently assessing whether nutrition...... information on food labels is exerting an effect on healthy food choices among consumers. Based for the first time on in-store observations and interviews, these studies give a real-life insight into consumers' shopping behaviours. The major outcomes to date are that most European consumers have reasonable...... knowledge about nutrition and are able to use nutrition labels to identify healthier products within a category....

Consumer Engagement in Health IT: Distinguishing Rhetoric from Reality.

Science.gov (United States)

Gold, Marsha; Hossain, Mynti; Mangum, Amy

2015-01-01

Policymakers want health information technology (health IT) to support consumer engagement to help achieve national health goals. In this paper, we review the evidence to compare the rhetoric with the reality of current practice. Our environmental scan shows that consumer demand exists for electronic access to personal health information, but that technical and system or political barriers still limit the value of the available information and its potential benefits. There is a gap between current reality and the goals for consumer engagement. Actions that may help bridge this gap include: (1) resolving technical barriers to health information exchange (HIE); (2) developing more consumer-centric design and functionality; (3) reinforcing incentives that attract provider support by showing that consumer engagement is in their interest; and (4) building a stronger empirical case to convince decision makers that consumer engagement will lead to better care, improved health outcomes, and lower costs.

The State of Young Adults’ Balance Sheets: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

OpenAIRE

Dettling, Lisa J.; Hsu, Joanne W.

2014-01-01

The authors investigate recent trends in the financial circumstances of young adults using data from the triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) from 2001 to 2013. They examine trends in young adults’ net worth, break down the composition into specific assets and liabilities, and describe young adults’ experiences with credit markets. The analysis focuses on three main comparisons: (i) trends over time (ii) between young adults and older adults and (iii) between young adults in 2013 (memb...

Resveratrol and health from a consumer perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica; Grunert, Klaus G

2015-01-01

Resveratrol is an ingredient widely researched, with growing evidence of health-promoting effects. However, the reactions of supplement or food consumers to resveratrol has not been researched, and the ingredient is yet unknown to most consumers. We used respective literature and our own...... resveratrol consumer studies with Danish and U.S. consumers to look at current findings and future research directions for three questions. (1)Which factors determine consumer interest in a yet unknown functional ingredient such as resveratrol? (2)Howshould resveratrol bemarketed as a new functional...... ingredient to be understood and favorably perceived? (3) What could be the effects of adoption of an ingredient such as resveratrol on the healthy lifestyle of a consumer? Literature and first results indicate that personal relevance and familiarity are crucial factors; however, consumers show little...

A Study on Consumer Perspective towards Green Products in Bengaluru City, India

OpenAIRE

Pusarla Lakshmi Padmaja; Vaddadi Krishna Mohan

2016-01-01

Sustainability is a trending concept of the 21st century. With an increase in global warming and carbon emissions, green marketing gained importance and subsequently encouraging green products, which can further contribute to sustainable environment. The consumer play a major role in determining the demand for any product and since green products are eco-friendly, they have created niche for those environmental consciousness customers. In this context, a study on consumer perspective and atti...

Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar Gupta, Girish; De, Sudipta; Franco, Ana; Balu, Alina Mariana; Luque, Rafael

2015-12-30

Biomaterials and sustainable resources are two complementary terms supporting the development of new sustainable emerging processes. In this context, many interdisciplinary approaches including biomass waste valorization and proper usage of green technologies, etc., were brought forward to tackle future challenges pertaining to declining fossil resources, energy conservation, and related environmental issues. The implementation of these approaches impels its potential effect on the economy of particular countries and also reduces unnecessary overburden on the environment. This contribution aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent trends, challenges, and applications in the field of biomaterials derived from sustainable resources.

Sustainable Biomaterials: Current Trends, Challenges and Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Girish Kumar Gupta

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Biomaterials and sustainable resources are two complementary terms supporting the development of new sustainable emerging processes. In this context, many interdisciplinary approaches including biomass waste valorization and proper usage of green technologies, etc., were brought forward to tackle future challenges pertaining to declining fossil resources, energy conservation, and related environmental issues. The implementation of these approaches impels its potential effect on the economy of particular countries and also reduces unnecessary overburden on the environment. This contribution aims to provide an overview of some of the most recent trends, challenges, and applications in the field of biomaterials derived from sustainable resources.

Consumers in mental health service leadership: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Scholz, Brett; Gordon, Sarah; Happell, Brenda

2017-02-01

Contemporary mental health policies call for greater involvement of mental health service consumers in all aspects and at all levels of service planning, delivery, and evaluation. The extent to which consumers are part of the decision-making function of mental health organizations varies. This systematic review synthesizes empirical and review studies published in peer-reviewed academic journals relating to consumers in leadership roles within mental health organizations. The Cochrane Library, Medline, and PsycINFO were searched for articles specifically analysing and discussing consumers' mental health service leadership. Each article was critically appraised against the inclusion criteria, with 36 articles included in the final review. The findings of the review highlight current understandings of organizational resources and structures in consumer-led organizations, determinants of leadership involvement, and how consumer leadership interacts with traditional mental health service provision. It appears that organizations might still be negotiating the balance between consumer leadership and traditional structures and systems. The majority of included studies represent research about consumer-run organizations, with consumer leadership in mainstream mental health organizations being less represented in the literature. Advocates of consumer leadership should focus more on emphasizing how such leadership itself can be a valuable resource for organizations and how this can be better articulated. This review highlights the current gaps in understandings of consumer leadership in mental health, including a need for more research exploring the benefits of consumer leadership for other consumers of services. © 2016 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Technological trends, global market, and challenges of bio-ethanol production.

Science.gov (United States)

Mussatto, Solange I; Dragone, Giuliano; Guimarães, Pedro M R; Silva, João Paulo A; Carneiro, Lívia M; Roberto, Inês C; Vicente, António; Domingues, Lucília; Teixeira, José A

2010-01-01

Ethanol use as a fuel additive or directly as a fuel source has grown in popularity due to governmental regulations and in some cases economic incentives based on environmental concerns as well as a desire to reduce oil dependency. As a consequence, several countries are interested in developing their internal market for use of this biofuel. Currently, almost all bio-ethanol is produced from grain or sugarcane. However, as this kind of feedstock is essentially food, other efficient and economically viable technologies for ethanol production have been evaluated. This article reviews some current and promising technologies for ethanol production considering aspects related to the raw materials, processes, and engineered strains development. The main producer and consumer nations and future perspectives for the ethanol market are also presented. Finally, technological trends to expand this market are discussed focusing on promising strategies like the use of microalgae and continuous systems with immobilized cells. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL CONSUMERS OF RETAIL TRADING SERVICES OF POPULATION OF IZHEVSK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.G. Sokolova

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Social trends and preferences of potential consumer of retail services when selling food products in Izhevsk, based on the data of marketing research are being studied. Sectional analysis for the given market is held. The trend of selected market section is described. The article contains the calculation of total market demand for retail trading services in Izhevsk for a moment in 2008.

Consumer Market for Functional Foods in South Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcia Dutra de Barcellos

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims at investigating the consumer market for functional foods (FF in Porto Alegre, South Brazil. Functional food is any healthy food claimed to have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients. Health has been named as the most significant trend and innovation driver in the global food and drinks market. Brazil is one of the leading countries in food production and consumption, and the market for functional foods have been growing 10% per year, three times more than the market for conventional foods. Although this food category is considered mature in some developed markets (such as in Japan, in the Nordic countries and in the U.S, it is still unknown for many consumers, especially those located in developing countries. On the other hand, functional foods has been attracting the attention of multinationals and local food industries in Brazil, since innovation can significantly impact on their competitive advantages. Therefore, in this study, first we are going to identify the availability of functional food products in the local retail market, through observation techniques. Our aim is to confront consumers’ needs with local food companies’ market supply. Secondly, we investigate consumers’ motivations, attitudes and intention to buy functional foods, since the market demands a better understanding of this trend. A survey with 450 consumers was conducted and provided quantitative insights. Results indicate that the market for functional foods in Rio Grande do Sul is incipient, but it is developing fast. There are few local functional food products in the market, but those are attractive to consumers and indicate promising opportunities. The survey shows that interviewed consumers presented positive attitudes towards functional foods and enough purchasing power to buy it. Dieticians, nutritionists and other health professionals have high credibility and could help inform

Current trends in green liquid chromatography for the analysis of pharmaceutically active compounds in the environmental water compartments.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaaban, Heba; Górecki, Tadeusz

2015-01-01

Green analytical chemistry is an aspect of green chemistry which introduced in the late nineties. The main objectives of green analytical chemistry are to obtain new analytical technologies or to modify an old method to incorporate procedures that use less hazardous chemicals. There are several approaches to achieve this goal such as using environmentally benign solvents and reagents, reducing the chromatographic separation times and miniaturization of analytical devices. Traditional methods used for the analysis of pharmaceutically active compounds require large volumes of organic solvents and generate large amounts of waste. Most of them are volatile and harmful to the environment. With the awareness about the environment, the development of green technologies has been receiving increasing attention aiming at eliminating or reducing the amount of organic solvents consumed everyday worldwide without loss in chromatographic performance. This review provides the state of the art of green analytical methodologies for environmental analysis of pharmaceutically active compounds in the aquatic environment with special emphasis on strategies for greening liquid chromatography (LC). The current trends of fast LC applied to environmental analysis, including elevated mobile phase temperature, as well as different column technologies such as monolithic columns, fully porous sub-2 μm and superficially porous particles are presented. In addition, green aspects of gas chromatography (GC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) will be discussed. We pay special attention to new green approaches such as automation, miniaturization, direct analysis and the possibility of locating the chromatograph on-line or at-line as a step forward in reducing the environmental impact of chromatographic analyses. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Innovative Agro-Food Technologies to Minimize Consumer Detriment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gianita BLEOJU

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The paper intends to offer a solution for accelerating the implementation of new biotechnologies designated to prevent consumer detriment. Designing an intervention mechanism along current inefficient chain of consumer feed- back information is a must. Upon different interconnected knowledge area of expertise, both on consumer detriment and biotechnologies for human food safety and security, we propose our approach relying upon relevant experiences on innovational biotechnologies as response to consumer fragilities data from recent validated agro food market research. We target the rising awareness regarding the translation from consumer preferences, to perceived detriment.

Meat consumption: trends and quality matters.

Science.gov (United States)

Henchion, Maeve; McCarthy, Mary; Resconi, Virginia C; Troy, Declan

2014-11-01

This paper uses quality theory to identify opportunities for the meat sector that are consistent with trends in meat consumption. Meat consumption has increased and is likely to continue into the future. Growth is largely driven by white meats, with poultry in particular of increasing importance globally. The influence of factors such as income and price is likely decline over time so that other factors, such as quality, will become more important. Quality is complex and consumers' quality expectations may not align with experienced quality due to misconception of certain intrinsic cues. Establishing relevant and effective cues, based on extrinsic and credence attributes, could offer advantage on the marketplace. The use of extrinsic cues can help convey quality characteristics for eating quality, but also for more abstract attributes that reflect individual consumer concerns e.g. health/nutrition, and collective concerns, e.g. sustainability. However, attributes are not of equal value to all consumers. Thus consumer segmentation and production differentiation is needed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Family Enterprises in Polish Consumers' Mindset in the Light of International Tendencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Bednarz

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Aim/purpose - The main aim of the paper is to fill in the gap in the existing literature as well as to propose a set of specific family enterprises' (FE attributes concerning certain socioeconomic conditions in Poland. The objectives of the article are interrelated with two theses. H1 assumes that in current literature there is a little attention paid to the demand side of the market, particularly to the individual consumers (including young buyers and their attitudes toward FEs. H2 indicates that the perception of Polish FEs changes considerably reflecting the international trends. Design/methodology/approach - The authors studied a consolidated profound review of recent international and Polish publications on FEs. The expert interviews and in-depth individual interviews were conducted. Both empirical studies brought a preliminary insight into overall consumer perception of the FEs in Poland. Findings - For several years Polish buyers have been dynamically changing their mindset, breaking the stereotype of FEs' owners. Nowadays, tradition and quality are two attributes which are associated closely with Polish FEs. Customers indicate that FEs are trustworthy, responsible, solid and dependable. They also highlight the ethnocentric attitude toward these companies - Polishness. All these attributes are evidently appreciated. FEs are correlated with traditional industries and products, especially with groceries, cosmetics, clothes, shoes, jewelry, furniture, windows and doors. Research implications/limitations - The identity of FEs is not always communicated properly. Consumers often cannot ascertain a provenance of their offer as many FEs do not emphasize their family identity. Additionally, on the Polish market, consumers are occasionally misled considering the family ownership of a business. Originality/value/contribution - The studies indicate a set of attributes typical of Polish FEs underpinning their strong identity which should be

Current research and development trends in floristic geography

OpenAIRE

Hang Sun; Tao Deng; Yongsheng Chen; Zhuo Zhou

2017-01-01

This paper summarizes the research status, existing issues, and trends in floristic geography. There is now a wealth of research accumulation on floristic investigations, distribution types of genera, floristic regions, and regional floristic analysis. It is also noted that most of these studies utilize simple statistical analyses, comparative studies, traditional methods, and single subjects, to provide a basic understanding and description of the floristic phenomenon, which is lacking spati...

Organic Centre Wales Factsheet 20: Understanding the consumer and increasing sales

OpenAIRE

Anon,

2004-01-01

This Factsheet summarises the findings of the Taylor Nelson Sofres report: ‘Organic Food: Understanding the Consumer and Increasing Sales’. Issues covered are retail sales, market trends, household spending, marketing recommendations and a list of marketing support contacts for Welsh organic businesses.

Propensity to Search: Common, Leisure, and Labor Models of Consumer Behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey MALAKHOV

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the propensity to search specifies the “common” or the ordinary model of consumer behavior based on the synthesis of the neoclassical approach with satisficing concept, and “leisure” and “labor” models of behavior that represent different combinations of conspicuous consumption, leisure, and labor. While the “common model” of behavior demonstrates a moderate propensity to search, “leisure” and “labor” models of consumer behavior exhibit vigorous propensities to search that results in purchase of unnecessary items and therefore in overconsumption. This trend is also presented in home production where vigorous propensity to search takes the form of the vigorous propensity to produce at home. The analysis of trends in allocation of time provides grounds for the assumption that men have more accentuated propensity to search and to produce at home than women that results in overconsumption of unnecessary items.

Trends in Energy Intake from Alcoholic Beverages among US Adults by Sociodemographic Characteristics, 1989-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Butler, Lauren; Poti, Jennifer M; Popkin, Barry M

2016-07-01

Long-term US trends in alcoholic beverage calorie intakes remain unexamined, particularly with respect to changes in population subgroup-specific patterns over time. This study examined shifts in the consumption of alcoholic beverages, in total and by beverage type, on any given day among US adults in relation to sociodemographic characteristics. This study was a repeated cross-sectional analysis of data from the 1989-1991 and 1994-1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals and the 2003-2006 and 2009-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Adults aged ≥19 years (N=39,298) were targeted. A subset of alcoholic beverage consumers (n=7,081) were studied. Survey weighted mean per capita per day intakes (among all participants, both consumers of alcoholic beverages and nonconsumers) and contributions of beer, wine, and liquor/mixed drinks to total alcoholic beverage energy were determined. Multivariable regression models were used to examine trends in the proportion of alcoholic beverage consumers and the per consumer intakes (among consumers of alcoholic beverages only). Per capita intakes from alcoholic beverages increased from 49 kcal/capita/day in 1989-1991 to 109 kcal/capita/day in 2003-2006 (Pbeverages on any given day increased significantly from 1989-1991 to 2009-2012 (P for overall increasing trend beverage calories increased between 1989-1991 and 1994-1996 (Pbeverage intake for less educated consumers across time. These results indicate there has been an increase in the proportion of US adults who drink on any given day and an increase in calories consumed from alcoholic beverages when drinking occurs. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Current trends in the implementation of IAEA safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamson, A.; Bychkov, V.

1993-01-01

A practical goal, embodying the principle that a minimum amount of material is required in order to manufacture a nuclear explosive device, is that safeguards activities should enable the timely detection of the diversion of a significant quantity of nuclear material. It is important to note that the safeguards activities are not restricted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (the agency) but impose obligations on both state (and consequently on facility operators) and the agency. The beneficiaries are member states of the world community which have enhanced confidence in the competence and probity of states with safeguards agreements. Neither safeguards nor the nuclear industry have remained stationary. As new techniques have been developed, they have found applications, and as new challenges were encountered, the system has responded, for example, through improved measurements; through new or improved techniques for the operator, state or agency; and through new regulations. This paper details approaches, procedures and techniques developed for new complex nuclear facilities. Trends toward increase efficiency and effectiveness, and developments leading to more automated analysis and collection of data and the development of nondestructive assay methods are examined. Also important are trends in the presentation of safeguards results to the states and the general public

Primary energy use for heating in the Swedish building sector-Current trends and proposed target

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johansson, P.; Nylander, A.; Johnsson, F.

2007-01-01

One goal of the Swedish energy policy is to reduce the amount of electricity used for heating in the building sector. This means to reduce the primary energy used for heating which in this paper is analyzed in the context of various heating technologies and CO 2 emissions. The analysis is applied to a region in Sweden (southern Sweden) for which detailed information on the energy infrastructure (the capital stock of the buildings and heating systems together with geographical variations in heat intensity) is available from a previous work [Johansson, P., Nylander, A., Johnsson, F., 2005. Electricity dependency and CO 2 emissions from heating in the Swedish building sector-current trends in conflict with governmental policy? Energy policy] and which is large enough to be assumed representative for Sweden as a whole. The detailed mapping of the energy infrastructure allows a good estimate on the rate at which the energy system can be expected to be replaced with respect to economical lifetime of the capital stock (the year 2025 in this case). Two scenarios are investigated; a target scenario for which energy savings are employed (e.g. improving climate shell in buildings) and oil and most of the electricity used for heating purposes are phased out and a second for which the current trend in the heating market continues. In the target scenario it is shown that although only applying commercially competitive heating technologies, it is possible to achieve a 47% reduction in primary energy use for heating with a 34% decrease in heat demand together with significant reduction in CO 2 emissions. However, the scenario which continues the current trends on the heating market instead yields an increase (of about 10%) in primary energy use (reduction in conversion efficiency) of the heating system of the region over the period studied, in spite of a slight decrease in heat demand (9%, mainly due to energy efficiency measures) as well as in CO 2 emissions. In light of the

The functional food trend: what's next and what Americans think about eggs.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, L C

2000-10-01

The Health Focus National Study of Public Attitudes and Actions Toward Healthy Foods is conducted every two years to identify current issues in consumer health and nutrition behavior and attitudes, to assess the trends in consumer priorities and to develop an understanding of where consumers are headed in their behavior towards their health and diet. This paper focuses on consumer interests in functional nutrition for disease prevention and health enhancement. It examines the role consumers see for eggs in healthy diets. The data for this study were collected from written questionnaires completed by 2,074 qualified respondents in August, September and October of 1998. The research was conducted in two stages: 1. A telephone pre-recruit from a national probability sample of households qualified respondents as Primary Grocery Shoppers (those who make most of the food buying decisions for their household or who equally share that responsibility). 2. A 12-page, self-administered questionnaire was mailed to qualified respondents. Respondents to this survey represent shoppers in the U.S. in all respects except race. Women account for 81% of the survey respondents, since they do most of the household shopping. Most shoppers believe foods can offer benefits that reach beyond basic nutrition to functional nutrition for disease prevention and health enhancement. As consumers better understand the functional benefits of eggs, from Prevention to Performance, Wellness, Nurturing and Cosmetics, eggs will continue to play an important role in healthy eating for many consumers. Eggs are considered a healthy food by most consumers as long as they are eaten in moderation. Increased egg consumption is being driven by consumer interest in health benefits that reach beyond dietary avoidance strategies to positive nutrition strategies. Today's self-reliant approach to health creates significant opportunities for health and nutrition marketers to use knowledge-based marketing programs to

Trends in Utility Green Pricing Programs (2005)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bird, L.; Brown, E.

2006-10-01

This report presents year-end 2005 data on utility green pricing programs, and examines trends in consumer response and program implementation over time. The data in this report, which were obtained via a questionnaire distributed to utility green pricing program managers, can be used by utilities to benchmark the success of their green power programs.

Trends in Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Are Public Health and the Market Aligned or in Conflict?

Science.gov (United States)

Shrapnel, William

2015-09-23

Adverse health consequences of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages are frequently cited as an example of market failure, justifying government intervention in the marketplace, usually in the form of taxation. However, declining sales of sugar-sweetened beverages in Australia and a corresponding increase in sales of drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners, in the absence of significant government regulation, appear to reflect market forces at work. If so, the public health challenge in relation to sugar-sweetened beverages may have less to do with regulating the market and more to do with harnessing it. Contrary to assertions that consumers fail to appreciate the links between their choice of beverage and its health consequences, the health conscious consumer appears to be driving the changes taking place in the beverage market. With the capacity to meet consumer expectations for convenience and indulgence without unwanted kilojoules, drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners enable the "small change" in health behaviour that individuals are willing to consider. Despite the low barriers involved in perpetuating the current trend of replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners, some public health advocates remain cautious about advocating this dietary change. In contrast, the barriers to taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages appear high.

Trends in Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Are Public Health and the Market Aligned or in Conflict?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Shrapnel

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Adverse health consequences of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages are frequently cited as an example of market failure, justifying government intervention in the marketplace, usually in the form of taxation. However, declining sales of sugar-sweetened beverages in Australia and a corresponding increase in sales of drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners, in the absence of significant government regulation, appear to reflect market forces at work. If so, the public health challenge in relation to sugar-sweetened beverages may have less to do with regulating the market and more to do with harnessing it. Contrary to assertions that consumers fail to appreciate the links between their choice of beverage and its health consequences, the health conscious consumer appears to be driving the changes taking place in the beverage market. With the capacity to meet consumer expectations for convenience and indulgence without unwanted kilojoules, drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners enable the “small change” in health behaviour that individuals are willing to consider. Despite the low barriers involved in perpetuating the current trend of replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners, some public health advocates remain cautious about advocating this dietary change. In contrast, the barriers to taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages appear high.

Secular Trends in Meal and Snack Patterns among Adolescents from 1999 to 2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, Nicole; Story, Mary; Eisenberg, Marla E; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

2016-02-01

Linkages between snack patterns, diet, and obesity in adolescents likely depend on the consumption of main meals, how often snacks are prepared away from home, and whether energy-dense, nutrient-poor snack foods and sugary drinks are frequently consumed. Nutrition-based interventions need to be informed by an understanding of how secular changes in the contribution of snacks to dietary intake may be related to changes in meal frequency as well as how these trends differ by sociodemographic characteristics. To examine secular trends from 1999 to 2010 in meal and snack patterns among adolescents. A repeated cross-sectional design was used. Participants from Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, secondary schools completed classroom-administered surveys and food frequency questionnaires in 1999 (n=2,598) and 2010 (n=2,540). Weekly meal frequencies; number of snacks consumed on school and vacation/weekend days; frequent consumption of snacks prepared away from home (≥3 times/week); and daily servings of energy-dense, nutrient-poor food/drinks that are commonly consumed at snack occasions. Trends from 1999 to 2010 were examined using inverse probability weighting to control for differences in sociodemographic characteristics in the two samples. Mean frequencies of breakfast and lunch increased modestly in the overall population (both P values snacks consumed on schools days (Psnacks prepared away from home, there was a secular decrease in energy-dense, nutrient-poor food/drink consumption (Psnack trends among adolescents suggests the need for targeted efforts to ensure public health messages reach low-income and ethnic/racial minority population subgroups most vulnerable to poor nutrition and the development of obesity. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

National energy use of consumer electronics in 1999

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosen, Karen; Meier, Alan; Zandelin, Stefan

2000-01-01

The major consumer electronics in U.S. homes accounted for nearly 7 percent of U.S. residential electricity consumption in 1999. We attribute more than half of this figure (3.6 percent) to televisions, videocassette recorders, and DVD players, and nearly one-third (1.8 percent) to audio products. Set-top boxes currently account for a relatively small fraction of residential electricity use (0.7 percent), but we expect this end-use to grow quickly with the proliferation of digital set-top boxes, which currently use 40 percent more energy per unit than the average TV set. In all, these consumer electronics plus telephone products consumed 75 TWh in the U.S. in 1999, half of which was consumed while the products were not in use. This energy use is expected to grow as products with new or advanced functionality hit the market

PREFERENCES AND BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF BEEF CONSUMERS IN TUSCANY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marija RADMAN

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Tuscany, probably the most famous Italian region, is known because of many typical food specialities. One of them is the “fi orentina” - a thick, fi rst quality beef, called after the name of the city of Florence. However, recent trends in consumers’ behaviour and the BSE crisis have affected the attitude of consumers toward such products. In this study are presented the results of a mail survey about beef consumption and preferences that was conducted in Tuscany in May 2002. The survey showed that, despite recent food scares and new consumption behaviour, Tuscany consumers still like and prefer beef that has guarantees of quality. Therefore, there are good market opportunities for the Italian and foreign beef producers in Tuscany if they will provide consumers with not only good quality beef, but also more information about the meat.

Current trends in Irish perinatal mortality.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Mahony, R

2010-06-01

This was a retrospective review of normally formed perinatal deaths among 176,620 births at the National Maternity Hospital (1984-2007). Prelabor stillbirths were categorised by presumed cause of death including unexplained, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), placental abruption, red cell alloimmunisation (RCA) and deaths related to prematurity. Peripartum deaths included intrapartum and first week neonatal deaths. The post-mortem rate, initially almost 100%, fell to 60%. Data were analysed using the Mantel-Haenszel chi square test for trends. In the study period there was a significant reduction in the PNM, largely because of a fall in death related to prematurity, term peripartum death, death at 42 weeks or greater, placental abruption, death related to IUGR and RCA (P < 0.01). Overall the unexplained still birth rate was unchanged throughout the study period (p = 0.8) despite a highly significant (p < 0.001) increase in obstetric intervention particularly induction of labor and caesarean section.

Consumer rationality in choice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Conlon, B.J.

2001-01-01

The dissertation concentrates on consumer choice and the ability of current modelling approaches to capture the underlying behaviour of the individual decision-makers. The standard assumption of a rational utility maximising individual and its implications for observed behaviour are examined and

Research trend in thermally stimulated current method for development of materials and devices in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Iwamoto, Mitsumasa; Taguchi, Dai

2018-03-01

Thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurement is widely used in a variety of research fields, i.e., physics, electronics, electrical engineering, chemistry, ceramics, and biology. TSC is short-circuit current that flows owing to the displacement of charges in samples during heating. TSC measurement is very simple, but TSC curves give very important information on charge behaviors. In the 1970s, TSC measurement contributed greatly to the development of electrical insulation engineering, semiconductor device technology, and so forth. Accordingly, the TSC experimental technique and its analytical method advanced. Over the past decades, many new molecules and advanced functional materials have been discovered and developed. Along with this, TSC measurement has attracted much attention in industries and academic laboratories as a way of characterizing newly discovered materials and devices. In this review, we report the latest research trend in the TSC method for the development of materials and devices in Japan.

Consumer attitude toward food irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruhn, C.M.M.

1986-01-01

Consumer attitudes toward food irradiation were evaluated. The influence of educational efforts on consumer concern for the safety of irradiated products and willingness to buy irradiated foods were measured. Demographic and psychological factors were studied in relation to attitudes. An educational leaflet describing current scientific information regarding the safety, advantages, and disadvantages of food irradiation was developed and used in two studies evaluating attitude change. In the first study, attitude change among two groups of consumers with different philosophic orientations was measured. In a second study, the effectiveness of an educational leaflet received through the mail and a poster display were examined. In a third study response to food irradiation was related to value hierarchy, locus of control, innovativeness, and demographic parameters. Initially, subjects showed a higher concern for other areas of food safety, particularly the use of chemicals and sprays on food, than toward food irradiation. After educational efforts, conventional consumers expressed minor concern toward irradiation whereas ecologically sensitive alternative consumers obtained from a food cooperative expressed major concern. A knowledgeable discussion leader lowered irradiation concern among conventional consumers. In contrast, concern among alternative consumers did not diminish when given the opportunity to discuss safety issues with a knowledgeable person

Global trends in radiation processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Defalco, G.

2003-01-01

There will be a brief introduction of the companies of MDS serving the Medical, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical sectors worldwide. MDS Nordion will be introduced in more detail focused on the products and services of our Nuclear Medicine and Ion Technologies business units. World Trends and issues in Radiation Processing will be discussed on: Sterilization of Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics and Consumer products and finally I will present an overview on Food Irradiation progress worldwide

Laparoscopic major hepatectomies: current trends and indications. A comparison with the open technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratti, Francesca; Cipriani, Federica; Ariotti, Riccardo; Giannone, Fabio; Paganelli, Michele; Aldrighetti, Luca

2015-06-01

Diffusion of laparoscopic major hepatectomies is experiencing a steady increasing trend, although slower compared to minor resections. The aim of this single-center study is to discuss current trends and indications in the application of minimally invasive techniques to major hepatic resections. Preoperative patients and disease characteristics of 49 laparoscopic major hepatectomies (LPS group), performed between 2005 and 2015, were compared with 585 open hepatectomies (Open group) to analyze differences in patients recruitment. Factors which were found to be differently distributed between groups were used as covariates in a propensity score-based case-matched analysis with a 1:3 ratio between LPS group and 147 patients from the Open group (constituting Open-mat group). Short-term outcome was analyzed in matched groups. ASA score, previous abdominal surgery, previous interventional procedures, indication, lesion size and associated procedures were significantly different between the LPS and the Open group. Short-term outcome analysis revealed that blood loss (200 vs 350 mL, p = 0.044) and time for functional recovery (3 vs 4 days, p = 0.05) were reduced in the LPS compared to the Open-mat group, in spite of longer length of surgery (260 vs 170 min, p = 0.041) and comparable oncological adequacy. Even though data on technical feasibility of laparoscopic major resections and their benefits in terms of blood loss and functional recovery support the diffusion of minimally invasive approach, the limit of the technique is still represented by the reduced pool of suitable candidates.

Current trends in treatment of obesity in Karachi and possibilities of cost minimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Mirza Izhar; Naqvi, Baqir Shyum

2015-03-01

Our study finds out drug usage trends in over weight and obese patients without any compelling indications in Karachi, looks for deviations of current practices from evidence based antihypertensive therapeutic guidelines and identifies not only cost minimization opportunities but also communication strategies to improve patients' awareness and compliance to achieve therapeutic goal. In present study two sets were used. Randomized stratified independent surveys were conducted in hospital doctors and family physicians (general practitioners), using pretested questionnaires. Sample size was 100. Statistical analysis was conducted on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Opportunities of cost minimization were also analyzed. One the basis of doctors' feedback, preference is given to non-pharmacologic management of obesity. Mass media campaign and media usage were recommended to increase patients awareness and patients' education along with strengthening family support systems was recommended for better compliance of the patients to doctor's advice. Local therapeutic guidelines for weight reduction were not found. Feedbacks showed that global therapeutic guidelines were followed by the doctors practicing in the community and hospitals in Karachi. However, high price branded drugs were used instead of low priced generic therapeutic equivalents. Patient's education is required for better awareness and improving patients' compliance. The doctors found preferring brand leaders instead of low cost options. This trend increases cost of therapy by 0.59 to 4.17 times. Therefore, there are great opportunities for cost minimization by using evidence-based clinically effective and safe medicines.

Costs and consequences of direct-to-consumer advertising for clopidogrel in Medicaid.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Michael R; Soumerai, Stephen B; Adams, Alyce S; Majumdar, Sumit R

2009-11-23

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is assumed to be a major driver of rising pharmaceutical costs. Yet, research on how it affects costs is limited. Therefore, we studied clopidogrel, a commonly used and heavily marketed antiplatelet agent, which was first sold in 1998 and first direct-to-consumer advertised in 2001. We examined pharmacy data from 27 Medicaid programs from 1999 through 2005. We used interrupted time series analysis to analyze changes in the number of units dispensed, cost per unit dispensed, and total pharmacy expenditures after DTCA initiation. In 1999 and 2000, there was no DTCA for clopidogrel; from 2001 through 2005, DTCA spending exceeded $350 million. Direct-to-consumer advertising did not change the preexisting trend in the number of clopidogrel units dispensed per 1000 enrollees (P = .10). However, there was a sudden and sustained increase in cost per unit of $0.40 after DTCA initiation (95% confidence interval, $0.31-$0.49; P consumer advertising was not associated with an increase in clopidogrel use over and above preexisting trends. However, Medicaid pharmacy expenditures increased substantially after the initiation of DTCA because of a concomitant increase in the cost per unit. If drug price increases after DTCA initiation are common, there are important implications for payers and for policy makers in the United States and elsewhere.

An extension of consumer environmental behavior research among expatriates

OpenAIRE

Bhuian, Shahid N.; Amyx, Douglas A.; Shamma, Hamad M.

2014-01-01

A wealth of research has explored different configurations of consumer environmental beliefs, attitudes, and values, and their influence on consumer environmental behavior. It is essential that a more comprehensive understanding of what lies at the root of consumer environmental beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors be developed. This study aims to address some of the limitations in the current literature by theorizing and examining a consumer environmental behavior model that includes th...

Academic research as human activity: Occupational Therapy contributions for consumer participation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Dimov

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The involvement of consumers in research is a recent trend in the world. Involving consumers in researches on health services, therapeutic approaches, effectiveness of support groups, mutual help groups, and even on medication is crucial for obtaining academic results that are representative of the group of consumers, and influence public policies that are effective and functional for consumers. This paper presents an analysis of how consumers can get involved in a research and what can be the role of an occupational therapist in such activity. When governed by the principles of autonomy, empowerment, and recovery, researches with consumer participation promote the principles of equality and recognition, allowing inclusion in the research process, and promoting the recognition of consumer knowledge. As an activity, research can be a motivator, mobilizing wills and desires. It can also be a possibility of leaving stagnation and making decisions. The occupational therapist can help this process. Occupational therapy focus on activities that are significant to the life of individuals. Participation in research becomes a focus for the therapeutic process to the extent that it presents itself as a demand for the client.

Achilles tenotomy as an office procedure and current practising trends among New Zealand orthopaedic surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Agius, Lewis; Wickham, Angus; Walker, Cameron; Knudsen, Joshua

2018-05-18

Percutaneous Achilles tenotomy (PAT) is performed during the final phase of casting with Ponseti method. Several settings have been proposed as venues for this procedure, however it is increasingly being performed in theatre under a general anaesthetic (GA). General anaesthesia, however, is expensive and not without risks. The purpose of the present study was to compare results of outpatient releases to theatre releases, and assess current practising trends among orthopaedic surgeons. Retrospective comparison of patients with idiopathic clubfoot managed by Ponseti method who had Achilles tenotomy performed in outpatient clinic and in theatre. Surveys were sent to all POSNZ members to determine current practising trends in New Zealand. Parental satisfaction surveys were performed. Comparative cost analysis was performed using hospital billing information. The current study includes 64 idiopathic congenital clubfeet (19 bilateral cases). PAT was performed on 26 clubfeet under local anaesthetic in an outpatient setting, and 33 clubfeet under GA in a theatre setting. There was no significant difference for post-operative complications, or recurrence (p=0.67). Those in theatre group were exposed to a greater number of general anaesthetics before the age of four. Among practising New Zealand paediatric orthopaedic surgeons, 77.78% perform this in theatre under general anaesthesia, while only 22.22% perform PAT in outpatient clinic. The main barriers included concerns regarding pain control, concerns regarding incomplete release, concerns regarding distress to family and concerns regarding sterility. Parental satisfaction surveys found pain management to be excellent. Financial data was analysed and indicative costs were $6,061 NZD per procedure in theatre, compared to $378 NZD per procedure in clinic. PAT performed in a clinic setting is both safe and efficacious with results comparative to that performed in theatre. There was no difference in post

Current and Future Trends in Game-Based Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Vaz de Carvalho

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The first number of the second volume of the EAI Transactions on Serious Games focuses on the results presented on the European Conference on Game-Based Learning. This event, already on the 8th edition, has set standards in terms of presentation of research and practice and in the pointing out of new and future trends in the development of Game-Based Learning. As such, we are quite thrilled to be able to report them here.

Consumer brand choice: individual and group analyses of demand elasticity.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira-Castro, Jorge M; Foxall, Gordon R; Schrezenmaier, Teresa C

2006-03-01

Following the behavior-analytic tradition of analyzing individual behavior, the present research investigated demand elasticity of individual consumers purchasing supermarket products, and compared individual and group analyses of elasticity. Panel data from 80 UK consumers purchasing 9 product categories (i.e., baked beans, biscuits, breakfast cereals, butter, cheese, fruit juice, instant coffee, margarine and tea) during a 16-week period were used. Elasticity coefficients were calculated for individual consumers with data from all or only 1 product category (intra-consumer elasticities), and for each product category using all data points from all consumers (overall product elasticity) or 1 average data point per consumer (interconsumer elasticity). In addition to this, split-sample elasticity coefficients were obtained for each individual with data from all product categories purchased during weeks 1 to 8 and 9 to 16. The results suggest that: 1) demand elasticity coefficients calculated for individual consumers purchasing supermarket food products are compatible with predictions from economic theory and behavioral economics; 2) overall product elasticities, typically employed in marketing and econometric research, include effects of interconsumer and intraconsumer elasticities; 3) when comparing demand elasticities of different product categories, group and individual analyses yield similar trends; and 4) individual differences in demand elasticity are relatively consistent across time, but do not seem to be consistent across products. These results demonstrate the theoretical, methodological, and managerial relevance of investigating the behavior of individual consumers.

Assessment of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Policy in Korea Based on Consumer Preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Gicheol

2017-01-01

In June 2016, Korea permitted direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) on 42 genes. However, both the market and industry have not yet been fully activated. Considering the aforementioned context, this study provides important insights. The Korean DTC-GT policy assessment is based on consumer preference analysis using a discrete choice experiment. In August 2016, a web-based survey was conducted to collect data from 1,200 respondents. The estimation results show that consumers prefer a DTC-GT product that is cheap, tests various items or genes, offers accurate test results, and guarantees the confidentiality of all information. However, consumers are not entirely satisfied by current DTC-GT products due to the existence of insufficient and/or inadequate policies. First, the permitted testing of 42 genes is insufficient to satisfy consumers' curiosity regarding their genes. Second, the accuracy of the DTC-GT products has not been fully verified, assessed, and communicated to consumers. Finally, regulatory loopholes that allow information leaks in the DTC-GT process can occur. These findings imply that DTC-GT requires an improvement in government policy-making criteria and the implementation of practical measures to guarantee test accuracy and genetic information. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Landscape of current and emerging cell therapy clinical trials in the UK: current status, comparison to global trends and future perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Bisson, Isabelle; Green, Emma; Sharpe, Michaela; Herbert, Chris; Hyllner, Johan; Mount, Natalie

2015-01-01

Cell Therapy Clinical Trial and Preclinical Research databases have been established by the Cell Therapy Catapult to document current and future cell therapy clinical trials in the UK. We identified 41 ongoing trials in April 2014, an increase of seven trials from April 2013. In addition, we identified 45 late-stage preclinical research projects. The majority of the clinical trials are early phase, primarily led by academic groups. The leading therapeutic areas are cancer, cardiology and neurology. The trends in the UK are also seen globally. As the field matures, more later phase and commercial studies will emerge and the challenges will likely evolve into how to manufacture sufficient cell quantities, manage complex logistics for multi-center trials and control cost.

Trends in energy intake from alcoholic beverages by socio-demographic characteristics among US adults, 1989–2012

Science.gov (United States)

Butler, Lauren; Poti, Jennifer M.; Popkin, Barry M.

2016-01-01

Background Long term US trends in alcoholic beverage calorie intakes remain unexamined, particularly with respect to changes in population subgroup-specific patterns over time. Objective This study examines shifts in the consumption of alcoholic beverages, in total and by beverage type, on any given day among US adults in relation to socio-demographic characteristics. Design This study was a repeated cross-sectional analyses of data from the 1989–1991 and 1994–1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals; 2003–2006 and 2009–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Participants/setting Adults ≥19 years (N = 39,298); a subset of alcoholic beverage consumers (n = 7,081) were studied. Statistical analyses performed Survey weighted mean per capita per day intakes (among all participants, both consumers of alcoholic beverages and non-consumers) and contributions of beer, wine, and liquor/mixed drinks to total alcoholic beverage energy were determined. Multivariable regression models were used to examine trends in the proportion of alcoholic beverage consumers and the per consumer intakes (among consumers of alcoholic beverages only). Results Per capita intakes from alcoholic beverages increased from 49 kcal/cap/d in 1989–1991 to 109 kcal/cap/d in 2003–2006 (pbeverages on any given day increased significantly from 1989–1991 to 2009–2012 (p for overall increasing trend beverage calories increased between 1989–1991 and 1994–1996 (pbeverage intake for less educated consumers across time. Conclusions These results indicate there has been an increase in the proportion of US adults who drink on any given day, and an increase in calories consumed from alcoholic beverages when drinking occurs. PMID:27132721

Radiopharmaceuticals - current state and trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muenze, R.

1981-07-01

The current state as well as the tendencies of modern radiopharmaceutical development and application is reviewed. After an evaluation of the fundamental preconditions of decay characteristics and pharmaceutical properties the problems concerning sup(99m)Tc-radiopharmaceuticals, metabolizable compounds and the use of specific biological interactions are discussed. (author)

Trends in family ratings of experience with care and racial disparities among Maryland nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yue; Ye, Zhiqiu; Glance, Laurent G; Temkin-Greener, Helena

2014-07-01

Providing equitable and patient-centered care is critical to ensuring high quality of care. Although racial/ethnic disparities in quality are widely reported for nursing facilities, it is unknown whether disparities exist in consumer experiences with care and how public reporting of consumer experiences affects facility performance and potential racial disparities. We analyzed trends of consumer ratings publicly reported for Maryland nursing homes during 2007-2010, and determined whether racial/ethnic disparities in experiences with care changed during this period. Multivariate longitudinal regression models controlled for important facility and county characteristics and tested changes overall and by facility groups (defined based on concentrations of black residents). Consumer ratings were reported for: overall care; recommendation of the facility; staff performance; care provided; food and meals; physical environment; and autonomy and personal rights. Overall ratings on care experience remained relatively high (mean=8.3 on a 1-10 scale) during 2007-2010. Ninety percent of survey respondents each year would recommend the facility to someone who needs nursing home care. Ratings on individual domains of care improved among all nursing homes in Maryland (Pfood and meals (P=0.827 for trend). However, site-of-care disparities existed in each year for overall ratings, recommendation rate, and ratings on all domains of care (P0.2 for trends in disparities). Although Maryland nursing homes showed maintained or improved consumer ratings during the first 4 years of public reporting, gaps persisted between facilities with high versus low concentrations of minority residents.

Classification and characterization of Japanese consumers' beef preferences by external preference mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Keisuke; Ooi, Motoki; Nagura, Naoto; Motoyama, Michiyo; Narita, Takumi; Oe, Mika; Nakajima, Ikuyo; Hagi, Tatsuro; Ojima, Koichi; Kobayashi, Miho; Nomura, Masaru; Muroya, Susumu; Hayashi, Takeshi; Akama, Kyoko; Fujikawa, Akira; Hokiyama, Hironao; Kobayashi, Kuniyuki; Nishimura, Takanori

2017-08-01

Over the past few decades, beef producers in Japan have improved marbling in their beef products. It was recently reported that marbling is not well correlated with palatability as rated by Japanese consumers. This study sought to identify the consumer segments in Japan that prefer sensory characteristics of beef other than high marbling. Three Wagyu beef, one Holstein beef and two lean imported beef longissimus samples were subjected to a descriptive sensory test, physicochemical analysis and a consumer (n = 307) preference test. According to consumer classification and external preference mapping, four consumer segments were identified as 'gradual high-fat likers', 'moderate-fat and distinctive taste likers', 'Wagyu likers' and 'distinctive texture likers'. Although the major trend of Japanese consumers' beef preference was 'marbling liking', 16.9% of the consumers preferred beef samples that had moderate marbling and distinctive taste. The consumers' attitudes expressed in a questionnaire survey were in good agreement with the preference for marbling among the 'moderate-fat and distinctive taste likers'. These results indicate that moderately marbled beef is a potent category in the Japanese beef market. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Assessment and E-Learning: Current Issues and Future Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Cowie, Neil; Sakui, Keiko

2015-01-01

This paper describes different ways in which digital technology can be used for language learning. It then identifies some key trends connecting assessment and technology in language learning and higher education: the use of automated systems to enhance traditional assessment practices; the use of Web 2.0 tools to facilitate new assessment…

Deciding on PSA-screening - Quality of current consumer information on the Internet.

Science.gov (United States)

Korfage, Ida J; van den Bergh, Roderick C N; Essink-Bot, Marie-Louise

2010-11-01

Given that screening for prostate cancer has the potential to reduce prostate cancer mortality at the expense of considerable overdiagnosis and overtreatment, the availability of core consumer information - correct, balanced and supportive of autonomous decision-making - is a must. We assessed the quality of consumer information available through the Internet per November 2009 and its possible contribution to informed decision-making by potential screenees. Consumer information on PSA-screening was sought through the Internet in November 2009. Materials had to be targeted at potential consumers, offered by not-for-profit organisations, released in 2005 or after, in English or Dutch. Per material 2 of the authors assessed independently from each other whether standardised pre-defined topics were addressed, whether the content was correct and which approach was taken towards the decision-making process about uptake. Twenty-three materials were included, of which 11 were released (shortly) after the results of 2 large randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effectiveness of screening for prostate cancer had been published in March 2009. That a PSA-test result can be abnormal because of non-cancerous conditions (false positive) and that it may miss prostate cancer (false negative) was not addressed in 2/23 and 8/23 materials, respectively. The risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment was not mentioned in 6 out of 23. PSA-screening was presented as a usual thing to do in some materials, whereas other materials emphasised the voluntary nature of PSA-screening ('it is your decision'). The content of 19/23 materials was considered sufficiently informative according to the pre-defined criteria, 12/23 materials were considered supportive of informed decision-making by men. Most materials of not-for-profit organizations supplied adequate information about PSA-screening, whilst the degree of persuasion towards uptake reflected variations in opinions on men

Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals.

Science.gov (United States)

Gellad, Ziad F; Lyles, Kenneth W

2007-06-01

Since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released new guidelines on broadcast direct-to-consumer advertising in 1997, the prevalence of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs has increased exponentially. The impact on providers, patients, and the health care system is varied and dynamic, and the rapid changes in the last several years have markedly altered the health care landscape. To continue providing optimal medical care, physicians and other health care providers must be able to manage this influence on their practice, and a more thorough understanding of this phenomenon is an integral step toward this goal. This review will summarize the history of direct-to-consumer drug advertisements and the current regulations governing them. It will summarize the evidence concerning the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising on the public, providers, and the health care system, and conclude with observations regarding the future of direct-to-consumer advertising.

Market-oriented health care reforms: trends and future options.

Science.gov (United States)

van de Ven, W P

1996-09-01

In many (predominantly) publicly financed health care systems market-oriented health care reforms are being implemented or have been proposed. The purpose of these reforms is to make resource allocation in health care more efficient, more innovative and more responsive to consumers preferences while maintaining equity. At the same time, the advances in technology result in a divergence of consumers' preferences with respect to health care and urge society to (re)think about the meaning of the solidarity principle in health care. In this paper we indicate some international trends in health care reforms and explore some potential future options. From an international perspective we can observe a trend towards universal mandatory health insurance, contracts between third-party purchasers and the providers of care, competition among providers of care and a strengthening of primary care. These trends can be expected to continue. A more controversial issue is whether there should also be competition among the third-party purchasers and whether in the long run there will occur a convergence towards some "ideal" model. Although regulated competition in health care can be expected to yield more value for money, it might yield both more efficiency and higher total costs. It has been argued that equity can be maintained in a competitive health care system if we interpret equity as "equal access to cost-effective care within a reasonable period of time". Because the effectiveness of care has to be considered in relation to the medical indication and the condition of the patient, the responsibility for cost-effective care rests primarily with the providers of care. Guidelines and protocols should be developed by the profession and sustained by financial incentives embedded in contracts. It has been argued that the third-party purchasers could start to concentrate on the contracts with the primary care physicians. Contracts with other providers could then be a natural

Current Trends in Discharge Disposition and Post-discharge Care After Total Joint Arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarity, T David; Swall, Marion M

2017-09-01

The purpose of this manuscript is to review published literature over the last 5 years to assess recent trends and influencing factors regarding discharge disposition and post-discharge care following total joint arthroplasty. We evaluated instruments proposed to predict a patient's discharge disposition and summarize reports investigating the safety in sending more patients home by reviewing complications and readmission rates. Current literature supports decreased length of hospital stay and increased discharge to home with cost savings and stable readmission rates. Surgeons with defined clinical pathways and those who shape patient expectations may more effectively control costs than those without defined pathways. Further research is needed analyzing best practices in care coordination, managing patient expectations, and cost-effective analysis of home discharge while at the same time ensuring patient outcomes are optimized following total joint arthroplasty.

Ischaemic heart disease deaths in Brazil: current trends, regional disparities and future projections.

Science.gov (United States)

Baena, Cristina P; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Schio, Nicolle Amboni; Sabbag, Ary Elias; Guarita-Souza, Luiz Cesar; Olandoski, Marcia; Franco, Oscar H; Faria-Neto, José Rocha

2013-09-01

To quantify the trend of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) deaths in Brazil during the last decade (2000-2010) for various population characteristics and to forecast the upcoming mortality trends across regions in Brazil until the year 2015. Nationwide comparative observational study. The population studied encompassed all adult residents (≥ 20 years) living in five Brazilian regions between 2000 and 2010. Demographic, economic and mortality data were obtained from Brazilian National Mortality Data System and National Applied Economics Research Institute. Subnotified deaths were redistributed proportionally to IHD deaths. Age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) per 100 000 inhabitants, by sex and region, were calculated employing a standard Brazilian population and constructing multivariate regression models to quantify and to project temporal trends. Absolute numbers of death due to IHD and region-specific death rates in Brazil by age and sex. During the study period, 627 786 men and 452 690 women died due to IHD in Brazil. ASMR trends across all regions for men and women converged, driven by a declining trend in the South and Southeast and an opposite incline in the North and Northeast (p < 0.05). Future projections demonstrated potential widening of the observed North-South gap in coming years. The IHD death trend in Brazil has changed from a decline to a stagnant state. However, a significant discrepancy in mortality trends exists between the northern and southern regions, which is likely to widen further. Reappraisal of the public health policies tailored to populations with diverse socioeconomic structures is urgently required.

Current and future benefits from the use of GM technology in food production.

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, K-H; Frenzel, Th; Miller, A

2002-02-28

For the current generation of genetically modified (GM) crops the improvement of agronomic traits (e.g. herbicide tolerance, insect resistance) has been a major objective. The lack of obvious and direct benefits for the consumer has been a main point of criticism. Future trends will increasingly encompass the modification of quality traits, such as the improvement of sensory and especially nutritional properties. Some of the ongoing developments try to meet the desire of consumers for 'healthy' or 'high-tech' foods in developed countries. Others are intended to assist in adjusting the nutritional status of foods to the needs of consumers in developing countries. Considering the increasing world population and the limited amount of arable land, GM technology may also become a valuable tool to ensure food security. The major prerequisite for the applicability of the technique is the safety of the resulting products. The increasing complexity of modifications intended might require adjustments and improvements of the strategies applied to the safety assessment of GM foods. Present research activities try to meet these new challenges.

Current trends in immunosuppressive therapies for renal transplant recipients.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ruth-Ann; Gabardi, Steven

2012-11-15

Current trends in immunosuppressive therapies for renal transplant recipients are reviewed. The common premise for immunosuppressive therapies in renal transplantation is to use multiple agents to work on different immunologic targets. The use of a multidrug regimen allows for pharmacologic activity at several key steps in the T-cell replication process and lower dosages of each individual agent, thereby producing fewer drug-related toxicities. In general, there are three stages of clinical immunosuppression: induction therapy, maintenance therapy, and treatment of an established acute rejection episode. Only immunosuppressive therapies used for maintenance therapy are discussed in detail in this review. The most common maintenance immunosuppressive agents can be divided into five classes: (1) the calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) (cyclosporine and tacrolimus), (2) costimulation blockers (belatacept), (3) mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors (sirolimus and everolimus), (4) antiproliferatives (azathioprine and mycophenolic acid derivatives), and (5) corticosteroids. Immunosuppressive regimens vary among transplantation centers but most often include a CNI and an adjuvant agent, with or without corticosteroids. Selection of appropriate immunosuppressive regimens should be patient specific, taking into account the medications' pharmacologic properties, adverse-event profile, and potential drug-drug interactions, as well as the patient's preexisting diseases, risk of rejection, and medication regimen. Advancements in transplant immunosuppression have resulted in a significant reduction in acute cellular rejection and a modest increase in long-term patient and graft survival. Because the optimal immunosuppression regimen is still unknown, immunosuppressant use should be influenced by institutional preference and tailored to the immunologic risk of the patient and adverse-effect profile of the drug.

A research on the effect of global trends in Turkish kitchen furniture sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ersin Uçar

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Through survey results, this study evaluated global trends’ effects on Turkish kitchen furniture production. The level of knowledge and difficulties of catching up with and implementing developmental trends in the Turkish kitchen furniture sector has been seen as having a structure equivalent to world standards because the level of material and technological development has been determined by four criteria: consumer demand, housing plans, technology inadequacy, and material inadequacy. According to the results, findings in this framework, consumer demand was most influential (45.4% in capturing and implementing enterprises’ trends. Evaluation results on kitchen furniture projects implemented by Turkish enterprises within the last 5 years showed that they mostly worked with models with one-lid views in cabinet-door applications (41.6%. As a result, world trends reflect the direct influence of Turkish kitchen furniture manufacturers on cabinet-door models and color preferences for kitchen units.

Comprehensive management of pressure ulcers in spinal cord injury: Current concepts and future trends

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Erwin A.; Pires, Marilyn; Ngann, Yvette; Sterling, Michelle; Rubayi, Salah

2013-01-01

Pressure ulcers in spinal cord injury represent a challenging problem for patients, their caregivers, and their physicians. They often lead to recurrent hospitalizations, multiple surgeries, and potentially devastating complications. They present a significant cost to the healthcare system, they require a multidisciplinary team approach to manage well, and outcomes directly depend on patients' education, prevention, and compliance with conservative and surgical protocols. With so many factors involved in the successful treatment of pressure ulcers, an update on their comprehensive management in spinal cord injury is warranted. Current concepts of local wound care, surgical options, as well as future trends from the latest wound healing research are reviewed to aid medical professionals in treating patients with this difficult problem. PMID:24090179

Positron computed tomography: current state, clinical results and future trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schelbert, H.R.; Phelps, M.E.; Kuhl, D.E.

1980-01-01

An overview is presented of positron computed tomography: its advantages over single photon emission tomography, its use in metabolic studies of the heart and chemical investigation of the brain, and future trends

Positron Computed Tomography: Current State, Clinical Results and Future Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Schelbert, H. R.; Phelps, M. E.; Kuhl, D. E.

1980-09-01

An overview is presented of positron computed tomography: its advantages over single photon emission tomography, its use in metabolic studies of the heart and chemical investigation of the brain, and future trends. (ACR)

Positron computed tomography: current state, clinical results and future trends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schelbert, H.R.; Phelps, M.E.; Kuhl, D.E.

1980-09-01

An overview is presented of positron computed tomography: its advantages over single photon emission tomography, its use in metabolic studies of the heart and chemical investigation of the brain, and future trends. (ACR)

Interior Design Trends in Libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

Sager, Don, Ed.

2000-01-01

Four contributing authors discuss perspectives on current trends in library interior design. Articles include: "Trends in Library Furnishings: A Manufacturer's Perspective" (Andrea Johnson); "Libraries, Architecture, and Light: The Architect's Perspective" (Rick McCarthy); "The Library Administrator's Perspective" (Chadwick Raymond); and "The…

Metal-enhanced luminescence: Current trend and future perspectives- A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ranjan, Rajeev; Esimbekova, Elena N.; Kirillova, Maria A.; Kratasyuk, Valentina A.

2017-01-01

Optically enhanced biosensing strategies are prerequisites for developing miniature and highly sensitive multiplexed analytical platforms. Such smart biosensing systems are highly promising for use in the fields of biomedicine and environmental monitoring. Optical signal enhancement during bioassays is attributed to the complex opto-electronic interactions of incoming photonic signals at the nanomaterial interface. Research on the use of metals other than gold and silver for such purposes tends to extend the spectral window to observe luminescence enhancement effects. Such manifold increase in luminescence may be explained by the principles of plasmon coupling, directional emission led high collection efficiency, Rayleigh scattering and related opto-electronic events. The present review begins with a mechanistic description of important phenomena associated with metal-induced luminescence enhancement, particularly focusing on the origin of metal-enhanced luminescence. This review further analyses the hybrid nanostructure capabilities responsible for maintaining unique opto-electronic properties during bio-functionalisation. Current research trends in this area, future scope of this field for designing useful bioassays and concluding remarks are then discussed. - Highlights: • Nanomaterials significantly differ from their bulk counterparts. • Strong and pronounced photophysical effects at the metal surface provide opportunities for designing novel biosensors. • Metal-enhanced luminescence increases the quantum yield of luminescent reactions. • Under optimal conditions, plasmon coupling enhances the optical effects at the nanometal surface.

Metal-enhanced luminescence: Current trend and future perspectives- A review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ranjan, Rajeev [Laboratory of Bioluminescent Biotechnologies, Department of Biophysics, Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University, 79 Svobodny Prospect, Krasnoyarsk 660041 (Russian Federation); Esimbekova, Elena N., E-mail: esimbekova@yandex.ru [Laboratory of Bioluminescent Biotechnologies, Department of Biophysics, Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University, 79 Svobodny Prospect, Krasnoyarsk 660041 (Russian Federation); Institute of Biophysics SB RAS, Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS”, Akademgorodok 50/50, Krasnoyarsk 660036 (Russian Federation); Kirillova, Maria A. [Laboratory of Bioluminescent Biotechnologies, Department of Biophysics, Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University, 79 Svobodny Prospect, Krasnoyarsk 660041 (Russian Federation); Kratasyuk, Valentina A. [Laboratory of Bioluminescent Biotechnologies, Department of Biophysics, Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology, Siberian Federal University, 79 Svobodny Prospect, Krasnoyarsk 660041 (Russian Federation); Institute of Biophysics SB RAS, Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS”, Akademgorodok 50/50, Krasnoyarsk 660036 (Russian Federation)

2017-06-08

Optically enhanced biosensing strategies are prerequisites for developing miniature and highly sensitive multiplexed analytical platforms. Such smart biosensing systems are highly promising for use in the fields of biomedicine and environmental monitoring. Optical signal enhancement during bioassays is attributed to the complex opto-electronic interactions of incoming photonic signals at the nanomaterial interface. Research on the use of metals other than gold and silver for such purposes tends to extend the spectral window to observe luminescence enhancement effects. Such manifold increase in luminescence may be explained by the principles of plasmon coupling, directional emission led high collection efficiency, Rayleigh scattering and related opto-electronic events. The present review begins with a mechanistic description of important phenomena associated with metal-induced luminescence enhancement, particularly focusing on the origin of metal-enhanced luminescence. This review further analyses the hybrid nanostructure capabilities responsible for maintaining unique opto-electronic properties during bio-functionalisation. Current research trends in this area, future scope of this field for designing useful bioassays and concluding remarks are then discussed. - Highlights: • Nanomaterials significantly differ from their bulk counterparts. • Strong and pronounced photophysical effects at the metal surface provide opportunities for designing novel biosensors. • Metal-enhanced luminescence increases the quantum yield of luminescent reactions. • Under optimal conditions, plasmon coupling enhances the optical effects at the nanometal surface.

Young Consumers and their Brand Love

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iivi Riivits-Arkonsuo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Although consumers’ emotional attachments to brands have been measured and written about in several contexts, little is known about where a “love” type consumer-brand relationship is rooted and what meaning the consumer gives to such deep experience. The current study aims to extend the discussion of the brand experience dimensions and to form the brand love, focusing on the members of the youngest consumer segment. Based on the introspective written narratives using an international sample of young consumers, this qualitative study offers a holistic view of forming brand love. The findings underscore the relevance of a first encounter with a brand. Adapting the ecological systems theory, the authors identified three social systems from where the informants got impulses to reach their loved brands.

Racial disparities in smoking knowledge among current smokers: data from the health information national trends surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Reimer, Rachel Ann; Gerrard, Meg; Gibbons, Frederick X

2010-10-01

Although African-Americans (Blacks) smoke fewer cigarettes per day than European-Americans (Whites), there is ample evidence that Blacks are more susceptible to smoking-related health consequences. A variety of behavioural, social and biological factors have been linked to this increased risk. There has been little research, however, on racial differences in smoking-related knowledge and perceived risk of lung cancer. The primary goal of the current study was to evaluate beliefs and knowledge that contribute to race disparities in lung cancer risk among current smokers. Data from two separate nationally representative surveys (the Health Information National Trends surveys 2003 and 2005) were analysed. Logistic and hierarchical regressions were conducted; gender, age, education level, annual household income and amount of smoking were included as covariates. In both studies, Black smokers were significantly more likely to endorse inaccurate statements than were White smokers, and did not estimate their lung cancer risk to be significantly higher than Whites. Results highlight an important racial disparity in public health knowledge among current smokers.

Consumer acceptance of irradiated foods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feenstra, M.H.; Scholten, A.H.

1991-01-01

Although the first experiments on food irradiation were carried out in 1916 in Sweden, food irradiation, is for consumers, a relatively new technology. From the sixties food irradiation has been applied more and more, so that the consumer movement has become alert to this technology. Since then a lot of controversies have arisen in the literature about wholesomeness, safety, effects, etc. Food irradiation is currently permitted on a small scale in about 30 countries; in some countries or states food irradiation has been put under a ban (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, New Jersey). The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have, however, chosen food irradiation as a safe and sound method for preserving and improving the safety of food. Reactions on the part of the consumer organizations of many countries are however not in favour of or are even opposed to food irradiation. In this chapter consumer acceptance related to technological developments is described, then the convergence of the consumer movement on public opinion and concern on food irradiation is discussed. The need for labelling of irradiated food products is discussed and finally recommendations are given of ways to change consumers attitudes to food irradiation. (author)

Attitudes towards Social Networking and Sharing Behaviors among Consumers of Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sandra Soo-Jin; Vernez, Simone L; Ormond, K E; Granovetter, Mark

2013-10-14

Little is known about how consumers of direct-to-consumer personal genetic services share personal genetic risk information. In an age of ubiquitous online networking and rapid development of social networking tools, understanding how consumers share personal genetic risk assessments is critical in the development of appropriate and effective policies. This exploratory study investigates how consumers share personal genetic information and attitudes towards social networking behaviors. Adult participants aged 23 to 72 years old who purchased direct-to-consumer genetic testing from a personal genomics company were administered a web-based survey regarding their sharing activities and social networking behaviors related to their personal genetic test results. 80 participants completed the survey; of those, 45% shared results on Facebook and 50.9% reported meeting or reconnecting with more than 10 other individuals through the sharing of their personal genetic information. For help interpreting test results, 70.4% turned to Internet websites and online sources, compared to 22.7% who consulted their healthcare providers. Amongst participants, 51.8% reported that they believe the privacy of their personal genetic information would be breached in the future. Consumers actively utilize online social networking tools to help them share and interpret their personal genetic information. These findings suggest a need for careful consideration of policy recommendations in light of the current ambiguity of regulation and oversight of consumer initiated sharing activities.

Status and Trends in the U.S. Voluntary Green Power Market (2012 Data)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heeter, J.; Nicholas, T.

2013-10-01

Voluntary green power markets are those in which consumers and institutions voluntarily purchase renewable energy to match their electricity needs. Voluntary action provides a revenue stream for renewable energy projects and raises consumer awareness of the benefits of renewable energy. These markets continued to exhibit growth and stimulate renewable energy development in 2012. This paper reviews the voluntary market and identifies market trends.

Food and consumers: Where are we heading?

Science.gov (United States)

Worsley, A

2000-09-01

The translation of recent advances in nutrition sciences into enhanced population health and well-being depends on the development of a deeper understanding of human food consumption patterns and the factors which influence them. Food consumption patterns are dynamic and are influenced by complex, interrelated biological, social, cultural and psychological processes. These are evident in recent attempts to discriminate nutrition and health-related dietary patterns in terms of consumer lifestyles and belief systems. Consumers' pursuit of health and well-being through food consumption will be illustrated through reference to recent Australian studies. Some of the effects of societal changes associated with globalization: gender, work and family roles; materialism; information technology; and increasing longevity, on food consumption trends will be explored. Finally, the implications of these developments for the activities of health professionals, food companies and other agencies will be raised.

Consumer Preference Variation between Domestic and Imported Food

OpenAIRE

Parcell, Joseph L.; Gedikoglu, Haluk

2012-01-01

Increasing concerns about a healthy diet, food safety and support for the local economy provide new opportunities for farmers to increase their farm income by locally selling their farm products. The major challenge for farmers making local sales is to predict consumer preferences correctly and provide goods to the market accordingly. By analyzing results from a consumer survey conducted in the Midwest, the current study determines the consumer preferences for domestic artisan cheese compared...

Consumer Issues and Consumer Protection in Asia.

Science.gov (United States)

Widdows, Richard; And Others

1995-01-01

Looks at themes of consumer interests in Asia and comments on the directions consumer policy is taking in that region. Outlines issues facing the region's consumers, describes evolving consumer protection mechanisms, and presents a model for promoting consumer interests in the region. (JOW)

Trends in computer hardware and software.

Science.gov (United States)

Frankenfeld, F M

1993-04-01

Previously identified and current trends in the development of computer systems and in the use of computers for health care applications are reviewed. Trends identified in a 1982 article were increasing miniaturization and archival ability, increasing software costs, increasing software independence, user empowerment through new software technologies, shorter computer-system life cycles, and more rapid development and support of pharmaceutical services. Most of these trends continue today. Current trends in hardware and software include the increasing use of reduced instruction-set computing, migration to the UNIX operating system, the development of large software libraries, microprocessor-based smart terminals that allow remote validation of data, speech synthesis and recognition, application generators, fourth-generation languages, computer-aided software engineering, object-oriented technologies, and artificial intelligence. Current trends specific to pharmacy and hospitals are the withdrawal of vendors of hospital information systems from the pharmacy market, improved linkage of information systems within hospitals, and increased regulation by government. The computer industry and its products continue to undergo dynamic change. Software development continues to lag behind hardware, and its high cost is offsetting the savings provided by hardware.

Black Truffle Harvesting in Spanish Forests: Trends, Current Policies and Practices, and Implications on its Sustainability

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Barreda, Sergi; Forcadell, Ricardo; Sánchez, Sergio; Martín-Santafé, María; Marco, Pedro; Camarero, J. Julio; Reyna, Santiago

2018-04-01

The European black truffle is a mycorrhizal fungus native to Spanish Mediterranean forests. In most Spanish regions it was originally commercially harvested in the second half of the 20th century. Experts agree that wild truffle yields suffered a sharp decline during the 1970s and 1980s. However, official statistics for Spanish harvest are scarce and seemingly conflicting, and little attention has been paid to the regime for the exploitation of truffle-producing forests and its implications on the sustainability of this resource. Trends in harvest from 1969 to 2013 and current harvesting practices were analyzed as a case study, taking into account that Spain is a major truffle producer worldwide, but at the same time truffles have only recently been exploited. The available statistical sources, which include an increasing proportion of cultivated truffles since the mid-1990s, were explored, with estimates from Truffle Harvesters Federation showing higher consistency. Statistical sources were then compared with proxies for wild harvest (rents from truffle leases in public forests) to corroborate time trends in wild harvesting. Results suggest that black truffle production is recovering in recent years thanks to plantations, whereas wild harvest is still declining. The implications of Spanish legal and institutional framework on sustainability of wild truffle use are reviewed. In the current scenario, the decline of wild harvest is likely to continue and eventually make commercial harvesting economically unattractive, thus aggravating sustainability issues. Strengthening of property rights, rationalization of harvesting pressure, forest planning and involvement of public stakeholders are proposed as corrective measures.

Cajá-flavored drinks: a proposal for mixed flavor beverages and a study of the consumer profile

OpenAIRE

Mamede,Maria Eugênia de Oliveira; Kalschne,Daneysa Lahis; Santos,Adriana Pereira Coelho; Benassi,Marta de Toledo

2015-01-01

Mixed flavor beverages represent a trend that is gaining the allegiance of potential fruit juice consumers. The present study proposed to prepare mixed flavor beverages and verify their consumer acceptance. Cajá beverage (sample A) was used as the standard. The other beverages were prepared by mixing the cajá-flavored product with other flavors: strawberry (B), pineapple (C), jabuticaba (D), mango (E) and cashew (F). The consumer profiles in the two regions studied were similar. Ove...

Transformative consumer research: Its origins and possible enrichment of the field of consumer research in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leona M. Ungerer

2014-06-01

Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the principles underlying transformative consumer research, including how it differs from traditional research methods and pointing out some established research areas in this field. Motivation for the study: Apart from pointing to a lack of literature, this article highlights the relevance of this approach for emerging countries by investigating the principles and practices embedded in transformative consumer research. It provides some indication of how an investigation of these areas may contribute to enhancing the relevance of consumer research to its various stakeholders. Research design, approach and method: The author used a literature review to conduct the study. Main findings: It appears that consumer research currently lacks external and internal relevance. A transformative consumer-research approach may address some of the fundamental problems in the way consumer psychologists plan and conduct their research, contributing to this lack of relevance. Practical/managerial implications: Most stages of the traditional research approach may need to be adapted for transformative research purposes. Some approaches appear particularly suited to transformative consumer research, including revelatory, incendiary, policy, participatory and coalition research. Contribution/value-add: This study’s primary contribution stems from suggesting a rather novel additional approach to enhance the relevance of consumer research in South Africa, pointing out some established practices in the field of transformative consumer research and suggesting how they may augment consumer research in South Africa.

Vegetariánství jako spotřebitelský trend

OpenAIRE

Dvořáková, Anna

2012-01-01

The aim of this diploma thesis is a complete analysis of vegetarianism, as a consumer trend, including forecasts of future potential of this trend for the field of retailing in the Czech Republic. The thesis deals with the influence of various aspects of vegetarianism on the market in the Czech Republic. First, vegetarianism as such is characterized. The next chapter describes the supply side of vegetarian products on the Czech market, labeling of vegetarian food and its availability. Then, t...

Redesigning a collection system for 'small' consumer electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melissen, Frans W.

2006-01-01

This paper establishes that the collection system within the recycling scheme for consumer electronics in the Netherlands has not been entirely successful in convincing consumers to hand in their used appliances by means of dedicated collection routes. Particularly regarding small appliances, consumers are persisting in their habit of discarding their appliances by means of the refuse bag/bin for regular household waste. Therefore, the current collection system has been unable to direct consumer behavior in the desired direction. Consequently, the layout of the current system is reviewed and redesigned in order to tackle this problem. This design effort applies the Triad model (behavioral model) in the analysis stage and the Morphological Chart method (design tool) in the synthesis stage, and results in a concrete proposal for a new system. Finally, the applicability of this design approach beyond the specific circumstances of the case study presented in this paper is discussed. This case represents only one example of the broader, worldwide challenge to design appropriate collection systems to direct consumer behavior in desired directions. It is argued that the approach presented in this paper could be a valuable contribution to research dealing with this challenge

Foresight, trends and materials – inspiration for future products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lenau, Torben Anker; Lauritsen, Stine Brahm

2009-01-01

as described by authors like Pierce and Saussure. Customer preferences also keep changing over time and an important question to producers is therefore which appearance preferences the customers will demand in the future. A model for how to perform foresight and translate this into consumer trends is presented...

Automating Trend Analysis for Spacecraft Constellations

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, George; Cooter, Miranda; Updike, Clark; Carey, Everett; Mackey, Jennifer; Rykowski, Timothy; Powers, Edward I. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Spacecraft trend analysis is a vital mission operations function performed by satellite controllers and engineers, who perform detailed analyses of engineering telemetry data to diagnose subsystem faults and to detect trends that may potentially lead to degraded subsystem performance or failure in the future. It is this latter function that is of greatest importance, for careful trending can often predict or detect events that may lead to a spacecraft's entry into safe-hold. Early prediction and detection of such events could result in the avoidance of, or rapid return to service from, spacecraft safing, which not only results in reduced recovery costs but also in a higher overall level of service for the satellite system. Contemporary spacecraft trending activities are manually intensive and are primarily performed diagnostically after a fault occurs, rather than proactively to predict its occurrence. They also tend to rely on information systems and software that are oudated when compared to current technologies. When coupled with the fact that flight operations teams often have limited resources, proactive trending opportunities are limited, and detailed trend analysis is often reserved for critical responses to safe holds or other on-orbit events such as maneuvers. While the contemporary trend analysis approach has sufficed for current single-spacecraft operations, it will be unfeasible for NASA's planned and proposed space science constellations. Missions such as the Dynamics, Reconnection and Configuration Observatory (DRACO), for example, are planning to launch as many as 100 'nanospacecraft' to form a homogenous constellation. A simple extrapolation of resources and manpower based on single-spacecraft operations suggests that trending for such a large spacecraft fleet will be unmanageable, unwieldy, and cost-prohibitive. It is therefore imperative that an approach to automating the spacecraft trend analysis function be studied, developed, and applied to

Following the trail of crumbs: A bibliometric study on consumer behavior in the Food Science and Technology field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcia-Gabriela C. Kasemodel

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this paper was to conduct an exploratory study regarding consumer preference in the field of the Food Science and Technology. Two questions guided this study: Is it possible to identify a trail of crumbs concerning consumer behavior in the Food Science and Technology field? And, if that trail exists, where is it leading academia in terms of research trends of interest? A bibliometric study was conducted using an analysis software called CiteSpace. The use of this methodology ensured the impartiality of the literature review of the topic of interest. A survey of all articles indexed in Web of Science between 1993 and 2013 regarding consumer behaviour was carried out. In total, 1,786 articles were analyzed. The recent increased concern regarding consumer behavior was evident.  With the USA and Spain having a significant  role in driving the trail. Eight other countries  that exhibited similar influences are: Italy, England, Australia, Germany, Denmark, France, Netherlands and Brazil. The research trends observed were grouped into seven major hot topics: sensory, health, safety, willingness to pay, packaging, ethics, and lifestyle/convenience. However, the development of publishing trends depended on where the research was carried out. A final suggestive finding, demonstrated that scientific knowledge does not occur in a vacuum.

Food labelled Information: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Preferences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandro Banterle

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at analysing which kinds of currently labelled information are of interest and actually used by consumers, and which additional kinds could improve consumer choices. We investigate the attitude of consumers with respect to innovative strategies for the diffusion of product information, as smart-labels for mobile-phones. The empirical analysis was organised in focus groups followed by a survey on 240 consumers. Results show that the most important nutritional claims are vitamins, energy and fat content. Consumers show a high interest in the origin of the products, GMOs, environmental impact, animal welfare and type of breeding.

Deciding on PSA-screening - Quality of current consumer information on the Internet

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Korfage, Ida J.; van den Bergh, Roderick C. N.; Essink-Bot, Marie-Louise

2010-01-01

Purpose of the study: Given that screening for prostate cancer has the potential to reduce prostate cancer mortality at the expense of considerable overdiagnosis and overtreatment, the availability of core consumer information - correct, balanced and supportive of autonomous decision-making - is a

Consumer Emotions and E-commerce : A Literature Review

OpenAIRE

Lievonen, Matias

2017-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to take a look at the current state of the research related to consumer emotions in the context of electronic commerce (e-commerce). As the popularity of online shopping is constantly growing, the author performed an integrative literature review of 66 journal articles on e-emotions (consumer emotions visible in an online environment) and classified the articles into four groups. According to the analysis of the groups, consumer emotions are pres...

Everyday, everywhere: alcohol marketing and social media--current trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholls, James

2012-01-01

To provide a snapshot content analysis of social media marketing among leading alcohol brands in the UK, and to outline the implications for both regulatory policies and further research. Using screengrab technology, the complete Facebook walls and Twitter timelines for 12 leading UK alcohol brands in November 2011 were captured and archived. A total of 701 brand-authored posts were identified and categorized using a thematic coding frame. Key strategic trends were identified and analysed in the light of contextual research into recent developments in marketing practice within the alcohol industry. A number of dominating trends were identified. These included the use of real-world tie-ins, interactive games, competitions and time-specific suggestions to drink. These methods reflect a strategy of branded conversation-stimulus which is favoured by social media marketing agencies. A number of distinct marketing methods are deployed by alcohol brands when using social media. These may undermine policies which seek to change social norms around drinking, especially the normalization of daily consumption. Social media marketing also raises questions regarding the efficacy of reactive regulatory frameworks. Further research into both the nature and impact of alcohol marketing on social media is needed.

Here Comes the Hyper-Connected Augmented Consumer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Andrew T.

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Consumers have become always on and constantly connected. Search costs have plummeted, individuals’ abilities to digitally express themselves and their opinions increased, and the opportunities for superior business and market intelligence for companies have skyrocketed. This has given rise to more, richer, and new sources of consumer data that marketers can leverage, and has fueled the data-driven insights revolution in marketing. But there is more to come very soon. In marketing, we are quickly moving from the age of the connected consumer to the age of the augmented consumer. New technologies like wearable devices, smart sensors, consumer IoT devices, smart homes, and, critically, artificial intelligence ecosystems will not only connect, but will substantially and meaningfully augment the consumer in terms of their thoughts and behaviors. The biggest challenge for marketers will lie in how they approach marketing to this new type of consumer, particularly personal artificial intelligence ecosystems. This means marketing to algorithms, instead of people, and that is very different to how most marketing work is currently done.

Trends and opportunities abroad, 1987: an annual special publication of International Demographics.

Science.gov (United States)

1986-12-01

To facilitate understanding of the consumer market potential of today's world, "International Demographics" clusters the world's 150 largest countries based on their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The names of the 5 clusters--The Dependents, The Seekers, The Climbers, The Ultimate Consumers, and The Rocking Chairs--help identify the kind of consumer markets the countries represent. The 150 countries included in this 1987 volume are considered potential markets and are organized by cluster. All data cited are the most current numbers available, and all population estimates are the latest projections by the Center for International Research, US Census Bureau. Population trends of the next 14 years will change existing markets, and open new markets. However, due to rapid population growth in the poorest of the world economy, the Dependent countries, only intensified efforts on the part of the countries themselves and increased assistance from the international development community can pull these countries up. The sheer size of the market in Seeker and Climber countries is sufficient to indicate increased consumer demand. Add to that increasing income, the predominance of youth, and the ongoing rural-to-urban shift, and it is clear that demand will center on consumer durables for beginning families as the large proportions of youth will center on consumer durables for beginning families as the large proportions of youth enter their prime spending years of 15-64. Construction, sanitation, power, telecommunications, and transport are expected to boom as youth add pressure to urban job markets and housing. Slowed or stagnated growth in the rapidly aging Ultimate Consumer and Rocking Chair countries tells a different story. Some Rocking Chair countries such as West Germany already are experiencing natural decrease. Market growth in the Ultimate Consumer and Rocking Chair countries is geared to the increasingly sophisticated tastes and needs of the elderly

SOCIAL MEDIA – VITAL INSTRUMENT IN GAINING CONSUMERS CONFIDENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirela-Cristina VOICU

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Given that, currently, the consumer has become more demanding and organizations face some of the greatest challenges due to the economic climate of recent years, the need to build and cultivate strong relationships has become vital not only for the company's success but also for its survival. And solid relationships are built over time through confidence. Trust is one of the most important elements in the process of purchasing and consumer loyalty; it is difficult to obtain but easy to lose. Companies that are enjoying a high degree of confidence benefit from best quotations for their shares, higher profits and a better retention of the best employees. The effects of the lack of confidence are obvious (unsatisfied consumers, lost sales and very expensive for the company. In this context, through the following paper we seek to bring more understanding on how a company can gain the confidence of consumers given that the forms of communication that consumers prefer and that are gaining momentum currently, are taking place online, especially in the social media.

Attitudes towards Social Networking and Sharing Behaviors among Consumers of Direct-to-Consumer Personal Genomics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark Granovetter

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Little is known about how consumers of direct-to-consumer personal genetic services share personal genetic risk information. In an age of ubiquitous online networking and rapid development of social networking tools, understanding how consumers share personal genetic risk assessments is critical in the development of appropriate and effective policies. This exploratory study investigates how consumers share personal genetic information and attitudes towards social networking behaviors. Methods: Adult participants aged 23 to 72 years old who purchased direct-to-consumer genetic testing from a personal genomics company were administered a web-based survey regarding their sharing activities and social networking behaviors related to their personal genetic test results. Results: 80 participants completed the survey; of those, 45% shared results on Facebook and 50.9% reported meeting or reconnecting with more than 10 other individuals through the sharing of their personal genetic information. For help interpreting test results, 70.4% turned to Internet websites and online sources, compared to 22.7% who consulted their healthcare providers. Amongst participants, 51.8% reported that they believe the privacy of their personal genetic information would be breached in the future. Conclusion: Consumers actively utilize online social networking tools to help them share and interpret their personal genetic information. These findings suggest a need for careful consideration of policy recommendations in light of the current ambiguity of regulation and oversight of consumer initiated sharing activities.

Exploring consumer values of comparative performance information for hospital choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Ketelaar, Nicole A B M; Faber, Marjan J; Westert, Gert P; Elwyn, Glyn; Braspenning, Jozé C

2014-01-01

In many countries, market orientation in healthcare has resulted in the publication of comparative performance information (CPI). Most of the research in this field is oriented towards the content and the presentation format of CPI while little is known about how consumers value CPI and the use of this information. The aim of this study was to clarify the perceived value that CPI brings for consumers of healthcare. Methods Qualitative research using six focus group interviews. Twenty-seven healthcare consumers were recruited using a mailing list and by personal invitation. Data from focus group interviews were transcribed and thematic analysis undertaken. Most participants were unaware of CPI, and valued alternative sources of information more than CPI. Through discussion with other consumers and by means of examples of CPI, respondents were able to express the values and perceived effects of CPI. Numerous underlying values hindered consumers' use of CPI, and therefore clarification of consumer values gave insights into the current non-usage of CPI. CPI is marginally valued, partly because of conflicting values expressed by consumers and, as such, it does not yet provide a useful information source on hospital choice beyond consumers' current selection routines in healthcare. Future research should be more focused on the values of consumers and their impact on the use of CPI.

Current trends in copper theft prevention

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mastrofrancesco, A. [Electrical Safety Authority, ON (Canada)

2009-07-01

Copper is used in electrical wiring, water and gas piping, currency, and in household items. An increase in the price and demand for copper has made copper theft a profitable venture for some thieves. Copper consumed in North America is typically supplied by recycling. Scrap dealers may pay near-market prices for pure copper wires. However, copper theft poses a serious threat to the safety of utility workers and the public. Power outages caused by copper theft are now affecting grid reliability. This paper examined technologies and techniques used to prevent copper theft as part of a security strategy for utilities. Attempts to steal copper can leave utility substations unsecured and accessible to children. The theft of neutral grounds will cause the local distribution company (LDC) to malfunction and may cause power surges in homes as well as appliance fires. Utilities are now looking at using a hybrid steel and copper alternative to prevent copper theft. Asset identification techniques are also being used to identify the original owners of the copper and more easily prosecute thieves. Automated monitoring techniques are also being used to increase substation security. Utilities are also partnering with law enforcement agencies and pressuring governments to require scrap dealers to record who they buy from. It was concluded that strategies to prevent copper theft should be considered as part of an overall security strategy for utilities. tabs., figs.

Optimizing the efficacy of multimedia consumer health information.

Science.gov (United States)

Monkman, Helen; Kushniruk, Andre W

2015-01-01

Using two or more communication methods (e.g., text, narration, pictures, animation, video) is known as multimedia. Multimedia has been used in a broad range of domains. Not surprisingly, multimedia is gaining popularity in the field of consumer health information as its benefits are being recognized. However, there is a large body of evidence in the cognitive literature that could be used to inform and optimize multimedia presentation of consumer health information. This paper outlines the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) and presents the application of this model for consumer health informatics. The CTML is a valuable resource for the development and revision of consumer health information to optimize its efficacy. Current research on multimedia and consumer health information is described. Finally, the outstanding opportunities to leverage the CTML for consumer health information are discussed.

An Analysis on New Development Trend of Consumer Finance under the Background of Internet Finance%互联网金融背景下消费金融发展新趋势分析

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

叶湘榕

2015-01-01

Consumer finance is an important means of stimulating consumption and stabilizing economic growth. Un-der the background of internet finance, there is a new development trend for consumer finance, that is, the Internet companies represented by giant E-business companies are actively involved in consumer finance markets and the tra-ditional consumer financial institutions become internet-enabled. The impact of Internet consumer finance upon the consumer financial market mainly is to change market pattern, expand the scale of market and improve the efficiency of market. The proposal is as follows: to improve the law and credit environment, encourage companies to explore various Internet consumer finance patterns, and implement functional and differential regulation.%消费金融是刺激消费、稳定经济增长的一种重要手段。在互联网金融背景下，消费金融发展出现新趋势，以电商巨头为代表的互联网企业积极介入消费金融市场，传统消费金融机构纷纷“触网”。互联网消费金融对消费金融市场的影响主要是：改变市场格局，扩大市场规模，提高市场效率。建议完善法律及信用环境，鼓励探索各种互联网消费金融模式，实行功能化和差异化监管。

Current status of food irradiation in the world. Trend in Asia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kume, Tamikazu

2002-01-01

This review describes the current status of food irradiation in the world and particularly, its trends in Asia, based on the report of the economic scale investigation on the irradiation in United States and Japan (2001) and on the information of 12th International Meeting on Radiation Processing in France in 2001 and on personal communications. International Consultative Group on Food Irradiation promotes its activities of irradiation globally and 46 countries are affiliated. Food irradiation is allowed in 52 countries. In 1999, 257,000 t of food is irradiated in the world, of which 1/3 is due to spice. The facilities for the irradiation have such sources as 60 Co and 137 Cs γ-rays, electron beam of <10 MeV and X-ray with <5 MeV. Detection methods of irradiated foods are summarized by the project of Analytical Detection Methods for Irradiation Treatment of Foods. The US is the most advanced country in the irradiation and, in Japan, only irradiation of potato is permitted. The detailed present status is also described of Bangladesh, China (the irradiation is most widely conducted in the world), India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Recently Australia and New Zealand have started the irradiation. (K.H.)

Mars ISRU for Production of Mission Critical Consumables - Options, Recent Studies, and Current State of the Art

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, G. B.; Paz, A.; Oryshchyn, L.; Araghi, K.; Muscatello, A.; Linne, D.; Kleinhenz, J.; Peters, T.

2015-01-01

with Mars ISRU systems further substantiated the preliminary results from the Mars DRA 5.0 study. This paper will provide an overview of Mars ISRU consumable production options, the analyses, results, and conclusions from the Mars DRA 5.0 (2007), Mars Collaborative (2013), and Mars ISRU Payload for the Supersonic Retro Propulsion (2014) mission studies, and the current state-of-the-art of Mars ISRU technologies and systems. The paper will also briefly discuss the mission architectural implications associated with Mars resource and ISRU processing options.

Gender trends in dental practice patterns. A review of current U.S. literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolan, T A

1991-01-01

This paper reviews three recent reports of national gender trends in dental practice patterns. Although the three independent cross-sectional studies were conducted at different points in time, used different sampling strategies, and used similar but independent survey instruments, findings were consistent across studies. In summary: Women dentists are less likely to be married and have fewer children. Women are more likely to assume child rearing and household responsibilities. Women are less likely to be practice owners. Women worked slightly fewer hours per week and weeks per year, and were more likely to take a leave of absence for illness or child rearing. However, women dentists demonstrate a far greater professional work commitment than was previously reported in the literature. Women earn significantly less income from the practice of dentistry, even after controlling for age, practice ownership, hours worked per week, and other personal characteristics. The most current "Gender Wage Gap" estimates range from 57.7% for specialists to 75.4% for general practitioners (8). delta.

Pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising and US Hispanic patient-consumers.

Science.gov (United States)

Barker, Kristin K; Vasquez Guzman, Cirila Estela

2015-11-01

Hispanic Americans use prescription medications at markedly lower rates than do non-Hispanic whites. At the same time, Hispanics are the largest racial-ethnic minority in the USA. In a recent effort to reach this underdeveloped market, the pharmaceutical industry has begun to create Spanish-language direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) campaigns. The substantive content of these campaigns is being tailored to appeal to the purported cultural values, beliefs and identities of Latino consumers. We compare English-language and Spanish-language television commercials for two prescription medications. We highlight the importance of selling medicine to a medically under-served population as a key marketing element of Latino-targeted DTCA. We define selling medicine as the pharmaceutical industry's explicit promotion of medicine's cultural authority as a means of expanding its markets and profits. We reflect on the prospects of this development in terms of promoting medicalisation in a US subgroup that has heretofore eluded the pharmaceutical industry's marketing influence. Our analysis draws on Nikolas Rose's insights concerning variations in the degree to which certain groups of people are more medically made up than others, by reflecting on the racial and ethnic character of medicalisation in the USA and the role DTCA plays in shaping medicalisation trends. A video abstract of this article can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZabCle9-jHw&feature=youtu.be. © 2015 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.

The paradigm of consumer-driven and responsive supply chains: An integrated project approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zimmermann, K.L.; Lans, van der I.A.

2009-01-01

This paper describes an integrated project approach that forms the basis of the studies on consumer-driven innovative and responsive supply chains in ISAFRUIT Pillar 1. This integrated approach leads to a wide range of indepth results on trends, preferences, and innovativeness of the European

Prevalence, correlates, and trends in tobacco use and cessation among current, former, and never adult marijuana users with a history of tobacco use, 2005-2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Schauer, Gillian L; King, Brian A; McAfee, Timothy A

2017-10-01

Approximately 70% of current (past 30-day) adult marijuana users are current tobacco users, which may complicate tobacco cessation. We assessed prevalence and trends in tobacco cessation among adult ever tobacco users, by marijuana use status. Data came from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a cross-sectional, nationally representative, household survey of U.S. civilians. Analyses included current, former, and never marijuana users aged≥18 reporting ever tobacco use (cigarette, cigar, chew/snuff). We computed weighted estimates (2013-2014) of current tobacco use, recent tobacco cessation (quit 30days to 12months), and sustained tobacco cessation (quit>12months) and adjusted trends in tobacco use and cessation (2005-2014) by marijuana use status. We also assessed the association between marijuana and tobacco use status. In 2013-2014, among current adult marijuana users reporting ever tobacco use, 69.1% were current tobacco users (vs. 38.5% of former marijuana users, pusers, pusers, pusers, pusers, pusers, pusers who ever used tobacco had double the prevalence (vs. never-marijuana users) of current tobacco use, and significantly lower sustained abstinence. Interventions addressing tobacco cessation in the context of use of marijuana and other substances may be warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rational Choice, Consumer Vulnerability and Empowerment: Diverging Economic Perspectives and Issues for Debate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mădălina Bălău-Ariton

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the issue of consumer choice seen from two quite diverging perspectives: rational choice theory and consumer empowerment as it is currently measured by available research at European Union level. The question we try to answer is: In what manner do the assumptions on consumer rational choice influence the actual understanding of choice and the improvement of the fairness of the choice? To this aim we review the basic theoretical ideas on rational choice and consumer empowerment, as well as the conclusions of previous research on Romanian consumers’ empowerment current situation. The main finding of this analysis is that Romanian consumer choice needs more awareness, an increase of consumer skills and more active individual involvement in discussing these issues.

Storytelling, the Threshold of Illegal Advertising on Consumer Rights Under

OpenAIRE

Oliveira, Josinaldo Leal de; Cezar, Thyago

2016-01-01

Understanding the advertising control system on consumer rights should be a concern of the operator's right, there is a view of the power of the front advertising phenomenon to a vulnerable subject: the consumer. Every day more companies have used marketing and advertising techniques to present their products to the consumer market, and currently a technique that has been widely used is the storytelling, however, this technique must meet certain parameters otherwise lead the consumer into err...

Current Technologies and its Trends of Machine Vision in the Field of Security and Disaster Prevention

Science.gov (United States)

Hashimoto, Manabu; Fujino, Yozo

Image sensing technologies are expected as useful and effective way to suppress damages by criminals and disasters in highly safe and relieved society. In this paper, we describe current important subjects, required functions, technical trends, and a couple of real examples of developed system. As for the video surveillance, recognition of human trajectory and human behavior using image processing techniques are introduced with real examples about the violence detection for elevators. In the field of facility monitoring technologies as civil engineering, useful machine vision applications such as automatic detection of concrete cracks on walls of a building or recognition of crowded people on bridge for effective guidance in emergency are shown.

Flemish consumer attitudes towards more sustainable food choices.

Science.gov (United States)

Vanhonacker, Filiep; Van Loo, Ellen J; Gellynck, Xavier; Verbeke, Wim

2013-03-01

Intensive agricultural practices and current western consumption patterns are associated with increased ecological pressure. One way to reduce the ecological impact could be a shift to more sustainable food choices. This study investigates consumer opinions towards a series of food choices with a lower ecological impact. The investigated food choices range from well-known meat substitutes to alternatives which are more radical or innovative and that require an adaptation of food habits and cultural patterns. Results are obtained through a survey among 221 Flemish respondents in Spring 2011. Many consumers underestimate the ecological impact of animal production. Well-known alternatives such as organic meat, moderation of meat consumption and sustainable fish are accepted, although willingness to pay is clearly lower than willingness to consume. Consumers are more reluctant to alternatives that (partly) ban or replace meat in the meal. Opportunities of introducing insects currently appear to be non-existent. Five consumer segments were identified based on self-evaluated ecological footprint and personal relevance of the ecological footprint. The segments were termed Conscious, Active, Unwilling, Ignorant and Uncertain. A profile in terms of demographics, attitudinal and behavioral characteristics is developed for each segments, and conclusions with respect to opportunities for sustainable food choices are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct-to-consumer antidepressant advertising and consumers' optimistic bias about the future risk of depression: the moderating role of advertising skepticism.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jin Seong; Ju, Ilwoo; Kim, Kenneth Eunhan

2014-01-01

Although exposure to direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising (DTCA) is reported to influence the public's beliefs about diseases, no research has investigated how DTCA may affect the extent of consumers' optimistic bias about the future risk of diseases. Based on a survey with members of an online consumer panel (n = 699), the current study revealed that: (a) Consumers exhibited a tendency to believe they were at less risk of developing clinical depression in the future than their peers, demonstrating an optimistic bias. (b) Exposure to antidepressant DTCA acted to reduce the extent of such bias, especially when consumers were less skeptical of prescription drug advertising. When consumers were highly skeptical, DTCA exposure did not significantly relate to the extent of optimistic bias. (c) Once formed, the extent of optimistic bias negatively related to consumers' intention to seek information about depression. Implications of the research for the theory and practice of DTCA were discussed.

Trends in racial/ethnic and income disparities in foods and beverages consumed and purchased from stores among US households with children, 2000-2013.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Shu Wen; Poti, Jennifer M; Popkin, Barry M

2016-09-01

It is unclear whether racial/ethnic and income differences in foods and beverages obtained from stores contribute to disparities in caloric intake over time. We sought to determine whether there are disparities in calories obtained from store-bought consumer packaged goods (CPGs), whether brands (name brands compared with private labels) matter, and if disparities have changed over time. We used NHANES individual dietary intake data among households with children along with the Nielsen Homescan data on CPG purchases among households with children. With NHANES, we compared survey-weighted energy intakes for 2003-2006 and 2009-2012 from store and nonstore sources by race/ethnicity [non-Hispanic whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic blacks (NHBs), and Hispanic Mexican-Americans) and income [≤185% federal poverty line (FPL), 186-400% FPL, and >400% FPL]. With the Nielsen data, we compared 2000-2013 trends in calories purchased from CPGs (obtained from stores) across brands by race/ethnicity (NHW, NHB, and Hispanic) and income. We conducted random-effect models to derive adjusted trends and differences in calories purchased (708,175 observations from 64,709 unique households) and tested whether trends were heterogeneous by race/ethnicity or income. Store-bought foods and beverages represented the largest component of dietary intake, with greater decreases in energy intakes in nonstore sources for foods and in store sources for beverages. Beverages from stores consistently decreased in all subpopulations. However, in adjusted models, reductions in CPG calories purchased in 2009-2012 were slower for NHB and low-income households than for NHW and high-income households, respectively. The decline in calories from name-brand food purchases was slower among NHB, Hispanic, and lowest-income households. NHW and high-income households had the highest absolute calories purchased in 2000. Across 2 large data sources, we found decreases in intake and purchases of beverages from stores

Natural gas 1992: Issues and trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-03-01

This report provides an overview of the natural gas industry in 1991 and 1992, focusing on trends in production, consumption, and pricing of natural gas and how they reflect the regulatory and legislative changes of the past decade (Chapter 1). Also presented are details of FERC Order 636 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992, as well as pertinent provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (Chapter 2). In addition, the report highlights a range of issues affecting the industry, including: Trends in wellhead prices and natural gas supply activities (Chapter 3); Recent rate design changes for interstate pipeline companies (Chapter 4); Benefits to consumers from the more competitive marketplace (Chapter 5); Pipeline capacity expansions during the past 2 years (Chapter 6); Increasing role of the natural gas futures market (Chapter 7)

New trends in the marketing communication

OpenAIRE

Monika Březinová

2008-01-01

In consequence of change of passive intake of the marketing information to the active intake from the consumer side is the marketing communication changing too, from the public communication to the targeted communication. This article is focusing on the new trends in marketing communications. The article compare the new ways of marketing communications and the traditional ways, in the area of acquisition cost, retention cost, and CRN cost, and next like the penetration of market, speed of res...

Studying the relationship between brand equity and consumer behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Satvati Razavi Shadi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between brand equity and consumer behavior. In today's competitive world, where the consumer is faced with a broad range of products made in different countries, companies should further seek to identify the factors of customers' trends towards products to encourage customers to select and purchase the product. In the model proposed in this study, the relationship between brand equity and the dimensions of consumer behavior including the willingness to pay for extra cost, brand preference and purchase intention is investigated. The research method is a descriptive correlational. Structural equations and descriptive and inferential statistics and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. The statistical population of the study includes the owners of Grand Vitara, Sportage and Santafe from the companies of Iran Khodro, Kia and Hyundai. The population was unlimited including 384 people using Cochran formula; and cluster sampling and endemic questionnaire tool were used. In the marketing literature, the lack of empirical research that seeks to explore the relationship between brand equity and consumer behavior is tangible. This research focuses on those reactions that provide more sales and the ability to grow. According to the results, it seems that there is a relationship between brand equity and consumer behavior including paying extra cost, brand preference and purchase intention.

Social Media Communication and Consumer Brand Perceptions

OpenAIRE

Rizwan Ali Khadim; Bilal Zafar; Muhammad Younis

2014-01-01

Social media has changed the shape of communication strategies in the corporate world. Corporations are using social media to reach their maximum stakeholders in minimum time at different social media forums. Consumers being an important corporate stakeholder hold significant importance in corporate communication strategy. The current study examines the role of social media communication on consumer brand perceptions and their buying behavior. A comprehensive survey is conducted through vario...

Impact of Food Labeling on Consumer Behavior

OpenAIRE

Todua Nugzar

2017-01-01

The current study evaluates the development and perspective implication of social marketing interventions for empowering healthy life and well-being of the population in Georgia. The objective of the research is to analyze the impact of food labeling for healthy behavior change of Georgian consumers. The study revealed the strong correlation between awareness and education of consumer on food labeling and healthy behavior changing. One of the important factors of chang...

Food irradiation and the consumer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, P.A.

1990-01-01

The poster presents a review of research work undertaken on the perception and understanding that consumers have of food irradiation. Food irradiation is not a revolutionary new food processing technique, in fact it is probably one of the most investigated methods presently available. Many countries such as Belgium, France, Denmark, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United States of America permit food irradiation. In Britain it is presently banned although this is currently under review. Awareness of food irradiation by the general public in Britain, although not extensively researched would appear to be increasing, especially in the light of recent media coverage. New quantitative and qualitative work indicates that the general public are concerned about the safety and effectiveness of food irradiation. Research has shown that a large proportion of consumers in Britain, if given the opportunity to purchase irradiated food, would not do so. Further exploration into this response revealed the fact that consumers are confused over what food irradiation is. In addition, there is concern over the detection of irradiated food. The views presented in this paper, of the consumer reaction to irradiated food are of great importance to those involved in the food industry and industries allied to it, which are ultimately dependent on the consumer for their commercial survival. (author)

75 FR 57555 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Test Procedure for Residential Clothes Washers

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-21

... technologies not covered by the current procedure; (2) more accurately reflect current consumer behavior and... Part II Department of Energy 10 CFR Part 430 Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products... [Docket No. EERE-2010-BT-TP-0021] RIN 1904-AC08 Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Test...

75 FR 57556 - Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Test Procedure for Residential Clothes Washers

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-21

... technologies not covered by the current procedure; (2) more accurately reflect current consumer behavior and... Part II Department of Energy 10 CFR Part 430 Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products... [Docket No. EERE-2010-BT-TP-0021] RIN 1904-AC08 Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Test...

Innovations and trends in meat consumption: an application of the Delphi method in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Chamorro, Antonio; Miranda, Francisco J; Rubio, Sergio; Valero, Víctor

2012-12-01

The meat sector in Spain is an important industry. However, traditional consumption is changing as a result of the country's economic crisis and the new structure of households. The objective of the present study was to identify trends in meat consumption in Spain extrapolated to 2016, and the main innovations that should be of interest to firms in the sector. The study was conducted in 2011 using the Delphi method with the participation of 26 experts. The results showed that, while the demand for meat will not vary significantly in amount, it will do so in composition, with chicken replacing beef as the meat of most importance in the shopping basket. In addition, significant growth is expected in certified meat, but the demand for organic meat will not take off. Neither will there be no significant changes in end purchase formats, but there will be a clear trend in consumers' purchasing decision criteria away from price, external appearance and origin towards quality certification and the attributes of the packaging. With respect to end purchase channels, the experts estimate that the current trend will be accentuated with increasing market share for large supermarkets and major distribution brands. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proceeding of 27th domestic symposium on trends in aging management and current status of aging degradation studies in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-11-01

As the 27th domestic symposium of Atomic Energy Research Committee, the Japan Welding Engineering Society, the symposium was held titled as 'Trends of aging managements and current status of aging effect studies in nuclear power plants'. Six speakers gave lectures titled as 'Present status of research on mechanism and prediction method of neutron irradiation embrittlement of pressure vessel steels', 'Present status of research on mechanism and prediction method of environmentally assisted cracking in the LWR environments', 'Domestic and overseas trends of aging management of the LWR plants', 'Trends of prediction/evaluation, inspection/monitoring and repair/replacement technologies for aging of the LWR plants', 'Present status of research on mechanism and prediction method of high cycle thermal fatigue due to the thermal fluid-structure interaction in the LWR environments' and Present status of research on very high cycle fatigue of structural materials'. (T. Tanaka)

Current status of information transfer activity on food irradiation and consumer attitudes in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Furuta, Masakazu

2004-09-01

For the purpose of public education of radiation and radiation-related technology towards school kids and their parents through efficient information transfer, ''RADIATION FAIR—the relationship between daily life and radiation" has been successfully held at Kintetsu Department Store, one of the major departmental stores in downtown Osaka, the second largest city in Japan during summer vacation in every August for 19 years. Currently various irradiated products available in our daily life including irradiated potatoes and spices were displayed together with explanatory panels and attractions. The number of participants has increased every year and constantly exceeded 20,000 in recent years. This activity has become a good medium for the consumer to recognize the quality of the irradiated potatoes which has been distributed in the market since 1974, and irradiated spices, the next candidate for the clearance under examination by Japanese government. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have demonstrated toward the participants that irradiation-decontaminated spices are superior to conventional heat-treated ones in aromatic quality as well as conducting survey of the visitor's feeling on radiation and irradiated foods. These activities would be potentially effective to facilitate public acceptance of irradiation decontamination of spices.

Current status of information transfer activity on food irradiation and consumer attitudes in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furuta, Masakazu

2004-01-01

For the purpose of public education of radiation and radiation-related technology towards school kids and their parents through efficient information transfer, 'RADIATION FAIR - the relationship between daily life and radiation' has been successfully held at Kintetsu Department Store, one of the major departmental stores in downtown Osaka, the second largest city in Japan during summer vacation in every August for 19 years. Currently various irradiated products available in our daily life including irradiated potatoes and spices were displayed together with explanatory panels and attractions. The number of participants has increased every year and constantly exceeded 20,000 in recent years. This activity has become a good medium for the consumer to recognize the quality of the irradiated potatoes which has been distributed in the market since 1974, and irradiated spices, the next candidate for the clearance under examination by Japanese government. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have demonstrated toward the participants that irradiation-decontaminated spices are superior to conventional heat-treated ones in aromatic quality as well as conducting survey of the visitor's feeling on radiation and irradiated foods. These activities would be potentially effective to facilitate public acceptance of irradiation decontamination of spices

Consumer perception of genetically modified organisms and sources of information.

Science.gov (United States)

Wunderlich, Shahla; Gatto, Kelsey A

2015-11-01

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been available for commercial purchase since the 1990s, allowing producers to increase crop yields through bioengineering that creates herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant varieties. However, consumer knowledge about GMOs has not increased at the same rate as the adoption of GMO crops. Consumers worldwide are displaying limited understanding, misconceptions, and even unfamiliarity with GMO food products. Many consumers report that they receive information about GMO food products from the media, Internet, and other news sources. These sources may be less reliable than scientific experts whom consumers trust more to present the facts. Although many in the United States support mandatory GMO labeling (similar to current European standards), consumer awareness of current GMO labeling is low. A distinction must also be made between GMO familiarity and scientific understanding, because those who are more familiar with it tend to be more resistant to bioengineering, whereas those with higher scientific knowledge scores tend to have less negative attitudes toward GMOs. This brings to question the relation between scientific literacy, sources of information, and overall consumer knowledge and perception of GMO foods. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

Sexualized Branded Entertainment and the Male Consumer Gaze

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Matthew P. McAllister

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This article applies the “male consumer gaze” – integrating work influenced by Erving Goffman and Laura Mulvey – to two branded televised events: the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and the 2012 Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant. Critiqued elements include gendered body positioning, televisual and narrativizing techniques, social and integrated media, and branding strategies that combine to create a flow of consumption-based male gazing. Such trends may intensify with changes in media economics and niche marketing.

Designer-made meat and dairy products: Consumer-led product development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.; Valli, Carlotta

2001-01-01

targeting these segments were derived and tested with consumers from these segments. Results show considerable potential for the development of food products which are differentiated in a consumer-based way. The paper closes with a step-model for consumer-led product development adapted to the current state...... of branding and differentiation in the product category.......Consumers differ in the kind of qualities they expect from food products, and they also differ in the way they infer quality from the product information available. Nevertheless, much product innovation in the food sector is still not geared towards specific consumer segments. This is especially...

Designer made meat and dairy products: Consumer-led product development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grunert, Klaus G.; Valli, Carlotta

targeting these segments were derived and tested with consumers from these segments. Results show considerable potential for the development of food products which are differentiated in a consumer-based way. The paper closes with a step-model for consumer-led product development adapted to the current state...... of branding and differentiation in the product category.......Consumers differ in the kind of qualities they expect from food products, and they also differ in the way they infer quality from the product information available. Nevertheless, much product innovation in the food sector is still not geared towards specific consumer segments. This is especially...

Theoretical aspects of marketing management of consumer behavior

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Danilenko Evgen

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The essence of consumer behavior finds expression in the actions of people under the influence of environmental factors and internal psychological or physical needs that arise in the process of life and socialization and are accompanied by information search, selection, acquisition, use of goods or services and getting rid of them. The article presents a synthesis of current theoretical terminology provisions on identification and definition of the nature of consumer behavior, allowing to improve conceptual and categorical apparatus by determining definitions of "marketing management", "consumer behavior".

The influence of price endings on consumer behavior: An application of the psychology of perception

OpenAIRE

Asamoah, Emmanuel Selase; Chovancová, Miloslava

2011-01-01

Price ending is an important pricing strategy that has been used by retailers over the years. The trend seems to be effective considering how consumers react especially to products with odd price endings. This review is aimed at providing an understanding of the psychological influences of price ending on buyers, using the theory of perception. It analysis theories and existing literature on the topic and brings out augmentative pricing strategies that retailers can adopt in consumer markets....

The influence of price endings on consumer behaviour: an application of the psychology of perception

OpenAIRE

Emmanuel Selase Asamoah; Miloslava Chovancová

2011-01-01

Price ending is an important pricing strategy that has been used by retailers over the years. The trend seems to be effective considering how consumers react especially to products with odd price endings. This review is aimed at providing an understanding of the psychological influences of price ending on buyers, using the theory of perception. It analysis theories and existing literature on the topic and brings out augmentative pricing strategies that retailers can adopt in consumer markets....

Institutional Repositories at Small Institutions in America: Some Current Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Nykanen, Melissa

2011-01-01

The research reported in this article was undertaken to determine the level of implementation of institutional repositories (IRs) at small institutions enrolling fewer than 10,000 students. The study analyzed quantitative and qualitative data from IRs at a number of small institutions with the aim of observing relevant patterns and trends that may…

Teaching Consumer-Oriented Ethnographic Research

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Andrew D.; Wu, Lan

2012-01-01

Despite an increasing demand for marketing researchers familiar with ethnographic methods, ethnographic consumer research has received little coverage in current marketing curricula. The innovation discussed in the present paper addresses this problem: it introduces the notion of "cultural relativism" and gives students hands-on experience in…

Consumer Economics and Consumer Mathematics Textbooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Eastern Michigan Univ., Ypsilanti. National Inst. for Consumer Education.

This publication lists a selection of consumer economics and consumer mathematics textbooks available for review from the National Institute for Consumer Education. Twenty-six textbooks for the secondary level are cited. Nine advanced level texts are also listed. These texts are generally considered college level texts but could be adapted for…

Investments of Banks in Securities: the Essence and Development Trends under Current Conditions

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Ekaterina Vladimirovna Mazikova

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The implementation of modern banking activities involves the realization of investments. Investment is a complex discussion economic category, characterized by a number of features. The types and forms of investment are manifold and can be transformed with account of the state of the economy and the level of development of industrial relations. The faster growth of the financial sector in the economy has stipulated the development of financial investment. Banks as financial and lending institutions actively make financial investments in securities. Banks’ investment in securities pursues a number of purposes which determine the selection of securities for investment and their quality. The article identified the targets of bank investments in securities and their development trends under current conditions on the basis of the analysis of the actual data for 2010–2014. Negative revaluation and the actual decrease in the value of corporate securities of Russian issuers reduce their commercial appeal. Banks refuse to speculate on the stock market in favor of the securities that ensure liquidity. Banks’ investments aim to purchasing securities from the Lombard List of the Bank of Russia in order to obtain loans and participate in the repo transactions. Thus, during the analyzed period, banks’ investments in securities transformed from systemically important assets that generate substantial profit into the mechanism that provides liquidity. It should be noted that a significant part of investment resources of Russian banks services the debt obligations of Russia’s Government. The article also identified a trend of banks’ increasing investment in the participation portfolios of subsidiaries and associated joint stock companies. The official data of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia [15], and the Federal State Statistics Service [14] were used as the information base for the study

Recent advances in addictive disorders. Prevention. Current research and trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumpfer, K L; Hopkins, R

1993-03-01

The AOD prevention programs of the 1990s should be resiliency-focused and include interventions of sufficient dosage and strength. Although some child behavioral technology exists to tackle successfully changes in resiliency, additional prevention strategies need to be developed and studied. In some way, the prevention field is hampered by the lack of sufficient research in the child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology fields, that includes transactional research in parenting and child rearing for high-risk youth. We simply do not know enough to determine how parents and other adults can best foster resilience in children. Questions that arise include how much to protect children from environmental stressors and how much to push them to confront new life stressors in the form of challenges to develop new skills or talents. There are no simple answers to these questions, but a number of useful guidelines could help parents and teachers to increase resilience in youth. Some of the guidelines currently being stressed include developing in youth an increased sense of responsibility for their own success, helping them to identify their talents, motivating them to dedicate their lives to helping society rather than feeling their only purpose in life is to be consumers, providing realistic appraisals and feedback for youth rather than graciously building up their self-esteem, stressing multicultural competence in an ever-shrinking world, encouraging and valuing education and skills training, increasing cooperative solutions to problems rather than competitive or aggressive solutions, and increasing a sense of responsibility for others and caring for others. Clearly, these are important objectives for creating the type of citizens that can make American strong in the twentieth century.

An overview of currently available methods and future trends for physical activity

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Alexander Kiško

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Methodological limitations make comparison of various instruments difficult, although the number of publications on physical activity assessment has extensively increased. Therefore, systematization of techniques and definitions is essential for the improvement of knowledge in the area. Objective: This paper systematically describes and compares up-to-date methods that assess habitual physical activity and discusses main issues regarding the use and interpretation of data collected with these techniques. Methods: A general outline of the measures and techniques described above is presented in review form, along with their respective definition, usual applications, positive aspects and shortcomings. Results and conclusions: The various factors to be considered in the selection of physical activity assessment methods include goals, sample size, budget, cultural and social/environmental factors, physical burden for the subject, and statistical factors, such as accuracy and precision. It is concluded that no single current technique is able to quantify all aspects of physical activity under free-living conditions, requiring the use of complementary methods. In not too distant future, devices will take advantage of consumer technologies, such as mobile phones, GPS devices. It is important to perform other activities, such as detecting and responding to physical activity in a real time, creating new opportunities in measurement, remote compliance monitoring, data-driven discovery and intervention.

E-LEARNING: CURRENT STATE, TRENDS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

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Г А Краснова

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the main trends of development of e-learning in formal and non-formal education in different countries. The article discusses the main quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the market of e-learning education. The authors define main reasons the development of e-learning education in higher education. The authors note that the demand for e-learning by various groups of users will push the education authorities and educational institutions to develop different forms of e-learning and implement new business models of universities. In most universities in Europe and the United States adopted or will be adopted for the institutional strategy of development of e-learning.

Tianshuishi space breeding current situation and developing trend

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Fuquan; Song Jianrong; Zhang Zhongping; Guo Zhenfang

2012-01-01

Tianshuishi is located in Xi'an to lanzhou among two big cities, the five space launch, has vegetables, food, grasses, flowers, rape, melon and fruit, Chinese traditional medicine, amount of 8 categories of crops, such as the 22 new material after carrying the ground breeding work. Only vegetables on identified 23 aerospace new varieties. After ten years of space breeding, summarizes the present situation of Tianshuishi space breeding, development experience, characteristic, trends, and puts forward the development space breeding Tianshuishi organization and breeding of talent from the matching policy and grow up incentive mechanism, strengthen the cooperation and all over the country, establishing fiscal policy support from the aspects such as advice. (authors)

Measuring Consumer Innovativeness: Identifying Innovators among Consumers of Modern Technologies

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Jana Filová

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The methods currently used in innovation marketing research are focused on the late phases of the innovation process and are usually methodologically complex. This limits their practical impact. The presented work aims to create a simple self-report scale applicable in the initial and late phases of the innovation process, highly modular and suitable for a wide range of research. The main battery of questions was inspired by the adopter categorization by Rogers. The questions determine both (1 general characteristics of innovation adopters and (2 their relationship to a specific innovation. The scale was tested during robust longitudinal online research, thematically focused on users of modern technologies. A representative sample of 4,000 Internet users in the Czech Republic took part in the survey from 2013 to 2015. The result is a new self-report scale measuring consumer innovativeness applicable for prototyping, strategic decisions and effective communication of innovations to consumers.

Nanomaterials in consumer's goods: the problems of risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Gmoshinski, I. V.; Khotimchenko, S. A.

2015-11-01

Nanotechnology and engineered nanomaterials are currently used in wide variety of cosmetic products, while their use in food industry, packaging materials, household chemicals etc. still includes a limited number of items and does not show a significant upward trend. However, the problem of priority nanomaterials associated risks is relevant due to their high production volumes and an constantly growing burden on the environment and population. In accordance with the frequency of use in mass-produced consumer goods, leading priority nanomaterials are silver nanoparticles (NPs) and (by a wide margin) NPs of gold, platinum, and titanium dioxide. Frequency of nanosized silica introduction into food products as a food additive, at the moment, seems to be underestimated, since the use of this nanomaterial is not declared by manufacturers of products and objective control of its content is difficult. Analysis of literature data on toxicological properties of nanomaterials shows that currently accumulated amount of information is sufficient to establish the safe doses of nanosized silver, gold and titanium dioxide. Data have been provided in a series of studies concerning the effect of oral intake of nanosized silica on the condition of laboratory animals, including on the performance of the immune system. The article examines the existing approaches to the assessment of population exposure to priority nanomaterials, characteristics of existing problems and risk management.

More green infrastructure is required to maintain ecosystem services under current trends in land-use change in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Maes, Joachim; Barbosa, Ana; Baranzelli, Claudia; Zulian, Grazia; Batista E Silva, Filipe; Vandecasteele, Ine; Hiederer, Roland; Liquete, Camino; Paracchini, Maria Luisa; Mubareka, Sarah; Jacobs-Crisioni, Chris; Castillo, Carolina Perpiña; Lavalle, Carlo

Green infrastructure (GI), a network of nature, semi-natural areas and green space, delivers essential ecosystem services which underpin human well-being and quality of life. Maintaining ecosystem services through the development of GI is therefore increasingly recognized by policies as a strategy to cope with potentially changing conditions in the future. This paper assessed how current trends of land-use change have an impact on the aggregated provision of eight ecosystem services at the regional scale of the European Union, measured by the Total Ecosystem Services Index (TESI8). Moreover, the paper reports how further implementation of GI across Europe can help maintain ecosystem services at baseline levels. Current demographic, economic and agricultural trends, which affect land use, were derived from the so called Reference Scenario. This scenario is established by the European Commission to assess the impact of energy and climate policy up to 2050. Under the Reference Scenario, economic growth, coupled with the total population, stimulates increasing urban and industrial expansion. TESI8 is expected to decrease across Europe between 0 and 5 % by 2020 and between 10 and 15 % by 2050 relative to the base year 2010. Based on regression analysis, we estimated that every additional percent increase of the proportion of artificial land needs to be compensated with an increase of 2.2 % of land that qualifies as green infrastructure in order to maintain ecosystem services at 2010 levels.

Consumer Perception of the Quality of Lamb and Lamb Confit.

Science.gov (United States)

Ripoll, Guillermo; Joy, Margalida; Panea, Begoña

2018-05-22

The patterns of food consumption in general and those of meat, in particular, are constantly changing. These changes are due not only to socioeconomic and cultural trends that affect the whole society but also to the specific lifestyles of consumer groups. Due to the importance of consumer lifestyle, the objectives of this study were (i) to identify the profiles of lamb meat consumers according to their orientation toward convenience, as defined by their eating and cooking habits; (ii) to characterize these profiles according to their socioeconomic characteristics and their preferences regarding the intrinsic and extrinsic quality signals of lamb meat; and (iii) to analyze the willingness to pay for lamb confit. In this study, four types of consumers have been differentiated according to their lifestyles related to lamb consumption. These groups, due to their characteristics, could be called "Gourmet", "Disinterested", "Conservative", and "Basic". The Gourmet group has characteristics that make it especially interesting to market a product such as lamb confit. However, this group is unaware of this product. Therefore, a possible strategy to expand the commercialization of light lamb and the confit product would be guided marketing to this niche market.

Development of the Consumer Refrigerator Safety Questionnaire: A Measure of Consumer Perceptions and Practices.

Science.gov (United States)

Cairnduff, Victoria; Dean, Moira; Koidis, Anastasios

2016-09-01

Food preparation and storage behaviors in the home deviating from the "best practice" food safety recommendations may result in foodborne illnesses. Currently, there are limited tools available to fully evaluate the consumer knowledge, perceptions, and behavior in the area of refrigerator safety. The current study aimed to develop a valid and reliable tool in the form of a questionnaire, the Consumer Refrigerator Safety Questionnaire (CRSQ), for assessing systematically all these aspects. Items relating to refrigerator safety knowledge (n =17), perceptions (n =46), and reported behavior (n =30) were developed and pilot tested by an expert reference group and various consumer groups to assess face and content validity (n =20), item difficulty and consistency (n =55), and construct validity (n =23). The findings showed that the CRSQ has acceptable face and content validity with acceptable levels of item difficulty. Item consistency was observed for 12 of 15 in refrigerator safety knowledge. Further, all 5 of the subscales of consumer perceptions of refrigerator safety practices relating to risk of developing foodborne disease showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α value > 0.8). Construct validity of the CRSQ was shown to be very good (P = 0.022). The CRSQ exhibited acceptable test-retest reliability at 14 days with the majority of knowledge items (93.3%) and reported behavior items (96.4%) having correlation coefficients of greater than 0.70. Overall, the CRSQ was deemed valid and reliable in assessing refrigerator safety knowledge and behavior; therefore, it has the potential for future use in identifying groups of individuals at increased risk of deviating from recommended refrigerator safety practices, as well as the assessment of refrigerator safety knowledge and behavior for use before and after an intervention.

Interaction in consumers attitudes and behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marinković Veljko

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Having in mind a fact that consumers represent the central aspect of the companies' demand, consumer behavior must be the focal point of marketing research as well as the central topic in the entire marketing system. The initial and the most fundamental marketing activity is the research of consumer behavior. It is only after the analysis of the collected relevant data on current and potential buyers, that the companies can implement other marketing activities such as competition analysis, sales forecast, measuring the market potential as well as the market share in order to create the appropriate marketing mix of the company. Numerous factors influence behavior of the consumers, however, one can conclude that the attitudes play very important role in the psychological analysis of the consumer behavior. Attitude recognition gives us a chance to analyze past and predict future behaviors. Often the behavior appears as the consequence of the formed attitudes. Weather the behavior results from the attitude and whether or not it is in accordance with this attitude, depends on the strength of the attitude as well as on the influence of other environmental factors.

Semantic annotation of consumer health questions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kilicoglu, Halil; Ben Abacha, Asma; Mrabet, Yassine; Shooshan, Sonya E; Rodriguez, Laritza; Masterton, Kate; Demner-Fushman, Dina

2018-02-06

Consumers increasingly use online resources for their health information needs. While current search engines can address these needs to some extent, they generally do not take into account that most health information needs are complex and can only fully be expressed in natural language. Consumer health question answering (QA) systems aim to fill this gap. A major challenge in developing consumer health QA systems is extracting relevant semantic content from the natural language questions (question understanding). To develop effective question understanding tools, question corpora semantically annotated for relevant question elements are needed. In this paper, we present a two-part consumer health question corpus annotated with several semantic categories: named entities, question triggers/types, question frames, and question topic. The first part (CHQA-email) consists of relatively long email requests received by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) customer service, while the second part (CHQA-web) consists of shorter questions posed to MedlinePlus search engine as queries. Each question has been annotated by two annotators. The annotation methodology is largely the same between the two parts of the corpus; however, we also explain and justify the differences between them. Additionally, we provide information about corpus characteristics, inter-annotator agreement, and our attempts to measure annotation confidence in the absence of adjudication of annotations. The resulting corpus consists of 2614 questions (CHQA-email: 1740, CHQA-web: 874). Problems are the most frequent named entities, while treatment and general information questions are the most common question types. Inter-annotator agreement was generally modest: question types and topics yielded highest agreement, while the agreement for more complex frame annotations was lower. Agreement in CHQA-web was consistently higher than that in CHQA-email. Pairwise inter-annotator agreement proved most

Do-it-yourself healthcare: the current landscape, prospects and consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrera, Pricivel M; Dalton, Andrew R H

2014-01-01

The wider availability and increasing use of mHealth tools - covering health applications, smartphone plug-ins and gadgets is significant for healthcare. This trend epitomises broader trajectories in access to and delivery of healthcare, with greater consumer involvement and decentralisation. This shift may be conceptualised as 'do-it-yourself Healthcare' - allowing consumers to monitor and manage their health, and guide their healthcare consumption. Technology that enables data collection by patients informs them about vital health metrics, giving them more control over experiences of health or illness. The information can be used alone as empowered consumers or together with healthcare professionals in an environment of patient-centred care. Current evidence suggests a large scope for do-it-yourself Healthcare, given the availability of technologies, whilst mHealth tools enhance diagnostics, improve treatment, increase access to services and lower costs. There are, however, limitations to do-it-yourself Healthcare. Notably, its evidence base is less well developed than the availability of technologies to facilitate it. A more complex model and understanding is needed to explain motivations for and consequences of engaging in do-it-yourself Healthcare. That said, its introduction alongside existing medicine may improve quality and reduce costs - potentially improving health system sustainability whilst future generations - tomorrow's middle-aged and the elderly, will become more conducive to its spread. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Current Trend of Robotic Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeries in Korea: Analysis of Seven-Year National Data

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Chang Hyun Kang

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Robotic surgery is an alternative to minimally invasive surgery. The aim of this study was to report on current trends in robotic thoracic and cardiovascular surgical techniques in Korea. Methods: Data from the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA between January 2006 and June 2012 were used in this study, including a total of 932 cases of robotic surgeries reported to NECA. The annual trends in the case volume, indications for robotic surgery, and distribution by hospitals and surgeons were analyzed in this study. Results: Of the 932 cases, 591 (63% were thoracic operations and 340 (37% were cardiac operations. The case number increased explosively in 2007 and 2008. However, the rate of increase regained a steady state after 2011. The main indications for robotic thoracic surgery were pulmonary disease (n=271, 46%, esophageal disease (n=199, 34%, and mediastinal disease (n=117, 20%. The main indications for robotic cardiac surgery were valvular heart disease (n=228, 67%, atrial septal defect (n=79, 23%, and cardiac myxoma (n=27, 8%. Robotic thoracic and cardiovascular surgeries were performed in 19 hospitals. Three large volume hospitals performed 94% of the case volume of robotic cardiac surgery and 74% of robotic thoracic surgery. Centralization of robotic operation was significantly (p＜0.0001 more common in cardiac surgery than in thoracic surgery. A total of 39 surgeons performed robotic surgeries. However, only 27% of cardiac surgeons and 23% of thoracic surgeons performed more than 10 cases of robotic surgery. Conclusion: Trend analysis of robotic and cardiovascular operations demonstrated a gradual increase in the surgical volume in Korea. Meanwhile, centralization of surgical cases toward specific surgeons in specific hospitals was observed.

The rights of patients as consumers: An ancient view.

Science.gov (United States)

Barapatre, Nishant Bhimraj; Joglekar, Vishnu Prabhakar

2016-01-01

As far as the rights of consumers are concerned, the International Organization of Consumer's Union (IOCU) in 1983 has specified about the eight rights of a consumer. The Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 1986 then prescribed six "Rights of Consumers," which are protected under the act. However, these rights can be observed in the ancient Indian texts such as Brihat-trayee , Narad Smruti , and Kautilya Arthashastra ., in the form of rights given to patients. For the purpose of present study, the implemented methodology includes - (1) study of the consumer rights described by IOCU and CPA, (2) detailed review of literature for observance of replication of these consumer rights in the ancient Indian texts and (3) a comparative study of the present consumer rights with the rights of patients observed in ancient Indian texts. This study shows that the substance of consumer rights is not a recent evolution, but the foundation of these rights has been laid well beforehand in the ancient times, which were provided to the patients by medical profession as well as by the rulers. The current scenario of protection of consumer rights is the replication of this ancient practice only.

Current state of knowledge when it comes to consumer exposure to nanomaterial embedded in a solid matrix

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mackevica, Aiga; Hansen, Steffen Foss

2015-01-01

form. For studies that report enough information, we developed potential exposure scenarios and derived exposure estimates according to REACH R.16 using the Tier 1 equations for consumer exposure estimation and Tier 1 tools i.e. ECETOX TRA and Consexpo. In general, we find that the information and data......Little is known about consumer exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) stemming from NM-containing consumer products. Here, we focus especially on studies that have investigated the release of ENMs from consumer products, investigating to what extent the information in the open literature can...... be used to fulfill the requirements outlined in the European chemical legislation, REACH. In total, we have identified about 75 publications of relevance and the number of publications is increasing every year. The most studied materials include silver and titanium dioxide NPs, CNTs and SiO2. If reported...

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilie BUDICA

2010-03-01

Full Text Available The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as: the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives; the psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment; the behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome; how consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and how marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer.

Fast-food consumers in Singapore: demographic profile, diet quality and weight status.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitton, Clare; Ma, Yi; Bastian, Amber Carla; Fen Chan, Mei; Chew, Ling

2014-08-01

To determine the demographic profile of fast-food consumers among adult Singapore residents and ascertain whether fast-food consumption frequency is associated with diet quality and weight status. A nationally representative cross-sectional survey including an FFQ and anthropometric measures. Participants were grouped based on their fast-food consumption frequency as non-consumer, occasional consumer or regular consumer, with regular defined as at least once per week. Individuals living in the community in Singapore. Singapore residents (n 1627) aged 18-69 years of Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnicity. Proportions of regular fast-food consumers were higher in younger age groups, higher income groups and middle education level groups. Mean daily energy intake was positively associated with fast-food consumption frequency (non-consumers 9636 kJ (2303 kcal); occasional consumers 11 159 kJ (2667 kcal); regular consumers 13 100 kJ (3131 kcal); P for trend food consumers were more likely to exceed the RDA for energy, fat and saturated fat, and less likely to meet wholegrain and fruit recommendations. Both regular consumers (OR = 1·24; 95 % CI 1·03, 1·51) and occasional consumers (OR = 1·52; 95 % CI 1·32, 1·77) were more likely to have a waist:hip ratio indicating abdominal obesity. Occasional consumers were more likely to have a BMI ≥ 23·0 kg/m2 (OR = 1·19; 95 % CI 1·04, 1·37), whereas regular consumers were less likely (OR = 0·76; 95 % CI 0·64, 0·91) to have an 'at-risk' BMI. Fast-food consumption is most prevalent in young adults, high income and middle education level groups. Frequent fast-food consumption in Singapore is associated with unfavourable dietary and nutrient profiles and abdominal obesity.

Trends in racial/ethnic and income disparities in foods and beverages consumed and purchased from stores among US households with children, 2000–201312

Science.gov (United States)

Poti, Jennifer M; Popkin, Barry M

2016-01-01

Background: It is unclear whether racial/ethnic and income differences in foods and beverages obtained from stores contribute to disparities in caloric intake over time. Objective: We sought to determine whether there are disparities in calories obtained from store-bought consumer packaged goods (CPGs), whether brands (name brands compared with private labels) matter, and if disparities have changed over time. Design: We used NHANES individual dietary intake data among households with children along with the Nielsen Homescan data on CPG purchases among households with children. With NHANES, we compared survey-weighted energy intakes for 2003–2006 and 2009–2012 from store and nonstore sources by race/ethnicity [non-Hispanic whites (NHWs), non-Hispanic blacks (NHBs), and Hispanic Mexican-Americans) and income [≤185% federal poverty line (FPL), 186–400% FPL, and >400% FPL]. With the Nielsen data, we compared 2000–2013 trends in calories purchased from CPGs (obtained from stores) across brands by race/ethnicity (NHW, NHB, and Hispanic) and income. We conducted random-effect models to derive adjusted trends and differences in calories purchased (708,175 observations from 64,709 unique households) and tested whether trends were heterogeneous by race/ethnicity or income. Results: Store-bought foods and beverages represented the largest component of dietary intake, with greater decreases in energy intakes in nonstore sources for foods and in store sources for beverages. Beverages from stores consistently decreased in all subpopulations. However, in adjusted models, reductions in CPG calories purchased in 2009–2012 were slower for NHB and low-income households than for NHW and high-income households, respectively. The decline in calories from name-brand food purchases was slower among NHB, Hispanic, and lowest-income households. NHW and high-income households had the highest absolute calories purchased in 2000. Conclusions: Across 2 large data sources, we found

Arbitrability limitation in consumer (B2C disputes? : Consumers´ protection as legal and economic phenomenon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander J. Bělohlávek

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Protection of consumers became a phenomenon of many governmental politics. Retrieval of a balance between privat autonomy and protection of a weaker party is very sensitive. The particular degree of consumers protection through limitation of contractual autonomy (in B2C contracts as well as procedural autonomy (regarding B2C dispute resolution mechanisms, as chosen by particular governments, has both legal and economic effects, in positive and negative sense. The European Court of Human Rights adjudicated repeatedly that traditional court litigation is not capable to grant effective protection to contractual claims in many countries. Arbitration is therefore one of possible tools for B2C dispute resolution, even if many countries and obviously the EU Commission followe rather an opposite strategy (keeping down arbitrability of B2C disputes in the opposite to US trends. Arbitration is not a cure-all and definitely not a method suitable for the resolution of any and all types of disputes. It has its proponents as well as opponents. Indeed, it is hard to claim that a particular type (class of disputes is a priori fit to be resolved in arbitration, rather than litigation, or vice versa. This also applies to consumer disputes (disputes from consumer contracts. It is fairly undisputable that consumers deserve a certain degree of specific protection in cases in which they are forced to enter into a particular contract and have no other option than to accept the conditions stipulated by the other party (the professional. But we cannot principally claim that the resolution of these disputes in court would be more suitable than arbitration or any other, the so-called alternative, dispute resolution method (ADR. Despite the basically undisputed importance of and the need for special consumer protection (whether provided by special laws, typically in Europe, or on the basis of general legal principles and the application of general contract law, like in the

Sustainability and Philanthropic Awareness in Clothing Disposal Behavior Among Young Malaysian Consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loi Wai Yee

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Young consumers are the stylish shoppers who have a strong tendency to follow the latest fashion. With the rapid changes in the fashion trends, the overconsumption of clothing has had a significant environmental impact on society. Hence, there is a need to understand how young fashionable consumers are disposing their unwanted clothes. The survey was conducted among 205 young respondents, and the results show that clothing disposal behavior is affected by philanthropic awareness and mediated by the attitude toward clothing disposal. Interestingly, environmental economic factors only influence clothing disposal behavior through the attitude toward the disposal of clothing. The findings provide a valuable insight into the government and related authorities or organizations in developing strategies to encourage young consumers to increase their clothing-recycling rate, and, thus, eliminate the environmental issues in near future.

Electronic commerce in China:current status, development strategies, and new trends

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xiang Junyong; Jing Linbo

2014-01-01

After years of development in China's electronic commerce sector,there has been a drastic increase not only in the number of electronic commerce enterprises and online shoppers,but also in electronic commerce market turnover in China.During this process,the Chinese government has played a key role in establishing legislation and market disciplines for the electronic commerce market.This paper explores policy regarding electronic commerce development in China and analyzes new trends in China's electronic commerce,including the rise of mobile commerce,social commerce,and cross-border electronic commerce,and the booming industries of internet financing and Big Data.This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the development,uniqueness,and trends of electronic commerce in China.In addition,this paper also provides policymakers in China and other developing countries with policy suggestions regarding electronic commerce.

Wireless power transfer inspired by the modern trends in electromagnetics

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Mingzhao; Belov, Pavel; Kapitanova, Polina

2017-06-01

Since the beginning of the 20th century, researchers have been looking for an effective way to transfer power without wired connections, but the wireless power transfer technology started to attract extensive interest from the industry side only in 2007 when the first smartphone was released and a consumer electronics revolution was triggered. Currently, the modern technology of wireless power transfer already has a rich research and development history as well as outstanding advances in commercialization. This review is focused on the description of distinctive implementations of this technology inspired by the modern trends in electrodynamics. We compare the performances of the power transfer systems based on three kinds of resonators, i.e., metallic coil resonators, dielectric resonators, and cavity mode resonators. We argue that metamaterials and meta-atoms are powerful tools to improve the functionalities and to obtain novel properties of the systems. We review different approaches to enhance the functionality of the wireless power transfer systems including control of the power transfer path and increase of the operation range and efficiency. Various applications of wireless power transfer are discussed and currently available standards are reviewed.

Canadian consumer battery baseline study : final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2007-02-01

This report provided information about the estimated number of consumer and household batteries sold, re-used, stored, recycled, and disposed each year in Canada. The report discussed the ways in which different batteries posed risks to human health and the environment, and legislative trends were also reviewed. Data used in the report were obtained from a literature review as well as through a series of interviews. The study showed that alkaline batteries are the most common primary batteries used by Canadians, followed by zinc carbon batteries. However, lithium primary batteries are gaining in popularity, and silver oxide and zinc air button cell batteries are also used in applications requiring a flat voltage and high energy. Secondary batteries used in laptop computers, and cell phones are often made of nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal-hydroxide, and lithium ion. Small sealed lead batteries are also commonly used in emergency lighting and alarm systems. Annual consumption statistics for all types of batteries were provided. Results of the study showed that the primary battery market is expected to decline. Total units of secondary batteries are expected to increase to 38.6 million units by 2010. The report also used a spreadsheet model to estimate the flow of consumer batteries through the Canadian waste management system. An estimated 347 million consumer batteries were discarded in 2004. By 2010, it is expected that an estimated 494 million units will be discarded by consumers. The study also considered issues related to lead, cadmium, mercury, and nickel disposal and the potential for groundwater contamination. It was concluded that neither Canada nor its provinces or territories have initiated legislative or producer responsibility programs targeting primary or secondary consumer batteries. 79 refs., 37 tabs., 1 fig

Consumers' environmental and ethical consciousness and the use of the related food products information: The role of perceived consumer effectiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghvanidze, Sophie; Velikova, Natalia; Dodd, Tim H; Oldewage-Theron, Wilna

2016-12-01

Consumers can be important active contributors to a sustainable society by selecting food choices that are both healthy and produced respecting environmental and socially ethical standards. The current study investigates five consumer behavioural factors - namely, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE); environmental conscious behaviour; concerns for ethical food production; health conscious lifestyle; and healthy dietary patterns. The key interest of the study lies in exploring the moderating role of PCE - the extent to which the consumer believes that his/her own efforts can make a difference - in these interrelationships. The empirical analysis was conducted through an online survey of food consumers implemented in three markets - the US, the UK and Germany. Findings indicate that for individuals with higher levels of PCE, who are environmental conscious and ethically concerned, information on food labels relating to environmental and social issues represents value by itself. Interestingly, health and nutrition information on food labels was not perceived valuable by consumers with high PCE. The predictive effects of various socio-demographic variables on PCE, consumer environmental and health consciousness are discussed. Cross-cultural differences are also outlined. The results of this research may contribute to the development of environmental policies and communication strategies of the food industry to enhance perceived consumer effectiveness among consumers. Improved PCE, in turn, may catalyze consumers' environmental behaviour and ethical concerns in relation to consumption of food products with environmental and social information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Consumer attitudes and the governance of food safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Todt, Oliver; Muñoz, Emilio; González, Marta; Ponce, Gloria; Estévez, Betty

2009-01-01

This paper reports the analysis of a recent study of public perception of food safety governance in Spain, using genetically modified (GM) foods as an indicator. The data make clear that Spanish food consumers are aware of their rights and role in the marketplace. They are critical of current regulatory decision making, which they perceive to be unduly influenced by certain social actors, such as industry. In contrast, consumers demand decisions to be based primarily on scientific opinion, as well as consumer preferences. They want authorities to facilitate informed purchasing decisions, and favor labeling of GM foods mostly on the grounds of their right to know. However, consumers' actual level of knowledge with respect to food technology and food safety remains low. There are several ambivalences as to the real impact of these attitudes on actual consumer behavior (specifically when it comes to organizing themselves or searching out background information).

Smart Grid Technologies: Trends and Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Buran Anna

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The study explores the role of Smart Grid technologies, giving sustainable, reliable and safe energy. These technologies will provide an economic benefit to the government, the investors and the consumers. The paper overviews global trends and perspectives of using Smart Grid technologies in Russia and in other countries. The Smart Grid concept is especially important for Russia, because there are many power supply problems in the energy sector. This study is expected to be important for researchers and engineers studying Smart Grid technologies.

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines: a counter argument.

Science.gov (United States)

Mintzes, Barbara; Mangin, Dee

2009-12-01

Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medicines is currently only permitted in the USA and New Zealand. Barbara Mintzes and Dee Mangin provide their case against direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines, arguing that its wider introduction would lead to a 'Pharma-knows-best' culture.

Group-Oriented Services: A Shift towards Consumer-Managed Relationships in the Telecom Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Vrdoljak, Luka; Bojic, Iva; Podobnik, Vedran; Jezic, Gordan; Kusek, Mario

Today, telecom operators face a threefold challenge: a social challenge dealing with the evolution of the consumer lifestyle, a technological challenge dealing with ever changing ICT trends and a business challenge dealing with the need for innovative business models. This paper introduces an idea of group-oriented services, a special type of personalized telecom services, as a possible solution for all three of these challenges. A proof-of-concept service, called Agent-Based Mobile Content Brokerage, is presented and elaborated with the aim to demonstrate a shift towards consumer-managed relationships, a novel provisioning paradigm within the telecom industry.

Extra-virgin olive oil: are consumers provided with the sensory quality they want? A hedonic price model with sensory attributes.

Science.gov (United States)

Cavallo, Carla; Caracciolo, Francesco; Cicia, Gianni; Del Giudice, Teresa

2018-03-01

Over the years, niche-differentiation strategies and food policies have pushed quality standards of European extra-virgin olive oil towards a product that has a sensory profile consisting of fruity, bitter and pungent notes, with such oils having excellent healthy features. However, it is unclear whether typical consumers are ready for a richer and more complex sensory profile than the neutral one historically found on the market. This potential discrepancy is investigated in the present study aiiming to determine whether current demand is able to appreciate this path of quality enhancement. Implicit prices for each and every attribute of extra-virgin olive oil with a focus on sensory characteristics were investigated using a hedonic price model. Although confirming the importance of origin and terroir for extra-virgin olive oil, the results of the present study strongly confirm the discrepancy between what is currently valued on the market and what novel supply trends are trying to achieve in terms of the sensory properties of such products. Increasing consumer awareness about the direct link between the health quality of oils and their sensory profile appears to be necessary to make quality enhancement programs more successful on the market and hence more effective for companies. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Analysis on the Changes in Consumer Behavior and Marketing Countermeasure

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Wang Haiyu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, there’s a huge change in the media use habit, demand and route to get the information for the consumers, and the right of consumers to release information is mostly realized, indicating an actual return of consumer sovereignty. In such a background, it is undoubtedly the best choice for the marketing of enterprise brand to focus on the target people, manage the client relation and increase the socialized videos.

The paradoxes of the consumer society

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A. N. Il’In

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The article describes two characteristic of the consumer society of the paradox. The first is expressed in the contradiction between the desire for himself by exposure to high consumer standards and constraints of a financial nature. Specifics of consumer culture requires to make demonstrative waste of money, even if it is associated with financial resources. Demonstrative waste of money exercise by savings on invisible to others spheres of life, as “message” on the status becomes more important need than the satisfaction of these needs. The relationship between income and consumption does not seem unambiguous. Updated trend of the sense of consumption goods, pseudoconsumerism, realizing the need to seem - one of fictitious needs, which in practice translates into implementation of strategy is symbolic of deception. There is a “fictitious second order”, which is not associated with the symbolic meaning of a certain good, and with the symbolic meaning of goods, which is not cash, but is missing. Consumption has shifted imitating under the consumption of performance, consumption of simulacrum and virtuality. The dichotomy of “to have or to be” in this case is replaced by the dichotomy of “to have or to pass” and, in turn, “to pass or to be”. The second paradox is expressed in cultivating the desire to emphasize with consumption individuality that goes away when the practice becomes mass. Standardization is carried out under the rhetoric about elitism. The samples on offer as elitist, their attractiveness ascribe to itself the masses. It’s elitist by material unavailable to most people, but the mass by the desire of many people to be attached to them. Characteristic of a consumer society fashion consciously orients a select minority, but the underlying basis remains unconscious orientation to universality. Fashion stimulating consumption standards and to the implementation of individual choice, which constrained by these

Consumer Moments of Truth in the Digital Context : How "Search" and "E-Word of Mouth" Can Fuel Consumer Decision-Making

OpenAIRE

Moran, Gillian; Muzellec, Laurent; Nolan, Eoghan

2014-01-01

The consumer purchasing journey has evolved. New models need to capture the advancing digital behaviours of tech-savvy consumers. The current paper revisits the practitioner-led 'Moments of Truth' model used by a number of successful multinationals (initially Procter & Gamble and subsequently Google). 'Moments of Truth' (MOT) describe key instances of contact between a potential customer and a brand. The model now needs to be extended to integrate variables such as shared brand experience and...

Strategies to enhance biologically active-secondary metabolites in cell cultures of Artemisia - current trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Mohammad; Abbasi, Bilal Haider; Ahmad, Nisar; Khan, Haji; Ali, Gul Shad

2017-11-01

The genus Artemisia has been utilized worldwide due to its immense potential for protection against various diseases, especially malaria. Artemisia absinthium, previously renowned for its utilization in the popular beverage absinthe, is gaining resurgence due to its extensive pharmacological activities. Like A. annua, this species exhibits strong biological activities like antimalarial, anticancer and antioxidant. Although artemisinin was found to be the major metabolite for its antimalarial effects, several flavonoids and terpenoids are considered to possess biological activities when used alone and also to synergistically boost the bioavailability of artemisinin. However, due to the limited quantities of these metabolites in wild plants, in vitro cultures were established and strategies have been adopted to enhance medicinally important secondary metabolites in these cultures. This review elaborates on the traditional medicinal uses of Artemisia species and explains current trends to establish cell cultures of A. annua and A. absinthium for enhanced production of medicinally important secondary metabolites.

Metacognition fundaments, applications, and trends a profile of the current state-of-the-art

CERN Document Server

2015-01-01

This book is devoted to the Metacognition arena. It highlights works that show relevant analysis, reviews, theoretical, and methodological proposals, as well as studies, approaches, applications, and tools that shape current state, define trends and inspire future research. As a result of the revision process fourteen manuscripts were accepted and organized into five parts as follows: ·     Conceptual: contains conceptual works oriented to: (1) review models of strategy instruction and tailor a hybrid strategy; (2) unveil second-order judgments and define a method to assess metacognitive judgments; (3) introduces a conceptual model to describe the metacognitive activity as an autopoietic system. ·     Framework: offers three works concerned with: (4) stimulate metacognitive skills and self-regulatory functions; (5) evaluate metacognitive skills and self-regulated learning at problem solving; (6) deal with executive management metacognition and strategic knowledge metacognition. ·     Studies: r...

ANALYSIS OF CURRENT STATE AND FUTURE TRENDS OF AUTO PARTS MANUFACTURING SECTOR IN ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DANIELA MIHAI

2012-10-01

Full Text Available In the economy of any country, the auto parts manufacturing sector holds an important percentage in the national automotive industry. The dynamics of sales within it can vary significantly on short term, depending on the automotive market trend. This is also the case of the current situation in Romania, where the effect of the regressive automotive sales evolution will propagate, most probably, with a significant delay for the companies involved in production and trade of auto parts (for both first-assembly manufacture and car maintenance and repair. The statistical data indicate that even though the total volume of vehicles delivered decreased with 7.4% in 2011 as compared to 2010, the total turnover of the companies in the automotive industry increased with 7.8%. The apparent paradox is explained in the present article through the particularities of the demand for spare parts intended for the rolling stock in operation and through the effective organization of the distribution system.

Consumption metrics of chardonnay wine consumers in Australia

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Saliba AJ

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Anthony J Saliba,1 Johan Bruwer,2 Jasmine B MacDonald1 1School of Psychology, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW, 2School of Marketing, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia Abstract: There is a dearth of information in the knowledge base about who the chardonnay consumer is, what their wine-consumption metrics are, what sensory characteristics they associate chardonnay with, and who influenced their perceptions. This study examines the consumer engagement with chardonnay, and contributes evidence-based research to inform future wine-business strategy. A population sample was recruited to be representative of Australian consumers. An online survey of 2,024 Australian wine consumers was conducted, 1,533 (76% of whom actually consumed chardonnay. This paper focuses only on those who consumed chardonnay. Males purchased and consumed larger quantities of chardonnay, although marginally more females consumed it. Chardonnay is considered to be characterized by full, lingering, and fruity flavors, as well as yellow color. Chardonnay is associated with dinner parties and at-home consumption. The vast majority of participants liked and had a positive perception of chardonnay. The target market for chardonnay is not only females; in fact, males appear to be the main consumers of this varietal by volume. Marketing and promotion campaigns should leverage the findings to retain current and win back other consumers. This is the first research to provide empirical explanations of consumer engagement with chardonnay, and to contribute evidence-based research in this regard.Keywords: chardonnay, consumer behavior, wine style, wine consumption, Australia

Current status of information transfer activity on food irradiation and consumer attitudes in Japan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Furuta, Masakazu E-mail: mfuruta@riast.osakafu-u.ac.jp

2004-10-01

For the purpose of public education of radiation and radiation-related technology towards school kids and their parents through efficient information transfer, 'RADIATION FAIR - the relationship between daily life and radiation' has been successfully held at Kintetsu Department Store, one of the major departmental stores in downtown Osaka, the second largest city in Japan during summer vacation in every August for 19 years. Currently various irradiated products available in our daily life including irradiated potatoes and spices were displayed together with explanatory panels and attractions. The number of participants has increased every year and constantly exceeded 20,000 in recent years. This activity has become a good medium for the consumer to recognize the quality of the irradiated potatoes which has been distributed in the market since 1974, and irradiated spices, the next candidate for the clearance under examination by Japanese government. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have demonstrated toward the participants that irradiation-decontaminated spices are superior to conventional heat-treated ones in aromatic quality as well as conducting survey of the visitor's feeling on radiation and irradiated foods. These activities would be potentially effective to facilitate public acceptance of irradiation decontamination of spices.

Consumer Perception of Genetically Modified Organisms and Sources of Information123

Science.gov (United States)

Wunderlich, Shahla; Gatto, Kelsey A

2015-01-01

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been available for commercial purchase since the 1990s, allowing producers to increase crop yields through bioengineering that creates herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant varieties. However, consumer knowledge about GMOs has not increased at the same rate as the adoption of GMO crops. Consumers worldwide are displaying limited understanding, misconceptions, and even unfamiliarity with GMO food products. Many consumers report that they receive information about GMO food products from the media, Internet, and other news sources. These sources may be less reliable than scientific experts whom consumers trust more to present the facts. Although many in the United States support mandatory GMO labeling (similar to current European standards), consumer awareness of current GMO labeling is low. A distinction must also be made between GMO familiarity and scientific understanding, because those who are more familiar with it tend to be more resistant to bioengineering, whereas those with higher scientific knowledge scores tend to have less negative attitudes toward GMOs. This brings to question the relation between scientific literacy, sources of information, and overall consumer knowledge and perception of GMO foods. PMID:26567205

CURRENT TRENDS AND PROSPECTS OF THE RUSSIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY AND THE FOREIGN EXPERIENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. A. Mamedyarov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: the purpose of this article is to study the current state of the pharmaceutical industry in Russia, to identify trends in Russian pharmaceutical market, and to provide preliminary analysis of the state support policy for pharmaceuticals in Russia, focusing on the federal target program "Pharma-2020".Methods: the study is based on a quantitative study of the characteristics and trends of the Russian pharmaceutical market. The emphasis was put on the period 2008–2017. The volume of the market, the structure of imports and exports are considered, and expenditures under the federal program "Pharma-2020" are studied. A qualitative comparative comparison with the tendencies of the global development of the industry is conducted and recommendations are made on further stimulating the growth of the pharma industry in Russia.Results: in the past 5 years, the pharmaceutical industry in Russia did receive special attention from the government, significant funds have been allocated for to support domestic producers, and import substitution policies have been launched. Financial results of the industry show slight improvement in a number of indicators: the market share of domestic medicines is growing, the generics production increased, production standards became tighter controlled. Nevertheless, Russia remains on the periphery of the world pharmaceutical science, import retains two thirds of the market share by value, while innovative novel drugs are now launched primarily by MNEs from the US and the EU.Conclusions and relevance: the challenges and development factors of Russia's pharmaceutical industry identified in this research require effective regulatory tools. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the gap between Russia and the developed countries in the R&D standards and their market implementation. Statistical data has showed the progress in the production of drugs from the VED list (Vital and Essential Drugs, but it is necessary to

Convenience food with environmentally-sustainable attributes: A consumer perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Stranieri, Stefanella; Ricci, Elena Claire; Banterle, Alessandro

2017-09-01

The use of chemicals in agriculture poses risks on both human health and the environment. Regulatory measures, both mandatory and voluntary, have been introduced to promote a reduction in the use of pesticides. The proliferation of such standards is related to the gradual shift of consumer preferences towards food with reduced negative health and environmental impacts. Beside consumer demand for sustainable food products, convenience food is also assuming an increasingly important role in developed countries. Among such products, minimally-processed vegetables are showing a growing positive trend, but their production has also negative effects on the environment. The goal of this study is to investigate the interaction between environmentally-friendly and healthy convenience food, and to investigate the determinants behind the purchase of healthy convenience food products with environmentally-sustainable attributes, focusing on minimally-processed vegetables labelled with voluntary standards related to integrated agriculture. To do so, we started from the Theory of Planned Behaviour and tested the efficacy of an extended model by considering also other variables which were found to affect significantly food choices. Data were collected by means of face-to-face interviews with 550 consumers in charge of grocery shopping in the metropolitan area of Milan, in northern Italy. Structural equation modelling was performed to analyse the relative importance of the constructs on consumer behaviour. Results confirm the relations of Ajzen's theory and reveal positive relations with consumer food shopping habits, food-related environmental behaviour, gender, income and knowledge. A negative relation with agricultural practices concern also emerges, highlighting that the most concerned consumers may prefer other more stringent environmental certifications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

OpenAIRE

Ilie BUDICA; Silvia PUIU; Bogdan Andrei BUDICA

2010-01-01

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as: the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives; the psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment; the behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marke...

Increasing Trends in the Consumption of Fast-Foods in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper therefore examined the increase in the trend of consumption of fast food, the factors that lead to the increase and the effect it could have on the people. While calling for health education intervention on educating thepeople on how to reduce the amount of fat in the foods they consumed so that the nation would ...

Consumer demands: Major problems facing industry in a consumer-driven society.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, G

1994-01-01

Demand is driven by conventional market forces over much of the world among consumers with strong positive attitudes to meat as a nutritious, tasty and premium food; price in relation to income, availability, quality (including leanness) and relevance to life-style remain the dominant forces operating. But in the developed world, there are emerging concerns about how meat is produced, which are likely to have negative effects on demand, particularly that of the current younger generation, and which may well begin to affect Government policies towards the meat industry. The industry needs to establish strong information and education programmes, but also to examine its procedures to provide greater consumer assurance about practises and controls. Also the scientists and technologists serving the industry need to help it move towards sustainable lower input, less environmentally damaging systems, less reliance on drugs, stimulants and additives, sensitive exploitation of the new genetics and with more consideration for the animals involved. Copyright © 1993. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Medical Management of Uveitis ? Current Trends

OpenAIRE

Babu, Kalpana; Mahendradas, Padmamalini

2013-01-01

Uveitis is a challenging disease to treat. Corticosteroids have been used in the treatment of uveitis for many years. Immunosuppressives are gaining momentum in recent years in the treatment of uveitis. In this article we present an overview of current treatment of uveitis and the major breakthroughs and advances in drugs and ocular drug delivery systems in the treatment of uveitis.

Current account dynamics with rule of thumb consumers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo M. Pereira

2011-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper the idea of rule of thumb consumption, in which some households do not behave according to the Permanent Income Hypothesis, is applied to a small open economy framework. A model of current account with rule of thumb individuals and habit formation is presented and estimated for five different countries. Two parameters of the model are of particular interest: the share of domestic income that accrues to rule of thumb individuals and the coefficient of habit formation. Using current account data, the results obtained here support the view that rule of thumb behavior plays a major role in the economy. Moreover, the estimated habit formation coefficients are mostly small and nonsignificant.

Consumer acceptance of irradiated poultry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashim, I.B.; Resurreccion, A.V.A.; McWatters, K.H.

1995-01-01

A simulated supermarket setting (SSS) test was conducted to determine whether consumers (n = 126) would purchase irradiated poultry products, and the effects of marketing strategies on consumer purchase of irradiated poultry products. Consumer preference for irradiated poultry was likewise determined using a home-use test. A slide program was the most effective educational strategy in changing consumers' purchase behavior. The number of participants who purchased irradiated boneless, skinless breasts and irradiated thighs after the educational program increased significantly from 59.5 and 61.9% to 83.3 and 85.7% for the breasts and thighs, respectively. Using a label or poster did not increase the number of participants who bought irradiated poultry products. About 84% of the participants consider it either 'somewhat necessary' or 'very necessary' to irradiate raw chicken and would like all chicken that was served in restaurants or fast food places to be irradiated. Fifty-eight percent of the participants would always buy irradiated chicken if available, and an additional 27% would buy it sometimes. About 44% of the participants were willing to pay the same price for irradiated chicken as for nonirradiated. About 42% of participants were willing to pay 5% or more than what they were currently paying for nonirradiated chicken. Seventy-three percent or more of consumers who participated in the home-use test (n = 74) gave the color, appearance, and aroma of the raw poultry products a minimum rating of 7 (= like moderately). After consumers participated in a home-use test, 84 and 88% selected irradiated thighs and breasts, respectively, over nonirradiated in a second SSS test

Consumer acceptance of irradiated poultry.

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, I B; Resurreccion, A V; McWatters, K H

1995-08-01

A simulated supermarket setting (SSS) test was conducted to determine whether consumers (n = 126) would purchase irradiated poultry products, and the effects of marketing strategies on consumer purchase of irradiated poultry products. Consumer preference for irradiated poultry was likewise determined using a home-use test. A slide program was the most effective educational strategy in changing consumers' purchase behavior. The number of participants who purchased irradiated boneless, skinless breasts and irradiated thighs after the educational program increased significantly from 59.5 and 61.9% to 83.3 and 85.7% for the breasts and thighs, respectively. Using a label or poster did not increase the number of participants who bought irradiated poultry products. About 84% of the participants consider it either "somewhat necessary" or "very necessary" to irradiate raw chicken and would like all chicken that was served in restaurants or fast food places to be irradiated. Fifty-eight percent of the participants would always buy irradiated chicken if available, and an additional 27% would buy it sometimes. About 44% of the participants were willing to pay the same price for irradiated chicken as for nonirradiated. About 42% of participants were willing to pay 5% or more than what they were currently paying for nonirradiated chicken. Seventy-three percent or more of consumers who participated in the home-use test (n = 74) gave the color, appearance, and aroma of the raw poultry products a minimum rating of 7 (= like moderately). After consumers participated in a home-use test, 84 and 88% selected irradiated thighs and breasts, respectively, over nonirradiated in a second SSS test.

THE INFLUENCE OF PRICES AND INCOME ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR OF THE POPULATION. THE CASE OF ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anghelina Andrei

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The recession influenced the consummers in their biggest concern – their income. In the same time the recession changed some important trends in consume. In this paperwork the authors intend to determine how strong the influence of prices and incomes of the population is on the consumer behavior, especially in Romania. Also the author want to present the case study of Romania concerning the recession of economy and some new aspects of consumer behavior. There is a strong conexion between the income and consume and the time of recession show it in the best way. In this way the author did some research on the market and by some analyses in a statistical editor we conclude that there is a strong determination in the consumer behavior by the income of the population especially in Romania, a country with a developing economy.

Trends in Mobile Application Development

Science.gov (United States)

Holzer, Adrian; Ondrus, Jan

Major software companies, such as Apple and Google, are disturbing the relatively safe and established actors of the mobile application business. These newcomers have caused significant structural changes by imposing and enforcing their own rules for the future of mobile application development. The implications of these changes do not only concern the mobile network operators and mobile phone manufacturers. This changed environment also brings additional opportunities and constraints for current mobile application developers. Therefore, developers need to assess what their options are and how they can take advantages of these current trends. In this paper, we take a developer’s perspective in order to explore how the structural changes will influence the mobile application development markets. Moreover, we discuss what aspects developers need to take into account in order to position themselves within the current trends.