Fast-food consumers in Singapore: demographic profile, diet quality and weight status.
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.
Valls, Rosa-Maria; Soler, Aranzazu; Girona, Josefa; Heras, Mercedes; Romero, Maria-Paz; Covas, Maria-Isabel; Solà, Rosa; Masana, Lluis; Motilva, Maria-Jose
2010-09-21
The effect of repeated consumption of virgin olive oil on endogenous phenolic metabolites of fasting plasma is unknown. For this reason, we hypothesized that regular long-term virgin olive oil intake could have an indirect protection effect on the endogenous phenols. Thus, the aim of the study was to determine the phenolic profile of human plasma in a fasting state of long-term regular virgin olive oil consumers, using the fasting plasma of non-consumers as a natural control. Forty participants living in the area of Reus (Catalonia, Spain) were selected, 20 life-long regular consumers of virgin olive oil and a natural control of 20 non-consumers, the latter being Rumanians who dislike the taste of olive oil. The diet was obtained from 3-day food records. The results showed similar phenolic composition of fasting plasmas of the two volunteer groups. Of special interest is that more of the compounds quantified showed higher concentration in fasting plasma from habitual virgin olive oil consumers. The compounds were semi-quantified using caffeic acid as the calibration standard. The quantification of fasting consumer's plasma showed higher concentration of a hydroxyflavanone type compound (2.90+/-0.04 microM vs 1.5+/-0.04 microM) and a catecholamine derivative (0.70+/-0.03 microM vs 0.56+/-0.03 microM) than the plasma of non-consumers (P<0.05). The results suggest an indirect protective mechanism of long-term regular virgin olive oil consumption related to the protection of the endogenous antioxidant system. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Preference mapping of lemon lime carbonated beverages with regular and diet beverage consumers.
Leksrisompong, P P; Lopetcharat, K; Guthrie, B; Drake, M A
2013-02-01
The drivers of liking of lemon-lime carbonated beverages were investigated with regular and diet beverage consumers. Ten beverages were selected from a category survey of commercial beverages using a D-optimal procedure. Beverages were subjected to consumer testing (n = 101 regular beverage consumers, n = 100 diet beverage consumers). Segmentation of consumers was performed on overall liking scores followed by external preference mapping of selected samples. Diet beverage consumers liked 2 diet beverages more than regular beverage consumers. There were no differences in the overall liking scores between diet and regular beverage consumers for other products except for a sparkling beverage sweetened with juice which was more liked by regular beverage consumers. Three subtle but distinct consumer preference clusters were identified. Two segments had evenly distributed diet and regular beverage consumers but one segment had a greater percentage of regular beverage consumers (P beverage consumers) did not have a large impact on carbonated beverage liking. Instead, mouthfeel attributes were major drivers of liking when these beverages were tested in a blind tasting. Preference mapping of lemon-lime carbonated beverage with diet and regular beverage consumers allowed the determination of drivers of liking of both populations. The understanding of how mouthfeel attributes, aromatics, and basic tastes impact liking or disliking of products was achieved. Preference drivers established in this study provide product developers of carbonated lemon-lime beverages with additional information to develop beverages that may be suitable for different groups of consumers. © 2013 Institute of Food Technologists®
Fast regularizing sequential subspace optimization in Banach spaces
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Schöpfer, F; Schuster, T
2009-01-01
We are concerned with fast computations of regularized solutions of linear operator equations in Banach spaces in case only noisy data are available. To this end we modify recently developed sequential subspace optimization methods in such a way that the therein employed Bregman projections onto hyperplanes are replaced by Bregman projections onto stripes whose width is in the order of the noise level
Valorisation of menu labelling at fast food restaurants: exploring consumer perceptions
Luis Miguel Cunha; Ana Pinto de Moura; Rui Costa Lima; Ana Frias
2011-01-01
The present study aimed to investigate Portuguese consumers' interestfor the provision of nutrition information at fast food restaurants and reactionsto alternative presentations of this information. Four focus groups, with 5 to8 consumers, were conducted in which participants were asked to look at threemock fast food restaurant menus that varied with respect to whether calorieinformation was provided and whether small portions and salads were available.Participants also discussed about fast ...
Food safety concerns of fast food consumers in urban Ghana.
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.
Musaiger, Abdulrahman O
2014-07-15
This study aimed to investigate gender differences in the fast food intake, health attitudes, and perceptions of fast food among adult Arab consumers aged 19 to 65 years in Kuwait. A total of 499 consumers (252 males, 247 females) were selected at convenience from three shopping malls in Kuwait City. The consumers were interviewed using a specially designed questionnaire. The findings revealed that men were more frequently consumed fast food than women (p fast food harmful to health. However, the consumers were continued to intake fast food (92%), indicating that health information on fast food not necessarly affects their consumption. Local foods were more likely to be considered fast food if eaten as a sandwich or without a disposal container. It can be concluded that fast food perceptions are influenced by gender, media and socio-cultural factors. Nutrition education programmes should focus on nutritive values of the foods rather than on their "fast food" classification.
Diet-consumer nitrogen isotope fractionation for prolonged fasting arthropods.
Mizota, Chitoshi; Yamanaka, Toshiro
2011-12-01
Nitrogen acquisition for cellular metabolism during diapause is a primary concern for herbivorous arthropods. Analyses of naturally occurring stable isotopes of nitrogen help elucidate the mechanism. Relevant articles have cited (58 times up to mid-June 2011) anomalously elevated δ(15)N (per mil deviation of (15)N/(14)N, relative to atmospheric nitrogen=0 ‰) values (diet-consumer nitrogen isotope fractionation; up to 12 ‰) for a prolonged fasting raspberry beetle (Byturus tomentosus Degeer (Coleoptera: Byturidae)), which feeds on red raspberries (Rubus idaeus: δ(15)N= ~ +2 ‰). Biologists have hypothesised that extensive recycling of amino acid nitrogen is responsible for the prolonged fasting. Since this hypothesis was proposed in 1995, scientists have integrated biochemical and molecular knowledge to support the mechanism of prolonged diapausing of animals. To test the validity of the recycling hypothesis, we analysed tissue nitrogen isotope ratios for four Japanese arthropods: the shield bug Parastrachia japonensis Scott (Hemiptera: Cydnidae), the burrower bug Canthophorus niveimarginatus Scott (Hemiptera: Cydnidae), leaf beetle Gastrophysa atrocyanea Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and the Japanese oak silkworm Antheraea yamamai (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), all of which fast for more than 6 months as part of their life-history strategy. Resulting diet-consumer nitrogen isotope discrimination during fasting ranged from 0 to 7‰, as in many commonly known terrestrial arthropods. We conclude that prolonged fasting of arthropods does not always result in anomalous diet-consumer nitrogen isotope fractionation, since the recycling process is closed or nearly closed with respect to nitrogen isotopes.
Sodium in commonly consumed fast foods in New Zealand: a public health opportunity.
Prentice, Celia A; Smith, Claire; McLean, Rachael M
2016-04-01
(i) To determine the Na content of commonly consumed fast foods in New Zealand and (ii) to estimate Na intake from savoury fast foods for the New Zealand adult population. Commonly consumed fast foods were identified from the 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey. Na values from all savoury fast foods from chain restaurants (n 471) were obtained from nutrition information on company websites, while the twelve most popular fast-food types from independent outlets (n 52) were determined using laboratory analysis. Results were compared with the UK Food Standards Agency 2012 sodium targets. Nutrient analysis was completed to estimate Na intake from savoury fast foods for the New Zealand population using the 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey. New Zealand. Adults aged 15 years and above. From chain restaurants, sauces/salad dressings and fried chicken had the highest Na content (per 100 g) and from independent outlets, sausage rolls, battered hotdogs and mince and cheese pies were highest in Na (per 100 g). The majority of fast foods exceeded the UK Food Standards Agency 2012 sodium targets. The mean daily Na intake from savoury fast foods was 283 mg/d for the total adult population and 1229 mg/d for fast-food consumers. Taking into account the Na content and frequency of consumption, potato dishes, filled rolls, hamburgers and battered fish contributed substantially to Na intake for fast-food consumers in New Zealand. These foods should be targeted for Na reduction reformulation.
Musaiger, Abdulrahman O.
2014-01-01
This study aimed to investigate gender differences in the fast food intake, health attitudes, and perceptions of fast food among adult Arab consumers aged 19 to 65 years in Kuwait. A total of 499 consumers (252 males, 247 females) were selected at convenience from three shopping malls in Kuwait City. The consumers were interviewed using a specially designed questionnaire. The findings revealed that men were more frequently consumed fast food than women (p < 0.001). Men were significantly more...
Consumer estimation of recommended and actual calories at fast food restaurants.
Elbel, Brian
2011-10-01
Recently, localities across the United States have passed laws requiring the mandatory labeling of calories in all chain restaurants, including fast food restaurants. This policy is set to be implemented at the federal level. Early studies have found these policies to be at best minimally effective in altering food choice at a population level. This paper uses receipt and survey data collected from consumers outside fast food restaurants in low-income communities in New York City (NYC) (which implemented labeling) and a comparison community (which did not) to examine two fundamental assumptions necessary (though not sufficient) for calorie labeling to be effective: that consumers know how many calories they should be eating throughout the course of a day and that currently customers improperly estimate the number of calories in their fast food order. Then, we examine whether mandatory menu labeling influences either of these assumptions. We find that approximately one-third of consumers properly estimate that the number of calories an adult should consume daily. Few (8% on average) believe adults should be eating over 2,500 calories daily, and approximately one-third believe adults should eat lesser than 1,500 calories daily. Mandatory labeling in NYC did not change these findings. However, labeling did increase the number of low-income consumers who correctly estimated (within 100 calories) the number of calories in their fast food meal, from 15% before labeling in NYC increasing to 24% after labeling. Overall knowledge remains low even with labeling. Additional public policies likely need to be considered to influence obesity on a large scale.
Factors Influencing Store Selection for Supply with Fast-Moving Consumer Goods
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Albana Berisha Qehaja
2015-12-01
Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion on factors that influence store selection for supply with fast-moving consumer goods. We have surveyed 90 households in the Republic of Kosovo. We have decided to undertake this research seeing in one hand ‘competitive struggle’ which is being developed among the largest retail chains of fast-moving consumer goods, and, on the other hand, the created ‘situation’ for traditional stores as a result of the expansion of these retailers. This study also aims to highlight factors that consumers consider in order to improve the performance of these businesses. We have proposed that the opening of hypermarkets in Kosovo has affected negatively on traditional stores’ turnover. We have also proposed that the most influential factors in customers in the selection of stores where they will be supplied with fast-moving consumer goods are the rich store offering, good customer service and good staff behaviour. We have also proposed that the factors affecting the selection of hypermarket/store for supplying are closely related to the factors that affect customer dissatisfaction that leads to the change of hypermarket/ store. The results of this empirical study are consistent with the hypothesis set out in the paper.
PRIFIRA: General regularization using prior-conditioning for fast radio interferometric imaging†
Naghibzadeh, Shahrzad; van der Veen, Alle-Jan
2018-06-01
Image formation in radio astronomy is a large-scale inverse problem that is inherently ill-posed. We present a general algorithmic framework based on a Bayesian-inspired regularized maximum likelihood formulation of the radio astronomical imaging problem with a focus on diffuse emission recovery from limited noisy correlation data. The algorithm is dubbed PRIor-conditioned Fast Iterative Radio Astronomy (PRIFIRA) and is based on a direct embodiment of the regularization operator into the system by right preconditioning. The resulting system is then solved using an iterative method based on projections onto Krylov subspaces. We motivate the use of a beamformed image (which includes the classical "dirty image") as an efficient prior-conditioner. Iterative reweighting schemes generalize the algorithmic framework and can account for different regularization operators that encourage sparsity of the solution. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated based on simulated one- and two-dimensional array arrangements as well as actual data from the core stations of the Low Frequency Array radio telescope antenna configuration, and compared to state-of-the-art imaging techniques. We show the generality of the proposed method in terms of regularization schemes while maintaining a competitive reconstruction quality with the current reconstruction techniques. Furthermore, we show that exploiting Krylov subspace methods together with the proper noise-based stopping criteria results in a great improvement in imaging efficiency.
Why eat at fast-food restaurants: reported reasons among frequent consumers.
Rydell, Sarah A; Harnack, Lisa J; Oakes, J Michael; Story, Mary; Jeffery, Robert W; French, Simone A
2008-12-01
A convenience sample of adolescents and adults who regularly eat at fast-food restaurants were recruited to participate in an experimental trial to examine the effect of nutrition labeling on meal choices. As part of this study, participants were asked to indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with 11 statements to assess reasons for eating at fast-food restaurants. Logistic regression was conducted to examine whether responses differed by demographic factors. The most frequently reported reasons for eating at fast-food restaurants were: fast food is quick (92%), restaurants are easy to get to (80%), and food tastes good (69%). The least frequently reported reasons were: eating fast food is a way of socializing with family and friends (33%), restaurants have nutritious foods to offer (21%), and restaurants are fun and entertaining (12%). Some differences were found with respect to the demographic factors examined. It appears that in order to reduce fast-food consumption, food and nutrition professionals need to identify alternative quick and convenient food sources. As motivation for eating at fast-food restaurants appears to differ somewhat by age, sex, education, employment status, and household size, tailored interventions could be considered.
Consumer Estimation of Recommended and Actual Calories at Fast Food Restaurants
Elbel, Brian
2011-01-01
Recently, localities across the United States have passed laws requiring the mandatory labeling of calories in all chain restaurants, including fast food restaurants. This policy is set to be implemented at the federal level. Early studies have found these policies to be at best minimally effective in altering food choice at a population level. This paper uses receipt and survey data collected from consumers outside fast food restaurants in low-income communities in New York City (NYC) (which...
The effect of cannabis on regular cannabis consumers' ability to ride a bicycle.
Hartung, Benno; Schwender, Holger; Roth, Eckhard H; Hellen, Florence; Mindiashvili, Nona; Rickert, Annette; Ritz-Timme, Stefanie; Grieser, Almut; Monticelli, Fabio; Daldrup, Thomas
2016-05-01
To assess the effects of cannabis on the ability required to ride a bicycle, repetitive practical cycling tests and medical examinations were carried out before and after inhalative consumption of cannabis. A maximum of three joints with body weight-adapted THC content (300 μg THC per kg body weight) could be consumed by each test subject. Fourteen regular cannabis-consuming test subjects were studied (12 males, 2 females). In summary, only a few driving faults were observed even under the influence of very high THC concentrations. A defined THC concentration that leads to an inability to ride a bicycle cannot be presented. The test subjects showed only slight distinctive features that can be documented using a medical test routinely run for persons under suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Hesford, Andrew J.; Waag, Robert C.
2010-10-01
The fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to the solution of large-scale, three-dimensional acoustic scattering problems involving inhomogeneous objects defined on a regular grid. The grid arrangement is especially well suited to applications in which the scattering geometry is not known a priori and is reconstructed on a regular grid using iterative inverse scattering algorithms or other imaging techniques. The regular structure of unknown scattering elements facilitates a dramatic reduction in the amount of storage and computation required for the FMM, both of which scale linearly with the number of scattering elements. In particular, the use of fast Fourier transforms to compute Green's function convolutions required for neighboring interactions lowers the often-significant cost of finest-level FMM computations and helps mitigate the dependence of FMM cost on finest-level box size. Numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the composite method as the number of scattering elements in each finest-level box is increased.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Roya Seighali
2017-03-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Obesity is a complex health problem. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of regular walking with alternate day fasting (ADF on health-related factors of overweight and obese females. Methods: 30 healthy inactive, overweight and obese women were divided randomly into three equal groups. The groups were: control group (BMI: 30.72±4.40 kg/m2; the experimental group I: ADF along with regular walking with 50% to 65% maximal heart rate (BMI: 28.69 ±2.81 kg/m2 and the experimental group II: ADF (BMI: 30.56 ±3.66 kg/m2. Participants were under the diet for six weeks. The diet ADF means that, they had days of fasting and free day (with regular walking, alternately. Two days before and two days after the end of the study, the participants’ fasting blood sugar were measured after 12 hours. Resting heart rate, blood pressure and body composition were assessed in the same day. The collected data were analyzed using paired t-test and ANOVA test. Results: Body mass index in both experimental groups had significant decrease (P
Individual Differences in Consumer Buying Patterns: A Behavioral Economic Analysis
Cavalcanti, Paulo R.; Oliveira-Castro, Jorge M.; Foxall, Gordon R.
2013-01-01
Although previous studies have identified several regularities in buying behavior, no integrated view of individual differences related to such patterns has been yet proposed. The present research examined individual differences in patterns of buying behavior of fast-moving consumer goods, using panel data with information concerning purchases of…
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Melanie Gopaul
2015-10-01
Full Text Available Changes in consumer lifestyle patterns have had a great impact on the fast-food industry worldwide and the demand for heathier food has forced such a growing industry to offer more alternatives to cater for these consumers. Many fast-food outlets have introduced healthier food options to their menus. However, there seems to be a common perception among consumers that healthier food options are more expensive. The primary research aim that pended from the literature was therefore to determine South African consumers’ level of satisfaction with the price and value of the healthier food options available at fast-food outlets. The results may assist fast-food outlets in adjusting their pricing strategy and offering consumers better value for money. A mixed method approach was used to collect data whereby self-administered questionnaires comprising of closed-ended, open-ended and scaled response questions were distributed to respondents. The findings indicated a low level of satisfaction among South African consumers’ with the price and value of healthier options offered at fast-food outlet
Social Media Marketing in Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry
Huber, Markus
2014-01-01
The aim of this master thesis is to analyze the social media engagement of the FMCGs (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in Austria. The used methodologies are literature studies, Internet searches as well as internal data evaluations of the FMCG clients of a marketing agency. The thesis analyses selected key success factors on Social Media focusing on facebook, evaluates their development in the monitored period, and recommends main possibilities of future measures aiming on reaching an improvement...
Attwood, A S; Higgs, S; Terry, P
2007-03-01
Individual differences in responsiveness to caffeine occur even within a caffeine-consuming population, but the factors that mediate differential responsiveness remain unclear. To compare caffeine's effects on performance and mood in a group of high vs moderate consumers of caffeine and to examine the potential role of subjective awareness of the effects of caffeine in mediating any differential responsiveness. Two groups of regular caffeine consumers (200 mg/day) attended two sessions at which mood and cognitive functions were measured before and 30 min after consumption of 400-mg caffeine or placebo in a capsule. Cognitive tests included visual information processing, match-to-sample visual search (MTS) and simple and choice reaction times. Post-session questionnaires asked participants to describe any perceived effect of capsule consumption. High consumers, but not moderate consumers, demonstrated significantly faster simple and choice reaction times after caffeine relative to placebo. These effects were not attributable to obvious group differences in withdrawal or tolerance because there were no group differences in baseline mood or in reports of negative affect after caffeine. Instead, the high consumers were more likely to report experiencing positive effects of caffeine, whereas the moderate consumers were more likely to report no effect. The sensitivity of caffeine consumers to the mood- and performance-enhancing effects of caffeine is related to their levels of habitual intake. High caffeine consumers are more likely than moderate consumers to perceive broadly positive effects of caffeine, and this may contribute to their levels of use.
Fast and compact regular expression matching
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bille, Philip; Farach-Colton, Martin
2008-01-01
We study 4 problems in string matching, namely, regular expression matching, approximate regular expression matching, string edit distance, and subsequence indexing, on a standard word RAM model of computation that allows logarithmic-sized words to be manipulated in constant time. We show how...... to improve the space and/or remove a dependency on the alphabet size for each problem using either an improved tabulation technique of an existing algorithm or by combining known algorithms in a new way....
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sugandha Agarwal
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The global markets have witnessed major shifts in the consumers’ behavior that have been much influenced by the change of technology, innovation, research and development. The consumer’s needs thus dynamically change in order to respond to the change in the social and business environment. The corporate and business strategies of companies thus being developed in the light of capitalizing the potential from the markets but however, how the customers would react to the products and services of companies in new and existing markets remain the major question. Customers belonging to different age groups flock towards these outlets to satisfy their taste buds and hedonistic needs. Out of all the age groups, the youngsters are considered to be the primary target by the fast food service industry. Hence, these fast food services try to lure its customers through sensory appeals. It is well known that organized fast food services have already made their presence felt in a big way in almost all the major cities of India. The fast food outlets attract customers with their blend of tasty food, Quality of food served, efficient service, the appearance of staff, décor, general excitement a place generates and other aesthetic appeals. Organized as well as unorganized fast food service is a very fast growing industry in India especially in urban areas. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that are influencing consumer behavior towards fast food joints present in unorganised form in India. It further aims to examine major growth drivers of fast food services in the market and the demographic profile of consumers of fast food services. This study aims to analyze that amount spent per visit to a fast food joint relates to the occupations and the income of customers. And the frequency of visiting fast food joints and preparation served at fast food joints are whether influenced by the dietary preference of customers. Organizations must
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Costa, Ana I. A.
Recent meta-analysis of the impact of market-orientation on business performance yielded a significant positive correlation between market-orientation and new product performance (.35) and innovativeness (.45) (Kirca, Jayachandran & O'Bearden, 2005) Behavioral perspective of market-orientation: a......Recent meta-analysis of the impact of market-orientation on business performance yielded a significant positive correlation between market-orientation and new product performance (.35) and innovativeness (.45) (Kirca, Jayachandran & O'Bearden, 2005) Behavioral perspective of market......-orientation: a set of organizational activities that are related to the generation and dissemination of and responsiveness to market intelligence (Kohli, Jaworski & Kumar, 1993) Market-orientation comprises three behavioral components - customer-orientation, competitor-orientation and inter-functional coordination...... and innovativeness across different types of FMCG manufacturers? One way of approaching these questions in the context of innovation in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry is to apply the concept of consumer-led new product development. Consumer-led product development was introduced in the early 90's...
Influence of Brand Loyalty on Fast Food Industry - Consumer buying behavior of India.
Tandon, Manav
2012-01-01
The purpose of this research is to examine how consumers are influenced by factors of brand loyalty towards fast food brands. The research was conducted in Delhi with Indian consumers. People who filled the questionnaire are adults who are working or are looking for job. This research was adopted based on seven factor of brand loyalty. The seven factors of brand loyalty are brand name, product quality, price, style, promotion, and service quality and restaurant environment. Brand name has sho...
Nutrition labeling and value size pricing at fast-food restaurants: a consumer perspective.
O'Dougherty, Maureen; Harnack, Lisa J; French, Simone A; Story, Mary; Oakes, J Michael; Jeffery, Robert W
2006-01-01
This pilot study examined nutrition-related attitudes that may affect food choices at fast-food restaurants, including consumer attitudes toward nutrition labeling of fast foods and elimination of value size pricing. A convenience sample of 79 fast-food restaurant patrons aged 16 and above (78.5% white, 55% female, mean age 41.2 [17.1]) selected meals from fast-food restaurant menus that varied as to whether nutrition information was provided and value pricing included and completed a survey and interview on nutrition-related attitudes. Only 57.9% of participants rated nutrition as important when buying fast food. Almost two thirds (62%) supported a law requiring nutrition labeling on restaurant menus. One third (34%) supported a law requiring restaurants to offer lower prices on smaller instead of bigger-sized portions. This convenience sample of fast-food patrons supported nutrition labels on menus. More research is needed with larger samples on whether point-of-purchase nutrition labeling at fast-food restaurants raises perceived importance of nutrition when eating out.
Proximity to Fast-Food Outlets and Supermarkets as Predictors of Fast-Food Dining Frequency.
Athens, Jessica K; Duncan, Dustin T; Elbel, Brian
2016-08-01
This study used cross-sectional data to test the independent relationship of proximity to chain fast-food outlets and proximity to full-service supermarkets on the frequency of mealtime dining at fast-food outlets in two major urban areas, using three approaches to define access. Interactions between presence of a supermarket and presence of fast-food outlets as predictors of fast-food dining were also tested. Residential intersections for respondents in point-of-purchase and random-digit-dial telephone surveys of adults in Philadelphia, PA, and Baltimore, MD, were geocoded. The count of fast-food outlets and supermarkets within quarter-mile, half-mile, and 1-mile street network buffers around each respondent's intersection was calculated, as well as distance to the nearest fast-food outlet and supermarket. These variables were regressed on weekly fast-food dining frequency to determine whether proximity to fast food and supermarkets had independent and joint effects on fast-food dining. The effect of access to supermarkets and chain fast-food outlets varied by study population. Among telephone survey respondents, supermarket access was the only significant predictor of fast-food dining frequency. Point-of-purchase respondents were generally unaffected by proximity to either supermarkets or fast-food outlets. However, ≥1 fast-food outlet within a 1-mile buffer was an independent predictor of consuming more fast-food meals among point-of-purchase respondents. At the quarter-mile distance, ≥1 supermarket was predictive of fewer fast-food meals. Supermarket access was associated with less fast-food dining among telephone respondents, whereas access to fast-food outlets were associated with more fast-food visits among survey respondents identified at point-of-purchase. This study adds to the existing literature on geographic determinants of fast-food dining behavior among urban adults in the general population and those who regularly consume fast food. Copyright
Smith, Claire; Gray, Andrew Robert; Fleming, Elizabeth Ann; Parnell, Winsome Ruth
2014-10-01
To investigate: (i) the percentage of the New Zealand (NZ) population reporting fast food/takeaway food and restaurant/café food per day; (ii) examine demographic factors associated with their use; (iii) quantify their contribution to energy intake; and (iv) describe the specific types of foods reported from both sources. Twenty-four hour diet recalls from the cross-sectional 2008/09 NZ Adult Nutrition Survey were used to identify fast-food and restaurant-food consumers. NZ households. Adults aged 15 years and older (n 4721). Overall 28 % reported consuming at least one fast food and 14 % a restaurant food within the 24 h diet recall. Fast-food consumption was not associated with level of education or an area-based measure of socio-economic status, but a higher education was positively associated with restaurant-food consumption. Individual factors such as ethnicity, household size, age, sex and marital status were found to be important influences on the use of fast food and restaurant food. Fast-food consumption was more prevalent among participants living in urban areas, young adults (19-30 years) and Māori compared with NZ European and Others. The most frequently reported fast foods were bread-based dishes, potatoes (including fries) and non-alcoholic beverages. Given the high reported consumption of fast food by young adults, health promotion initiatives both to improve the nutritional quality of fast-food menus and to encourage healthier food choices would likely make a large impact on the overall diet quality of this group.
Jones, Keith
2010-01-01
The Regularized Fast Hartley Transform provides the reader with the tools necessary to both understand the proposed new formulation and to implement simple design variations that offer clear implementational advantages, both practical and theoretical, over more conventional complex-data solutions to the problem. The highly-parallel formulation described is shown to lead to scalable and device-independent solutions to the latency-constrained version of the problem which are able to optimize the use of the available silicon resources, and thus to maximize the achievable computational density, th
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lassen, Anne Dahl; Lehmann, Charlotte; Andersen, Elisabeth Wreford
2016-01-01
and their purchase intentions. Based on this background, possible opportunities toward implementing healthier and more sustainable fast food options are discussed. Data were collected at three fast food restaurants from different parts of Denmark among randomly selected customers (aged 15 or above). The customers......Understanding the factors that influence food selection and dietary behavior is fundamental to support the successful translation of dietary goals into consumer behavior. The present study aims to identify gender differences in fast food consumers’ reasons for actual fast food meal selection...... were approached after having ordered their meal. They filled out a questionnaire on reasons for their actual fast food meal selection and purchase intentions in relation to four hypothesized burger menus, including a regular beef burger menu, a wholegrain beef burger menu, a nutrition labeled beef...
Manifold regularized discriminative nonnegative matrix factorization with fast gradient descent.
Guan, Naiyang; Tao, Dacheng; Luo, Zhigang; Yuan, Bo
2011-07-01
Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) has become a popular data-representation method and has been widely used in image processing and pattern-recognition problems. This is because the learned bases can be interpreted as a natural parts-based representation of data and this interpretation is consistent with the psychological intuition of combining parts to form a whole. For practical classification tasks, however, NMF ignores both the local geometry of data and the discriminative information of different classes. In addition, existing research results show that the learned basis is unnecessarily parts-based because there is neither explicit nor implicit constraint to ensure the representation parts-based. In this paper, we introduce the manifold regularization and the margin maximization to NMF and obtain the manifold regularized discriminative NMF (MD-NMF) to overcome the aforementioned problems. The multiplicative update rule (MUR) can be applied to optimizing MD-NMF, but it converges slowly. In this paper, we propose a fast gradient descent (FGD) to optimize MD-NMF. FGD contains a Newton method that searches the optimal step length, and thus, FGD converges much faster than MUR. In addition, FGD includes MUR as a special case and can be applied to optimizing NMF and its variants. For a problem with 165 samples in R(1600), FGD converges in 28 s, while MUR requires 282 s. We also apply FGD in a variant of MD-NMF and experimental results confirm its efficiency. Experimental results on several face image datasets suggest the effectiveness of MD-NMF.
Wibowo, Svetlania Wulan; Tielung, Maria
2016-01-01
Franchise fast food restaurant has become one of the preferred restaurants in Manado City. There have been many outlets franchise fast food restaurant which opened its business in Manado City. The purpose of this research is to analyze the most preferred franchise fast food restaurant by consumer and to analyze the criteria that influence consumer in selecting franchise fast food restaurant. Researcher used Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to compare each franchise fast food restaurant as t...
Fast-food consumption and obesity among Michigan adults.
Anderson, Beth; Rafferty, Ann P; Lyon-Callo, Sarah; Fussman, Christopher; Imes, Gwendoline
2011-07-01
Consumption of meals eaten away from home, especially from fast-food restaurants, has increased in the United States since the 1970s. The main objective of this study was to examine the frequency and characteristics of fast-food consumption among adults in Michigan and obesity prevalence. We analyzed data from 12 questions about fast-food consumption that were included on the 2005 Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, a population-based telephone survey of Michigan adults, using univariate and bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression, and compared these data with data on Michigan obesity prevalence. Approximately 80% of Michigan adults went to fast-food restaurants at least once per month and 28% went regularly (≥2 times/wk). Regular fast-food consumption was higher among younger adults (mostly men) but was not significantly associated with household income, education, race, or urbanicity (in a multivariate framework). The prevalence of obesity increased consistently with frequenting fast-food restaurants, from 24% of those going less than once a week to 33% of those going 3 or more times per week. The predominant reason for choosing fast food was convenience. Although hypothetically 68% of adults who go to fast-food restaurants would choose healthier fast-food items when available, only 16% said they ever use nutritional information when ordering. The prevalence of fast-food consumption is high in Michigan across education, income, and racial groups and is strongly associated with obesity. Making nutritional information at fast-food restaurants more readily available and easier to use may help consumers to order more healthful or lower-calorie items.
A review of Ramadan fasting and regular physical activity on metabolic syndrome indices
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Seyyed Reza Attarzadeh Hosseini
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Metabolic syndrome constitutes a cluster of risk factors such as obesity, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, which increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and type II diabetes mellitus. In this review article, we aimed to discuss the possible effects of fasting and regular physical activity on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Methods: Online databases including Google Scholar, SID, PubMed, and MagIran were searched, using the following keywords: “training”, “exercise”, “physical activity”, “fasting”, “Ramadan”, “metabolic syndrome”, “fat percentage”, “blood pressure”, “blood sugar”, “cholesterol”, “triglyceride”, and “lowdensity lipoprotein-cholesterol”. All articles including research studies, review articles, descriptive and analytical studies, and ross-sectional research, published during 2006-2015, were reviewed. In case of any errors in the methodologyof articles, they were removed from our analysis. Results:Based on our literature review, inconsistent findings have been reported on risk factors formetabolic syndrome. However, the majority of conducted studies have suggested the positive effects offasting on reducing the risk factors for metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: Although fasting in different seasons of the year has no significant impacts on mental health or physical fitness, it can reduce the risk of various diseases such as cardiovascular diseases. Also, based on the conducted studies, if individuals adhere to a proper diet, avoid excessive eating, drink sufficient amounts of fluids, and keep a healthy level of physical activity, fasting can improve their physical health.
Analyzing the Consumer Perception of Fast-food in Manado (Case Study: Kfc and Mcdonalds)
Rehiara, Yohanis R.
2013-01-01
In Manado there is a lot of habits with all ages are interested to enjoying their time at the Fast-Food for example, a students, college students and others. With a great atmosphere of people in Manado about the Fast-Food, many fast-food also supported by a live band, a gathering of communities, watching football match together and many activities that is a lot to do. This research aims to examine the consumer perception of KFC and McDonalds in Manado. This research explored the characteris...
Sreevalsan, Sreelakshmi
2013-01-01
The concept of meal as eating a variety of kinds of food at regular intervals have now been replaced by breaks of fast individual eating, and mostly the young crowd nowadays do not have a proper eating pattern and prefer quick and tasty food. The fast food Industry identifies the preferences of adolescents and children, and targets a major part on their marketing schemes on them, since they have an important portion of their customer base. Young adults, another major important segment of thei...
Optimization of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) marketing channels in China: a case study
Chun, Chen
2015-01-01
PhD in Management / JEL classification: M31 The operation conditions of marketing channels, regarded as the crucial external resources of enterprises, directly influence the market position of a company. Good marketing channels are significant links for enterprises to perceive market change and adjust enterprise behavior and decisions. This thesis seeks to clarify and define various factors influencing marketing channels optimization by using fast moving consuming goods (FMC...
Farshchi, Hamid R; Taylor, Moira A; Macdonald, Ian A
2005-01-01
Although a regular meal pattern is recommended for obese people, its effects on energy metabolism have not been examined. We investigated whether a regular meal frequency affects energy intake (EI), energy expenditure, or circulating insulin, glucose, and lipid concentrations in healthy obese women. Ten women [x +/- SD body mass index (in kg/m(2)): 37.1 +/- 4.8] participated in a randomized crossover trial. In phase 1 (14 d), the subjects consumed their normal diet on 6 occasions/d (regular meal pattern) or followed a variable meal frequency (3-9 meals/d, irregular meal pattern). In phase 2 (14 d), the subjects followed the alternative pattern. At the start and end of each phase, a test meal was fed, and blood glucose, lipid, and insulin concentrations were determined before and for 3 h after (glucose and insulin only) the test meal. Subjects recorded their food intake on 3 d during each phase. The thermogenic response to the test meal was ascertained by indirect calorimetry. Regular eating was associated with lower EI (P thermogenesis (P meal pattern, but peak insulin concentrations and area under the curve of insulin responses to the test meal were lower after the regular than after the irregular meal pattern (P thermogenesis.
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Alanderson Alves Ramalho
2012-07-01
Full Text Available Estudo transversal com universitários realizado para analisar a prevalência e os fatores associados ao consumo regular de frutas e hortaliças por acadêmicos de uma universidade pública federal de Rio Branco, Acre, Brasil. Foram investigados 863 estudantes de cursos de graduação em 2010. A prevalência geral de consumo regular de frutas e hortaliças foi de 14,8%. Os fatores associados ao consumo regular de frutas e hortaliças foram: pertencer à classe econômica A/B (RP = 1,70; IC95%: 1,10-2,62, conviver com companheiro(a (RP = 1,53; IC95%: 1,02-2,29, praticar atividade física (RP = 1,69; IC95%: 1,11-2,56 e consumo de fast food igual ou menor que 2 vezes na semana (RP = 1,49; IC95%: 1,04-2,13. Em conclusão, destaca-se que a minoria dos acadêmicos alcançou a recomendação de consumir frutas e hortaliças em 5 dias ou mais da semana. O consumo regular desses alimentos mostrou-se associado aos aspectos socioeconômicos e aos hábitos saudáveis relacionados à prática de atividade física e baixo consumo de fast food.This cross-sectional study with university students examined the prevalence of regular consumption of fruits and vegetables and associated factors among students at a Federal university in Rio Branco, Acre State, Brazil. 863 undergraduates were interviewed in 2010. Overall prevalence of regular consumption of fruits and vegetables was 14.8%. Factors associated with regular consumption of fruits and vegetables were: socioeconomic classes A and B (PR = 1.70; 95%CI: 1.10-2.62, living with a partner (PR = 1.53; 95%CI: 1.02-2.29, regular physical activity (PR = 1.69; 95%CI: 1.11-2.56, and consumption of fast food twice a week or less (PR = 1.49; 95%CI: 1.04-2.13. A minority of the students met the recommendation to consume fruits and vegetables 5 or more days a week. Regular fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with socioeconomic status and healthy habits such as physical exercise and low consumption of fast food.
Minority Game of price promotions in fast moving consumer goods markets
Groot, Robert D.; Musters, Pieter A. D.
2005-05-01
A variation of the Minority Game has been applied to study the timing of promotional actions at retailers in the fast moving consumer goods market. The underlying hypotheses for this work are that price promotions are more effective when fewer than average competitors do a promotion, and that a promotion strategy can be based on past sales data. The first assumption has been checked by analysing 1467 promotional actions for three products on the Dutch market (ketchup, mayonnaise and curry sauce) over a 120-week period, both on an aggregated level and on retailer chain level. The second assumption was tested by analysing past sales data with the Minority Game. This revealed that high or low competitor promotional pressure for actual ketchup, mayonnaise, curry sauce and barbecue sauce markets is to some extent predictable up to a forecast of some 10 weeks. Whereas a random guess would be right 50% of the time, a single-agent game can predict the market with a success rate of 56% for a 6-9 week forecast. This number is the same for all four mentioned fast moving consumer markets. For a multi-agent game a larger variability in the success rate is obtained, but predictability can be as high as 65%. Contrary to expectation, the actual market does the opposite of what game theory would predict. This points at a systematic oscillation in the market. Even though this result is not fully understood, merely observing that this trend is present in the data could lead to exploitable trading benefits. As a check, random history strings were generated from which the statistical variation in the game prediction was studied. This shows that the odds are 1:1,000,000 that the observed pattern in the market is based on coincidence.
Supply chain performance attributes for the fast moving consumer goods industry
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Madhu Bala
2011-11-01
Full Text Available This research paper identifies the supply chain performance attributes that are relevant to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG industry. The FMCG supply chains are analysed from the perspective of processes, components and typology. The typical issues faced by the FMCG supply chains are also explored. Three supply chain operational models are compared and identify SCOR as the one best suited for the FMCG industry. The survey, conducted with the respondents from four research cases across two product categories, demonstrates the acceptance and the usage of the performance attributes for the FMCG supply chains. The results also include the analysis of the typology of the research cases across two product categories.
Olga AZARKINA; Monyédodo KPOSSA; Erhard LICK
2014-01-01
This research aims to explore correlations between consumer-generated social media activity and the level of sales of German brands from the fast moving consumer goods industry. In particular, the objective was to examine whether there is a correlation between the number of brand mentions in social media and the sales of these products. The results indicate that the number of brand mentions and sales correlate positively in relation to products from the food and beverages category while this ...
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Xu, Qiaofeng; Sawatzky, Alex; Anastasio, Mark A.; Yang, Deshan; Tan, Jun
2016-01-01
Purpose: The development of iterative image reconstruction algorithms for cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) remains an active and important research area. Even with hardware acceleration, the overwhelming majority of the available 3D iterative algorithms that implement nonsmooth regularizers remain computationally burdensome and have not been translated for routine use in time-sensitive applications such as image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). In this work, two variants of the fast iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm (FISTA) are proposed and investigated for accelerated iterative image reconstruction in CBCT. Methods: Algorithm acceleration was achieved by replacing the original gradient-descent step in the FISTAs by a subproblem that is solved by use of the ordered subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (OS-SART). Due to the preconditioning matrix adopted in the OS-SART method, two new weighted proximal problems were introduced and corresponding fast gradient projection-type algorithms were developed for solving them. We also provided efficient numerical implementations of the proposed algorithms that exploit the massive data parallelism of multiple graphics processing units. Results: The improved rates of convergence of the proposed algorithms were quantified in computer-simulation studies and by use of clinical projection data corresponding to an IGRT study. The accelerated FISTAs were shown to possess dramatically improved convergence properties as compared to the standard FISTAs. For example, the number of iterations to achieve a specified reconstruction error could be reduced by an order of magnitude. Volumetric images reconstructed from clinical data were produced in under 4 min. Conclusions: The FISTA achieves a quadratic convergence rate and can therefore potentially reduce the number of iterations required to produce an image of a specified image quality as compared to first-order methods. We have proposed and investigated
Xu, Qiaofeng; Yang, Deshan; Tan, Jun; Sawatzky, Alex; Anastasio, Mark A.
2016-01-01
Purpose: The development of iterative image reconstruction algorithms for cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) remains an active and important research area. Even with hardware acceleration, the overwhelming majority of the available 3D iterative algorithms that implement nonsmooth regularizers remain computationally burdensome and have not been translated for routine use in time-sensitive applications such as image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). In this work, two variants of the fast iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm (FISTA) are proposed and investigated for accelerated iterative image reconstruction in CBCT. Methods: Algorithm acceleration was achieved by replacing the original gradient-descent step in the FISTAs by a subproblem that is solved by use of the ordered subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (OS-SART). Due to the preconditioning matrix adopted in the OS-SART method, two new weighted proximal problems were introduced and corresponding fast gradient projection-type algorithms were developed for solving them. We also provided efficient numerical implementations of the proposed algorithms that exploit the massive data parallelism of multiple graphics processing units. Results: The improved rates of convergence of the proposed algorithms were quantified in computer-simulation studies and by use of clinical projection data corresponding to an IGRT study. The accelerated FISTAs were shown to possess dramatically improved convergence properties as compared to the standard FISTAs. For example, the number of iterations to achieve a specified reconstruction error could be reduced by an order of magnitude. Volumetric images reconstructed from clinical data were produced in under 4 min. Conclusions: The FISTA achieves a quadratic convergence rate and can therefore potentially reduce the number of iterations required to produce an image of a specified image quality as compared to first-order methods. We have proposed and investigated
Gallopel-Morvan, Karine; Moodie, Crawford; Hammond, David; Eker, Figen; Beguinot, Emmanuelle; Martinet, Yves
2012-09-01
In the face of comprehensive bans on the marketing of tobacco products, packaging has become an increasingly important promotional tool for the tobacco industry. A ban on the use of branding on tobacco packaging, known as 'plain' packaging, has emerged as a promising regulatory strategy. The current study sought to examine perceptions of cigarette packaging among adults in France. Adult smokers and non-smokers (N=836) were surveyed using computer-assisted personal interviewing to assess perceptions of pack design by comparing 'regular' branded packs and 'limited edition' packs (with novel designs or innovations) with 'plain' versions of these packs with all branding, including colour, removed. Plain packs (PP) were less likely than regular packs, and particularly limited edition packs, to be considered attractive, attention grabbing and likely to motivate youth purchase. PPs were also rated as the most effective in convincing non-smokers not to start and smokers to reduce consumption and quit. Logistic regression showed that smokers motivated to quit, in comparison to smokers not motivated to quit, were significantly more likely to consider the PPs as the packs most likely to motivate cessation. Novel cigarette packaging, in the form of limited edition packs, had the highest ratings of consumer appeal, ahead of regular branded packs and also PPs. Interestingly, PPs were perceived to be the packs most likely to promote cessation among those adults with quitting intentions. Plain packaging, therefore, may be a means of helping existing adult smokers motivated to quit to do so.
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Olga AZARKINA
2014-11-01
Full Text Available This research aims to explore correlations between consumer-generated social media activity and the level of sales of German brands from the fast moving consumer goods industry. In particular, the objective was to examine whether there is a correlation between the number of brand mentions in social media and the sales of these products. The results indicate that the number of brand mentions and sales correlate positively in relation to products from the food and beverages category while this is not the case with respect to the non-food product category. Hence, marketers need to promote consumer-generated social media activity particularly for food and beverages.
Electric Vehicles in Colorado: Anticipating Consumer Demand for Direct Current Fast Charging
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Wood, Eric W. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Rames, Clement L. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2017-07-01
To support the State of Colorado in planning for growth in direct current fast charging (DCFC) for electric vehicles, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has partnered with the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to analyze a number of DCFC investment scenarios. NREL analyzed existing electric vehicle registration data from IHS Markit (IHS) to highlight early trends in the electric vehicle market, which were compared with sales forecasts predicting large growth in the Colorado electric vehicle market. Electric vehicle forecasts were then used to develop future DCFC scenarios to be evaluated in a simulation environment to estimate consumer benefits of the hypothetical DCFC networks in terms of increased driving range and electric vehicle miles traveled (eVMT). Simulated utilization of the hypothetical DCFC networks was analyzed for geographic trends, particularly for correlations with vehicle electric range. Finally, a subset of simulations is presented for consumers with potentially inconsistent access to charging at their home location and presumably greater reliance on public DCFC infrastructure.
Event Management of RFID Data Streams: Fast Moving Consumer Goods Supply Chains
Mo, John P. T.; Li, Xue
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless communication technology that uses radio-frequency waves to transfer information between tagged objects and readers without line of sight. This creates tremendous opportunities for linking real world objects into a world of "Internet of things". Application of RFID to Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector will introduce billions of RFID tags in the world. Almost everything is tagged for tracking and identification purposes. This phenomenon will impose a new challenge not only to the network capacity but also to the scalability of processing of RFID events and data. This chapter uses two national demonstrator projects in Australia as case studies to introduce an event managementframework to process high volume RFID data streams in real time and automatically transform physical RFID observations into business-level events. The model handles various temporal event patterns, both simple and complex, with temporal constraints. The model can be implemented in a data management architecture that allows global RFID item tracking and enables fast, large-scale RFID deployment.
SAR image regularization with fast approximate discrete minimization.
Denis, Loïc; Tupin, Florence; Darbon, Jérôme; Sigelle, Marc
2009-07-01
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, like other coherent imaging modalities, suffer from speckle noise. The presence of this noise makes the automatic interpretation of images a challenging task and noise reduction is often a prerequisite for successful use of classical image processing algorithms. Numerous approaches have been proposed to filter speckle noise. Markov random field (MRF) modelization provides a convenient way to express both data fidelity constraints and desirable properties of the filtered image. In this context, total variation minimization has been extensively used to constrain the oscillations in the regularized image while preserving its edges. Speckle noise follows heavy-tailed distributions, and the MRF formulation leads to a minimization problem involving nonconvex log-likelihood terms. Such a minimization can be performed efficiently by computing minimum cuts on weighted graphs. Due to memory constraints, exact minimization, although theoretically possible, is not achievable on large images required by remote sensing applications. The computational burden of the state-of-the-art algorithm for approximate minimization (namely the alpha -expansion) is too heavy specially when considering joint regularization of several images. We show that a satisfying solution can be reached, in few iterations, by performing a graph-cut-based combinatorial exploration of large trial moves. This algorithm is applied to joint regularization of the amplitude and interferometric phase in urban area SAR images.
Block, Jason P; Condon, Suzanne K; Kleinman, Ken; Mullen, Jewel; Linakis, Stephanie; Rifas-Shiman, Sheryl; Gillman, Matthew W
2013-05-23
To investigate estimation of calorie (energy) content of meals from fast food restaurants in adults, adolescents, and school age children. Cross sectional study of repeated visits to fast food restaurant chains. 89 fast food restaurants in four cities in New England, United States: McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Wendy's, KFC, Dunkin' Donuts. 1877 adults and 330 school age children visiting restaurants at dinnertime (evening meal) in 2010 and 2011; 1178 adolescents visiting restaurants after school or at lunchtime in 2010 and 2011. Estimated calorie content of purchased meals. Among adults, adolescents, and school age children, the mean actual calorie content of meals was 836 calories (SD 465), 756 calories (SD 455), and 733 calories (SD 359), respectively. A calorie is equivalent to 4.18 kJ. Compared with the actual figures, participants underestimated calorie content by means of 175 calories (95% confidence interval 145 to 205), 259 calories (227 to 291), and 175 calories (108 to 242), respectively. In multivariable linear regression models, underestimation of calorie content increased substantially as the actual meal calorie content increased. Adults and adolescents eating at Subway estimated 20% and 25% lower calorie content than McDonald's diners (relative change 0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.66 to 0.96; 0.75, 0.57 to 0.99). People eating at fast food restaurants underestimate the calorie content of meals, especially large meals. Education of consumers through calorie menu labeling and other outreach efforts might reduce the large degree of underestimation.
Insel, Nathan; Barnes, Carol A.
2015-01-01
The medial prefrontal cortex is thought to be important for guiding behavior according to an animal's expectations. Efforts to decode the region have focused not only on the question of what information it computes, but also how distinct circuit components become engaged during behavior. We find that the activity of regular-firing, putative projection neurons contains rich information about behavioral context and firing fields cluster around reward sites, while activity among putative inhibitory and fast-spiking neurons is most associated with movement and accompanying sensory stimulation. These dissociations were observed even between adjacent neurons with apparently reciprocal, inhibitory–excitatory connections. A smaller population of projection neurons with burst-firing patterns did not show clustered firing fields around rewards; these neurons, although heterogeneous, were generally less selective for behavioral context than regular-firing cells. The data suggest a network that tracks an animal's behavioral situation while, at the same time, regulating excitation levels to emphasize high valued positions. In this scenario, the function of fast-spiking inhibitory neurons is to constrain network output relative to incoming sensory flow. This scheme could serve as a bridge between abstract sensorimotor information and single-dimensional codes for value, providing a neural framework to generate expectations from behavioral state. PMID:24700585
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Sebahattin YILDIZ
2014-06-01
Full Text Available The purpose of research is to analyze the marketing mix elements effect the consumers who buy fast moving consumer goods in Iğdır. In addition to this, analyzing the expected benefits of buying goods in a functional or hedonist base is an another aim. The method of research is descriptive and empiric. Datas are collected by 480 questionnaires using convenience sampling. According to results, it appears that the marketing mix elements effect the consumers buyings are in order of importance, product-place, price, promotion-place. When consumers buy fast moving consumer goods they behave more fonctionaly than hedonistic and fonctionalists give more importance to marketing mix elements than hedonists. In conclusion, some suggestions are offered to food retailers.
Hierarchical regular small-world networks
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Boettcher, Stefan; Goncalves, Bruno; Guclu, Hasan
2008-01-01
Two new networks are introduced that resemble small-world properties. These networks are recursively constructed but retain a fixed, regular degree. They possess a unique one-dimensional lattice backbone overlaid by a hierarchical sequence of long-distance links, mixing real-space and small-world features. Both networks, one 3-regular and the other 4-regular, lead to distinct behaviors, as revealed by renormalization group studies. The 3-regular network is planar, has a diameter growing as √N with system size N, and leads to super-diffusion with an exact, anomalous exponent d w = 1.306..., but possesses only a trivial fixed point T c = 0 for the Ising ferromagnet. In turn, the 4-regular network is non-planar, has a diameter growing as ∼2 √(log 2 N 2 ) , exhibits 'ballistic' diffusion (d w = 1), and a non-trivial ferromagnetic transition, T c > 0. It suggests that the 3-regular network is still quite 'geometric', while the 4-regular network qualifies as a true small world with mean-field properties. As an engineering application we discuss synchronization of processors on these networks. (fast track communication)
A STUDY ON CHANGING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS FAST MOVING CONSUMABLE GOODS IN INDIA
Deekshitha; M. A. Udaya Kumar; M. D. Pradeep
2017-01-01
Consumers are the king in the modern business world. They are one who buys goods for their consumption to meet their aspirations. Fulfilling consumer desire is the ultimate goal of marketing activities. Indian business are highly influenced by the rapid changes in the technology, improved economic systems, higher purchasing power of consumers, changing life style, online marketing and retail opportunities. Organised retail business has facilitated towards bringing drastic changes in the buyi...
Farshchi, H R; Taylor, M A; Macdonald, I A
2004-07-01
To investigate the impact of irregular meal frequency on circulating lipids, insulin, glucose and uric acid concentrations which are known cardiovascular risk factors. A randomised crossover dietary intervention study. Nottingham, UK--Healthy free-living women. A total of nine lean healthy women aged 18-42 y recruited via advertisement. A randomised crossover trial with two phases of 14 days each. In Phase 1, subjects consumed their normal diet on either 6 occasions per day (regular) or by following a variable meal frequency (3-9 meals/day, irregular). In Phase 2, subjects followed the alternative meal pattern to that followed in Phase 1, after a 2-week (wash-out) period. Subjects were asked to come to the laboratory after an overnight fast at the start and end of each phase. Blood samples were taken for measurement of circulating glucose, lipids, insulin and uric acid concentrations before and for 3 h after consumption of a high-carbohydrate test meal. Fasting glucose and insulin values were not affected by meal frequency, but peak insulin and AUC of insulin responses to the test meal were higher after the irregular compared to the regular eating patterns (P meal frequency was associated with higher fasting total (P meal frequency appears to produce a degree of insulin resistance and higher fasting lipid profiles, which may indicate a deleterious effect on these cardiovascular risk factors. : The Ministry of Health and Medical Education, IR Iran.
Powell, Lisa M; Nguyen, Binh T
2013-01-01
To examine the effect of fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption on total energy intake, dietary indicators, and beverage consumption. Individual-level fixed-effects estimation based on 2 nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls. Nationally representative data from the 2003-2004, 2005-2006, and 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Children aged 2 to 11 years (n = 4717) and adolescents aged 12 to 19 years (n = 4699). Daily total energy intake in kilocalories; intake of grams of sugar, total fat, saturated fat, and protein and milligrams of sodium; and total grams of sugar-sweetened beverages, regular soda, and milk consumed. Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption, respectively, was associated with a net increase in daily total energy intake of 126.29 kcal and 160.49 kcal for children and 309.53 kcal and 267.30 kcal for adolescents and with higher intake of regular soda (73.77 g and 88.28 g for children and 163.67 g and 107.25 g for adolescents) and sugar-sweetened beverages generally. Fast-food consumption increased intake of total fat (7.03-14.36 g), saturated fat (1.99-4.64 g), and sugar (5.71-16.24 g) for both age groups and sodium (396.28 mg) and protein (7.94 g) for adolescents. Full-service restaurant consumption was associated with increases in all nutrients examined. Additional key findings were (1) adverse effects on diet were larger for lower-income children and adolescents and (2) among adolescents, increased soda intake was twice as large when fast food was consumed away from home than at home. Fast-food and full-service restaurant consumption is associated with higher net total energy intake and poorer diet quality.
Olalde-Mendoza, Liliana; Moreno-González, Yazmín Esmeralda
2013-06-01
The objective of the study was to compare the modification of fasting blood glucose in adults with diabetes mellitus type 2 after intake of regular soda and diet soda. We conducted a randomized clinical trial in clinics of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Querétaro, México. We included 80 patients with diabetes (mean weight 74.2 +/- 13.66, BMI 30.5 +/- 4.305, waist 98.2 +/- 12.9 and time evolution of diabetes 3.8 +/- 3.009) who were asked to come with fasting for 8 hours and without taking any medicine before testing. They were divided into two groups of 40 subjects, to whom was measured fasting blood glucose after the ingestion of 200 ml of diet soda (with aspartame and acesulfame potassium) or regular soda (without sweetener) we measure glucose at 10, 15 and 30 minutes. For statistical analysis performed we used Student's t-test for dependent and independent samples, and paired t-test, and chi square test (chi2). Capillary glucose levels at 10 minutes were -34.52 and -25.41%, at 15 minutes -48.8 and -36.2% and at 30 minutes 57.75 and 43.6% of absolute and relative differences, with p = 0.000. In conclusion, according to the observations, diet soda doesn't increased blood glucose levels, with a significant difference in fasting decreased at 30 minutes.
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Ante Galić
2013-12-01
Full Text Available Using new optimization methods and information-communications technology has become the key issue in the competition among the distributers of fast-moving consumer goods. Introducing a delivery optimization system instead of manual routing enables significant cost savings. The prerequisites for optimization are stable information system and efficient company management. The rich vehicle routing problem model is discussed and the effects of implementing the delivery optimization system are presented. For four years of continuous utilisation, the system has helped the distributer to reduce the overall distribution costs. It also made possible to close down several depots and handle more customer requests without investing in the vehicle fleet. The developed optimization system enabled the distributer to adapt to the new distribution schedule and react to first indicators of recession very fast. Normal 0 21 false false false HR X-NONE X-NONE
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Sarriá Beatriz
2012-04-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Dietary fibre is both preventive and therapeutic for bowel functional diseases. Soluble cocoa products are good sources of dietary fibre that may be supplemented with this dietary component. This study assessed the effects of regularly consuming two soluble cocoa products (A and B with different non-starch polysaccharides levels (NSP, 15.1 and 22.0% w/w, respectively on bowel habits using subjective intestinal function and symptom questionnaires, a daily diary and a faecal marker in healthy individuals. Methods A free-living, two-stage, randomized, crossover, single-blind intervention was carried out in 44 healthy men and women, between 18-55 y old, who had not taken dietary supplements, laxatives, or antibiotics six months before the start of the study. In the four-week-long intervention stages, separated by a three-week-wash-out stage, two servings of A and B, that provided 2.26 vs. 6.60 g/day of NSP respectively, were taken. In each stage, volunteers' diet was recorded using a 72-h food intake report. Results Regularly consuming cocoa A and B increased fibre intake, although only cocoa B significantly increased fibre intake (p Conclusions Regular consumption of the cocoa products increases dietary fibre intake to recommended levels and product B improves bowel habits. The use of both objective and subjective assessments to evaluate the effects of food on bowel habits is recommended.
Regular Breakfast and Blood Lead Levels among Preschool Children
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Needleman Herbert
2011-04-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that fasting increases lead absorption in the gastrointestinal tract of adults. Regular meals/snacks are recommended as a nutritional intervention for lead poisoning in children, but epidemiological evidence of links between fasting and blood lead levels (B-Pb is rare. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between eating a regular breakfast and B-Pb among children using data from the China Jintan Child Cohort Study. Methods Parents completed a questionnaire regarding children's breakfast-eating habit (regular or not, demographics, and food frequency. Whole blood samples were collected from 1,344 children for the measurements of B-Pb and micronutrients (iron, copper, zinc, calcium, and magnesium. B-Pb and other measures were compared between children with and without regular breakfast. Linear regression modeling was used to evaluate the association between regular breakfast and log-transformed B-Pb. The association between regular breakfast and risk of lead poisoning (B-Pb≥10 μg/dL was examined using logistic regression modeling. Results Median B-Pb among children who ate breakfast regularly and those who did not eat breakfast regularly were 6.1 μg/dL and 7.2 μg/dL, respectively. Eating breakfast was also associated with greater zinc blood levels. Adjusting for other relevant factors, the linear regression model revealed that eating breakfast regularly was significantly associated with lower B-Pb (beta = -0.10 units of log-transformed B-Pb compared with children who did not eat breakfast regularly, p = 0.02. Conclusion The present study provides some initial human data supporting the notion that eating a regular breakfast might reduce B-Pb in young children. To our knowledge, this is the first human study exploring the association between breakfast frequency and B-Pb in young children.
Calorie labeling, fast food purchasing and restaurant visits.
Elbel, Brian; Mijanovich, Tod; Dixon, L Beth; Abrams, Courtney; Weitzman, Beth; Kersh, Rogan; Auchincloss, Amy H; Ogedegbe, Gbenga
2013-11-01
Obesity is a pressing public health problem without proven population-wide solutions. Researchers sought to determine whether a city-mandated policy requiring calorie labeling at fast food restaurants was associated with consumer awareness of labels, calories purchased and fast food restaurant visits. Difference-in-differences design, with data collected from consumers outside fast food restaurants and via a random digit dial telephone survey, before (December 2009) and after (June 2010) labeling in Philadelphia (which implemented mandatory labeling) and Baltimore (matched comparison city). Measures included: self-reported use of calorie information, calories purchased determined via fast food receipts, and self-reported weekly fast-food visits. The consumer sample was predominantly Black (71%), and high school educated (62%). Postlabeling, 38% of Philadelphia consumers noticed the calorie labels for a 33% point (P < 0.001) increase relative to Baltimore. Calories purchased and number of fast food visits did not change in either city over time. While some consumers report noticing and using calorie information, no population level changes were noted in calories purchased or fast food visits. Other controlled studies are needed to examine the longer term impact of labeling as it becomes national law. Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.
High-resolution seismic data regularization and wavefield separation
Cao, Aimin; Stump, Brian; DeShon, Heather
2018-04-01
We present a new algorithm, non-equispaced fast antileakage Fourier transform (NFALFT), for irregularly sampled seismic data regularization. Synthetic tests from 1-D to 5-D show that the algorithm may efficiently remove leaked energy in the frequency wavenumber domain, and its corresponding regularization process is accurate and fast. Taking advantage of the NFALFT algorithm, we suggest a new method (wavefield separation) for the detection of the Earth's inner core shear wave with irregularly distributed seismic arrays or networks. All interfering seismic phases that propagate along the minor arc are removed from the time window around the PKJKP arrival. The NFALFT algorithm is developed for seismic data, but may also be used for other irregularly sampled temporal or spatial data processing.
Poti, Jennifer M; Duffey, Kiyah J; Popkin, Barry M
2014-01-01
Although fast food consumption has been linked to adverse health outcomes, the relative contribution of fast food itself compared with the rest of the diet to these associations remains unclear. Our objective was to compare the independent associations with overweight/obesity or dietary outcomes for fast food consumption compared with dietary pattern for the remainder of intake. This cross-sectional analysis studied 4466 US children aged 2-18 y from NHANES 2007-2010. Cluster analysis identified 2 dietary patterns for the non-fast food remainder of intake: Western (50.3%) and Prudent. Multivariable-adjusted linear and logistic regression models examined the association between fast food consumption and dietary pattern for the remainder of intake and estimated their independent associations with overweight/obesity and dietary outcomes. Half of US children consumed fast food: 39.5% low-consumers (≤30% of energy from fast food) and 10.5% high-consumers (>30% of energy). Consuming a Western dietary pattern for the remainder of intake was more likely among fast food low-consumers (OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.24, 1.85) and high-consumers (OR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.60, 3.05) than among nonconsumers. The remainder of diet was independently associated with overweight/obesity (β: 5.9; 95% CI: 1.3, 10.5), whereas fast food consumption was not, and the remainder of diet had stronger associations with poor total intake than did fast food consumption. Outside the fast food restaurant, fast food consumers ate Western diets, which might have stronger associations with overweight/obesity and poor dietary outcomes than fast food consumption itself. Our findings support the need for prospective studies and randomized trials to confirm these hypotheses.
Poti, Jennifer M; Duffey, Kiyah J
2014-01-01
Background: Although fast food consumption has been linked to adverse health outcomes, the relative contribution of fast food itself compared with the rest of the diet to these associations remains unclear. Objective: Our objective was to compare the independent associations with overweight/obesity or dietary outcomes for fast food consumption compared with dietary pattern for the remainder of intake. Design: This cross-sectional analysis studied 4466 US children aged 2–18 y from NHANES 2007–2010. Cluster analysis identified 2 dietary patterns for the non–fast food remainder of intake: Western (50.3%) and Prudent. Multivariable-adjusted linear and logistic regression models examined the association between fast food consumption and dietary pattern for the remainder of intake and estimated their independent associations with overweight/obesity and dietary outcomes. Results: Half of US children consumed fast food: 39.5% low-consumers (≤30% of energy from fast food) and 10.5% high-consumers (>30% of energy). Consuming a Western dietary pattern for the remainder of intake was more likely among fast food low-consumers (OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.24, 1.85) and high-consumers (OR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.60, 3.05) than among nonconsumers. The remainder of diet was independently associated with overweight/obesity (β: 5.9; 95% CI: 1.3, 10.5), whereas fast food consumption was not, and the remainder of diet had stronger associations with poor total intake than did fast food consumption. Conclusions: Outside the fast food restaurant, fast food consumers ate Western diets, which might have stronger associations with overweight/obesity and poor dietary outcomes than fast food consumption itself. Our findings support the need for prospective studies and randomized trials to confirm these hypotheses. PMID:24153348
The Fast-Casual Conundrum: Fast-Casual Restaurant Entrées Are Higher in Calories than Fast Food.
Schoffman, Danielle E; Davidson, Charis R; Hales, Sarah B; Crimarco, Anthony E; Dahl, Alicia A; Turner-McGrievy, Gabrielle M
2016-10-01
Frequently eating fast food has been associated with consuming a diet high in calories, and there is a public perception that fast-casual restaurants (eg, Chipotle) are healthier than traditional fast food (eg, McDonald's). However, research has not examined whether fast-food entrées and fast-casual entrées differ in calorie content. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the caloric content of entrées at fast-food restaurants differed from that found at fast-casual restaurants. This study was a cross-sectional analysis of secondary data. Calorie information from 2014 for lunch and dinner entrées for fast-food and fast-casual restaurants was downloaded from the MenuStat database. Mean calories per entrée between fast-food restaurants and fast-casual restaurants and the proportion of restaurant entrées that fell into different calorie ranges were assessed. A t test was conducted to test the hypothesis that there was no difference between the average calories per entrée at fast-food and fast-casual restaurants. To examine the difference in distribution of entrées in different calorie ranges between fast-food and fast-casual restaurants, χ(2) tests were used. There were 34 fast-food and 28 fast-casual restaurants included in the analysis (n=3,193 entrées). Fast-casual entrées had significantly more calories per entrée (760±301 kcal) than fast-food entrées (561±268; Prestaurants to determine whether the energy content or nutrient density of full meals (ie, entrées with sides and drinks) differs between fast-casual restaurants and fast-food restaurants. Calorie-conscious consumers should consider the calorie content of entrée items before purchase, regardless of restaurant type. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A multiresolution method for solving the Poisson equation using high order regularization
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hejlesen, Mads Mølholm; Walther, Jens Honore
2016-01-01
We present a novel high order multiresolution Poisson solver based on regularized Green's function solutions to obtain exact free-space boundary conditions while using fast Fourier transforms for computational efficiency. Multiresolution is a achieved through local refinement patches and regulari......We present a novel high order multiresolution Poisson solver based on regularized Green's function solutions to obtain exact free-space boundary conditions while using fast Fourier transforms for computational efficiency. Multiresolution is a achieved through local refinement patches...... and regularized Green's functions corresponding to the difference in the spatial resolution between the patches. The full solution is obtained utilizing the linearity of the Poisson equation enabling super-position of solutions. We show that the multiresolution Poisson solver produces convergence rates...
Ulven, Stine M; Leder, Lena; Elind, Elisabeth; Ottestad, Inger; Christensen, Jacob J; Telle-Hansen, Vibeke H; Skjetne, Anne J; Raael, Ellen; Sheikh, Navida A; Holck, Marianne; Torvik, Kristin; Lamglait, Amandine; Thyholt, Kari; Byfuglien, Marte G; Granlund, Linda; Andersen, Lene F; Holven, Kirsten B
2016-10-01
The healthy Nordic diet has been previously shown to have health beneficial effects among subjects at risk of CVD. However, the extent of food changes needed to achieve these effects is less explored. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of exchanging a few commercially available, regularly consumed key food items (e.g. spread on bread, fat for cooking, cheese, bread and cereals) with improved fat quality on total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and inflammatory markers in a double-blind randomised, controlled trial. In total, 115 moderately hypercholesterolaemic, non-statin-treated adults (25-70 years) were randomly assigned to an experimental diet group (Ex-diet group) or control diet group (C-diet group) for 8 weeks with commercially available food items with different fatty acid composition (replacing SFA with mostly n-6 PUFA). In the Ex-diet group, serum total cholesterol (PLDL-cholesterol (Pcholesterol and LDL-cholesterol, respectively. No difference in change in plasma levels of inflammatory markers (high-sensitive C-reactive protein, IL-6, soluble TNF receptor 1 and interferon-γ) was observed between the groups. In conclusion, exchanging a few regularly consumed food items with improved fat quality reduces total cholesterol, with no negative effect on levels of inflammatory markers. This shows that an exchange of a few commercially available food items was easy and manageable and led to clinically relevant cholesterol reduction, potentially affecting future CVD risk.
Faster 2-regular information-set decoding
Bernstein, D.J.; Lange, T.; Peters, C.P.; Schwabe, P.; Chee, Y.M.
2011-01-01
Fix positive integers B and w. Let C be a linear code over F 2 of length Bw. The 2-regular-decoding problem is to find a nonzero codeword consisting of w length-B blocks, each of which has Hamming weight 0 or 2. This problem appears in attacks on the FSB (fast syndrome-based) hash function and
Niederdeppe, Jeff; Avery, Rosemary J; Kellogg, Maxwell D; Mathios, Alan
2017-07-01
This study examines whether exposure to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCAs) for statin drugs is associated with non-pharmaceutical behaviors to prevent cardiovascular disease. We focus on the relationship between statin drug DTCA exposure and the frequency of (a) visits to fast-food restaurants and (b) exercise. We combine data on the televised broadcast availability of statin drug DTCAs in large media markets in the United States with 18 waves of the Simmons National Consumer Survey (NCS; n = 120, 229) from 2001 to 2009. We find that statin drug DTCA exposure is associated, in a dose-response pattern, with modest increases in the frequency of exercise and large increases in the frequency of fast-food-restaurant visits. The relationship between statin DTCA exposure and fast-food-restaurant visits were largely consistent in direction but differed in magnitude between those without a previous diagnosis of high cholesterol and those treating high cholesterol with a statin. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these results for future research on pharmaceutical DTCA and population health.
Characteristics and factors influencing fast food intake of young ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Socio-economic group (SEG) and gender were significantly related to fast food intake (p < 0.01), with a larger proportion of participants (65%, n = 76) in the lower socio-economic group (LSEG) showing more frequent use. Males consumed fast food more frequently than females. The most popular fast foods consumed were ...
Modeling and Analysis of the Motivations of Fast Fashion Consumers in Relation to Innovativeness
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Saricam Canan
2016-12-01
Full Text Available In this study, fast fashion concept is investigated in order to understand the motivations of the consumers that make them adopt these products because of their willingness for the innovativeness. The relationship between the motivational factors which were named as “Social or status image” and “Uniqueness” as expressions of individuality, “Conformity” and the willingness for “Innovativeness” is analyzed using a conceptual model. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze and validate the model. The data used for the study was obtained from 244 people living in Turkey. The findings showed that the motivational factors “Social or status image” and “Uniqueness” as expressions of individuality are influential on the consumers’ willingness for “Innovativeness”.
Object Tracking via 2DPCA and l2-Regularization
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Haijun Wang
2016-01-01
Full Text Available We present a fast and robust object tracking algorithm by using 2DPCA and l2-regularization in a Bayesian inference framework. Firstly, we model the challenging appearance of the tracked object using 2DPCA bases, which exploit the strength of subspace representation. Secondly, we adopt the l2-regularization to solve the proposed presentation model and remove the trivial templates from the sparse tracking method which can provide a more fast tracking performance. Finally, we present a novel likelihood function that considers the reconstruction error, which is concluded from the orthogonal left-projection matrix and the orthogonal right-projection matrix. Experimental results on several challenging image sequences demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve more favorable performance against state-of-the-art tracking algorithms.
Regularization of the Boundary-Saddle-Node Bifurcation
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Xia Liu
2018-01-01
Full Text Available In this paper we treat a particular class of planar Filippov systems which consist of two smooth systems that are separated by a discontinuity boundary. In such systems one vector field undergoes a saddle-node bifurcation while the other vector field is transversal to the boundary. The boundary-saddle-node (BSN bifurcation occurs at a critical value when the saddle-node point is located on the discontinuity boundary. We derive a local topological normal form for the BSN bifurcation and study its local dynamics by applying the classical Filippov’s convex method and a novel regularization approach. In fact, by the regularization approach a given Filippov system is approximated by a piecewise-smooth continuous system. Moreover, the regularization process produces a singular perturbation problem where the original discontinuous set becomes a center manifold. Thus, the regularization enables us to make use of the established theories for continuous systems and slow-fast systems to study the local behavior around the BSN bifurcation.
Awakened Oscillations in Coupled Consumer-Resource Pairs
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Almaz Mustafin
2014-01-01
Full Text Available The paper concerns two interacting consumer-resource pairs based on chemostat-like equations under the assumption that the dynamics of the resource is considerably slower than that of the consumer. The presence of two different time scales enables to carry out a fairly complete analysis of the problem. This is done by treating consumers and resources in the coupled system as fast-scale and slow-scale variables, respectively, and subsequently considering developments in phase planes of these variables, fast and slow, as if they are independent. When uncoupled, each pair has unique asymptotically stable steady state and no self-sustained oscillatory behavior (although damped oscillations about the equilibrium are admitted. When the consumer-resource pairs are weakly coupled through direct reciprocal inhibition of consumers, the whole system exhibits self-sustained relaxation oscillations with a period that can be significantly longer than intrinsic relaxation time of either pair. It is shown that the model equations adequately describe locally linked consumer-resource systems of quite different nature: living populations under interspecific interference competition and lasers coupled via their cavity losses.
Learning in Advance Selling with Heterogeneous Consumers
Oksana Loginova; X. Henry Wang; Chenhang Zeng
2012-01-01
The advance selling strategy is implemented when a firm offers consumers the opportunity to order its product in advance of the regular selling season. Advance selling reduces uncertainty for both the firm and the buyer and enables the firm to update its forecast of future demand. The distinctive feature of the present study of advance selling is that we divide consumers into two groups, experienced and inexperienced. Experienced consumers know their valuations of the product in advance, whil...
Shams, Poja
2013-01-01
Decision making for fast-moving consumer goods involves a choice between numerous similar alternatives. Under such demanding circumstances, a decision is made for one product. The decision is dependent on the interaction between the environment and the mind of the consumer, both of which are filled with information that can influence the outcome. The aim of this dissertation is to explore how the mind and the environment guides attention towards considered and chosen products in consumer deci...
DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR NEW PROJECT DEVELOPMENT IN FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS INDUSTRIES
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NINKO KOSTOVSKI
2017-10-01
Full Text Available In any contemporary business, decision makers are confronted with increasing amount of information, not necessarily incorporated properly into decision making process. Moreover, decision makers show several cognitive limitations and biases. Managerial decision support systems are intended to assist decision makers in taking advantage of available information. Research proved that that these systems could compensate for the relative weaknesses of the managers as decision makers. They prevent common biases of human decision-making and foster objective and reliable information. With number of variables that must be taken into consideration, internal and external, technological, financial and market related, the new product development and the specifics of that process in fast moving consumer goods industries is perfect for application of computerized decision support system. The results of implementation of such system based on Exsys Corvid in processed food industry are presented with review of overall impressions for the usefulness of the new software, provided by the managers involved in the process. They found that the system consistently offers realistic decisions, that the system is convenient for capturing the institutional knowledge of the process, but also that the system not always follows the standard procedure. They think that the system is user-friendly. However, the implemented system will be useful and consistently outperform expectations only if the company is ready to continuously upgrade the embedded tacit institutional knowledge and experience. However, doing so, the company should never neglect the consumers changing preferences as the most important environmental domain of information critical for new product development.
Causes And Effects Of Fast Food
Eman Al-Saad
2015-01-01
Fast food affects our life in many aspects. In fact There are many reasons that have been shown why people continuing eating fast food while they knew about its negative effects on their health and family because of eating fast food. The commercial advertisements play a major role in consuming fast food. In this research I will focus on causes and effects of eating fast food.
Fast Weight Long Short-Term Memory
Keller, T. Anderson; Sridhar, Sharath Nittur; Wang, Xin
2018-01-01
Associative memory using fast weights is a short-term memory mechanism that substantially improves the memory capacity and time scale of recurrent neural networks (RNNs). As recent studies introduced fast weights only to regular RNNs, it is unknown whether fast weight memory is beneficial to gated RNNs. In this work, we report a significant synergy between long short-term memory (LSTM) networks and fast weight associative memories. We show that this combination, in learning associative retrie...
Consumer protection in electronic commerce
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nicoleta Andreea NEACŞU
2016-07-01
Full Text Available Electronic commerce is one of the most important aspects of the Internet and allows people to buy instant. Fast and easy development of e-commerce has led to the necessity of consumer protection in cyberspace, where trade takes place, so as to ensure consumer safety and security matters. This article examines e-commerce in terms of consumer protection and data security, which concerns equally all stakeholders in the electronic market: buyers, sellers, banks, courier cargo and other participants.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yong Zhang
2016-05-01
Full Text Available Overweight/obesity is a chronic disease that carries an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and premature death. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a clear relationship between salt intake and obesity, but the pathophysiologic mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesized that ghrelin, which regulates appetite, food intake, and fat deposition, becomes elevated when one consumes a high-salt diet, contributing to the progression of obesity. We, therefore, investigated fasting ghrelin concentrations during a high-salt diet. Thirty-eight non-obese and normotensive subjects (aged 25 to 50 years were selected from a rural community in Northern China. They were sequentially maintained on a normal diet for three days at baseline, a low-salt diet for seven days (3 g/day, NaCl, then a high-salt diet for seven days (18 g/day. The concentration of plasma ghrelin was measured using an immunoenzyme method (ELISA. High-salt intake significantly increased fasting ghrelin levels, which were higher during the high-salt diet (320.7 ± 30.6 pg/mL than during the low-salt diet (172.9 ± 8.9 pg/mL. The comparison of ghrelin levels between the different salt diets was statistically-significantly different (p < 0.01. A positive correlation between 24-h urinary sodium excretion and fasting ghrelin levels was demonstrated. Our data indicate that a high-salt diet elevates fasting ghrelin in healthy human subjects, which may be a novel underlying mechanism of obesity.
Mohd Suria, Siti Fatimah Masayu
2008-01-01
This dissertation is on the subject of corporate social responsibility (CSR), specifically looking at CSR in one of Brunei Darussalam's industries, to shed some light on the state of CSR in the country. The Fast moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) retail industry is chosen and three of the largest local firms are involve in the study. The main objective of the study is to find out the extent of CSR in these companies and to see if CSR has permeated into their supply chain management. A qualitative m...
Simms, Chris; Trott, Paul
2014-01-01
Purpose- The purpose of this study is to: (i) contribute to existing models of new product development (NPD), and provide new understanding of how a new product’s packaging is managed and integrated into the NPD process of fast moving consumer goods firms; and (ii) build on prior research suggesting that firms lack a pipeline of new packaging innovations by uncovering the factors that influence this pipeline issue. Design/methodology/approach- A grounded theory methodology was adopted. Resear...
Keijzers, J.
2010-01-01
The field of Consumer Electronics (CE) can be characterized by continuous technological innovation, fierce global competition, strong pressure on time-to-market, fast adoption cycles and increasingly complex business processes. In this context it is increasingly challenging for product designers and
Cultural resistance to fast-food consumption? A study of youth in North Eastern Thailand.
Seubsman, Sam-Ang; Kelly, Matthew; Yuthapornpinit, Pataraporn; Sleigh, Adrian
2009-11-01
Increased intake of saturated fat and refined sugars underlies much of the problem of emerging obesity all over the world. This includes middle-income countries like Thailand, which are subject to successful marketing of Western fast foods especially targeted at adolescents. In this study we explore the socio-cultural influences on fast-food intake for non-metropolitan (rural and urban) adolescents in North East Thailand (Isan). Our questionnaire sample included 634 persons aged 15-19 years who are in and out of formal schooling and who are randomly representing upper, central and lower Isan. All were asked about their knowledge of fast-food health risks and their attitudes towards, and consumption of, fast food and traditional food. As well, we used several focus groups to obtain qualitative data to complement the information derived from the questionnaire. Some three quarters of sampled youth were aware that fast food causes obesity and half knew of the link to heart disease. About half consumed fast food regularly, induced by the appeal of 'modern' lifestyles, social events and marketing, as well as by the convenience, speed and taste. Nearly two-thirds thought that local foods should be more popular and these beliefs were more likely to be found among children from educated and urban families. Local foods already constitute a cultural resistance to fast-food uptake. We propose several methods to boost this resistance and protect the youth of Thailand against fast food and its many adverse health consequences.
Zhang, Yong; Li, Fenxia; Liu, Fu-Qiang; Chu, Chao; Wang, Yang; Wang, Dan; Guo, Tong-Shuai; Wang, Jun-Kui; Guan, Gong-Chang; Ren, Ke-Yu; Mu, Jian-Jun
2016-05-26
Overweight/obesity is a chronic disease that carries an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and premature death. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated a clear relationship between salt intake and obesity, but the pathophysiologic mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesized that ghrelin, which regulates appetite, food intake, and fat deposition, becomes elevated when one consumes a high-salt diet, contributing to the progression of obesity. We, therefore, investigated fasting ghrelin concentrations during a high-salt diet. Thirty-eight non-obese and normotensive subjects (aged 25 to 50 years) were selected from a rural community in Northern China. They were sequentially maintained on a normal diet for three days at baseline, a low-salt diet for seven days (3 g/day, NaCl), then a high-salt diet for seven days (18 g/day). The concentration of plasma ghrelin was measured using an immunoenzyme method (ELISA). High-salt intake significantly increased fasting ghrelin levels, which were higher during the high-salt diet (320.7 ± 30.6 pg/mL) than during the low-salt diet (172.9 ± 8.9 pg/mL). The comparison of ghrelin levels between the different salt diets was statistically-significantly different (p diet elevates fasting ghrelin in healthy human subjects, which may be a novel underlying mechanism of obesity.
Causes And Effects Of Fast Food
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Eman Al-Saad
2015-08-01
Full Text Available Fast food affects our life in many aspects. In fact There are many reasons that have been shown why people continuing eating fast food while they knew about its negative effects on their health and family because of eating fast food. The commercial advertisements play a major role in consuming fast food. In this research I will focus on causes and effects of eating fast food.
Sustainable Product Strategy in Apparel Industry with Consumer Behavior Consideration
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Liu Yang
2017-05-01
Full Text Available The article attempts to analyze sustainable product strategy in apparel industry specifically addressing a firm that is considering launching a sustainable product partly made from recycled materials. There are two types of consumers under consideration, environmentally conscious and regular consumers, as they have different perceived values for the sustainable products. The article provides an analytical model aimed to identify conditions under which a firm could benefit from adopting sustainable product strategy. The level of sustainability is determined by the trade-off between profitability and costs occurred and if more consumers value sustainable products, the firm will increase its sustainable level and get a higher profit. This is because of a combination effect of an increasing marginal profit and demand expansion. Moreover, the model has been further extended to address a situation where the firm could manage consumer segmentation. Depending on parameter settings, the firm may target different consumer segments and there is always a threshold of cost for managing consumer segments. When converting regular consumers to be environmentally conscious is not costly, the firm will convert all consumers to be environmentally conscious with great efforts; otherwise, the firm will convert part of consumers to be environmentally conscious.
Fasting Diet: Can It Improve My Heart Health?
... health? Is it true that occasionally following a fasting diet can reduce my risk of heart disease? ... t sure why, but it seems that regularly fasting — severely restricting food and drink for a 24- ...
OVERVIEW OF INDIAN FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS SECTOR, FOCUS ON RURAL INDIA
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Shivam SAKSHI
2018-05-01
Full Text Available The purpose of this work is to examine the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG industry in India with an emphasis on rural India. This is a review article compiling information from various reports, articles and research papers in the related fields. This study shows how FMCG market is playing a vital role in the Indian economy and how rural areas of India are welcoming the FMCG sector. Predictions by various reports about the FMCG sector of India are also included in the article. It is understandable from this article that how world’s well known nation for its traditions and values is now also adapting to the new dimension of living standards. In FY17, rural India accounted for 60 per cent of the total FMCG market, 80% of FMCG categories are growing faster in rural India as against urban India. Total rural income, which is currently at around US$ 572 billion, is predicted to reach US$ 1.8 trillion by FY21. India’s rural per capita disposable income is estimated to increase at a CAGR of 4.4 per cent to US$ 631 by 2020.
Parekh, Ankit
Sparsity has become the basis of some important signal processing methods over the last ten years. Many signal processing problems (e.g., denoising, deconvolution, non-linear component analysis) can be expressed as inverse problems. Sparsity is invoked through the formulation of an inverse problem with suitably designed regularization terms. The regularization terms alone encode sparsity into the problem formulation. Often, the ℓ1 norm is used to induce sparsity, so much so that ℓ1 regularization is considered to be `modern least-squares'. The use of ℓ1 norm, as a sparsity-inducing regularizer, leads to a convex optimization problem, which has several benefits: the absence of extraneous local minima, well developed theory of globally convergent algorithms, even for large-scale problems. Convex regularization via the ℓ1 norm, however, tends to under-estimate the non-zero values of sparse signals. In order to estimate the non-zero values more accurately, non-convex regularization is often favored over convex regularization. However, non-convex regularization generally leads to non-convex optimization, which suffers from numerous issues: convergence may be guaranteed to only a stationary point, problem specific parameters may be difficult to set, and the solution is sensitive to the initialization of the algorithm. The first part of this thesis is aimed toward combining the benefits of non-convex regularization and convex optimization to estimate sparse signals more effectively. To this end, we propose to use parameterized non-convex regularizers with designated non-convexity and provide a range for the non-convex parameter so as to ensure that the objective function is strictly convex. By ensuring convexity of the objective function (sum of data-fidelity and non-convex regularizer), we can make use of a wide variety of convex optimization algorithms to obtain the unique global minimum reliably. The second part of this thesis proposes a non-linear signal
Solution path for manifold regularized semisupervised classification.
Wang, Gang; Wang, Fei; Chen, Tao; Yeung, Dit-Yan; Lochovsky, Frederick H
2012-04-01
Traditional learning algorithms use only labeled data for training. However, labeled examples are often difficult or time consuming to obtain since they require substantial human labeling efforts. On the other hand, unlabeled data are often relatively easy to collect. Semisupervised learning addresses this problem by using large quantities of unlabeled data with labeled data to build better learning algorithms. In this paper, we use the manifold regularization approach to formulate the semisupervised learning problem where a regularization framework which balances a tradeoff between loss and penalty is established. We investigate different implementations of the loss function and identify the methods which have the least computational expense. The regularization hyperparameter, which determines the balance between loss and penalty, is crucial to model selection. Accordingly, we derive an algorithm that can fit the entire path of solutions for every value of the hyperparameter. Its computational complexity after preprocessing is quadratic only in the number of labeled examples rather than the total number of labeled and unlabeled examples.
Facts about food irradiation: Irradiated foods and the consumer
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1991-01-01
This fact sheet discusses market testing of irradiate food, consumer response to irradiated products has always been positive, and in some countries commercial quantities of some irradiated food items have been sold on a regular basis. Consumers have shown no reluctance to buy irradiated food products. 4 refs
UNFOLDED REGULAR AND SEMI-REGULAR POLYHEDRA
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IONIŢĂ Elena
2015-06-01
Full Text Available This paper proposes a presentation unfolding regular and semi-regular polyhedra. Regular polyhedra are convex polyhedra whose faces are regular and equal polygons, with the same number of sides, and whose polyhedral angles are also regular and equal. Semi-regular polyhedra are convex polyhedra with regular polygon faces, several types and equal solid angles of the same type. A net of a polyhedron is a collection of edges in the plane which are the unfolded edges of the solid. Modeling and unfolding Platonic and Arhimediene polyhedra will be using 3dsMAX program. This paper is intended as an example of descriptive geometry applications.
Advance Selling in the Presence of Experienced Consumers
Oksana Loginova; X. Hnery Wang; Chenhang Zeng
2011-01-01
The advance selling strategy is implemented when a firm offers consumers the opportunity to order its product in advance of the regular selling season. Advance selling reduces uncertainty for both the firm and the buyer and enables the firm to update its forecast of future demand. The distinctive feature of the present theoretical study of advance selling is that we divide consumers into two groups, experienced and inexperienced. Experienced consumers know their valuations of the product in a...
Semisupervised Support Vector Machines With Tangent Space Intrinsic Manifold Regularization.
Sun, Shiliang; Xie, Xijiong
2016-09-01
Semisupervised learning has been an active research topic in machine learning and data mining. One main reason is that labeling examples is expensive and time-consuming, while there are large numbers of unlabeled examples available in many practical problems. So far, Laplacian regularization has been widely used in semisupervised learning. In this paper, we propose a new regularization method called tangent space intrinsic manifold regularization. It is intrinsic to data manifold and favors linear functions on the manifold. Fundamental elements involved in the formulation of the regularization are local tangent space representations, which are estimated by local principal component analysis, and the connections that relate adjacent tangent spaces. Simultaneously, we explore its application to semisupervised classification and propose two new learning algorithms called tangent space intrinsic manifold regularized support vector machines (TiSVMs) and tangent space intrinsic manifold regularized twin SVMs (TiTSVMs). They effectively integrate the tangent space intrinsic manifold regularization consideration. The optimization of TiSVMs can be solved by a standard quadratic programming, while the optimization of TiTSVMs can be solved by a pair of standard quadratic programmings. The experimental results of semisupervised classification problems show the effectiveness of the proposed semisupervised learning algorithms.
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Munch-Andersen, Thor; Olsen, David B.; Søndergaard, Hans
2012-01-01
Objectives: To evaluate the effect of regular physical activity on metabolic risk factors and blood pressure in Inuit with high BMI consuming a western diet (high amount of saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates with a high glycemic index). Study design: Cross sectional study, comparing Inuit...... eating a western diet with Inuit eating a traditional diet. Methods: Two physically active Greenland Inuit groups consuming different diet, 20 eating a traditional diet (Qaanaaq) and 15 eating a western diet (TAB), age (mean (range)); 38, (22–58) yrs, BMI; 28 (20–40) were subjected to an oral glucose...... tolerance test (OGTT), blood sampling, maximal oxygen uptake test, food interview/collection and monitoring of physical activity. Results: All Inuit had a normal OGTT. Fasting glucose (mmol/l), HbA1c (%), total cholesterol (mmol/l) and HDL-C (mmol/l) were for Qaanaaq women: 4.8±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 4.96±0.42, 1...
Consumer perception of bread quality.
Gellynck, Xavier; Kühne, Bianka; Van Bockstaele, Filip; Van de Walle, Davy; Dewettinck, Koen
2009-08-01
Bread contains a wide range of important nutritional components which provide a positive effect on human health. However, the consumption of bread is declining during the last decades. This is due to factors such as changing eating patterns and an increasing choice of substitutes like breakfast cereals and fast foods. The aim of this study is to investigate consumer's quality perception of bread towards sensory, health and nutrition attributes. Four consumer segments are identified based on these attributes. The different consumer segments comprise consumers being positive to all three quality aspects of bread ("enthusiastic") as wells as consumers perceiving bread strongly as "tasteless", "non-nutritious" or "unhealthy". Moreover, factors are identified which influence the consumers' quality perception of bread. The results of our study may help health professionals and policy makers to systematically inform consumers about the positive effects of bread based on its components. Furthermore, firms can use the results to build up tailor-made marketing strategies.
Harnack, Lisa J; French, Simone A; Oakes, J Michael; Story, Mary T; Jeffery, Robert W; Rydell, Sarah A
2008-12-05
Although point-of-purchase calorie labeling at restaurants has been proposed as a strategy for improving consumer food choices, a limited number of studies have evaluated this approach. Likewise, little research has been conducted to evaluate the influence of value size pricing on restaurant meal choices. To examine the effect of point-of-purchase calorie information and value size pricing on fast food meal choices a randomized 2 x 2 factorial experiment was conducted in which participants ordered a fast food meal from one of four menus that varied with respect to whether calorie information was provided and whether value size pricing was used. Study participants included 594 adolescents and adults who regularly ate at fast food restaurants. Study staff recorded the foods ordered and consumed by each participant. Participants also completed surveys to assess attitudes, beliefs and practices related to fast food and nutrition. No significant differences in the energy composition of meals ordered or eaten were found between menu conditions. The average energy content of meals ordered by those randomized to a menu that included calorie information and did not include value size pricing was 842 kcals compared with 827 kcals for those who ordered their meal from a menu that did not include calorie information but had value size pricing (control menu). Results were similar in most analyses conducted stratified by factors such as age, race and education level. Additional research is needed to better evaluate the effects of calorie labeling and value size pricing on fast food meal choices. Studies in which participants are repeatedly exposed to these factors are needed since long term exposure may be required for behavior change.
Determinants of fast food consumption in Kampala, Uganda | Ayo ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Consumption of fast-food in Uganda is becoming an increasingly important ... to study the consumption and expenditure behaviour of consumers of fast-food in ... to restaurant negatively influenced the probability of fast-food consumption and ...
Pagliarini, Ella; Laureati, Monica; Gaeta, Davide
2013-01-01
In recent years, produce obtained from organic farming methods (i.e., a system that minimizes pollution and avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides) has rapidly increased in developed countries. This may be explained by the fact that organic food meets the standard requirements for quality and healthiness. Among organic products, wine has greatly attracted the interest of the consumers. In the present study, trained assessors and regular wine consumers were respectively require...
Fast facts: The availability and accessibility of nutrition information in fast food chains.
Wellard, Lyndal; Glasson, Colleen; Chapman, Kathy; Miller, Caroline
2011-12-01
Nutrition information at the point-of-sale assists consumers to make informed fast food choices. This study provides a baseline measure of the availability and accessibility of nutrition information in fast food outlets in Australia, filling a gap in the literature. An in-store observational survey was conducted in 222 outlets of five fast food chains in five states. The Australian websites for each chain were surveyed for nutrition information. At least some nutrition information was available in 66% of outlets. The availability of information was higher in lower socioeconomic areas. Significantly less information was available in signatory chains of the self-regulatory marketing code. Information provided was generally incomplete; only one outlet (0.5%) provided information for all food and beverage items. In some instances information was old. Information was more available for 'healthier' products and less available for meal combinations. Information was provided on all chains' websites, however it was sometimes difficult to locate. While most outlets surveyed made some nutrition information available to consumers, it was generally incomplete. Fast food chains should provide comprehensive, up-to-date information for all menu items. Chains should also ensure their staff members are adequately trained in providing nutrition information.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Thor Munch-Andersen
2012-03-01
Full Text Available Objectives: To evaluate the effect of regular physical activity on metabolic risk factors and blood pressure in Inuit with high BMI consuming a western diet (high amount of saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. Study design: Cross sectional study, comparing Inuit eating a western diet with Inuit eating a traditional diet. Methods: Two physically active Greenland Inuit groups consuming different diet, 20 eating a traditional diet (Qaanaaq and 15 eating a western diet (TAB, age (mean (range; 38, (22–58 yrs, BMI; 28 (20–40 were subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT, blood sampling, maximal oxygen uptake test, food interview/collection and monitoring of physical activity. Results: All Inuit had a normal OGTT. Fasting glucose (mmol/l, HbA1c (%, total cholesterol (mmol/l and HDL-C (mmol/l were for Qaanaaq women: 4.8±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 4.96±0.42, 1.34±0.06, for Qaanaaq men: 4.9±0.1, 5.7±0.1, 5.08±0.31, 1.28±0.09, for TAB women: 5.1±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 6.22±0.39, 1.86±0.13, for TAB men: 5.1±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 6.23±0.15, 1.60±0.10. No differences were found in systolic or diastolic blood pressure between the groups. There was a more adverse distribution of small dense LDL-C particles and higher total cholesterol and HDL-C concentration in the western diet group. Conclusions: Diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance was not found in the Inuit consuming either the western or the traditional diet, and this could, at least partly, be due to the high amount of regular daily physical activity. However, when considering the total cardio vascular risk profile the Inuit consuming a western diet had a less healthy profile than the Inuit consuming a traditional diet.
Munch-Andersen, Thor; Olsen, David B; Søndergaard, Hans; Daugaard, Jens R; Bysted, Anette; Christensen, Dirk L; Saltin, Bengt; Helge, Jørn W
2012-03-19
To evaluate the effect of regular physical activity on metabolic risk factors and blood pressure in Inuit with high BMI consuming a western diet (high amount of saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates with a high glycemic index). Cross sectional study, comparing Inuit eating a western diet with Inuit eating a traditional diet. Two physically active Greenland Inuit groups consuming different diet, 20 eating a traditional diet (Qaanaaq) and 15 eating a western diet (TAB), age (mean (range)); 38, (22-58) yrs, BMI; 28 (20-40) were subjected to an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), blood sampling, maximal oxygen uptake test, food interview/collection and monitoring of physical activity. All Inuit had a normal OGTT. Fasting glucose (mmol/l), HbA1c (%), total cholesterol (mmol/l) and HDL-C (mmol/l) were for Qaanaaq women: 4.8±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 4.96±0.42, 1.34±0.06, for Qaanaaq men: 4.9±0.1, 5.7±0.1, 5.08±0.31, 1.28±0.09, for TAB women: 5.1±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 6.22±0.39, 1.86±0.13, for TAB men: 5.1±0.2, 5.3±0.1, 6.23±0.15, 1.60±0.10. No differences were found in systolic or diastolic blood pressure between the groups. There was a more adverse distribution of small dense LDL-C particles and higher total cholesterol and HDL-C concentration in the western diet group. Diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance was not found in the Inuit consuming either the western or the traditional diet, and this could, at least partly, be due to the high amount of regular daily physical activity. However, when considering the total cardio vascular risk profile the Inuit consuming a western diet had a less healthy profile than the Inuit consuming a traditional diet.
Fast-food advertising in social media. A case study on Facebook in Egypt
Gaber, Hazem Rasheed; Wright, Len Tiu
2014-01-01
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that affect young Egyptian consumers' attitudes towards fast-food advertising in Facebook which is considered the most widely used social media network. 4 focus groups were conducted with young consumers from 2 Egyptian cities. Content analysis was applied for the Egyptian fast-food Facebook fan pages with the aid of the NVivo software. The findings of this exploratory study have shown that young consumers are accepting the idea of fast food...
A Consumer-Driven Approach To Increase Suggestive Selling.
Rohn, Don; Austin, John; Sanford, Alison
2003-01-01
Discussion of the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in improving suggestive selling behavior of sales staff focuses on a study that examined the efficacy of a consumer-driven approach to improve suggestive selling behavior of three employees of a fast food franchise. Reports that consumer-driven intervention increased suggestive selling…
Accelerating the Non-equispaced Fast Fourier Transform on Commodity Graphics Hardware
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sørensen, Thomas Sangild; Schaeffter, Tobias; Noe, Karsten Østergaard
2008-01-01
We present a fast parallel algorithm to compute the Non-equispaced fast Fourier transform on commodity graphics hardware (the GPU). We focus particularly on a novel implementation of the convolution step in the transform, which was previously its most time consuming part. We describe the performa......We present a fast parallel algorithm to compute the Non-equispaced fast Fourier transform on commodity graphics hardware (the GPU). We focus particularly on a novel implementation of the convolution step in the transform, which was previously its most time consuming part. We describe...
Barriers to avoiding fast-food consumption in an environment supportive of unhealthy eating.
Thornton, Lukar E; Jeffery, Robert W; Crawford, David A
2013-12-01
To investigate factors (ability, motivation and the environment) that act as barriers to limiting fast-food consumption in women who live in an environment that is supportive of poor eating habits. Cross-sectional study using self-reports of individual-level data and objectively measured environmental data. Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with frequency of fast-food consumption. Socio-economically disadvantaged areas in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Women (n 932) from thirty-two socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods living within 3 km of six or more fast-food restaurants. Women were randomly sampled in 2007–2008 as part of baseline data collection for the Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality (READI) study. Consuming low amounts of fast food was less likely in women with lower perceived ability to shop for and cook healthy foods, lower frequency of family dining, lower family support for healthy eating, more women acquaintances who eat fast food regularly and who lived further from the nearest supermarket. When modelled with the other significant factors, a lower perceived shopping ability, mid levels of family support and living further from the nearest supermarket remained significant. Among those who did not perceive fruits and vegetables to be of high quality, less frequent fast-food consumption was further reduced for those with the lowest confidence in their shopping ability. Interventions designed to improve women's ability and opportunities to shop for healthy foods may be of value in making those who live in high-risk environments better able to eat healthily.
Peacock, Amy; Sindicich, Natasha; Dunn, Matthew; Whittaker, Elizabeth; Sutherland, Rachel; Entwistle, Gavin; Burns, Lucinda; Bruno, Raimondo
2016-05-01
Despite the potential harms of mixing unregulated drugs with energy drinks (ED), research to date has primarily been focused on EDs co-ingested with alcohol. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to explore the rate of use, harms and correlates of EDs co-ingested with alcohol and other drugs among a sample of people who regularly use illicit stimulant drugs. In 2010, 693 Australians who regularly used ecstasy completed a 1-h interview about their past six-month ED and drug use. Three-quarters of the sample (77%) had recently consumed EDs with other substances, primarily alcohol (70%) and ecstasy (57%). People who consumed ED with alcohol versus those who had consumed ED with ecstasy and with alcohol (only 8% reported only consuming ED with ecstasy) had similar profiles in regards to demographics, drug use, mental health and drug-related problems. Primary motives for consuming ED with alcohol included increased alertness (59%), the taste (25%), to party for longer (23%) and to combat fatigue (16%). One-half (52%) and one-quarter (27%) of participants who consumed EDs with alcohol and with ecstasy respectively had recently experienced adverse outcomes post-consumption, primarily headaches (24% and 11%) and heart palpitations (21% and 14%). Co-ingestion of EDs with licit and illicit drugs is common among people who regularly use ecstasy and related drugs. Adverse outcomes of co-ingestion suggest that targeted education regarding negative interactive drug effects is crucial for harm reduction. [Peacock A, Sindicich N, Dunn M, Whittaker E, Sutherland R, Entwistle G, Burns L, Bruno R. Co-Ingestion of Energy Drinks with Alcohol and Other Substances among a Sample of People Who Regularly Use Ecstasy. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:352-358]. © 2015 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jeffery Robert W
2008-12-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Although point-of-purchase calorie labeling at restaurants has been proposed as a strategy for improving consumer food choices, a limited number of studies have evaluated this approach. Likewise, little research has been conducted to evaluate the influence of value size pricing on restaurant meal choices. Methods To examine the effect of point-of-purchase calorie information and value size pricing on fast food meal choices a randomized 2 × 2 factorial experiment was conducted in which participants ordered a fast food meal from one of four menus that varied with respect to whether calorie information was provided and whether value size pricing was used. Study participants included 594 adolescents and adults who regularly ate at fast food restaurants. Study staff recorded the foods ordered and consumed by each participant. Participants also completed surveys to assess attitudes, beliefs and practices related to fast food and nutrition. Results No significant differences in the energy composition of meals ordered or eaten were found between menu conditions. The average energy content of meals ordered by those randomized to a menu that included calorie information and did not include value size pricing was 842 kcals compared with 827 kcals for those who ordered their meal from a menu that did not include calorie information but had value size pricing (control menu. Results were similar in most analyses conducted stratified by factors such as age, race and education level. Conclusion Additional research is needed to better evaluate the effects of calorie labeling and value size pricing on fast food meal choices. Studies in which participants are repeatedly exposed to these factors are needed since long term exposure may be required for behavior change.
Total-variation regularization with bound constraints
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chartrand, Rick; Wohlberg, Brendt
2009-01-01
We present a new algorithm for bound-constrained total-variation (TV) regularization that in comparison with its predecessors is simple, fast, and flexible. We use a splitting approach to decouple TV minimization from enforcing the constraints. Consequently, existing TV solvers can be employed with minimal alteration. This also makes the approach straightforward to generalize to any situation where TV can be applied. We consider deblurring of images with Gaussian or salt-and-pepper noise, as well as Abel inversion of radiographs with Poisson noise. We incorporate previous iterative reweighting algorithms to solve the TV portion.
Lamb, Karen E; Thornton, Lukar E; Olstad, Dana Lee; Cerin, Ester; Ball, Kylie
2017-10-16
The residential neighbourhood fast-food environment has the potential to lead to increased levels of obesity by providing opportunities for residents to consume energy-dense products. This longitudinal study aimed to examine whether change in body mass index (BMI) differed dependent on major chain fast-food outlet availability among women residing in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Eighty disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Victoria, Australia. Sample of 882 women aged 18-46 years at baseline (wave I: 2007/2008) who remained at the same residential location at all three waves (wave II: 2010/2011; wave III: 2012/2013) of the Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality study. BMI based on self-reported height and weight at each wave. There was no evidence of an interaction between time and the number of major chain fast-food outlets within 2 (p=0.88), 3 (p=0.66) or 5 km (p=0.24) in the multilevel models of BMI. Furthermore, there was no evidence of an interaction between time and change in availability at any distance and BMI. Change in BMI was not found to differ by residential major chain fast-food outlet availability among Victorian women residing in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. It may be that exposure to fast-food outlets around other locations regularly visited influence change in BMI. Future research needs to consider what environments are the key sources for accessing and consuming fast food and how these relate to BMI and obesity risk. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.
Availability of healthier options in traditional and nontraditional rural fast-food outlets
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
McIntosh Alex
2008-11-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Food prepared away from home has become increasingly popular to U.S. families, and may contribute to obesity. Sales have been dominated by fast food outlets, where meals are purchased for dining away from home or in the home. Although national chain affiliated fast-food outlets are considered the main source for fast food, fast foods are increasingly available in convenience stores and supermarkets/grocery stores. In rural areas, these nontraditional fast-food outlets may provide most of the opportunities for procurement of fast foods. Methods Using all traditional and nontraditio nal fast-food outlets identified in six counties in rural Texas, the type and number of regular and healthiermenu options were surveyed using on-site observation in all food venues that were primarily fast food, supermarket/grocery store, and convenience store and compared with 2005 Dietary Guidelines. Results Traditional fast-food outlets represented 84 (41% of the 205 opportunities for procurement of fast food; 109 (53.2% were convenience stores and 12 (5.8% supermarkets/grocery stores. Although a s imilar variety of regular breakfast and lunch/dinner entrées were available in traditional fast-food outlets and convenience stores, the variety of healthier breakfast and lunch/dinner entrées was significantly greater in fast food outlets. Compared with convenience stores, supermarkets/grocery stores provided a greater variety of regular and healthier entrées and lunch/dinner side dishes. Conclusion Convenience stores and supermarkets/grocery stores more than double the potential access to fast foods in this rural area than traditional fast-food outlets alone; however, traditional fast food outlets offer greater opportunity for healthier fast food options than convenience stores. A complete picture of fast food environment and the availability of healthier fast food options are essential to understand environmental influences on diet and health
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Scholderer, Joachim
2001-01-01
Scientists and regulators are regularly baffled by public responses to risk, especially when the issue at stake seemed unproblematic or at least technocratically solvable as long as it was only discussed within the expert community. In terms of such polarizations, the 1970s were the age of dissen...... these perceptions related to consumers' attitudes and choice behavior....... over nuclear power, while the 1990s saw the emergence of gene technology as an issue of public debate. The first decade of the new millennium aspires to become the age of food safety, and once again, a major research effort is made to find out how consumers' confidence can be restored. Brewing......, as a particular branch of food manufacturing, has in the past been able to dodge implication in major risk debates. The latest crisis in a related industry was the temporary banning of several brands of the Coca-Cola Co. in 1999 in Belgium following symptoms of nausea and vomiting amongst people who had consumed...
Bejaei, M; Wiseman, K; Cheng, K M
2011-05-01
In addition to regular (white and brown) eggs, alternative types of table eggs (e.g., free-run, free-range, organic) are available in the Canadian market, and their market growth rate has been high during the last decade in British Columbia (BC). The objective of our research was to identify associations between consumers' attitudes, preferences, and demographic characteristics with their consumption of different types of table eggs. An online survey was conducted in June 2009 to gather information from adult BC residents. Sixty-eight percent of the 1,027 randomly selected subjects completed the survey. Our survey indicated that the consumption of cage-free specialty eggs (free-run, free-range, and organic) has strongly increased in BC to 32.9% free-range eggs, 11.93% organic eggs, and 7.6% free-run eggs in 2009 compared with a Print Measurement Bureau consumer survey that showed combined 8% consumption of cage-free specialty eggs in 2007. Results of our survey indicated that, compared with consumers of white regular eggs, consumers of free-range eggs came from smaller households and had a higher education level and income. These consumers indicated that factors of health, nutritional value, environmental issues, and animal welfare were important in egg type selection. Although most consumers rated the specialty eggs as having a higher nutritional value than white regular eggs, price became the most important deciding factor for those consumers who selected white regular eggs. Our findings indicate that increased consumption and increased differentiation exist in the table egg market and this in turn provides support for more research to increase the efficiency of cage-free egg production systems and for better consumer education.
2018-01-01
The fashion industry has changed rapidly in recent years with the increased prevalence of fast fashion, impacting the environment. Efforts to green this polluting industry require action from businesses and consumers.
Stream Processing Using Grammars and Regular Expressions
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Rasmussen, Ulrik Terp
disambiguation. The first algorithm operates in two passes in a semi-streaming fashion, using a constant amount of working memory and an auxiliary tape storage which is written in the first pass and consumed by the second. The second algorithm is a single-pass and optimally streaming algorithm which outputs...... as much of the parse tree as is semantically possible based on the input prefix read so far, and resorts to buffering as many symbols as is required to resolve the next choice. Optimality is obtained by performing a PSPACE-complete pre-analysis on the regular expression. In the second part we present...... Kleenex, a language for expressing high-performance streaming string processing programs as regular grammars with embedded semantic actions, and its compilation to streaming string transducers with worst-case linear-time performance. Its underlying theory is based on transducer decomposition into oracle...
MAXIMUM r-REGULAR INDUCED SUBGRAPH PROBLEM: FAST EXPONENTIAL ALGORITHMS AND COMBINATORIAL BOUNDS
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Gupta, S.; Raman, V.; Saurabh, S.
2012-01-01
We show that for a fixed r, the number of maximal r-regular induced subgraphs in any graph with n vertices is upper bounded by O(c(n)), where c is a positive constant strictly less than 2. This bound generalizes the well-known result of Moon and Moser, who showed an upper bound of 3(n/3) on the n...
Diverse Regular Employees and Non-regular Employment (Japanese)
MORISHIMA Motohiro
2011-01-01
Currently there are high expectations for the introduction of policies related to diverse regular employees. These policies are a response to the problem of disparities between regular and non-regular employees (part-time, temporary, contract and other non-regular employees) and will make it more likely that workers can balance work and their private lives while companies benefit from the advantages of regular employment. In this paper, I look at two issues that underlie this discussion. The ...
Consumer involvement in the health technology assessment program.
Royle, Jane; Oliver, Sandy
2004-01-01
This study aims to describe a cycle of development leading to sustainable methods for involving consumers in the management of a program commissioning health technology assessment. Staff time was dedicated to developing procedures for recruiting and briefing consumers to participate in prioritizing, commissioning, and reporting research. Resources and support were developed in light of early feedback from consumers and those working with them. These were piloted and amended before being used routinely. Over 4 years, procedures and resources have been developed to support six consumers attending seven to eight prioritization meetings a year; thirty to forty-five consumers each year commenting on research need for particular topics; thirty consumers a year commenting on research proposals, and twenty a year commenting on research reports. The procedures include clear job descriptions, induction and development days, clear briefing materials, payment for substantial tasks, and regularly seeking feedback to improve procedures. Explicit, inclusive, and reproducible methods for supporting consumer involvement that satisfy National Health Service policy recommendations for involving consumers in research require dedicated staff time to support a cycle of organizational development.
Proteggente, Anna R; Pannala, Ananth Sekher; Paganga, George; Van Buren, Leo; Wagner, Eveline; Wiseman, Sheila; Van De Put, Frans; Dacombe, Clive; Rice-Evans, Catherine A
2002-02-01
Recent studies are emphasising the importance and putative modes of action of specific flavonoids as bioactive components of the diet in in vivo and in vitro models. Thus, it is important to have a clear idea of the major phenolic families of which fruit and vegetables are comprised and the levels contained therein. Regularly consumed fruit and vegetables of mixed varieties available on the UK market were analysed for the composition of the major individual phenolic components. The total phenolic content (applying the Folin assay) and the vitamin C levels were also determined. The antioxidant capacities of aqueous/methanolic extracts were comparatively assessed using the TEAC (Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity), the FRAP (Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma) and ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) assays, which comprise contributions from polyphenols, simple phenols and the ascorbate component. The results were calculated in terms of 100 g fresh weight (FW) uncooked portion sizes. Fruit and vegetables rich in anthocyanins (e.g. strawberry, raspberry and red plum) demonstrated the highest antioxidant activities, followed by those rich in flavanones (e.g. orange and grapefruit) and flavonols (e.g. onion, leek, spinach and green cabbage), while the hydroxycinnamate-rich fruit (e.g. apple, tomato, pear and peach) consistently elicited the lower antioxidant activities. The TEAC, FRAP and ORAC values for each extract were relatively similar and well-correlated with the total phenolic and vitamin C contents. The antioxidant activities (TEAC) in terms of 100 g FW uncooked portion size were in the order: strawberry> raspberry = red plum > red cabbage >grapefruit = orange > spinach > broccoli > green grape approximately/= onion > green cabbage > pea > apple > cauliflower tomato approximately/= peach=leek > banana approximately/= lettuce.
CONSUMPTION PATTERNS OF STREET FOOD CONSUMERS IN ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
user
diet of people living in low- and middle-income countries ... market for SF consumers in Cape Town. However, most ... beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawkers ... many street-food items sold are unhealthy ...... going children in lower-income groups, who may ... The dangers of regular consumption of sugar-.
Designing for E-commerce, appealing to consumers
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
1998-01-01
In order to make electronic commerce more successful, we need to look more closely at the design of web sites. The purpose of such design is to entice consumers to make regular visits, tempting them in buying goods. Thus more attention should be paid to make information more effective, presenting...
ECONOMIC APPROACH ON FAST-FOOD UNITS - CASE STUDY
Cristiana TINDECHE; Liliana POPESCU
2012-01-01
The globalization phenomenon that characterizes the century we are living in includes even the food we consume which is mostly fast-food products. Fast-foods are internationally expanding at an amazing pace. In the century of speed, when the modern man is in a permanent rush for confirmation, success, money and the time is passing unbelievably fast, the fast-food is a perfect alternative for having a meal out in the city or for preparing dinner at home [5]. Because fast-food products are del...
Walker, David
1994-01-01
An empirical study is reported which attempts to validate two key theoretical consequences of consumer involvement: differences in brand buying behaviour and differences in the type of decision processing undertaken. A literature review is provided which traces the history of involvement and identifies a suitable contemporary framework. Work on brand loyalty and attitude modelling is also reviewed and suitable frameworks identified. A pilot stage is reported which show...
Comparison of Grocery Purchase Patterns of Diet Soda Buyers to Those of Regular Soda Buyers
James, Binkley; Golub, Alla A.
2007-01-01
The ultimate effect of regular and diet carbonated soft drinks on energy intakes depends on possible relations with other dietary components. With this motivation, this study compared grocery purchase patterns of regular and diet soft drink consumers using a large sample of US single person households. We tested for differences in food spending shares allocated to 43 food categories chosen mainly for their desirable/undesirable nutritional properties. We also investigated whether differences ...
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Andersen, Thor Munch; Olsen, David B; Søndergaard, Hans
2012-01-01
To evaluate the effect of regular physical activity on metabolic risk factors and blood pressure in Inuit with high BMI consuming a western diet (high amount of saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates with a high glycemic index).......To evaluate the effect of regular physical activity on metabolic risk factors and blood pressure in Inuit with high BMI consuming a western diet (high amount of saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates with a high glycemic index)....
Bejaei, M; Wiseman, K; Cheng, K M
2015-01-01
Consumers' interest in specialty eggs appears to be growing in Europe and North America. The objective of this research was to develop logistic regression models that utilise purchaser attributes and demographics to predict the probability of a consumer purchasing a specific type of table egg including regular (white and brown), non-caged (free-run, free-range and organic) or nutrient-enhanced eggs. These purchase prediction models, together with the purchasers' attributes, can be used to assess market opportunities of different egg types specifically in British Columbia (BC). An online survey was used to gather data for the models. A total of 702 completed questionnaires were submitted by BC residents. Selected independent variables included in the logistic regression to develop models for different egg types to predict the probability of a consumer purchasing a specific type of table egg. The variables used in the model accounted for 54% and 49% of variances in the purchase of regular and non-caged eggs, respectively. Research results indicate that consumers of different egg types exhibit a set of unique and statistically significant characteristics and/or demographics. For example, consumers of regular eggs were less educated, older, price sensitive, major chain store buyers, and store flyer users, and had lower awareness about different types of eggs and less concern regarding animal welfare issues. However, most of the non-caged egg consumers were less concerned about price, had higher awareness about different types of table eggs, purchased their eggs from local/organic grocery stores, farm gates or farmers markets, and they were more concerned about care and feeding of hens compared to consumers of other eggs types.
Sustainable Product Strategy in Apparel Industry with Consumer Behavior Consideration
Liu Yang; Shaozeng Dong
2017-01-01
The article attempts to analyze sustainable product strategy in apparel industry specifically addressing a firm that is considering launching a sustainable product partly made from recycled materials. There are two types of consumers under consideration, environmentally conscious and regular consumers, as they have different perceived values for the sustainable products. The article provides an analytical model aimed to identify conditions under which a firm could benefit from adopting sustai...
Inversion methods for fast-ion velocity-space tomography in fusion plasmas
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jacobsen, Asger Schou; Stagner, L.; Salewski, Mirko
2016-01-01
Velocity-space tomography has been used to infer 2D fast-ion velocity distribution functions. Here we compare the performance of five different tomographic inversion methods: truncated singular value decomposition, maximum entropy, minimum Fisher information and zeroth and first-order Tikhonov...... regularization. The inversion methods are applied to fast-ion Dα measurements taken just before and just after a sawtooth crash in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak as well as to synthetic measurements from different test distributions. We find that the methods regularizing by penalizing steep gradients or maximizing...... entropy perform best. We assess the uncertainty of the calculated inversions taking into account photon noise, uncertainties in the forward model as well as uncertainties introduced by the regularization which allows us to distinguish regions of high and low confidence in the tomographies. In high...
Proximate and Cholesterol Composition of Selected Fast Foods ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Fast foods consumption has been on the increase in Nigeria raising concerns about the nutritional and health implications. This study was carried out to determine the proximate composition and cholesterol contents of four commonly consumed fast foods (doughnut, chicken pie, roasted chicken, and Jollof rice) sold in ...
Attractors of relaxation discrete-time systems with chaotic dynamics on a fast time scale
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Maslennikov, Oleg V.; Nekorkin, Vladimir I.
2016-01-01
In this work, a new type of relaxation systems is considered. Their prominent feature is that they comprise two distinct epochs, one is slow regular motion and another is fast chaotic motion. Unlike traditionally studied slow-fast systems that have smooth manifolds of slow motions in the phase space and fast trajectories between them, in this new type one observes, apart the same geometric objects, areas of transient chaos. Alternating periods of slow regular motions and fast chaotic ones as well as transitions between them result in a specific chaotic attractor with chaos on a fast time scale. We formulate basic properties of such attractors in the framework of discrete-time systems and consider several examples. Finally, we provide an important application of such systems, the neuronal electrical activity in the form of chaotic spike-burst oscillations.
Total variation regularization for a backward time-fractional diffusion problem
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wang, Liyan; Liu, Jijun
2013-01-01
Consider a two-dimensional backward problem for a time-fractional diffusion process, which can be considered as image de-blurring where the blurring process is assumed to be slow diffusion. In order to avoid the over-smoothing effect for object image with edges and to construct a fast reconstruction scheme, the total variation regularizing term and the data residual error in the frequency domain are coupled to construct the cost functional. The well posedness of this optimization problem is studied. The minimizer is sought approximately using the iteration process for a series of optimization problems with Bregman distance as a penalty term. This iteration reconstruction scheme is essentially a new regularizing scheme with coupling parameter in the cost functional and the iteration stopping times as two regularizing parameters. We give the choice strategy for the regularizing parameters in terms of the noise level of measurement data, which yields the optimal error estimate on the iterative solution. The series optimization problems are solved by alternative iteration with explicit exact solution and therefore the amount of computation is much weakened. Numerical implementations are given to support our theoretical analysis on the convergence rate and to show the significant reconstruction improvements. (paper)
Coordinate-invariant regularization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Halpern, M.B.
1987-01-01
A general phase-space framework for coordinate-invariant regularization is given. The development is geometric, with all regularization contained in regularized DeWitt Superstructures on field deformations. Parallel development of invariant coordinate-space regularization is obtained by regularized functional integration of the momenta. As representative examples of the general formulation, the regularized general non-linear sigma model and regularized quantum gravity are discussed. copyright 1987 Academic Press, Inc
Consumer segmentation based on food-related lifestyles and analysis of rabbit meat consumption
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
J. Buitrago-Vera
2016-09-01
Full Text Available Market segmentation divides the market into small groups of consumers who share similar characteristics. As all consumers within the same group have a common profile, marketing strategies can be adapted to target a specific type of consumer. Owing to the rapid changes in today’s society, consumer lifestyle has become the ideal criterion for market segmentation. In this study, we employed the food-related lifestyle model, which scholars have shown to be suitable and valid in several countries. Using data from a survey (with 3.53% error, we segmented the Spanish food market based on consumers’ food-related lifestyles. For each segment, we identified the consumer profile and analysed consumers’ consumption of rabbit meat. Factor analysis and cluster analysis yielded 4 segments: (i ‘Unconcerned’ (36.8% of the sample mainly consists of male consumers. Consumers in this segment value neither the freshness nor the price/quality ratio of their food items and consume rabbit meat rarely (39.4% or sporadically (29.3%. (ii ‘Cooks’ (18.4% predominantly consists of middle-aged women. Consumers in this segment are highly demanding and critical of the quality of food products. They like cooking and are regular consumers of rabbit meat (40.6%. (iii ‘Out-of-home consumers and convenience shoppers’ (28.6% mostly consists of consumers aged between 25 and 34 y old and contains a large proportion of upper-class consumers. Consumers in this segment prefer to eat out and consume convenience products. This segment has the second highest percentage of regular consumers of rabbit meat (36.9%. The segment also has the second highest percentage of consumers who rarely or never eat rabbit meat (43.9%. (iv ‘Rational purchaser with little interest in cooking’ (16.2% has the highest proportion of consumers aged 55 to 74 y old. Consumers in this segment have the least interest in cooking, the most interest in the purchasing process, and the lowest
Effects of Greek orthodox christian church fasting on serum lipids and obesity
Mamalakis George D; Linardakis Manolis K; Tzanakis Nikolaos E; Sarri Katerina O; Kafatos Anthony G
2003-01-01
Abstract Background No study to date has focused on the impact of Greek Orthodox Christian fasting on serum lipoproteins and obesity yet. Methods 120 Greek adults were followed longitudinally for one year. Sixty fasted regularly in all fasting periods (fasters) and 60 did not fast at all (controls). The three major fasting periods under study were: Christmas (40 days), Lent (48 days) and Assumption (August, 15 days). A total of 6 measurements were made during one year including pre- and end-f...
Nonlocal discrete regularization on weighted graphs: a framework for image and manifold processing.
Elmoataz, Abderrahim; Lezoray, Olivier; Bougleux, Sébastien
2008-07-01
We introduce a nonlocal discrete regularization framework on weighted graphs of the arbitrary topologies for image and manifold processing. The approach considers the problem as a variational one, which consists of minimizing a weighted sum of two energy terms: a regularization one that uses a discrete weighted p-Dirichlet energy and an approximation one. This is the discrete analogue of recent continuous Euclidean nonlocal regularization functionals. The proposed formulation leads to a family of simple and fast nonlinear processing methods based on the weighted p-Laplace operator, parameterized by the degree p of regularity, the graph structure and the graph weight function. These discrete processing methods provide a graph-based version of recently proposed semi-local or nonlocal processing methods used in image and mesh processing, such as the bilateral filter, the TV digital filter or the nonlocal means filter. It works with equal ease on regular 2-D and 3-D images, manifolds or any data. We illustrate the abilities of the approach by applying it to various types of images, meshes, manifolds, and data represented as graphs.
Multiple graph regularized nonnegative matrix factorization
Wang, Jim Jing-Yan
2013-10-01
Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) has been widely used as a data representation method based on components. To overcome the disadvantage of NMF in failing to consider the manifold structure of a data set, graph regularized NMF (GrNMF) has been proposed by Cai et al. by constructing an affinity graph and searching for a matrix factorization that respects graph structure. Selecting a graph model and its corresponding parameters is critical for this strategy. This process is usually carried out by cross-validation or discrete grid search, which are time consuming and prone to overfitting. In this paper, we propose a GrNMF, called MultiGrNMF, in which the intrinsic manifold is approximated by a linear combination of several graphs with different models and parameters inspired by ensemble manifold regularization. Factorization metrics and linear combination coefficients of graphs are determined simultaneously within a unified object function. They are alternately optimized in an iterative algorithm, thus resulting in a novel data representation algorithm. Extensive experiments on a protein subcellular localization task and an Alzheimer\\'s disease diagnosis task demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection of regularization parameter for l1-regularized damage detection
Hou, Rongrong; Xia, Yong; Bao, Yuequan; Zhou, Xiaoqing
2018-06-01
The l1 regularization technique has been developed for structural health monitoring and damage detection through employing the sparsity condition of structural damage. The regularization parameter, which controls the trade-off between data fidelity and solution size of the regularization problem, exerts a crucial effect on the solution. However, the l1 regularization problem has no closed-form solution, and the regularization parameter is usually selected by experience. This study proposes two strategies of selecting the regularization parameter for the l1-regularized damage detection problem. The first method utilizes the residual and solution norms of the optimization problem and ensures that they are both small. The other method is based on the discrepancy principle, which requires that the variance of the discrepancy between the calculated and measured responses is close to the variance of the measurement noise. The two methods are applied to a cantilever beam and a three-story frame. A range of the regularization parameter, rather than one single value, can be determined. When the regularization parameter in this range is selected, the damage can be accurately identified even for multiple damage scenarios. This range also indicates the sensitivity degree of the damage identification problem to the regularization parameter.
Poti, Jennifer M; Slining, Meghan M; Popkin, Barry M
2013-11-01
Little is known about the role of location in U.S. children's excess intake of energy from solid fat and added sugar, collectively referred to as SoFAS. The goal of this study was to compare the SoFAS content of foods consumed by children from stores, schools, and fast-food restaurants and to determine whether trends from 1994 to 2010 differ across these locations. Children aged 2-18 years (N=22,103) from five nationally representative surveys of dietary intake from 1994 to 2010 were studied. SoFAS content was compared across locations for total intake and key foods. Regression models were used to test and compare linear trends across locations. Data were analyzed in 2012. The mean percentage of total energy intake consumed from each location that was provided by SoFAS remained above recommendations, despite significant improvements between 1994 and 2010 at stores (1994, 38.3%; 2004, 33.2%); schools (1994, 38.7%; 2004, 31.2%); and fast-food restaurants (1994, 34.6%; 2004, 34.6%). For each key food, SoFAS content decreased significantly at stores and schools, yet progress at schools was comparatively slower. Milk was higher in SoFAS at schools compared to stores because of shifts toward flavored milk at schools. Schools provided french fries that were higher in solid fat than store-bought versions and pizza that was not significantly different in SoFAS content than fast-food pizza. However, schools made significantly greater progress for sugar-sweetened beverages, as lower-sugar beverages replaced regular sodas. Key fast foods showed little improvement. These findings can inform future strategies targeted to the specific locations and foods where continued progress is needed to reduce children's SoFAS consumption. © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Moran, Alyssa J; Ramirez, Maricelle; Block, Jason P
2017-06-01
Restaurants are key venues for reducing sodium intake in the U.S. but little is known about consumer perceptions of sodium in restaurant foods. This study quantifies the difference between estimated and actual sodium content of restaurant meals and examines predictors of underestimation in adult and adolescent diners at fast food restaurants. In 2013 and 2014, meal receipts and questionnaires were collected from adults and adolescents dining at six restaurant chains in four New England cities. The sample included 993 adults surveyed during 229 dinnertime visits to 44 restaurants and 794 adolescents surveyed during 298 visits to 49 restaurants after school or at lunchtime. Diners were asked to estimate the amount of sodium (mg) in the meal they had just purchased. Sodium estimates were compared with actual sodium in the meal, calculated by matching all items that the respondent purchased for personal consumption to sodium information on chain restaurant websites. Mean (SD) actual sodium (mg) content of meals was 1292 (970) for adults and 1128 (891) for adolescents. One-quarter of diners (176 (23%) adults, 155 (25%) adolescents) were unable or unwilling to provide estimates of the sodium content of their meals. Of those who provided estimates, 90% of adults and 88% of adolescents underestimated sodium in their meals, with adults underestimating sodium by a mean (SD) of 1013 mg (1,055) and adolescents underestimating by 876 mg (1,021). Respondents underestimated sodium content more for meals with greater sodium content. Education about sodium at point-of-purchase, such as provision of sodium information on restaurant menu boards, may help correct consumer underestimation, particularly for meals of high sodium content. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gorica Zoric
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Unlike other advertising mediums such as TV commercials or online advertising, people involuntarily receive sport advertisements; they prefer to watch the game for the sporting action than the regular advertisements. However, it is important to analyse their general attitudes among various questions, mostly due to the reason it varies from demographic group to demographic group. Hence, this research was aimed at gaining relevant knowledge about the attitudes of Montenegrin consumers toward advertising through sport among the question how often consumers purchase sporting goods. The sample included 342 respondents, divided into six subsample groups: consumers who do not purchase sport goods at all, then consumers who purchase sport goods less than ones a month, next 1–3 a month, 4–6 a month, 7–9 a month, as well as consumers who purchase sport goods more than 10 times a month. The sample of variables contained the system of three general attitudes which were modelled by seven-point Likert scale. The results of the measuring were analysed by multivariate analysis (MANOVA and univariate analysis (ANOVA and Post Hoc test.Based on the statistical analyses it was found that significant differences occur at multivariate level, as well as between all three variables at a significance level of (p=.000.
Proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools and adolescent obesity.
Davis, Brennan; Carpenter, Christopher
2009-03-01
We examined the relationship between fast-food restaurants near schools and obesity among middle and high school students in California. We used geocoded data (obtained from the 2002-2005 California Healthy Kids Survey) on over 500,000 youths and multivariate regression models to estimate associations between adolescent obesity and proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools. We found that students with fast-food restaurants near (within one half mile of) their schools (1) consumed fewer servings of fruits and vegetables, (2) consumed more servings of soda, and (3) were more likely to be overweight (odds ratio [OR] = 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02, 1.10) or obese (OR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.12) than were youths whose schools were not near fast-food restaurants, after we controlled for student- and school-level characteristics. The result was unique to eating at fast-food restaurants (compared with other nearby establishments) and was not observed for another risky behavior (smoking). Exposure to poor-quality food environments has important effects on adolescent eating patterns and overweight. Policy interventions limiting the proximity of fast-food restaurants to schools could help reduce adolescent obesity.
Beef flavor: a review from chemistry to consumer.
Kerth, Chris R; Miller, Rhonda K
2015-11-01
This paper briefly reviews research that describes the sensation, generation and consumer acceptance of beef flavor. Humans sense the five basic tastes in their taste buds, and receptors in the nasal and sinus cavities sense aromas. Additionally, trigeminal senses such as metallic and astringent are sensed in the oral and nasal cavities and can have an effect on the flavor of beef. Flavors are generated from a complex interaction of tastes, tactile senses and aromas taken collectively throughout the tongue, nasal, sinus and oral cavities. Cooking beef generates compounds that contribute to these senses and result in beef flavor, and the factors that are involved in the cookery process determine the amount and type of these compounds and therefore the flavor generated. A low-heat, slow cooking method generates primarily lipid degradation products, while high-heat, fast cookery generates more Maillard reaction products. The science of consumer acceptance, cluster analyses and drawing relationships among all flavor determinants is a relatively new discipline in beef flavor. Consumers rate beef that has lipid degradation products generated from a low degree of doneness and Maillard flavor products from fast, hot cookery the highest in overall liking, and current research has shown that strong relationships exist between beef flavor and consumer acceptability, even more so than juiciness or tenderness. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.
Trends in Fashion Marketing and their influence to consumer buying decision
Votočková, Pavlína
2017-01-01
This master's thesis deals with Trends in Fashion Marketing and their influence to consumer buying decision. The aim of the thesis is to analyse consumer's attitude to fashion marketing and it's current trends: Fast Fashion, online shopping, co-branding and influence of social sites. The thesis is devided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part deals with consumer behavior, specification of current situation on the fashion market, locating of production and supply chain ...
Caloric beverages consumed freely at meal-time add calories to an ad libitum meal.
Panahi, Shirin; El Khoury, Dalia; Luhovyy, Bohdan L; Goff, H Douglas; Anderson, G Harvey
2013-06-01
The objective was to compare the effects of ad libitum consumption of commonly consumed meal-time beverages on energy and fluid intakes and post-meal average subjective appetite and blood glucose in healthy adults. In a randomized controlled design, 29 males and females consumed to satiation an ad libitum pizza meal with one of five beverages in unlimited amount including water (0 kcal), 1% milk (44 kcal/100 ml), regular cola (44 kcal/100 ml), orange juice (44 kcal/100 ml) and diet cola (0 kcal). Food and fluid intakes were measured at the meal. Average subjective appetite and blood glucose were measured before and for 2h after the meal. Although energy intake from pizza was similar among all beverage treatments, the amount of fluid consumed (g) varied among the beverages with intake of orange juice higher than regular and diet cola, but not different from water or milk. Meal-time ingestion of caloric beverages, milk, orange juice and regular cola, led to higher total meal-time energy intakes compared to either water or diet cola. Post-meal blood glucose area under the curve (AUC) was lower after milk than after meals with water, orange juice and regular cola and post-meal average subjective appetite AUC was lower after milk than after meals with water. Meal intakes of nutrients including protein, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, vitamins B12, A and D were higher at the meal with milk compared to the other beverages. Thus, caloric beverages consumed ad libitum during a meal add to total meal-time energy intake, but 1% milk favors a lower post-meal blood glucose and average subjective appetite score and adds to nutrient intake. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Frequency and Attitudes to Fast Food Consumption in Yasuj, Southwestern Iran
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Seyed Mohammad Amin Rezaei
2017-06-01
Full Text Available Background: Nowadays, fast food consumption has increased dramatically in different societies leading to many diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and attitude toward consumption of fast foods. Methods: Totally, 540 subjects aged 18-45 years old from Yasuj, southwestern Iran who referred to health centers were randomly enrolled. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic information and the attitude toward fast food consumption. Results: Totally, 304 (56.3% male and 236 (43.7% female were included. The consumption of fast food was 3 times per week among 23.5% of participants, 1-2 times per week in 45.6% of people, less than once a week in 28.4% of subjects and 2.2% never had fast food experience. 79.7% of consumers cited good taste as the main reason for consumption, 59.6% and 14.4% of them reported fast preparation and advertisement, respectively. Students and singles ate fast food more than others, 84.7% of fast food consumers used carbonated beverages with their fast food and 63.7% of them had fast foods as dinner. Conclusion: Fast food consumption has been extremely high and particularly more among students and youths in Yasuj that can be an alarm for health providers,. Therefore, providing the necessary education and training can promote awareness for the side effects of fast food consumption in the society.
Yordanova, Juliana; Kolev, Vasil; Bruns, Eike; Kirov, Roumen; Verleger, Rolf
2017-11-01
The present study explored the sleep mechanisms which may support awareness of hidden regularities. Before sleep, 53 participants learned implicitly a lateralized variant of the serial response-time task in order to localize sensorimotor encoding either in the left or right hemisphere and induce implicit regularity representations. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded at multiple electrodes during both task performance and sleep, searching for lateralized traces of the preceding activity during learning. Sleep EEG analysis focused on region-specific slow (9-12 Hz) and fast (13-16 Hz) sleep spindles during nonrapid eye movement sleep. Fast spindle activity at those motor regions that were activated during learning increased with the amount of postsleep awareness. Independently of side of learning, spindle activity at right frontal and fronto-central regions was involved: there, fast spindles increased with the transformation of sequence knowledge from implicit before sleep to explicit after sleep, and slow spindles correlated with individual abilities of gaining awareness. These local modulations of sleep spindles corresponded to regions with greater presleep activation in participants with postsleep explicit knowledge. Sleep spindle mechanisms are related to explicit awareness (1) by tracing the activation of motor cortical and right-hemisphere regions which had stronger involvement already during learning and (2) by recruitment of individually consolidated processing modules in the right hemisphere. The integration of different sleep spindle mechanisms with functional states during wake collectively supports the gain of awareness of previously experienced regularities, with a special role for the right hemisphere. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].
A two-way regularization method for MEG source reconstruction
Tian, Tian Siva; Huang, Jianhua Z.; Shen, Haipeng; Li, Zhimin
2012-01-01
The MEG inverse problem refers to the reconstruction of the neural activity of the brain from magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements. We propose a two-way regularization (TWR) method to solve the MEG inverse problem under the assumptions that only a small number of locations in space are responsible for the measured signals (focality), and each source time course is smooth in time (smoothness). The focality and smoothness of the reconstructed signals are ensured respectively by imposing a sparsity-inducing penalty and a roughness penalty in the data fitting criterion. A two-stage algorithm is developed for fast computation, where a raw estimate of the source time course is obtained in the first stage and then refined in the second stage by the two-way regularization. The proposed method is shown to be effective on both synthetic and real-world examples. © Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2012.
A two-way regularization method for MEG source reconstruction
Tian, Tian Siva
2012-09-01
The MEG inverse problem refers to the reconstruction of the neural activity of the brain from magnetoencephalography (MEG) measurements. We propose a two-way regularization (TWR) method to solve the MEG inverse problem under the assumptions that only a small number of locations in space are responsible for the measured signals (focality), and each source time course is smooth in time (smoothness). The focality and smoothness of the reconstructed signals are ensured respectively by imposing a sparsity-inducing penalty and a roughness penalty in the data fitting criterion. A two-stage algorithm is developed for fast computation, where a raw estimate of the source time course is obtained in the first stage and then refined in the second stage by the two-way regularization. The proposed method is shown to be effective on both synthetic and real-world examples. © Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2012.
Attitudes on Inclusion of a Player with Disabilities in a Regular Softball League.
Block, Martin E.; Malloy, Mike
1998-01-01
A study examined the attitudes of 88 girls (ages 10-12) without disabilities, parents, and coaches toward the inclusion of a child with a disability in a regular fast-pitch softball league. Players and parents had a favorable attitude toward inclusion and modifying game rules. Coaches were undecided about inclusion and rule modifications.…
Regularization Techniques for Linear Least-Squares Problems
Suliman, Mohamed
2016-04-01
method deals with discrete ill-posed problems when the singular values of the linear transformation matrix are decaying very fast to a significantly small value. For the both proposed algorithms, the regularization parameter is obtained as a solution of a non-linear characteristic equation. We provide a details study for the general properties of these functions and address the existence and uniqueness of the root. To demonstrate the performance of the derivations, the first proposed COPRA method is applied to estimate different signals with various characteristics, while the second proposed COPRA method is applied to a large set of different real-world discrete ill-posed problems. Simulation results demonstrate that the two proposed methods outperform a set of benchmark regularization algorithms in most cases. In addition, the algorithms are also shown to have the lowest run time.
Chand, Ashmita; Eyles, Helen; Ni Mhurchu, Cliona
2012-02-01
The aim of this study was to assess the availability of healthier options and nutrition information at major New Zealand fast food chains. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken at 24 fast food stores (two from each of 12 major chains) using on-site visits, telephone calls, and website searches. Of available products, only 234/1126 (21%) were healthier options. Healthier options were generally cheaper and lower in energy, total fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium per serve than their regular counterparts. Regular options were commonly high in sugar or sodium per serve (mean sugar content of beverages=56 g (11 teaspoons) and sodium content of burgers and pasta=1095 mg and 1172 mg, respectively). Nutrition information was available at 11/12 (92%) restaurant chains (range=0% at Tank Juice to 99% at Domino's Pizza). However, nutrition in the New Zealand fast food restaurant setting. Implications of these findings for policy and food industry include: consideration of mandatory menu labelling, increasing the percentage of healthier options available, and improving the nutrient content of regular options at New Zealand fast food restaurants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Graph Regularized Auto-Encoders for Image Representation.
Yiyi Liao; Yue Wang; Yong Liu
2017-06-01
Image representation has been intensively explored in the domain of computer vision for its significant influence on the relative tasks such as image clustering and classification. It is valuable to learn a low-dimensional representation of an image which preserves its inherent information from the original image space. At the perspective of manifold learning, this is implemented with the local invariant idea to capture the intrinsic low-dimensional manifold embedded in the high-dimensional input space. Inspired by the recent successes of deep architectures, we propose a local invariant deep nonlinear mapping algorithm, called graph regularized auto-encoder (GAE). With the graph regularization, the proposed method preserves the local connectivity from the original image space to the representation space, while the stacked auto-encoders provide explicit encoding model for fast inference and powerful expressive capacity for complex modeling. Theoretical analysis shows that the graph regularizer penalizes the weighted Frobenius norm of the Jacobian matrix of the encoder mapping, where the weight matrix captures the local property in the input space. Furthermore, the underlying effects on the hidden representation space are revealed, providing insightful explanation to the advantage of the proposed method. Finally, the experimental results on both clustering and classification tasks demonstrate the effectiveness of our GAE as well as the correctness of the proposed theoretical analysis, and it also suggests that GAE is a superior solution to the current deep representation learning techniques comparing with variant auto-encoders and existing local invariant methods.
Portion and Serving Sizes of Commonly Consumed Foods
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Dr Olaleye
consume energy and nutrients in inadequate or excess of requirements. Inadequate ... reported inadequate dietary intakes, very little information exists on ... reasonable estimate, 50% will be used q = 1.0-p ... Whose consumption was not affected by ill health, fasting ..... metabolic syndrome in Tehranian adults. International.
A fast neural signature of motivated attention to consumer goods separates the sexes.
Junghöfer, Markus; Kissler, Johanna; Schupp, Harald T; Putsche, Christian; Elling, Ludger; Dobel, Christian
2010-01-01
Emotional stimuli guide selective visual attention and receive enhanced processing. Previous event-related potential studies have identified an early (>120 ms) negative potential shift over occipito-temporal regions (early posterior negativity, EPN) presumed to indicate the facilitated processing of survival-relevant stimuli. The present study investigated whether this neural signature of motivated attention is also responsive to the intrinsic significance of man-made objects and consumer goods. To address this issue, we capitalized on gender differences towards specific man-made objects, shoes and motorcycles, for which the Statistical Yearbook 2005 of Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2005) revealed pronounced differences in consumer behavior. In a passive viewing paradigm, male and female participants viewed pictures of motorcycles and shoes, while their magnetoencephalographic brain responses were measured. Source localization of the magnetic counterpart of the EPN (EPNm) revealed pronounced gender differences in picture processing. Specifically, between 130 and 180 ms, all female participants generated stronger activity in occipito-temporal regions when viewing shoes compared to motorcycles, while all men except one showed stronger activation for motorcycles than shoes. Thus, the EPNm allowed a sex-dimorphic classification of the processing of consumer goods. Self-report data confirmed gender differences in consumer behavior, which, however, were less distinct compared to the brain based measure. Considering the latency of the EPNm, the reflected automatic emotional network activity is most likely not yet affected by higher cognitive functions such as response strategies or social expectancy. Non-invasive functional neuroimaging measures of early brain activity may thus serve as objective measure for individual preferences towards consumer goods.
A fast neural signature of motivated attention to consumer goods separates the sexes
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Markus eJunghöfer
2010-09-01
Full Text Available Emotional stimuli guide selective visual attention and receive enhanced processing. Previous event related potential studies have identified an early (>120 ms negative potential shift over occipito-temporal regions (Early Posterior Negativity, EPN presumed to indicate the facilitated processing of survival-relevant stimuli. The present study investigated whether this neural signature of motivated attention is also responsive to the intrinsic significance of man-made objects and consumer goods. To address this issue, we capitalized on gender differences towards specific man-made objects, shoes and motorcycles, for which the Statistical Yearbook 2005 of Germany’s Federal Statistical Office revealed pronounced differences in consumer behavior. In a passive viewing paradigm, male and female participants viewed pictures of motorcycles and shoes, while their magnetoencephalographic brain responses were measured. Source localization of the magnetic counterpart of the EPN (EPNm revealed pronounced gender differences in picture processing. Specifically, between 130 and 180 ms, all female participants generated stronger activity in occipito-temporal regions when viewing shoes compared to motorcycles, while all men except one showed stronger activation for motorcycles than shoes. Thus, the EPNm allowed a sex-dimorphic classification of the processing of consumer goods. Self-report data confirmed gender differences in consumer behavior, which, however, were less distinct compared to the brain based measure. Considering the latency of the EPNm, the reflected automatic emotional network activity is most likely not yet affected by higher cognitive functions such as response strategies or social expectancy. Noninvasive functional neuroimaging measures of early brain activity may thus serve as objective measure for individual preferences towards consumer goods.
Ion channel density regulates switches between regular and fast spiking in soma but not in axons.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hugo Zeberg
2010-04-01
Full Text Available The threshold firing frequency of a neuron is a characterizing feature of its dynamical behaviour, in turn determining its role in the oscillatory activity of the brain. Two main types of dynamics have been identified in brain neurons. Type 1 dynamics (regular spiking shows a continuous relationship between frequency and stimulation current (f-I(stim and, thus, an arbitrarily low frequency at threshold current; Type 2 (fast spiking shows a discontinuous f-I(stim relationship and a minimum threshold frequency. In a previous study of a hippocampal neuron model, we demonstrated that its dynamics could be of both Type 1 and Type 2, depending on ion channel density. In the present study we analyse the effect of varying channel density on threshold firing frequency on two well-studied axon membranes, namely the frog myelinated axon and the squid giant axon. Moreover, we analyse the hippocampal neuron model in more detail. The models are all based on voltage-clamp studies, thus comprising experimentally measurable parameters. The choice of analysing effects of channel density modifications is due to their physiological and pharmacological relevance. We show, using bifurcation analysis, that both axon models display exclusively Type 2 dynamics, independently of ion channel density. Nevertheless, both models have a region in the channel-density plane characterized by an N-shaped steady-state current-voltage relationship (a prerequisite for Type 1 dynamics and associated with this type of dynamics in the hippocampal model. In summary, our results suggest that the hippocampal soma and the two axon membranes represent two distinct kinds of membranes; membranes with a channel-density dependent switching between Type 1 and 2 dynamics, and membranes with a channel-density independent dynamics. The difference between the two membrane types suggests functional differences, compatible with a more flexible role of the soma membrane than that of the axon membrane.
Effect of fasting on renal physiology
Achraf Hendawy
2014-01-01
Total abstention from food and water from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan, is practiced by hundreds of millions of Muslims throughout the world. This pattern of fasting during Ramadan is different from the usual fasting as people are allowed to eat and drink between sunset and dawn but not after dawn. The amount and type of food (rich in protein, fat and sugar) eaten during the night may also be significantly different to that usually consumed during the rest of the year, while ...
Fine structure in fast drift storm bursts
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
McConnell, D.; Ellis, G.R.A.
1981-01-01
Recent observations with high time resolution of fast drift storm (FDS) solar bursts are described. A new variety of FDS bursts characterised by intensity maxima regularly placed in the frequency domain is reported. Possible interpretations of this are mentioned and the implications of the short duration of FDS bursts are discussed. (orig.)
Fast Food As An Actual Form Of Modern Gastronomic Culture
Irina V. Sokhan
2014-01-01
This article analyzes the actual gastronomic practice of fast food. Traditional gastronomic culture is undergoing transformations in the modern world. New gastronomic scares are developing that are related to an inability to predict ingredients in consumed foods. Fast food is neutral on the basis of ethnic gastronomic cultures and is becoming a prevailing eating style. As opposed to fast food, alternative gastronomic practices are becoming more essential. They bear a relation to the establish...
Toumpakari, Zoi; Haase, Anne M; Johnson, Laura
2016-06-01
Little is known about adolescents' non-core food intake in the UK and the eating context in which they consume non-core foods. The present study aimed to describe types of non-core foods consumed by British adolescents in total and across different eating contexts. A descriptive analysis, using cross-sectional data from food diaries. Non-core foods were classified based on cut-off points of fat and sugar from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Eating context was defined as 'where' and 'with whom' adolescents consumed each food. Percentages of non-core energy were calculated for each food group in total and across eating contexts. A combined ranking was then created to account for each food's contribution to non-core energy intake and its popularity of consumption (percentage of consumers). The UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008-2011. Adolescents across the UK aged 11-18 years (n 666). Non-core food comprised 39·5 % of total energy intake and was mostly 'Regular soft drinks', 'Crisps & savoury snacks', 'Chips & potato products', 'Chocolate' and 'Biscuits'. Adolescents ate 57·0 % and 51·3 % of non-core food at 'Eateries' or with 'Friends', compared with 33·2 % and 32·1 % at 'Home' or with 'Parents'. Persistent foods consumed across eating contexts were 'Regular soft drinks' and 'Chips & potato products'. Regular soft drinks contribute the most energy and are the most popular non-core food consumed by adolescents regardless of context, and represent a good target for interventions to reduce non-core food consumption.
Nonlocal Regularized Algebraic Reconstruction Techniques for MRI: An Experimental Study
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Xin Li
2013-01-01
Full Text Available We attempt to revitalize researchers' interest in algebraic reconstruction techniques (ART by expanding their capabilities and demonstrating their potential in speeding up the process of MRI acquisition. Using a continuous-to-discrete model, we experimentally study the application of ART into MRI reconstruction which unifies previous nonuniform-fast-Fourier-transform- (NUFFT- based and gridding-based approaches. Under the framework of ART, we advocate the use of nonlocal regularization techniques which are leveraged from our previous research on modeling photographic images. It is experimentally shown that nonlocal regularization ART (NR-ART can often outperform their local counterparts in terms of both subjective and objective qualities of reconstructed images. On one real-world k-space data set, we find that nonlocal regularization can achieve satisfactory reconstruction from as few as one-third of samples. We also address an issue related to image reconstruction from real-world k-space data but overlooked in the open literature: the consistency of reconstructed images across different resolutions. A resolution-consistent extension of NR-ART is developed and shown to effectively suppress the artifacts arising from frequency extrapolation. Both source codes and experimental results of this work are made fully reproducible.
Kristjansson, Sean D; Agrawal, Arpana; Lessov-Schlaggar, Christina N; Madden, Pamela A F; Cooper, M Lynne; Bucholz, Kathleen K; Sher, Kenneth J; Lynskey, Michael T; Heath, Andrew C
2012-01-01
Motivational models of alcohol use propose that the motivation to consume alcohol is the final common pathway to its use. Both alcohol consumption and drinking motives are influenced by latent genetic factors that partially overlap. This study investigated whether drinking motives mediate the associations between alcohol consumption and 2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from genes involved in serotonin (TPH2; rs1386496) and dopamine synthesis (DDC; rs3779084). Based on earlier work showing that enhancement and coping motives were heritable in regular smokers but not in nonregular smokers, we hypothesized these motives would mediate the relationships between alcohol consumption and these SNPs in regular smokers. Drinking motives data were available from 830 young adult female twins (n = 344 regular smokers and n = 486 never/nonregular smokers). We used confirmatory factor analyses to model enhancement, coping, and alcohol consumption factors and to conduct mediation analyses in the regular smoker and never/nonregular smoker groups. Our hypothesis was partially supported. The relationship between alcohol consumption and rs1386496 was not mediated by drinking motives in either group. However, in the regular smokers, the relationship between alcohol consumption and rs3779084 was mediated by enhancement and coping motives. Carriers of the rs3779084 minor allele who were regular smokers reported more motivation to consume alcohol. Given this pattern of results was absent in the never/nonregular smokers, our results are consistent with a gene × smoking status interaction. In regular smokers, variability at the locus marked by rs3779084 in the DDC gene appears to index biologically based individual differences in the motivation to consume alcohol to attain or improve a positive affective state or to relieve a negative one. These results could be because of increased sensitivity to the reinforcing effects of alcohol among minor allele carriers who smoke, which might
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
Young Children as Media Users and Consumers
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Johansen, Stine Liv
2008-01-01
a very early age, also becoming consumers in their own right. Through media, children are exposed to a wide range of consumer goods,not only through traditional spot commercials, but especially through different kinds of merchandise related to program content. This process, the paper argues, takes place...... in a complex socialization, in which the child through daily interactions with family members and media texts learns how to act and behave as a competent media user......This paper presents some main results from the PhD-project ‘Toddlers watching TV'1. Young children, aged 1½ to three, are in this project understood and examined as active participants in the process of becoming regular viewers of both public service and commercial television, and thereby, from...
Fasting glycaemia to simplify screening for gestational diabetes.
Ryser Rüetschi, J; Jornayvaz, F R; Rivest, R; Huhn, E A; Irion, O; Boulvain, M
2016-12-01
Recommendations in Switzerland on screening for gestational diabetes endorse the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group consensus. As universal testing is time consuming and glucose loading is unpleasant, the recommendations include a simplification, not performing the glucose loading in women with fasting glycaemia fasting glycaemia was fasting glycaemia. The prevalence of gestational diabetes was 10.9% in our population. Among 251 women with gestational diabetes, fasting glycaemia was ≥5.1 mmol/l in 119 women (47.4%), between 4.4 and fasting glycaemia between 4.4 and fasting glycaemia is an attractive alternative to universal screening with the complete 75-g glucose tolerance test. This strategy is, however, slightly less sensitive than previously reported in higher-risk populations. Fasting glycaemia can be considered as an alternative to the complete test for gestational diabetes screening. © 2016 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The effects of Ramadan fasting on growth parameters: A narrative review
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Mohsen Mazidi
2014-03-01
Full Text Available Abstract Ramadan fasting is prescribed by Quran for every able‐bodied, adult Muslim and is considered an obligatory act of worship. During Ramadan, the majority of Muslims eat two major meals- one before dawn (Sahar and another immediately after the sunset (Iftar. Islamic fasting, due to its particular nature, may cause metabolic and hormonal changes in the body, which are different from those in regular fasting. To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive study has been conducted on changes in growth parameters during fasting periods. Therefore, the aim of this review, which is based on scientific literature review, was to describe the effects of fasting on growth parameters in humans.
The Effects of Ramadan Fasting on Growth Parameters: A Narrative Review
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mohsen Mazidi
2014-03-01
Full Text Available Ramadan fasting is prescribed by Quran for every able‐bodied, adult Muslim and is considered an obligatory act of worship. During Ramadan, the majority of Muslims eat two major meals- one before dawn (Sahar and another immediately after the sunset (Iftar. Islamic fasting, due to its particular nature, may cause metabolic and hormonal changes in the body, which are different from those in regular fasting. To the best of our knowledge, no comprehensive study has been conducted on changes in growth parameters during fasting periods. Therefore, the aim of this review, which is based on scientific literature review, was to describe the effects of fasting on growth parameters in humans.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Anne de la Hunty
2013-03-01
Full Text Available Objective: To review systematically the evidence on breakfast cereal consumption and obesity in children and adolescents and assess whether the regular consumption of breakfast cereals could help to prevent excessive weight gain. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies relating breakfast cereal consumption to BMI, BMI z-scores and prevalence of obesity as the outcomes. Results: 14 papers met the inclusion criteria. The computed effect size for mean BMI between high consumers and low or non-consumers over all 25 study subgroups was -1.13 kg/m2 (95% CI -0.81, -1.46, p Conclusion: Overall, the evidence reviewed is suggestive that regular consumption of breakfast cereals results in a lower BMI and a reduced likelihood of being overweight in children and adolescents. However, more evidence from long-term trials and investigations into mechanisms is needed to eliminate possible confounding factors and determine causality.
FOCUS FORECASTING IN SUPPLY CHAIN: THE CASE STUDY OF FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS COMPANY IN SERBIA
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Zoran Rakićević
2015-04-01
Full Text Available This paper presents an application of focus forecasting in a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG supply chain. Focus forecasting is tested in a real business case in a Serbian enterprise. The data used in the simulation refers to the historical sales of two types of FMCG with several different products. The data were collected and summarized across the whole distribution channel in the Serbian market from January 2012 to December 2013. We applied several well-known time series forecasting models using the focus forecasting approach, where for the future time period we used the method which had the best performances in the past. The focus forecasting approach mixes different standard forecasting methods on the data sets in order to find the one that was the most accurate during the past period. The accuracy of forecasting methods is defined through different measures of errors. In this paper we implemented the following forecasting models in Microsoft Excel: last period, all average, moving average, exponential smoothing with constant and variable parameter α, exponential smoothing with trend, exponential smoothing with trend and seasonality. The main purpose was not to evaluate different forecasting methods but to show a practical application of the focus forecasting approach in a real business case.
Spherical Demons: Fast Surface Registration
Yeo, B.T. Thomas; Sabuncu, Mert; Vercauteren, Tom; Ayache, Nicholas; Fischl, Bruce; Golland, Polina
2009-01-01
We present the fast Spherical Demons algorithm for registering two spherical images. By exploiting spherical vector spline interpolation theory, we show that a large class of regularizers for the modified demons objective function can be efficiently implemented on the sphere using convolution. Based on the one parameter subgroups of diffeomorphisms, the resulting registration is diffeomorphic and fast – registration of two cortical mesh models with more than 100k nodes takes less than 5 minutes, comparable to the fastest surface registration algorithms. Moreover, the accuracy of our method compares favorably to the popular FreeSurfer registration algorithm. We validate the technique in two different settings: (1) parcellation in a set of in-vivo cortical surfaces and (2) Brodmann area localization in ex-vivo cortical surfaces. PMID:18979813
Regular Consumption of a Flavanol-rich Chocolate can Improve Oxidant Stress in Young Soccer Players
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Cesar G. Fraga
2005-01-01
Full Text Available The consumption of a diet rich in certain flavonoids, including the flavanol sub-class, has been associated with a reduced risk for vascular disease. We evaluated the effects of the regular consumption (14 d of a flavanol-containing milk chocolate (FCMC or cocoa butter chocolate (CBC on variables related to vascular disease risk, oxidative stress and physical activity. Twenty-eight free-living, young (18–20 years old male soccer players consumed daily 105 g of FCMC (168 mg of flavanols or CBC (<5 mg of flavanols, as part of their normal diet. The consumption of FCMC was significantly associated with a decrease in diastolic blood pressure (-5 mm Hg, mean blood pressure (-5 mm Hg, plasma cholesterol (-11%, LDL-cholesterol (-15%, malondialdehyde (-12%, urate (-11% and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH activity (-11%, and an increase in vitamin E/cholesterol (+12%. No relevant changes in these variables were associated with CBC consumption. No changes in the plasma levels of (--epicatechin were observed following analysis of fasting blood samples. In conclusion, FCMC consumption was associated with changes in several variables often associated with cardiovascular health and oxidant stress. The presence of significant quantities of flavanols in FCMC is likely to have been one of the contributing factors to these results.
Consumer food choices: the role of price and pricing strategies.
Steenhuis, Ingrid H M; Waterlander, Wilma E; de Mul, Anika
2011-12-01
To study differences in the role of price and value in food choice between low-income and higher-income consumers and to study the perception of consumers about pricing strategies that are of relevance during grocery shopping. A cross-sectional study was conducted using structured, written questionnaires. Food choice motives as well as price perceptions and opinion on pricing strategies were measured. The study was carried out in point-of-purchase settings, i.e. supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and sports canteens. Adults (n 159) visiting a point-of-purchase setting were included. Price is an important factor in food choice, especially for low-income consumers. Low-income consumers were significantly more conscious of value and price than higher-income consumers. The most attractive strategies, according to the consumers, were discounting healthy food more often and applying a lower VAT (Value Added Tax) rate on healthy food. Low-income consumers differ in their preferences for pricing strategies. Since price is more important for low-income consumers we recommend mainly focusing on their preferences and needs.
Practical Management of Diabetes during Ramadan Fast
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Sherif IH
2007-01-01
Full Text Available Fasting in Ramadan is obligatory for all healthy Muslim adults. No food or drink may be consumed between dawn and sunset [1]. Strictly speaking, the fast of Ramadan is a period of “intermittent fasting” or daily cycles of “alternating” fasting and feeding periods. The periods of the fasting and feeding vary by the geographical locations and by time of the year. During the month of Ramadan, there are two main meals in most Moslem communities. These are commonly referred to by their Arabic origin, namely the “Iftar” (i.e. break of fast immediately after sunset and “Sohur or Suhoor” (i.e. pre-dawn meal. As the Islamic calendar year is lunar, Ramadan (the ninth month therefore starts approximately 10 days earlier each year on the Gregorian calendar. This year, 2007, Ramadan is likely to start between 12th and 14th September.
O'Dare Wilson, Kellie
2017-01-01
Despite extensive research investigating obesity, the problem continues to increase, particularly in poor, minority, and under-resourced communities. However, the literature continues to demonstrate many obesity-predicating variables are outside of personal volitional control, such as food-related consumer behaviors, which are strongly influenced by income and environment. This cross-sectional study (n = 5,109) employed secondary data analysis to quantitatively examine the effect of food-related consumer variables on obesity while controlling for covariates. Participants answered questions regarding money spent on food, time preparing meals, number of meals eaten at home and away from home, and types of food products consumed (frozen/fast foods, sodas, salty snacks, etc.) In this study, 48.9% of respondents were either overweight or obese. No significant differences were noted between the contextual variables examined and BMI scores. However, given the sample's limitations illuminated in the study, further research regarding the relationship between obesity and poverty-influenced, food-related consumer behaviors is warranted.
Visual Perceptual Echo Reflects Learning of Regularities in Rapid Luminance Sequences.
Chang, Acer Y-C; Schwartzman, David J; VanRullen, Rufin; Kanai, Ryota; Seth, Anil K
2017-08-30
A novel neural signature of active visual processing has recently been described in the form of the "perceptual echo", in which the cross-correlation between a sequence of randomly fluctuating luminance values and occipital electrophysiological signals exhibits a long-lasting periodic (∼100 ms cycle) reverberation of the input stimulus (VanRullen and Macdonald, 2012). As yet, however, the mechanisms underlying the perceptual echo and its function remain unknown. Reasoning that natural visual signals often contain temporally predictable, though nonperiodic features, we hypothesized that the perceptual echo may reflect a periodic process associated with regularity learning. To test this hypothesis, we presented subjects with successive repetitions of a rapid nonperiodic luminance sequence, and examined the effects on the perceptual echo, finding that echo amplitude linearly increased with the number of presentations of a given luminance sequence. These data suggest that the perceptual echo reflects a neural signature of regularity learning.Furthermore, when a set of repeated sequences was followed by a sequence with inverted luminance polarities, the echo amplitude decreased to the same level evoked by a novel stimulus sequence. Crucially, when the original stimulus sequence was re-presented, the echo amplitude returned to a level consistent with the number of presentations of this sequence, indicating that the visual system retained sequence-specific information, for many seconds, even in the presence of intervening visual input. Altogether, our results reveal a previously undiscovered regularity learning mechanism within the human visual system, reflected by the perceptual echo. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How the brain encodes and learns fast-changing but nonperiodic visual input remains unknown, even though such visual input characterizes natural scenes. We investigated whether the phenomenon of "perceptual echo" might index such learning. The perceptual echo is a
Correlates of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Purchased for Children at Fast-Food Restaurants.
Cantor, Jonathan; Breck, Andrew; Elbel, Brian
2016-11-01
To determine consumer and fast-food purchase characteristics associated with the purchase of a sugar-sweetened beverage, as well as calories and grams of sugar, for children at a fast-food restaurant. We completed cross-sectional analyses of fast-food restaurant receipts and point-of-purchase surveys (n = 483) collected during 2013 and 2014 in New York City and Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey. Caregivers purchased beverages for half of all children in our sample. Approximately 60% of these beverages were sugar-sweetened beverages. Fast-food meals with sugar-sweetened beverages had, on average, 179 more calories than meals with non-sugar-sweetened beverages. Being an adolescent or male, having a caregiver with a high school degree or less, having a caregiver who saw the posted calorie information, ordering a combination meal, and eating the meal in the restaurant were associated with ordering a sugar-sweetened beverage. Purchases that included a combination meal or were consumed in the restaurant included more beverage grams of sugar and calories. Characteristics of fast-food purchases appear to have the largest and most important association to beverage calories for children at fast-food restaurants. Targeting fast-food restaurants, particularly combination meals, may improve childhood obesity rates.
Marketing of menthol cigarettes and consumer perceptions: a review of tobacco industry documents.
Anderson, Stacey J
2011-05-01
To examine tobacco industry marketing of menthol cigarettes and to determine what the tobacco industry knew about consumer perceptions of menthol. A snowball sampling design was used to systematically search the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL) (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu) between 28 February and 27 April 2010. Of the approximately 11 million documents available in the LTDL, the iterative searches returned tens of thousands of results from the major US tobacco companies and affiliated organisations. A collection of 953 documents from the 1930s to the first decade of the 21st century relevant to 1 or more of the research questions were qualitatively analysed, as follows: (1) are/were menthol cigarettes marketed with health reassurance messages? (2) What other messages come from menthol cigarette advertising? (3) How do smokers view menthol cigarettes? (4) Were menthol cigarettes marketed to specific populations? Menthol cigarettes were marketed as, and are perceived by consumers to be, healthier than non-menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes are also marketed to specific social and demographic groups, including African-Americans, young people and women, and are perceived by consumers to signal social group belonging. The tobacco industry knew consumers perceived menthol as healthier than non-menthol cigarettes, and this was the intent behind marketing. Marketing emphasising menthol attracts consumers who may not otherwise progress to regular smoking, including young, inexperienced users and those who find 'regular' cigarettes undesirable. Such marketing may also appeal to health-concerned smokers who might otherwise quit.
van Dam, Edwin R.; Koolen, Jack H.; Tanaka, Hajime
2016-01-01
This is a survey of distance-regular graphs. We present an introduction to distance-regular graphs for the reader who is unfamiliar with the subject, and then give an overview of some developments in the area of distance-regular graphs since the monograph 'BCN'[Brouwer, A.E., Cohen, A.M., Neumaier,
Mete, Evelyn M; Perry, Tracy L; Haszard, Jillian J; Homer, Ashleigh R; Fenemor, Stephen P; Rehrer, Nancy J; Skeaff, C Murray; Peddie, Meredith C
2018-01-26
Regular activity breaks increase energy expenditure; however, this may promote compensatory eating behaviour. The present study compared the effects of regular activity breaks and prolonged sitting on appetite. In a randomised, cross-over trial, 36 healthy adults (BMI (Body Mass Index) 23.9 kg/m² (S.D. = 3.9)) completed four, two-day interventions: two with prolonged sitting (SIT), and two with sitting and 2 min of walking every 30 min (RAB). Standardized meals were provided throughout the intervention, with an ad libitum meal at the end of Day 2. Appetite and satiety were assessed throughout both days of each intervention using five visual analogue scales. The five responses were combined into a single appetite response at each time point. The area under the appetite response curve (AUC) was calculated for each day. Intervention effects for appetite response AUC and ad libitum meal intake were tested using linear mixed models. Appetite AUC did not differ between interventions (standardised effect of RAB compared to SIT: Day 1: 0.11; 95% CI: -0.28, 0.06; p = 0.212; Day 2: 0.04; 95% CI: -0.15, 0.24; p = 0.648). There was no significant difference in energy consumed at the ad libitum lunch meal on Day 2 between RAB and SIT. Interrupting prolonged sitting with regular activity breaks does not acutely influence appetite or volume of food consumed, despite inferred increases in energy expenditure. Longer-term investigation into the effects of regular activity breaks on energy balance is warranted.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Evelyn M. Mete
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Regular activity breaks increase energy expenditure; however, this may promote compensatory eating behaviour. The present study compared the effects of regular activity breaks and prolonged sitting on appetite. In a randomised, cross-over trial, 36 healthy adults (BMI (Body Mass Index 23.9 kg/m2 (S.D. = 3.9 completed four, two-day interventions: two with prolonged sitting (SIT, and two with sitting and 2 min of walking every 30 min (RAB. Standardized meals were provided throughout the intervention, with an ad libitum meal at the end of Day 2. Appetite and satiety were assessed throughout both days of each intervention using five visual analogue scales. The five responses were combined into a single appetite response at each time point. The area under the appetite response curve (AUC was calculated for each day. Intervention effects for appetite response AUC and ad libitum meal intake were tested using linear mixed models. Appetite AUC did not differ between interventions (standardised effect of RAB compared to SIT: Day 1: 0.11; 95% CI: −0.28, 0.06; p = 0.212; Day 2: 0.04; 95% CI: −0.15, 0.24; p = 0.648. There was no significant difference in energy consumed at the ad libitum lunch meal on Day 2 between RAB and SIT. Interrupting prolonged sitting with regular activity breaks does not acutely influence appetite or volume of food consumed, despite inferred increases in energy expenditure. Longer-term investigation into the effects of regular activity breaks on energy balance is warranted.
Fasting guidelines for diabetic children and adolescents
Azad, Kiswhar; Mohsin, Fauzia; Zargar, Abdul Hamid; Zabeen, Bedowra; Ahmad, Jamal; Raza, Syed Abbas; Tayyeb, Samin; Bajaj, Sarita; Ishtiaq, Osama; Kalra, Sanjay
2012-01-01
Fasting during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar, is obligatory for all healthy adult and adolescent Muslims from the age of 12 years. Fasting starts from early dawn (Sohur/Sehri) till sunset (Iftar). During this period one has to abstain from eating and drinking. Islam has allowed many categories of people to be exempted from fasting, for example, young children, travelers, the sick, the elderly, pregnant, and lactating women. According to expert opinion, patients with type 1 diabetes (type 1 DM) who fast during Ramadan are at a very high risk to develop adverse events. However, some experienced physicians are of the opinion that fasting during Ramadan is safe for type 1 DM patients, including adolescents and older children, with good glycemic control who do regular self-monitoring and are under close professional supervision. The strategies to ensure safety of type 1 diabetic adolescents who are planning to fast include the following: Ramadan-focused medical education, pre-Ramadan medical assessment, following a healthy diet and physical activity pattern, modification in insulin regimen, and blood glucose monitoring as advised by the physician. PMID:22837907
Fasting guidelines for diabetic children and adolescents
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kiswhar Azad
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Fasting during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of Islamic lunar calendar, is obligatory for all healthy adult and adolescent Muslims from the age of 12 years. Fasting starts from early dawn (Sohur/Sehri till sunset (Iftar. During this period one has to abstain from eating and drinking. Islam has allowed many categories of people to be exempted from fasting, for example, young children, travelers, the sick, the elderly, pregnant, and lactating women. According to expert opinion, patients with type 1 diabetes (type 1 DM who fast during Ramadan are at a very high risk to develop adverse events. However, some experienced physicians are of the opinion that fasting during Ramadan is safe for type 1 DM patients, including adolescents and older children, with good glycemic control who do regular self-monitoring and are under close professional supervision. The strategies to ensure safety of type 1 diabetic adolescents who are planning to fast include the following: Ramadan-focused medical education, pre-Ramadan medical assessment, following a healthy diet and physical activity pattern, modification in insulin regimen, and blood glucose monitoring as advised by the physician.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ratih Pradnyandari Pemayun
2015-09-01
Full Text Available OVERVIEW OF CONSUMING FAST FOOD HABIT AND OBESITY IN MEDICAL STUDENTS AT UDAYANA UNIVERSITY 2014 ABSTRACT Background : Obesity has been occured by deposit of fat in subcutaneous and intra abdominal tissue. The prevalance of obesity in Indonesian womens were 32,9% and mens is 19,7 % respectively. In general side, the prevalence of obesity in 18 years old adult peoples were 15,4%. The major risk factors for obesity including lifestyle dietary changes such as consuming fast food habit. Objective : to find out overview of consuming fast food habit and obesity in medical students. Method : This research was cross-sectional decriptive study. The respondens were 127 medical students on 5th semester in Udayana University on 2014. The qualitative data were be measured by questionnaires. The variables were including age, gender, general knowledge of parents, parental income monthy, body mass index (BMI, habit of consuming fast food, average outcome monlty of medical students, and daily frequency of consuming fast food. Result : the characteristic respondens including : a mostly 20 years old, b.women more than men, c. level education of parents were university, d. monthly parental income more than 5 million rupiah, e. BMI in normal limit, f.degree of obesity were grade I, g.inconvience consuming fast food daily, h.monthy outcome of medical students were aproximately 500.000 rupiah, and i.regular consuming fast food mostly once weekly. Conclusion : mostly responden were women with normaly of BMI and inconvenience consuming fast food daily. Key word : obesity, consuming fast food, medical students, outcome montly
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Anggun Faradhita
2014-12-01
Diabetes Mellitus type 2 reveals resistance insulin. Inadequate magnesium consumption has been reported to promote insulin resistance. The potential role of magnesium in Diabetes Mellitus is improving insulin sensitivity. Previous studies indicated that there is an inverse correlation between magnesium intakes and the incidence of type 2 Diabetes. This study aimed to analyze the association between magnesium intake and fasting blood glucose levels in outpatients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Al Ihsan Hospital. Cross-sectional study in 46 participants was taken by purposive sampling. Data collection was conducted in June-July 2013 which included common data, exercise habits, nutritional status, energy intake, magnesium intake, protein intake, fiber intake and fasting blood glucose levels. This research showed that there was a significant association between magnesium intake and fasting blood glucose levels of patients (p < 0.001 with a correlation of moderate strength (r = -0.562, high magnesium intake was followed by a decrease in fasting blood glucose levels. It is then suggested that people with diabetes mellitus consume adequate amounts of magnesium and set a good diet and regular exercise as a step in the control of blood glucose levels. Keywords: Magnesium Intake, Fasting Blood Glucose, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Goyvaerts, Jan
2009-01-01
This cookbook provides more than 100 recipes to help you crunch data and manipulate text with regular expressions. Every programmer can find uses for regular expressions, but their power doesn't come worry-free. Even seasoned users often suffer from poor performance, false positives, false negatives, or perplexing bugs. Regular Expressions Cookbook offers step-by-step instructions for some of the most common tasks involving this tool, with recipes for C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and VB.NET. With this book, you will: Understand the basics of regular expressions through a
Nijholt, Antinus
1980-01-01
Culik II and Cogen introduced the class of LR-regular grammars, an extension of the LR(k) grammars. In this paper we consider an analogous extension of the LL(k) grammars called the LL-regular grammars. The relation of this class of grammars to other classes of grammars will be shown. Any LL-regular
Zagata, Lukas
2012-08-01
Research has revealed that organic consumers share beliefs about positive health effects, environmentally friendly production and better taste of organic food. Yet, very little is known about the decisions of organic consumers in post-socialist countries with emerging organic food markets. In order to examine this area a representative data set (N=1054) from the Czech Republic was used. Target group of the study has become the Czech consumers that purchase organic food on regular basis. The consumers' behaviour was conceptualised with the use of the theory of planned behaviour (ToPB). Firstly, the ToPB model was tested, and secondly, belief-based factors that influence the decisions and behaviour of consumers were explored. The theory proved able to predict and explain the behaviour of Czech organic consumers. The best predictors of the intention to purchase organic food are attitudes towards the behaviour and subjective norms. Decisive positions in consumers' beliefs have product- and process-based qualities. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
An algorithmic framework for Mumford–Shah regularization of inverse problems in imaging
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hohm, Kilian; Weinmann, Andreas; Storath, Martin
2015-01-01
The Mumford–Shah model is a very powerful variational approach for edge preserving regularization of image reconstruction processes. However, it is algorithmically challenging because one has to deal with a non-smooth and non-convex functional. In this paper, we propose a new efficient algorithmic framework for Mumford–Shah regularization of inverse problems in imaging. It is based on a splitting into specific subproblems that can be solved exactly. We derive fast solvers for the subproblems which are key for an efficient overall algorithm. Our method neither requires a priori knowledge of the gray or color levels nor of the shape of the discontinuity set. We demonstrate the wide applicability of the method for different modalities. In particular, we consider the reconstruction from Radon data, inpainting, and deconvolution. Our method can be easily adapted to many further imaging setups. The relevant condition is that the proximal mapping of the data fidelity can be evaluated a within reasonable time. In other words, it can be used whenever classical Tikhonov regularization is possible. (paper)
New method for minimizing regular functions with constraints on parameter region
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kurbatov, V.S.; Silin, I.N.
1993-01-01
The new method of function minimization is developed. Its main features are considered. It is possible minimization of regular function with the arbitrary structure. For χ 2 -like function the usage of simplified second derivatives is possible with the control of correctness. The constraints of arbitrary structure can be used. The means for fast movement along multidimensional valleys are used. The method is tested on real data of K π2 decay of the experiment on rare K - -decays. 6 refs
Influence of the shape on the consumers perception of the packaging attributes
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Gojko Vladić
2015-12-01
Full Text Available Packaging for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG demands constant attention in order to stay competitive in modern dynamic markets. FMCG consumers do not think about the purchasing product until they enter the place of purchase. This emphasizes importance of the communication in a place of purchase. Alongside promotional banners, displays and counters, packaging can be used for this purpose. While in-store promotional banners, displays and counters represent additional cost, the packaging as the integral part of the product can be used as an important marketing tool that does not add to product cost. Thus packaging becomes an important marketing tool that does not add to product cost. Marketers, distributors and researchers as well must take into consideration the complexity of consumer behaviour to achieve desired results. Alongside graphic design, material, colour, etc. packaging shape is considered as an important tool for product differentiation and promotion. Having this in mind, it is unclear why the influence of the packaging shape on the consumer remains the least examined of all packaging characteristics. The aim of this research is to understand the influence of packaging shape design on the consumer’s perception. The survey study conducted among the consumers of the fast moving consumer goods gave clear insight into the influence of packaging shape on the perception of packaging characteristics. The results can help to improve packaging shape design in order to achieve better market impact.
Fast Solvers for Cahn--Hilliard Inpainting
Bosch, Jessica; Kay, David; Stoll, Martin; Wathen, Andrew J.
2014-01-01
The solution of Cahn-Hilliard variational inequalities is of interest in many applications. We discuss the use of them as a tool for binary image inpainting. This has been done before using double-well potentials but not for nonsmooth potentials as considered here. The existing bound constraints are incorporated via the Moreau-Yosida regularization technique. We develop effective preconditioners for the efficient solution of the Newton steps associated with the fast solution of the Moreau-Yosida regularized problem. Numerical results illustrate the efficiency of our approach. Moreover, precise eigenvalue intervals are given for the preconditioned system using a double-well potential. A comparison between the smooth and nonsmooth Cahn-Hilliard inpainting models shows that the latter achieves better results. © 2014 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Fast Solvers for Cahn--Hilliard Inpainting
Bosch, Jessica
2014-01-02
The solution of Cahn-Hilliard variational inequalities is of interest in many applications. We discuss the use of them as a tool for binary image inpainting. This has been done before using double-well potentials but not for nonsmooth potentials as considered here. The existing bound constraints are incorporated via the Moreau-Yosida regularization technique. We develop effective preconditioners for the efficient solution of the Newton steps associated with the fast solution of the Moreau-Yosida regularized problem. Numerical results illustrate the efficiency of our approach. Moreover, precise eigenvalue intervals are given for the preconditioned system using a double-well potential. A comparison between the smooth and nonsmooth Cahn-Hilliard inpainting models shows that the latter achieves better results. © 2014 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Stark widths regularities within spectral series of sodium isoelectronic sequence
Trklja, Nora; Tapalaga, Irinel; Dojčinović, Ivan P.; Purić, Jagoš
2018-02-01
Stark widths within spectral series of sodium isoelectronic sequence have been studied. This is a unique approach that includes both neutrals and ions. Two levels of problem are considered: if the required atomic parameters are known, Stark widths can be calculated by some of the known methods (in present paper modified semiempirical formula has been used), but if there is a lack of parameters, regularities enable determination of Stark broadening data. In the framework of regularity research, Stark broadening dependence on environmental conditions and certain atomic parameters has been investigated. The aim of this work is to give a simple model, with minimum of required parameters, which can be used for calculation of Stark broadening data for any chosen transitions within sodium like emitters. Obtained relations were used for predictions of Stark widths for transitions that have not been measured or calculated yet. This system enables fast data processing by using of proposed theoretical model and it provides quality control and verification of obtained results.
Assessing a brand equity model for fast moving consumer goods in cosmetic and hygiene industry
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Alireza Karbasivar
2014-11-01
Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of ten factors on brand equity. The study provides an assessment using a brand equity model for fast moving consumer goods in cosmetic and hygiene industry. The study has accomplished among people who purchase goods in six major cities of Iran based on an adapted questionnaire originally developed by Aaker (1992a [Aaker, D. A. (1992a. The value of brand equity. Journal of Business Strategy, 13(4, 27-32.]. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.88, which is well above the minimum acceptable level of 0.7. In addition, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling adequacy and Bartlett's test of Sphericity approximation Chi-Square are 0.878, 276628 with Sig. = 0.000, respectively. The proposed study of this paper uses structural equation modeling to test different hypotheses of the survey. The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA, Comparative Fit Index (CFI and Chi-Square/df are 0.067, 0.840 and 4.244 and they are within desirable levels. While the effects of seven factors on brand equity have been confirmed. However, the survey does not confirm the effects of perceived value, advertisement effectiveness and advertisement to brand on brand equity. In our survey, brand loyalty maintains the highest positive impact followed by having updated brand, trust to brand, perceived quality to brand, brand awareness, intensity of supply and perception to brand.
Supply Chain Coordination and Consumer Awareness for Pollution Reduction
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Bowon Kim
2016-04-01
Full Text Available To understand the dynamics of the manufacturer’s effort to reduce pollution in a supply chain consisting of manufacturer, retailer, and consumers, we analyze four cases according to consumer awareness of the pollution’s harmful effect, i.e., environmentally aware versus ignorant, and supply chain coordination, i.e., competitive versus cooperative. Applying differential games, we derive managerial implications: the most significant is that the supply chain coordination strategy becomes irrelevant to reducing the pollution, if the consumers are not environmentally aware or sensitive enough. It highlights the critical role played by the consumer awareness in curbing the pollution in the supply chain. In addition, we find the transfer price and the potential market size are important factors to determine each case’s relative effectiveness. Under a regular condition, where the transfer price from the retailer to the manufacturer is sufficiently high, the consumer-aware and competitive case can generate a better outcome in reducing the pollution than those with ignorant consumers. However, the opposite might occur if the transfer price is excessively low, giving the manufacturer little motivation to make an effort to reduce the pollution. For the cooperative supply chain, it is the potential market size that determines whether the consumer-aware case is better than the consumer-ignorant. In fact, it turns out that there is a stronger result, i.e., the feasibility condition enforces that the market is always big enough to make the consumer-aware cooperative case better than the consumer-ignorant cases. We further discuss managerial as well as policy implications of these analysis outcomes.
EIT image reconstruction with four dimensional regularization.
Dai, Tao; Soleimani, Manuchehr; Adler, Andy
2008-09-01
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) reconstructs internal impedance images of the body from electrical measurements on body surface. The temporal resolution of EIT data can be very high, although the spatial resolution of the images is relatively low. Most EIT reconstruction algorithms calculate images from data frames independently, although data are actually highly correlated especially in high speed EIT systems. This paper proposes a 4-D EIT image reconstruction for functional EIT. The new approach is developed to directly use prior models of the temporal correlations among images and 3-D spatial correlations among image elements. A fast algorithm is also developed to reconstruct the regularized images. Image reconstruction is posed in terms of an augmented image and measurement vector which are concatenated from a specific number of previous and future frames. The reconstruction is then based on an augmented regularization matrix which reflects the a priori constraints on temporal and 3-D spatial correlations of image elements. A temporal factor reflecting the relative strength of the image correlation is objectively calculated from measurement data. Results show that image reconstruction models which account for inter-element correlations, in both space and time, show improved resolution and noise performance, in comparison to simpler image models.
Consumer knowledge and attitudes toward healthy eating in Croatia: a cross-sectional study.
Ljubičić, Marija; Sarić, Marijana Matek; Barić, Irena Colić; Rumbak, Ivana; Komes, Draženka; Šatalić, Zvonimir; Guiné, Raquel P F
2017-06-27
Unlike fast and restaurant food, diet rich in fibre is known to contribute significantly to health. The aim of our study was to assess eating habits such as consumption of fibre-rich, fast, and restaurant food of the general population in Croatia. For this purpose we used a validated survey designed by the Polytechnic Institute Viseu in Portugal, which includes questions about demographics, good eating habits related to the consumption of the main sources of dietary fibre (fruit, vegetables, and whole grains), and unhealthy eating habits related to the consumption of fast food and restaurant meals. Between October 2014 and March 2015 we received answers from 2,536 respondents aged between 18-70 years, of whom 67.4 % were women and 32.6 % were men. Most respondents reported consuming one serving of vegetables and one piece of fruit a day, and whole grains every other day. Women and urban residents reported consuming larger amounts of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains than men (peating out and eating fast food more often than women (pEating out highly correlated with eating fast food, which translates to lower consumption of dietary fibre (peating fast food is not the predominant dietary practice in Croatia, over 50 % of respondents have reported eating fast food at least once a week. Our data also indicate that consumption of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains falls below the national and international dietary recommendations.
Marketing fast food: impact of fast food restaurants in children's hospitals.
Sahud, Hannah B; Binns, Helen J; Meadow, William L; Tanz, Robert R
2006-12-01
The objectives of this study were (1) to determine fast food restaurant prevalence in hospitals with pediatric residencies and (2) to evaluate how hospital environment affects purchase and perception of fast food. We first surveyed pediatric residency programs regarding fast food restaurants in their hospitals to determine the prevalence of fast food restaurants in these hospitals. We then surveyed adults with children after pediatric outpatient visits at 3 hospitals: hospital M with an on-site McDonald's restaurant, hospital R without McDonald's on site but with McDonald's branding, and hospital X with neither on-site McDonald's nor branding. We sought to determine attitudes toward, consumption of, and influences on purchase of fast food and McDonald's food. Fifty-nine of 200 hospitals with pediatric residencies had fast food restaurants. A total of 386 outpatient surveys were analyzed. Fast food consumption on the survey day was most common among hospital M respondents (56%; hospital R: 29%; hospital X: 33%), as was the purchase of McDonald's food (hospital M: 53%; hospital R: 14%; hospital X: 22%). McDonald's accounted for 95% of fast food consumed by hospital M respondents, and 83% of them bought their food at the on-site McDonald's. Using logistic regression analysis, hospital M respondents were 4 times more likely than respondents at the other hospitals to have purchased McDonald's food on the survey day. Visitors to hospitals M and R were more likely than those at hospital X to believe that McDonald's supported the hospital financially. Respondents at hospital M rated McDonald's food healthier than did respondents at the other hospitals. Fast food restaurants are fairly common in hospitals that sponsor pediatric residency programs. A McDonald's restaurant in a children's hospital was associated with significantly increased purchase of McDonald's food by outpatients, belief that the McDonald's Corporation supported the hospital financially, and higher rating
Behrooz, Ali; Zhou, Hao-Min; Eftekhar, Ali A.; Adibi, Ali
2011-02-01
Depth-resolved localization and quantification of fluorescence distribution in tissue, called Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT), is highly ill-conditioned as depth information should be extracted from limited number of surface measurements. Inverse solvers resort to regularization algorithms that penalize Euclidean norm of the solution to overcome ill-posedness. While these regularization algorithms offer good accuracy, their smoothing effects result in continuous distributions which lack high-frequency edge-type features of the actual fluorescence distribution and hence limit the resolution offered by FMT. We propose an algorithm that penalizes the total variation (TV) norm of the solution to preserve sharp transitions and high-frequency components in the reconstructed fluorescence map while overcoming ill-posedness. The hybrid algorithm is composed of two levels: 1) An Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (ART), performed on FMT data for fast recovery of a smooth solution that serves as an initial guess for the iterative TV regularization, 2) A time marching TV regularization algorithm, inspired by the Rudin-Osher-Fatemi TV image restoration, performed on the initial guess to further enhance the resolution and accuracy of the reconstruction. The performance of the proposed method in resolving fluorescent tubes inserted in a liquid tissue phantom imaged by a non-contact CW trans-illumination FMT system is studied and compared to conventional regularization schemes. It is observed that the proposed method performs better in resolving fluorescence inclusions at higher depths.
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Simge Yılmaz
2013-04-01
Full Text Available Background: This study aimed to determine whether regular telephone calls on reminding not to consume high glycemic index food and performing regular physical activity improve fasting glucose levels in Turkish women with impaired fasting glucose (IFG aged 30-65 years.Methods: All intervention (n=117 and control (n=99 groups took a seminar on healthy eating and physical activity. Women in the intervention group were then called weekly and motivated by using charts that were designed with colours adopted from the traffic lights. After 12 weeks of intervention both groups were invited for blood tests. In total, 32 intervention and 17 controls responded to the last visit.Results: In the intervention group, the number of green colour code for nutrition decreased (from 16.2 ±4.1 to 15.1±3.7, p=0.03 but the number of green colour code for activity was not changed significantly (from 0.5 ±0.7 to 0.4±0.7, p=0.25 in the third month. At the third month fasting blood glucose was higher in the intervention group (117.0±25.8 than control group (109.5±9.2 (p=0.69. Conclusion: In our study, simple regular telephone calls were not sufficient to motivate the study participants to stay in the study and to take dietary and physical activity advices. Further studies should be designed to evaluate different and new lifestyle change interventions in high risk people in Turkey.
Who reports noticing and using calorie information posted on fast food restaurant menus?
Breck, Andrew; Cantor, Jonathan; Martinez, Olivia; Elbel, Brian
2014-10-01
Identify consumer characteristics that predict seeing and using calorie information on fast food menu boards. Two separate data collection methods were used in Philadelphia during June 2010, several weeks after calorie labeling legislation went into effect: (1) point-of-purchase survey and receipt collection conducted outside fast food restaurants (N = 669) and (2) a random digit dial telephone survey (N = 702). Logistic regressions were used to predict the odds of reporting seeing, and of reporting seeing and being influenced by posted calorie information. Approximately 35.1% of point-of-purchase and 65.7% of telephone survey respondents reported seeing posted calorie information, 11.8% and 41.7%, respectively, reported that the labels influenced their purchasing decisions, and 8.4% and 17% reported they were influenced in a healthful direction. BMI, education, income, gender, consumer preferences, restaurant chain, and frequency of visiting fast food restaurants were associated with heterogeneity in the likelihood of reporting seeing and reporting seeing and using calorie labels. Demographic characteristics and consumer preferences are important determinants in the use of posted calorie information. Future work should consider the types of consumers this information is intended for, and how to effectively reach them. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceived purchase of healthy foods is associated with regular consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Moreira, Caroline Camila; Moreira, Emilia Addison Machado; Fiates, Giovanna Medeiros Rataichesck
2015-01-01
To identify healthy food (HF) purchase habits and intake of fruits and vegetables (FV) in parents responsible for grocery shopping for their families. Survey with mothers and fathers (n = 216) of children aged 7-10 years in Brazil. Grocery purchases occurred mostly at supermarkets. Purchase of HF was considered to be frequent by 80% of parents, who cited FV as main examples of HF. The more frequent the reported purchase was of HF, the higher was the prevalence of regular consumption of FV (P = .002). Only 34% of respondents reported weekly intakes that could be classified as regular. Perceived frequent shopping for healthy foods was positively associated with regular consumption of FV but a gap between perception and behavior was identified. Nutrition education strategies need to go beyond a merely informative role and take consumers' opinions and points of view into consideration to become truly effective. Copyright © 2015 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
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.
Blood pressure response to caffeine shows incomplete tolerance after short-term regular consumption.
Lovallo, William R; Wilson, Michael F; Vincent, Andrea S; Sung, Bong Hee; McKey, Barbara S; Whitsett, Thomas L
2004-04-01
Caffeine acutely raises blood pressure (BP). The clinical significance of this effect depends on whether BP responses persist in persons who consume caffeine on a daily basis. Accordingly, the ability of caffeine to raise BP after 5 days of regular daily intake was tested in a randomized controlled trial. Individual differences in tolerance formation were then examined. Men (n=49) and women (n=48) completed a double-blind, crossover trial conducted over 4 weeks. During each week, subjects abstained for 5 days from dietary caffeine and instead used capsules totaling 0 mg, 300 mg, and 600 mg of caffeine per day in 3 divided doses. On day 6, in the laboratory, they used capsules with either 0 mg or 250 mg of caffeine at 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. Systolic/diastolic BP increases as a result of 250 mg of caffeine remained significant (P7.90, P <0.001). The sexes did not differ in degree of tolerance formation. Daily caffeine consumption failed to eliminate the BP response to repeated challenge doses of caffeine in half of the healthy adults who were tested. Caffeine may therefore cause persistent BP effects in persons who are regular consumers, even when daily intake is at moderately high levels.
CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT AND VALUE ENHANCEMENT THROUGH PRODUCT INDIVIDUALISATION
Armellini, Juan Pablo
2017-01-01
Product customisation has always been a regular practice as a form of self or group identification. Previous studies have demonstrated that when investing time and effort to customise a product, an emotional attachment to that product develops. Since the 1980s, new technologies in design, manufacturing and communications have facilitated customisation practices for mass manufacturers as well as for individual consumers. For example, computer algorithms can now automate customisation (i.e. ind...
Fast food and the semiotics of gastronomy
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Elena FELL
2015-12-01
Full Text Available Nourishment stands apart from other physiological events: whilst we normally exercise discretion in relation to bodily functions, food consumption takes place in public. We dine, snack and nibble in front of others, and the imagery associated with food takes on the manifold of meanings—religious, cultural, historic and so forth. Gastronomic practices unite or divide people, and as such are a powerful communication tool. As the twenty-first century confrontational stance between fast food and family meal traditions intensifies, we investigate fast food’s visual imagery and its ability to attract consumers.
The effect of fast eating on the thermic effect of food in young Japanese women.
Toyama, Kenji; Zhao, Xifan; Kuranuki, Sachi; Oguri, Yasuo; Kashiwa Kato, Eriko; Yoshitake, Yutaka; Nakamura, Teiji
2015-03-01
The relationship between eating speed and the thermic effect of food (TEF) remains unclear. We investigated the difference in the TEF when meals containing the same amount of energy were eaten in 5 min (fast eating) or 15 min (regular eating). Subjects were nine non-obese young women. Following a 350 kcal (1464 kJ) meal, energy expenditure and autonomic nervous system activity were measured. The frequency of mastication was also calculated. The TEF for the 15-min period after the start of eating with fast eating was significantly lower than with regular eating (p frequency/high-frequency ratio and TEF at 5-min intervals up to 20 min after the start of eating and between total mastication frequency and TEF during ingestion. Fast eating may reduce the TEF, potentially because a decrease in mastication frequency decreases sympathetic nervous system activity.
Lam, Desmond; Mizerski, Richard
2017-06-01
The objective of this study is to explore the gambling participations and game purchase duplication of light regular, heavy regular and pathological gamblers by applying the Duplication of Purchase Law. Current study uses data collected by the Australian Productivity Commission for eight different types of games. Key behavioral statistics on light regular, heavy regular, and pathological gamblers were computed and compared. The key finding is that pathological gambling, just like regular gambling, follows the Duplication of Purchase Law, which states that the dominant factor of purchase duplication between two brands is their market shares. This means that gambling between any two games at pathological level, like any regular consumer purchases, exhibits "law-like" regularity based on the pathological gamblers' participation rate of each game. Additionally, pathological gamblers tend to gamble more frequently across all games except lotteries and instant as well as make greater cross-purchases compared to heavy regular gamblers. A better understanding of the behavioral traits between regular (particularly heavy regular) and pathological gamblers can be useful to public policy makers and social marketers in order to more accurately identify such gamblers and better manage the negative impacts of gambling.
Safety and feasibility of fasting in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Dorff, Tanya B.; Groshen, Susan; Garcia, Agustin; Shah, Manali; Tsao-Wei, Denice; Pham, Huyen; Cheng, Chia-Wei; Brandhorst, Sebastian; Cohen, Pinchas; Wei, Min; Longo, Valter; Quinn, David I.
2016-01-01
Short-term starvation prior to chemotherapy administration protects mice against toxicity. We undertook dose-escalation of fasting prior to platinum-based chemotherapy to determine safety and feasibility in cancer patients. 3 cohorts fasted before chemotherapy for 24, 48 and 72 h (divided as 48 pre-chemo and 24 post-chemo) and recorded all calories consumed. Feasibility was defined as ≥ 3/6 subjects in each cohort consuming ≤ 200 kcal per 24 h during the fast period without excess toxicity. Oxidative stress was evaluated in leukocytes using the COMET assay. Insulin, glucose, ketones, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) were measured as biomarkers of the fasting state. The median age of our 20 subjects was 61, and 85 % were women. Feasibility criteria were met. Fasting-related toxicities were limited to ≤ grade 2, most commonly fatigue, headache, and dizziness. The COMET assay indicated reduced DNA damage in leukocytes from subjects who fasted for ≥48 h (p = 0.08). There was a non-significant trend toward less grade 3 or 4 neutropenia in the 48 and 72 h cohorts compared to 24 h cohort (p = 0.17). IGF-1 levels decreased by 30, 33 and 8 % in the 24, 48 and 72 h fasting cohorts respectively after the first fasting period. Fasting for 72 h around chemotherapy administration is safe and feasible for cancer patients. Biomarkers such as IGF-1 may facilitate assessment of differences in chemotherapy toxicity in subgroups achieving the physiologic fasting state. An onging randomized trial is studying the effect of 72 h of fasting. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00936364, registered propectively on July 9, 2009. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2370-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Energy contribution of sugar-sweetened beverage refills at fast-food restaurants.
Breck, Andrew; Cantor, Jonathan H; Elbel, Brian
2017-09-01
To identify demographic and consumer characteristics associated with refilling a soft drink at fast-food restaurants and the estimated energy content and volume of those refills. Logistic and linear regression with cross-sectional survey data. Data include fast-food restaurant receipts and consumer surveys collected from restaurants in New York City (all boroughs except Staten Island), and Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey, during 2013 and 2014. Fast-food restaurant customers (n 11795) from ninety-eight restaurants. Thirty per cent of fast-food customers ordered a refillable soft drink. Nine per cent of fast-food customers with a refillable soft drink reported refilling their beverage (3 % of entire sample). Odds of having a beverage refill were higher among respondents with a refillable soft drink at restaurants with a self-serve refill kiosk (adjusted OR (aOR)=7·37, Prestaurant (aOR=4·45, P<0·001). KFC (aOR=2·18, P<0·001) and Wendy's (aOR=0·41, P<0·001) customers had higher and lower odds, respectively, of obtaining a refill, compared with Burger King customers. Respondents from New Jersey (aOR=1·47, P<0·001) also had higher odds of refilling their beverage than New York City customers. Customers who got a refill obtained on average 29 more 'beverage ounces' (858 ml) and 250 more 'beverage calories' (1046 kJ) than customers who did not get a refill. Refilling a beverage was associated with having obtained more beverage calories and beverage ounces. Environmental cues, such as the placement and availability of self-serve beverage refills, may influence consumer beverage choice.
Mobility based energy efficient and multi-sink algorithms for consumer home networks
Wang, Jin; Yin, Yue; Zhang, Jianwei; Lee, Sungyoung; Sherratt, R. Simon
2013-01-01
With the fast development of the Internet, wireless communications and semiconductor devices, home networking has received significant attention. Consumer products can collect and transmit various types of data in the home environment. Typical consumer sensors are often equipped with tiny, irreplaceable batteries and it therefore of the utmost importance to design energy efficient algorithms to prolong the home network lifetime and reduce devices going to landfill. Sink mobility is an importa...
An iterative method for Tikhonov regularization with a general linear regularization operator
Hochstenbach, M.E.; Reichel, L.
2010-01-01
Tikhonov regularization is one of the most popular approaches to solve discrete ill-posed problems with error-contaminated data. A regularization operator and a suitable value of a regularization parameter have to be chosen. This paper describes an iterative method, based on Golub-Kahan
The Impact of Caloric Information on College Students' Fast Food Purchasing Intentions
Zigmont, Victoria; Bulmer, Sandra Minor
2015-01-01
Background: Fast food establishments are available on many college campuses and, as a result, many students consume foods that are high in calories and contribute to unhealthy weight gain. Purpose: This study measured college students' knowledge of the calorie content for fast food items and whether the provision of calorie information for those…
Omari, Rose; Ruivenkamp, Guido T.P.; Tetteh, Emmanuel K.
2017-01-01
Consumers often depend on public institutions to provide safe and healthy food. Thus, trust in these institutions becomes an important consideration for food consumption. The objective was to examine the relationship between consumer trust in relevant government institutions and consumer perception
Factors Influencing Fast-Food Consumption Among Adolescents in Tehran: A Qualitative Study
Askari Majabadi, Hesamedin; Solhi, Mahnaz; Montazeri, Ali; Shojaeizadeh, Davoud; Nejat, Saharnaz; Khalajabadi Farahani, Farideh; Djazayeri, Abolghasem
2016-01-01
Background: The consumption of different types of fast food is increasingly growing in all parts of the world, both in developed and developing countries. Because of the changes and transitions in the lifestyle and dietary habits of people, an increasing number of people from different age groups, particularly adolescents and young adults, are inclined toward consuming fast food. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the factors influencing fast-food consumption among ado...
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gorica Zoric
2017-08-01
Full Text Available Unlike other advertising mediums such as TV commercials or online advertising, people involuntarily receive sport advertisements; they prefer to watch the game for the sporting action than the regular advertisements. However, it is important to analyse their general attitudes among various questions, mostly due to the reason it varies from demographic group to demographic group. Hence, this research was aimed at gaining relevant knowledge about the attitudes of Serbian consumers toward advertising through sport among the question how often consumers purchase sporting goods. The sample included 173 respondents, divided into six subsample groups: consumers who do not purchase sport goods at all, then consumers who purchase sport goods less than ones a month, next 1–3 a month, 4–6 a month, 7–9 a month, as well as consumers who purchase sport goods more than 10 times a month. The sample of variables contained the system of three general attitudes which were modelled by seven-point Likert scale. The results of the measuring were analysed by multivariate analysis (MANOVA and univariate analysis (ANOVA and Post Hoc test. Based on the results it was concluded that significant differences occur at multivariate level, as well as between one of three variables at univariate level (p=.05. It is interesting to highlight that most of potential consumers (n=146 have recognized themselves in two categories: as consumers who purchase sport goods less than ones a month and one to three times a months, while there were no differences among the groups. If we take a look into previous investigations, it is interesting there are some opposite results, and the recommendations for further research are directed to spread out the sample a little bit more, mostly due to the reason the consumers who had a more negative attitudes were in the group that didn’t purchase the sport goods at all.
Regular Expression Pocket Reference
Stubblebine, Tony
2007-01-01
This handy little book offers programmers a complete overview of the syntax and semantics of regular expressions that are at the heart of every text-processing application. Ideal as a quick reference, Regular Expression Pocket Reference covers the regular expression APIs for Perl 5.8, Ruby (including some upcoming 1.9 features), Java, PHP, .NET and C#, Python, vi, JavaScript, and the PCRE regular expression libraries. This concise and easy-to-use reference puts a very powerful tool for manipulating text and data right at your fingertips. Composed of a mixture of symbols and text, regular exp
Residual stress evolution regularity in thermal barrier coatings under thermal shock loading
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ximin Chen
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Residual stress evolution regularity in thermal barrier ceramic coatings (TBCs under different cycles of thermal shock loading of 1100°C was investigated by the microscopic digital image correlation (DIC and micro-Raman spectroscopy, respectively. The obtained results showed that, as the cycle number of the thermal shock loading increases, the evolution of the residual stress undergoes three distinct stages: a sharp increase, a gradual change, and a reduction. The extension stress near the TBC surface is fast transformed to compressive one through just one thermal cycle. After different thermal shock cycles with peak temperature of 1100°C, phase transformation in TBC does not happen, whereas the generation, development, evolution of the thermally grown oxide (TGO layer and micro-cracks are the main reasons causing the evolution regularity of the residual stress.
Reconstruction of signal in plastic scintillator of PET using Tikhonov regularization.
Raczynski, Lech
2015-08-01
The new concept of Time of Flight Positron Emission Tomography (TOF-PET) detection system, which allows for single bed imaging of the whole human body, is currently under development at the Jagiellonian University. The Jagiellonian-PET (J-PET) detector improves the TOF resolution due to the use of fast plastic scintillators. Since registration of the waveform of signals with duration times of few nanoseconds is not feasible, a novel front-end electronics allowing for sampling in a voltage domain at four thresholds was developed. To take fully advantage of these fast signals a novel scheme of recovery of the waveform of the signal, based on idea from the Tikhonov regularization method, is presented. From the Bayes theory the properties of regularized solution, especially its covariance matrix, may be easily derived. This step is crucial to introduce and prove the formula for calculations of the signal recovery error. The method is tested using signals registered by means of the single detection module of the J-PET detector built out from the 30 cm long plastic scintillator strip. It is shown that using the recovered waveform of the signals, instead of samples at four voltage levels alone, improves the spatial resolution of the hit position reconstruction from 1.05 cm to 0.94 cm. Moreover, the obtained result is only slightly worse than the one evaluated using the original raw-signal. The spatial resolution calculated under these conditions is equal to 0.93 cm.
Bai, Bing
2012-03-01
There has been a lot of work on total variation (TV) regularized tomographic image reconstruction recently. Many of them use gradient-based optimization algorithms with a differentiable approximation of the TV functional. In this paper we apply TV regularization in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) image reconstruction. We reconstruct the PET image in a Bayesian framework, using Poisson noise model and TV prior functional. The original optimization problem is transformed to an equivalent problem with inequality constraints by adding auxiliary variables. Then we use an interior point method with logarithmic barrier functions to solve the constrained optimization problem. In this method, a series of points approaching the solution from inside the feasible region are found by solving a sequence of subproblems characterized by an increasing positive parameter. We use preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) algorithm to solve the subproblems directly. The nonnegativity constraint is enforced by bend line search. The exact expression of the TV functional is used in our calculations. Simulation results show that the algorithm converges fast and the convergence is insensitive to the values of the regularization and reconstruction parameters.
The suitability of the food consumed by children in primary schools for satisfying their needs
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yeşim İşgüzar
2014-12-01
Full Text Available AbstractObjective: This study evaluates the suitability of the food consumed by children in primary schools including the role of the lunch menus in satisfying the children’s needs. Methods: 852 first-grade students were chosen from 14 randomly selected primary schools in Gaziantep to participate in this descriptive, cross-sectional study. Demographic and personal data of the students and their parents, their anthropometric measurements, food consumption habits and the lunch menus served in schools were studied. The Body Mass Index (BMI of students was evaluated according to World Health Organization (WHO’s percentile tables. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18 software, using the chi-square test for analyses. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. Results: 51.4% of students were male, 48.6% were female (mean age, 7.05±0.24 years. According to the BMI results, 26.6% of the students were thin and 25.9% were overweight/obese. 73.5% and 85.8% of the children were having breakfast or lunch regularly, respectively. Maternal education levels and employment status did not affect the child’s having breakfast on a daily basis (p>0.05. 27.7 % of children who ate lunch regularly, 15.7% of children who did not eat lunch regularly were overweight/obese (p<0.05. The most consumed food on a regular basis was bread (92.6 %, followed by milk and dairy products (76.5%. When lunch was served in schools (for 24.9% of the students, regular lunch consumption increased among children (p<0.05. The food group the most consumed by the students having lunch at school was fats-sugars-cereals. Only 43.3% of the lunch menus served at schools were found adequate. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there is a need to improve lunch menus served in primary schools in order to satisfy energy and nutritional needs of children.Keywords: Nutrition, school health, primary school
Stochastic dynamic modeling of regular and slow earthquakes
Aso, N.; Ando, R.; Ide, S.
2017-12-01
Both regular and slow earthquakes are slip phenomena on plate boundaries and are simulated by a (quasi-)dynamic modeling [Liu and Rice, 2005]. In these numerical simulations, spatial heterogeneity is usually considered not only for explaining real physical properties but also for evaluating the stability of the calculations or the sensitivity of the results on the condition. However, even though we discretize the model space with small grids, heterogeneity at smaller scales than the grid size is not considered in the models with deterministic governing equations. To evaluate the effect of heterogeneity at the smaller scales we need to consider stochastic interactions between slip and stress in a dynamic modeling. Tidal stress is known to trigger or affect both regular and slow earthquakes [Yabe et al., 2015; Ide et al., 2016], and such an external force with fluctuation can also be considered as a stochastic external force. A healing process of faults may also be stochastic, so we introduce stochastic friction law. In the present study, we propose a stochastic dynamic model to explain both regular and slow earthquakes. We solve mode III problem, which corresponds to the rupture propagation along the strike direction. We use BIEM (boundary integral equation method) scheme to simulate slip evolution, but we add stochastic perturbations in the governing equations, which is usually written in a deterministic manner. As the simplest type of perturbations, we adopt Gaussian deviations in the formulation of the slip-stress kernel, external force, and friction. By increasing the amplitude of perturbations of the slip-stress kernel, we reproduce complicated rupture process of regular earthquakes including unilateral and bilateral ruptures. By perturbing external force, we reproduce slow rupture propagation at a scale of km/day. The slow propagation generated by a combination of fast interaction at S-wave velocity is analogous to the kinetic theory of gasses: thermal
Consumer purchasing patterns in response to calorie labeling legislation in New York City.
Vadiveloo, Maya K; Dixon, L Beth; Elbel, Brian
2011-05-27
Obesity is a major public health threat and policies aimed at curbing this epidemic are emerging. National calorie labeling legislation is forthcoming and requires rigorous evaluation to examine its impact on consumers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether point-of-purchase calorie labels in New York City (NYC) chain restaurants affected food purchasing patterns in a sample of lower income adults in NYC and Newark, NJ. This study utilized a difference-in-difference design to survey 1,170 adult patrons of four popular chain restaurants in NYC and Newark, NJ (which did not introduce labeling) before and after calorie labeling was implemented in NYC. Receipt data were collected and analyzed to examine food and beverage purchases and frequency of fast food consumption. Descriptive statistics were generated, and linear and logistic regression, difference-in-difference analysis, and predicted probabilities were used to analyze the data. A difference-in-difference analysis revealed no significant favorable differences and some unfavorable differences in food purchasing patterns and frequency of fast food consumption between adult patrons of fast food restaurants in NYC and Newark, NJ. Adults in NYC who reported noticing and using the calorie labels consumed fast food less frequently compared to adults who did not notice the labels (4.9 vs. 6.6 meals per week, p behavioral patterns in a subset of adults in NYC. However, overall impact of the legislation may be limited. More research is needed to understand the most effective way to deliver calorie information to consumers.
The new ATLAS Fast Calorimeter Simulation
Jacka, Petr; The ATLAS collaboration
2018-01-01
With the huge amount of data collected with ATLAS, there is a need to produce a large number of simulated events. These productions are very CPU and time consuming when using the full GEANT4 simulation. FastCaloSim is a program to quickly simulate the ATLAS calorimeter response, based on a parameterization of the GEANT4 energy deposits of several kinds of particles in a grid of energy and eta. A new version of FastCaloSim is under development and its integration into the ATLAS simulation infrastructure is ongoing. The use of machine learning techniques improves the performance and decreases the memory usage. Dedicated parameterizations for the forward calorimeters are being studied. First results of the new FastCaloSim show substantial improvements of the description of energy and shower shape variables, including the variables for jet substructure.
Ares, Florencia; Arrarte, Eloísa; De León, Tania; Ares, Gastón; Gámbaro, Adriana
2012-10-01
Sensory characteristics play a key role in determining consumers' acceptance of functional foods. In this context, the aim of the present work was to apply a combination of sensory and consumer methodologies to the development of chocolate milk desserts enriched with resistant starch. Chocolate milk desserts containing modified waxy maize starch were formulated with six different concentrations of two types of resistant starch (which are part of insoluble dietary fiber). The desserts were evaluated by trained assessors using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis. Moreover, consumers scored their overall liking and willingness to purchase and answered an open-ended question. Resistant starch caused significant changes in the sensory characteristics of the desserts and a significant decrease in consumers' overall liking and willingness to purchase. Consumer data was analyzed applying survival analysis on overall liking scores, considering the risk on consumers liking and willing to purchase the functional products less than their regular counterparts. The proposed methodologies proved to be useful to develop functional foods taking into account consumers' perception, which could increase their success in the market.
Influence of the shape on the consumers perception of the packaging attributes
Gojko Vladić; Milica Kecman; Nemanja Kašiković; Magdolna Pál; Mladen Stančić
2015-01-01
Packaging for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) demands constant attention in order to stay competitive in modern dynamic markets. FMCG consumers do not think about the purchasing product until they enter the place of purchase. This emphasizes importance of the communication in a place of purchase. Alongside promotional banners, displays and counters, packaging can be used for this purpose. While in-store promotional banners, displays and counters represent additional cost, the packaging as t...
The future of the Fast Breeder
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lefevre, J.C.
1990-01-01
Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) can produce more fissile nuclei than they consume whilst, at the same time, generating energy using fast neutrons. By conversion of uranium isotope 238 into a fissionable fuel, FBRs provide over 60 times more energy than can be extracted from the uranium reserves by thermal reactors. Their development is therefore an essential objective in the next century, particularly for those industrialised countries that have little or no energy resources of their own. The European countries which have been engaged in the development of FBRs for more than 25 years have decided to collaborate in an advanced design, the European Fast Reactor (EFR) which uses the best of previous national projects and draws on extensive operating experience from FBR plants in Europe. The naturally safe characteristics and technological features of sodium-cooled Fast Reactors will be fully utilised in an EFR design which meets the same safety level as the Light Water Reactors (LWRs). Owing to technical progress and series construction effect, the EFR is expected to achieve competitiveness with contemporary LWRs with the higher capital cost of the Fast Reactor offset by its markedly lower fuel cycle cost. (author)
Donald, Cathey Nolan
This study was conducted to determine the impact of the inclusion of students with handicaps and disabilities in the regular education science classroom. Surveys were mailed to the members of the Alabama Science Teachers Association to obtain information from teachers in inclusive classrooms. Survey responses from teachers provide insight into these classrooms. This study reports the results of the teachers surveyed. Results indicate multiple changes occur in the educational opportunities presented to regular education students when students with handicaps and disabilities are included in the regular science classroom. Responding teachers (60%) report omitting activities that formerly provided experiences for students, such as laboratory activities using dangerous materials, field activities, and some group activities. Also omitted, in many instances (64.1%), are skill building opportunities of word problems and higher order thinking skills. Regular education students participate in classes where discipline problems related to included students are reported as the teachers most time consuming task. In these classrooms, directions are repeated frequently, reteaching of material already taught occurs, and the pace of instruction has been slowed. These changes to the regular classroom occur across school levels. Many teachers (44.9%) report they do not see benefits associated with the inclusion of students with special needs in the regular classroom.
The L0 Regularized Mumford-Shah Model for Bias Correction and Segmentation of Medical Images.
Duan, Yuping; Chang, Huibin; Huang, Weimin; Zhou, Jiayin; Lu, Zhongkang; Wu, Chunlin
2015-11-01
We propose a new variant of the Mumford-Shah model for simultaneous bias correction and segmentation of images with intensity inhomogeneity. First, based on the model of images with intensity inhomogeneity, we introduce an L0 gradient regularizer to model the true intensity and a smooth regularizer to model the bias field. In addition, we derive a new data fidelity using the local intensity properties to allow the bias field to be influenced by its neighborhood. Second, we use a two-stage segmentation method, where the fast alternating direction method is implemented in the first stage for the recovery of true intensity and bias field and a simple thresholding is used in the second stage for segmentation. Different from most of the existing methods for simultaneous bias correction and segmentation, we estimate the bias field and true intensity without fixing either the number of the regions or their values in advance. Our method has been validated on medical images of various modalities with intensity inhomogeneity. Compared with the state-of-art approaches and the well-known brain software tools, our model is fast, accurate, and robust with initializations.
Testing the Alchian-Allen Theorem: A Study of Consumer Behavior in the Gasoline Market
Robert Lawson; Lauren Raymer
2006-01-01
This paper uses a data set of daily sales at a single gasoline station over a seven year period to determine if consumers respond to relative price changes among the three grades of gasoline. Based on the reasoning of Alchian and Allen (1964) and Barzel (1976), market shares of higher quality gasoline should increase at the expense of regular grade gasoline when overall gasoline prices increase. The empirical results do not conform to this expectation. We find instead that the consumers in th...
Fast Food Consumption and Academic Growth in Late Childhood.
Purtell, Kelly M; Gershoff, Elizabeth T
2015-08-01
The objective of this study is to examine the associations between fast food consumption and the academic growth of 8544 fifth-grade children in reading, math, and science. This study uses direct assessments of academic achievement and child-reported fast food consumption from a nationally representative sample of kindergartners followed through eighth grade. More than two thirds of the sample reported some fast food consumption; 20% reported consuming at least 4 fast food meals in the prior week. Fast food consumption during fifth grade predicted lower levels of academic achievement in all 3 subjects in eighth grade, even when fifth grade academic scores and numerous potential confounding variables, including socioeconomic indicators, physical activity, and TV watching, were controlled for in the models. These results provide initial evidence that high levels of fast food consumption are predictive of slower growth in academic skills in a nationally representative sample of children. © The Author(s) 2014.
Robust regularized singular value decomposition with application to mortality data
Zhang, Lingsong
2013-09-01
We develop a robust regularized singular value decomposition (RobRSVD) method for analyzing two-way functional data. The research is motivated by the application of modeling human mortality as a smooth two-way function of age group and year. The RobRSVD is formulated as a penalized loss minimization problem where a robust loss function is used to measure the reconstruction error of a low-rank matrix approximation of the data, and an appropriately defined two-way roughness penalty function is used to ensure smoothness along each of the two functional domains. By viewing the minimization problem as two conditional regularized robust regressions, we develop a fast iterative reweighted least squares algorithm to implement the method. Our implementation naturally incorporates missing values. Furthermore, our formulation allows rigorous derivation of leaveone- row/column-out cross-validation and generalized cross-validation criteria, which enable computationally efficient data-driven penalty parameter selection. The advantages of the new robust method over nonrobust ones are shown via extensive simulation studies and the mortality rate application. © Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2013.
The geometry of continuum regularization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Halpern, M.B.
1987-03-01
This lecture is primarily an introduction to coordinate-invariant regularization, a recent advance in the continuum regularization program. In this context, the program is seen as fundamentally geometric, with all regularization contained in regularized DeWitt superstructures on field deformations
Regular expression containment
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Henglein, Fritz; Nielsen, Lasse
2011-01-01
We present a new sound and complete axiomatization of regular expression containment. It consists of the conventional axiomatiza- tion of concatenation, alternation, empty set and (the singleton set containing) the empty string as an idempotent semiring, the fixed- point rule E* = 1 + E × E......* for Kleene-star, and a general coin- duction rule as the only additional rule. Our axiomatization gives rise to a natural computational inter- pretation of regular expressions as simple types that represent parse trees, and of containment proofs as coercions. This gives the axiom- atization a Curry......-Howard-style constructive interpretation: Con- tainment proofs do not only certify a language-theoretic contain- ment, but, under our computational interpretation, constructively transform a membership proof of a string in one regular expres- sion into a membership proof of the same string in another regular expression. We...
Supersymmetric dimensional regularization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Siegel, W.; Townsend, P.K.; van Nieuwenhuizen, P.
1980-01-01
There is a simple modification of dimension regularization which preserves supersymmetry: dimensional reduction to real D < 4, followed by analytic continuation to complex D. In terms of component fields, this means fixing the ranges of all indices on the fields (and therefore the numbers of Fermi and Bose components). For superfields, it means continuing in the dimensionality of x-space while fixing the dimensionality of theta-space. This regularization procedure allows the simple manipulation of spinor derivatives in supergraph calculations. The resulting rules are: (1) First do all algebra exactly as in D = 4; (2) Then do the momentum integrals as in ordinary dimensional regularization. This regularization procedure needs extra rules before one can say that it is consistent. Such extra rules needed for superconformal anomalies are discussed. Problems associated with renormalizability and higher order loops are also discussed
Usage and recall of FMCG brands by rural consumers and relevant facts
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Savanam Chandra Sekhar
2015-01-01
Full Text Available India is a country of villages. It has mammoth rural population of 833 million spread over 640,867 villages. Rural markets are small in size, distantly scattered and heterogeneous. They provide awesome opportunities for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG companies. Rural consumers aspire to use brands rather than just commodities. At this juncture, understand rural consumer usage of FMCG brands and awareness is perceived appropriate. The objective of this research paper is to study the usage and recall of FMCG brands by rural consumers in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh in India. Thus, a modest attempt is made in this paper to divulge relevant facts of the topic with empirical data. This article is quite useful to the stakeholders of rural marketing.
Competition and Consumer Behavior in the Context of the Digital Economy
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Elena-Mădălina Vătămănescu
2017-05-01
Full Text Available The current paper aims to investigate the relation between competition and online purchasing decision-making, integrating consumer protection awareness and the corresponding consumer behavior as mediators. The focus is on both subjective and objective measures related to the level of consumer awareness and action in a fast-growing competition, potentiated by the digital economy. In order to investigate the relations between the aforementioned concepts, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted, using a sample of 257 students from three top Romanian universities. Based upon the theoretical directions presented in the literature review, a conceptual model was elaborated and tested by employing a partial least squares structural equation modeling technique. As the examination of the structural model indicated, online purchasing decision-making is indirectly influenced by the high competition in the digital economy, by means of consumer protection awareness and consumer protection behavior. At this level, the analyzed factors, namely the competition in the digital economy, the consumer protection awareness and the consumer behavior with respect to the consumer protection policies, explain over 16% in the variance of the online purchasing decision-making.
Preoperative fasting: will the evidence ever be put into practice?
Crenshaw, Jeannette T
2011-10-01
Decades of research support the safety and health benefits of consuming clear liquids, including those that are carbohydrate rich, until a few hours before elective surgery or other procedures requiring sedation or anesthesia. Still, U.S. clinicians routinely instruct patients to fast for excessively long preoperative periods. Evidence-based guidelines, published over the past 25 years in the United States, Canada, and throughout Europe, recommend liberalizing preoperative fasting policies. To improve patient safety and health care quality, it's essential that health care professionals abandon outdated preoperative fasting policies and allow available evidence to guide preanesthetic practices.
The Effect of Fast Food Globalisation on Students' Food Choice
Ijeoma Chinyere Ukonu
2016-01-01
This research seeks to investigate how the globalisation of fast food has affected students' food choice. A mixed method approach was used in this research; basically involving quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method uses a self-completion questionnaire to randomly sample one hundred and four students; while the qualitative method uses a semi structured interview technique to survey four students on their knowledge and choice to consume fast food. A cross tabulation of v...
Cross-Cultural Comparison between German, French and Dutch Consumer Preferences for Meat Substitutes
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ramona Weinrich
2018-05-01
Full Text Available Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important consideration for consumers when purchasing food. As meat production has a significant impact on the environment, meat substitutes are becoming more and more popular in Europe. However, consumers who regularly buy meat substitutes are still the exception. Although there are some initial results indicating why this proportion is still low, most research has been concentrated in the Netherlands. This paper aims to compare reasons for consuming or not consuming meat substitutes in three European countries—Germany, the Netherlands and France. As very little is known about the underlying reasons, an explorative approach was chosen. Focus group discussions were carried out in all three countries, six altogether. The results show that all participants can enumerate meat substitutes. The main reason for not consuming meat substitutes is the taste of meat. Further, eating habits seem to be fixed and convenience might also be an impediment to reducing meat consumption in favour of meat substitutes, as is confusion regarding healthy eating.
Hernandez, Monica
2017-12-01
This paper proposes a method for primal-dual convex optimization in variational large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping problems formulated with robust regularizers and robust image similarity metrics. The method is based on Chambolle and Pock primal-dual algorithm for solving general convex optimization problems. Diagonal preconditioning is used to ensure the convergence of the algorithm to the global minimum. We consider three robust regularizers liable to provide acceptable results in diffeomorphic registration: Huber, V-Huber and total generalized variation. The Huber norm is used in the image similarity term. The primal-dual equations are derived for the stationary and the non-stationary parameterizations of diffeomorphisms. The resulting algorithms have been implemented for running in the GPU using Cuda. For the most memory consuming methods, we have developed a multi-GPU implementation. The GPU implementations allowed us to perform an exhaustive evaluation study in NIREP and LPBA40 databases. The experiments showed that, for all the considered regularizers, the proposed method converges to diffeomorphic solutions while better preserving discontinuities at the boundaries of the objects compared to baseline diffeomorphic registration methods. In most cases, the evaluation showed a competitive performance for the robust regularizers, close to the performance of the baseline diffeomorphic registration methods.
Regularization by External Variables
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bossolini, Elena; Edwards, R.; Glendinning, P. A.
2016-01-01
Regularization was a big topic at the 2016 CRM Intensive Research Program on Advances in Nonsmooth Dynamics. There are many open questions concerning well known kinds of regularization (e.g., by smoothing or hysteresis). Here, we propose a framework for an alternative and important kind of regula......Regularization was a big topic at the 2016 CRM Intensive Research Program on Advances in Nonsmooth Dynamics. There are many open questions concerning well known kinds of regularization (e.g., by smoothing or hysteresis). Here, we propose a framework for an alternative and important kind...
Chowdhury, Enhad A; Richardson, Judith D; Tsintzas, Kostas; Thompson, Dylan; Betts, James A
2018-01-01
It remains unknown whether sustained daily feeding-fasting patterns modify the acute response to specific feedings on a given day. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to establish if daily breakfast consumption or fasting until noon modifies the acute metabolic and appetitive responses to a fixed breakfast and ad libitum lunch. With the use of a parallel group design, we randomly assigned 31 healthy, lean men and women (22-56 y) to 6 wk of either consuming ≥700 kcal of self-selected items before 1100 or fasting (0 kcal) until 1200 daily. Following 48 h of diet and physical activity standardization, we examined metabolic and appetite responses to a standardized breakfast and ad libitum lunch before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using 3- and 2-way ANCOVA. Systemic concentrations of energy balance regulatory hormones total and acylated ghrelin, leptin, and peptide tyrosine-tyrosine) responded similarly to breakfast and lunch before and after 6 wk of either morning fasting or regular breakfast, with the exception of a tendency for increased glucagon-like peptide-1 concentrations from baseline to follow-up in the Breakfast Group compared with a decrease over that period in the Fasting Group [P = 0.06, partial eta squared value (ƞ2) = 0.16]. Subjective appetite sensations also did not differ over the course of the day, and ad libitum energy intake at lunch was not systematically affected by either intervention, decreasing by 27 kcal (95% CI: -203, 149 kcal) with fasting and by 77 kcal (95% CI: -210, 56 kcal) with breakfast. Similarly, glycemic, insulinemic, lipemic, and thermogenic responses to breakfast and lunch were very stable at baseline and follow-up and, thus, did not differ between treatment groups. Our results indicate that a sustained period of either extended morning fasting or eating a daily breakfast has minimal effect upon acute metabolic and appetite responses in lean adults. This trial was registered at www.isrctn.org as ISRCTN
Is fasting safe? A chart review of adverse events during medically supervised, water-only fasting.
Finnell, John S; Saul, Bradley C; Goldhamer, Alan C; Myers, Toshia R
2018-02-20
Evidence suggests that fasting, during which only water is consumed, results in potentially health promoting physiological effects. However, peer-reviewed research assessing the safety of water-only fasting is lacking. To address this, we conducted a chart review to describe adverse events (AEs) that occurred during medically supervised, water-only fasting. Electronic charts from patient visits to a residential medical facility from 2006 to 2011 were reviewed. Patients who were at least 21 years of age and water-only fasted for ≥2 consecutive days with a refeeding period equal to half of the fast length were included. Out of 2539 charts, 768 visits met our inclusion and exclusion criteria. AEs were abstracted from chart notes and classified according to CTCAE (v4.03) and MedDRA (v12.1) terminology. Descriptive analysis of AEs is reported. During the protocol period, the highest grade AE (HGAE) in 555 visits was a grade 2 event or lower, in 212 visits it was a grade 3 event, in 1 visit it was a grade 4 event, and there were no grade 5 events. There were 2 (0.002%) visits with a serious adverse event (SAE). The majority of AEs identified were mild (n = 4490, 75%) in nature and known reactions to fasting. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive analysis of AEs experienced during medically supervised, water-only fasting conducted to date. Overall, our data indicate that the majority of AEs experienced were mild to moderate and known reactions to fasting. This suggests that the protocol used in this study can be safely implemented in a medical setting with minimal risk of a SAE.
Regular Single Valued Neutrosophic Hypergraphs
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Muhammad Aslam Malik
2016-12-01
Full Text Available In this paper, we define the regular and totally regular single valued neutrosophic hypergraphs, and discuss the order and size along with properties of regular and totally regular single valued neutrosophic hypergraphs. We also extend work on completeness of single valued neutrosophic hypergraphs.
Consumer acceptance of salt-reduced 'soy sauce' bread over repeated in home consumption
Kremer, S.; Shimojo, R.; Holthuysen, N.T.E.; Koester, E.P.; Mojet, J.
2013-01-01
The stability of liking for salt reduced/re-formulated bread was tested in a home use test for three weeks. Salt was partially replaced by naturally brewed soy sauce. 56 Consumers were provided with regular bread (variant A) and another 59 were provided with salt-reduced soy sauce bread (variant B).
Religious Worship in Patients with Abdominal Stoma: Praying and Fasting during Ramadan
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ikbal Cavdar
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Background: Religion, which occupies an important place in culture, has an effect on not only the patient’s acceptance of the treatment but also his or her post-treatment life style.Aim: The purpose of this paper was to determine the performance of religious rituals in abdominal stoma patients and their views on the effects of stoma on religious worship.Methodology: A descriptive and cross sectional design was used in this study. The sample consisted of 66 patients. The researchers developed a set of questions regarding the individual's background and characteristics of stoma and prayer rituals and fasting during Ramadan. Frequency, percentages, mean, range and chi-square test was used to analyze. Results: It was found that 87.9% of the patients (n=58 fasted regularly before stoma-creation, which decreased to 43.9% (n=29 after stoma creation; 74.2% of the patients (n=49 prayed regularly before stoma creation, which decreased to 53% (n=35 after stoma-creation. The comparison of practices of fasting (χ2: 7.13; p<0.01 and praying (χ2: 25.85; p<0.001 before and after stoma surgery revealed a statistically significant difference. 69.0% of the participants, who were unable to fast after stoma creation, were afraid of causing damage to the stoma whereas 71.4% of the participants who were unable to pray reported not having performed their prayers due to feeling unclean. 27.6% of the participants who fasted after stoma creation reported having felt discomfort.Conclusions: In this study, we found that the performance of fasting and praying decreased in patients after stoma surgery. This finding indicates that stoma significantly affects fasting and praying in patients and that patients are unable to perform these religious duties or experience some difficulties in performing their religious worship.
SELECTING ANGORA GOATS TO CONSUME MORE JUNIPER
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Christopher John Lupton
2009-02-01
Full Text Available This research project was initiated in 2003 to develop a more effective tool for biological management of invading juniper species on rangelands through herbivory by Angora goats. After we had established that juniper consumption in free-ranging goats has a genetic component (heritability = 13%, male and female goats were bred selectively for above- (high and below-average (low juniper consumption that was estimated by fecal near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Divergent lines are being produced to facilitate the identification of physiological mechanisms that permit some goats to consume considerably more juniper than others as a regular component of their diet. Because diet is known to affect growth and fiber production, another objective of the project is to establish the effects of the selection protocol on body weights, fleece weights, and fiber characteristics. Mature females (age > 1.5 yr and kids were maintained on rangeland and shorn twice a year. Extreme high- and low-consuming yearling males (10 of each per year were evaluated annually in a central performance test. The selection protocol resulted in average EBV for percentage juniper consumption of 3.9 and -0.4 (P 0.1 in body weight, mohair production and properties between high and low consumers. However, the adult data for the extreme males indicated that high consuming males have lower body weights than low consumers (53.8 vs. 57.9 kg, P = 0.01. Differences in body weight and several mohair production and quality traits have also been detected in the mature females but at this early stage of the selection program, no substantial differences have been observed and certainly none that would have an economic impact for producers. Ultimately, we expect to demonstrate that the high-consuming line controls juniper more effectively than either the low-consuming line or unselected Angora goats. Subsequently, we plan to release high juniper-consuming
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gorica Zoric
2018-04-01
Full Text Available Unlike other advertising mediums such as TV commercials or online advertising, people involuntarily receive sport advertisements; they prefer to watch the game for the sporting action than the regular advertisements. However, it is important to analyse their general attitudes among various questions, mostly due to the reason it varies from demographic group to demographic group. Hence, this research was aimed at gaining relevant knowledge about the attitudes of Sarajevo consumers toward advertising through sport among the question how often consumers purchase sporting goods. The sample included 358 respondents, divided into six subsample groups: consumers who do not purchase sport goods at all, then consumers who purchase sport goods less than ones a month, next 1–3 a month, 4–6 a month, 7–9 a month, as well as consumers who purchase sport goods more than 10 times a month. The sample of variables contained the system of three general attitudes which were modelled by seven-point Likert scale. The results of the measuring were analysed by multivariate analysis (MANOVA and univariate analysis (ANOVA and Post Hoc test.Based on the statistical analyses it was found that significant differences occur at multivariate level, as well as between all three variables at a significance level of (p=.000.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dusko Bjelica
2018-04-01
Full Text Available Unlike other advertising mediums such as TV commercials or online advertising, people involuntarily receive sport advertisements; they prefer to watch the game for the sporting action than the regular advertisements. However, it is important to analyse their general attitudes among various questions, mostly due to the reason it varies from demographic group to demographic group. Hence, this research was aimed at gaining relevant knowledge about the attitudes of Mostar consumers toward advertising through sport among the question how often consumers purchase sporting goods. The sample included 228 respondents, divided into six subsample groups: consumers who do not purchase sport goods at all, then consumers who purchase sport goods less than ones a month, next 1–3 a month, 4–6 a month, 7–9 a month, as well as consumers who purchase sport goods more than 10 times a month. The sample of variables contained the system of three general attitudes which were modelled by seven-point Likert scale. The results of the measuring were analysed by multivariate analysis (MANOVA and univariate analysis (ANOVA and Post Hoc test.Based on the statistical analyses it was found that significant differences occur at multivariate level, as well as between all three variables at a significance level of (p=.020.
Schnek: A C++ library for the development of parallel simulation codes on regular grids
Schmitz, Holger
2018-05-01
A large number of algorithms across the field of computational physics are formulated on grids with a regular topology. We present Schnek, a library that enables fast development of parallel simulations on regular grids. Schnek contains a number of easy-to-use modules that greatly reduce the amount of administrative code for large-scale simulation codes. The library provides an interface for reading simulation setup files with a hierarchical structure. The structure of the setup file is translated into a hierarchy of simulation modules that the developer can specify. The reader parses and evaluates mathematical expressions and initialises variables or grid data. This enables developers to write modular and flexible simulation codes with minimal effort. Regular grids of arbitrary dimension are defined as well as mechanisms for defining physical domain sizes, grid staggering, and ghost cells on these grids. Ghost cells can be exchanged between neighbouring processes using MPI with a simple interface. The grid data can easily be written into HDF5 files using serial or parallel I/O.
An empirical analysis of consumer awareness and trust in organic food legislation in Croatia
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vesna Brčić-Stipčević
2012-09-01
Full Text Available Background: The results of the research conducted in March 2009 on a representative sample of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia using a highly structured survey questionnaire in households have shown that the majority of the respondents (76.6% are familiar with organic food. In the survey, special emphasis is put on the purchase of organic food, especially among regular buyers. Methods: Regular buyers were asked about their familiarity with the information on the organic food declaration and their trust in the reliability of the information on the organic food declaration. Furthermore, research explored respondents' familiarity with the label organic product of Croatia according to frequency of organic food purchase. Also, research explored consumer trust in organic food monitoring and control system in Croatia. Results and conclusions: The research gives insight into familiarity with measures for organic food consumer protection in Croatia and recommendations for organic food legislation bodies.
A fast ethanol assay to detect seed deterioration
Kodde, J.; Buckley, W.T.; Groot, de C.C.; Retiere, M.; Víquez Zamora, A.M.; Groot, S.P.C.
2012-01-01
The most common way to test seed quality is to use a simple and reliable but time- and space-consuming germination test. In this paper we present a fast and simple method to analyse cabbage seed deterioration by measuring ethanol production from partially imbibed seeds. The method uses a modified
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
A. V. Markeeva
2017-01-01
Full Text Available T his article deals with transformation of consumer practices, which become (and maybe have already turned into the dominated form of social behavior and cannot be described within the model of purposeful-rational action. Utilizing the analytical distinction between “doing shopping” as routine practice, related to satisfaction of basic needs, and “going shopping” as pleasure and leasuretime social activity, this article demonstrates series of changes, resulting in generation of new consumer culture. These changes are compared with a range of transfigurations of the consumers’ spaces (trade spaces, which are at once places (scenes, where consumer practices deploy, and the structural condition of their possibility. According to the logic of the modern man, his focus on fast and diverse consumption and his desire of consuming everything in one place, “in one bottle” on the run, the shopping spaces are becoming the center of new industries-cultural, educational, recreational. The modern retail spaces become not only a place of shopping, but also closely incorporate into the social life of the community and turn into the centers of social life. Effectively combining and managing the various scenarios of consumption, the modern retail helps to feel and join the happiness of live communication in the overbounded with the online social contacts, but atomized world, to get rid of the feeling of emotional emptiness. Special design of retail space and the integration of various social technologies, which are created for manipulating the emotional sphere of the customers (non-standard architectural solutions, catchy window dressing, interior design, background music, aromamarketing, psychologically adjusted range of color, taste and tactile solutions create a special entertainment and attraction of space, control the consumer and are ready not only to stimulate the purchase, but to form an unforgettable impressions. P roducers and retailers
Pearson, Katherine R; Tey, Siew Ling; Gray, Andrew R; Chisholm, Alexandra; Brown, Rachel C
2017-04-01
Regular nut consumption reduces cardiovascular disease risk, partly from improvements to dietary quality. Examining how individuals make dietary changes when consuming nuts may reveal key behavioural eating patterns beneficial for the development of dietary interventions. We examined the effects of nuts in comparison with other energy-dense snacks on energy compensation, nutrient displacement, and food group patterns. This was a 12-week randomised, controlled, parallel study with four arms: ~1100 kJ/day for each of hazelnuts (42 g), chocolate (50 g), potato crisps (50 g), or no added snack food. Diet records, body composition, and physical activity were measured at baseline and week 12, in 102 non-obese participants. Significant improvements in diet quality were observed in the hazelnut group, particularly when consumed as snacks. Intakes of monounsaturated fat (MUFA) and vitamin E were significantly higher (all P snacks in this non-obese population. Regular nut consumption significantly improves nutrient profiles compared to other snacks with changes occurring at the snack level.
Vatankhah, Saeed; Renaut, Rosemary A.; Ardestani, Vahid E.
2018-04-01
We present a fast algorithm for the total variation regularization of the 3-D gravity inverse problem. Through imposition of the total variation regularization, subsurface structures presenting with sharp discontinuities are preserved better than when using a conventional minimum-structure inversion. The associated problem formulation for the regularization is nonlinear but can be solved using an iteratively reweighted least-squares algorithm. For small-scale problems the regularized least-squares problem at each iteration can be solved using the generalized singular value decomposition. This is not feasible for large-scale, or even moderate-scale, problems. Instead we introduce the use of a randomized generalized singular value decomposition in order to reduce the dimensions of the problem and provide an effective and efficient solution technique. For further efficiency an alternating direction algorithm is used to implement the total variation weighting operator within the iteratively reweighted least-squares algorithm. Presented results for synthetic examples demonstrate that the novel randomized decomposition provides good accuracy for reduced computational and memory demands as compared to use of classical approaches.
On a correspondence between regular and non-regular operator monotone functions
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Gibilisco, P.; Hansen, Frank; Isola, T.
2009-01-01
We prove the existence of a bijection between the regular and the non-regular operator monotone functions satisfying a certain functional equation. As an application we give a new proof of the operator monotonicity of certain functions related to the Wigner-Yanase-Dyson skew information....
Accelerated dynamic EPR imaging using fast acquisition and compressive recovery.
Ahmad, Rizwan; Samouilov, Alexandre; Zweier, Jay L
2016-12-01
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) allows quantitative imaging of tissue redox status, which provides important information about ischemic syndromes, cancer and other pathologies. For continuous wave EPR imaging, however, poor signal-to-noise ratio and low acquisition efficiency limit its ability to image dynamic processes in vivo including tissue redox, where conditions can change rapidly. Here, we present a data acquisition and processing framework that couples fast acquisition with compressive sensing-inspired image recovery to enable EPR-based redox imaging with high spatial and temporal resolutions. The fast acquisition (FA) allows collecting more, albeit noisier, projections in a given scan time. The composite regularization based processing method, called spatio-temporal adaptive recovery (STAR), not only exploits sparsity in multiple representations of the spatio-temporal image but also adaptively adjusts the regularization strength for each representation based on its inherent level of the sparsity. As a result, STAR adjusts to the disparity in the level of sparsity across multiple representations, without introducing any tuning parameter. Our simulation and phantom imaging studies indicate that a combination of fast acquisition and STAR (FASTAR) enables high-fidelity recovery of volumetric image series, with each volumetric image employing less than 10 s of scan. In addition to image fidelity, the time constants derived from FASTAR also match closely to the ground truth even when a small number of projections are used for recovery. This development will enhance the capability of EPR to study fast dynamic processes that cannot be investigated using existing EPR imaging techniques. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Intermittent fasting during Ramadan: does it affect sleep?
Bahammam, Ahmed S; Almushailhi, Khalid; Pandi-Perumal, Seithikurippu R; Sharif, Munir M
2014-02-01
Islamic intermittent fasting is distinct from regular voluntary or experimental fasting. We hypothesised that if a regimen of a fixed sleep-wake schedule and a fixed caloric intake is followed during intermittent fasting, the effects of fasting on sleep architecture and daytime sleepiness will be minimal. Therefore, we designed this study to objectively assess the effects of Islamic intermittent fasting on sleep architecture and daytime sleepiness. Eight healthy volunteers reported to the Sleep Disorders Centre on five occasions for polysomnography and multiple sleep latency tests: (1) during adaptation; (2) 3 weeks before Ramadan, after having performed Islamic fasting for 1 week (baseline fasting); (3) 1 week before Ramadan (non-fasting baseline); (4) 2 weeks into Ramadan (Ramadan); and (5) 2 weeks after Ramadan (non-fasting; Recovery). Daytime sleepiness was assessed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the multiple sleep latency test. The participants had a mean age of 26.6 ± 4.9 years, a body mass index of 23.7 ± 3.5 kg m(-2) and an Epworth Sleepiness Scale score of 7.3 ± 2.7. There was no change in weight or the Epworth Sleepiness Scale in the four study periods. The rapid eye movement sleep percentage was significantly lower during fasting. There was no difference in sleep latency, non-rapid eye movement sleep percentage, arousal index and sleep efficiency. The multiple sleep latency test analysis revealed no difference in the sleep latency between the 'non-fasting baseline', 'baseline fasting', 'Ramadan' and 'Recovery' time points. Under conditions of a fixed sleep-wake schedule and a fixed caloric intake, Islamic intermittent fasting results in decreased rapid eye movement sleep with no impact on other sleep stages, the arousal index or daytime sleepiness. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.
Lelengboto, Jeane Elisabeth
2014-01-01
The study of Consumer Behavior has become essential. Consumer buying behavior has become an integral part of strategic market planning. Book is one of the most essentials part in learning process and activities. The purposes of this research are to analyze the difference of intention to buy books between International Business Administration (IBA) students and Regular students. The method that used in this research is Independent Sample t-test. Independent Sample t-test is a method to compare...
Doubova, Svetlana V; Sánchez-García, Sergio; Infante-Castañeda, Claudia; Pérez-Cuevas, Ricardo
2016-09-09
To analyze the factors associated with regular physical exercise and routine consumption of fruits and vegetables, and both healthy behaviors among Mexican older adults. We conducted a secondary data analysis of the baseline data (2014) of the Study on Obesity, Sarcopenia and Fragility in older adults affiliated with the Mexican Institute of Social Security. The study included 948 adults who were ≥60 years of age. Multiple Poisson regression was performed. Routine consumption of fruits and vegetables was reported by 53.8 % of older adults, 42.7 % reported engaging in regular physical exercise and 23.1 % reported participating in both types of healthy behaviors. Women, adults with a stable income, those with a self-perception of good health and those with a history of physical exercise at the age of 50 years had an increased likelihood of engaging in healthy eating and regular physical activity. Many older adults do not routinely consume fruits and vegetables or engage in regular physical exercise despite the fact that most have a fixed income and a social network. It is relevant to conduct research-based interventions that take into account the contextual factors to promote healthy behaviors.
Impulsivity and Fast-Food Consumption: A Cross-Sectional Study among Working Adults.
Garza, Kimberly B; Ding, Meng; Owensby, Justin K; Zizza, Claire A
2016-01-01
Little is known about the decision-making process of adults who choose to eat at fast-food restaurants. Impulsivity is the concept that individuals value immediate rewards and disregard future costs. To determine the association between impulsivity and consumption of fast food among employed adults and to explore their reasons for eating fast food. A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted; participants were recruited using a mass electronic mailing. Four hundred seventy-eight adults employed in a university setting completed the survey. The association between frequency of fast-food consumption and impulsivity was assessed. Impulsivity is assessed by the area under the delay discounting curve (AUC). The AUC is estimated by using a binary choice delay discounting task incorporating hypothetical monetary rewards. Greater AUC reflects lower impulsivity. Analysis of variance, Student's t tests, and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to measure unadjusted associations among demographic variables, fast-food consumption, and AUC. Linear regression was used to assess whether AUC was a significant predictor of having consumed fast food in the past 7 days, controlling for age, total household income, and education. The majority (67%) of the participants reported eating one or more meals from a fast-food restaurant or pizza place in the past 7 days. The mean number of meals was 2.8±2.5 per week among those who reported eating at a fast-food restaurant or pizza place. Both fast-food consumption and body mass index (BMI) were correlated with greater impulsivity. Controlling for age, total household income, and education level, fast-food consumption was negatively related to AUC (P=0.017). The most commonly reported reasons for consuming fast food were convenience and to socialize. These findings indicate that greater impulsivity was associated with greater fast-food consumption. Successful efforts to encourage healthful dietary behaviors might emphasize methods
Stochastic analytic regularization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Alfaro, J.
1984-07-01
Stochastic regularization is reexamined, pointing out a restriction on its use due to a new type of divergence which is not present in the unregulated theory. Furthermore, we introduce a new form of stochastic regularization which permits the use of a minimal subtraction scheme to define the renormalized Green functions. (author)
Enabling fast charging - Battery thermal considerations
Keyser, Matthew; Pesaran, Ahmad; Li, Qibo; Santhanagopalan, Shriram; Smith, Kandler; Wood, Eric; Ahmed, Shabbir; Bloom, Ira; Dufek, Eric; Shirk, Matthew; Meintz, Andrew; Kreuzer, Cory; Michelbacher, Christopher; Burnham, Andrew; Stephens, Thomas; Francfort, James; Carlson, Barney; Zhang, Jiucai; Vijayagopal, Ram; Hardy, Keith; Dias, Fernando; Mohanpurkar, Manish; Scoffield, Don; Jansen, Andrew N.; Tanim, Tanvir; Markel, Anthony
2017-11-01
Battery thermal barriers are reviewed with regards to extreme fast charging. Present-day thermal management systems for battery electric vehicles are inadequate in limiting the maximum temperature rise of the battery during extreme fast charging. If the battery thermal management system is not designed correctly, the temperature of the cells could reach abuse temperatures and potentially send the cells into thermal runaway. Furthermore, the cell and battery interconnect design needs to be improved to meet the lifetime expectations of the consumer. Each of these aspects is explored and addressed as well as outlining where the heat is generated in a cell, the efficiencies of power and energy cells, and what type of battery thermal management solutions are available in today's market. Thermal management is not a limiting condition with regard to extreme fast charging, but many factors need to be addressed especially for future high specific energy density cells to meet U.S. Department of Energy cost and volume goals.
Arbitrary amplitude fast electron-acoustic solitons in three-electron component space plasmas
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Mbuli, L. N.; Maharaj, S. K. [South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Space Science, P.O. Box 32, Hermanus 7200, Republic of South Africa (South Africa); Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape (UWC), Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, Republic of South Africa (South Africa); Bharuthram, R. [Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape (UWC), Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, Republic of South Africa (South Africa); Singh, S. V.; Lakhina, G. S. [Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, New Panvel (West), Navi Mumbai 410218 (India); Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape (UWC), Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville 7535, Republic of South Africa (South Africa)
2016-06-15
We examine the characteristics of fast electron-acoustic solitons in a four-component unmagnetised plasma model consisting of cool, warm, and hot electrons, and cool ions. We retain the inertia and pressure for all the plasma species by assuming adiabatic fluid behaviour for all the species. By using the Sagdeev pseudo-potential technique, the allowable Mach number ranges for fast electron-acoustic solitary waves are explored and discussed. It is found that the cool and warm electron number densities determine the polarity switch of the fast electron-acoustic solitons which are limited by either the occurrence of fast electron-acoustic double layers or warm and hot electron number density becoming unreal. For the first time in the study of solitons, we report on the coexistence of fast electron-acoustic solitons, in addition to the regular fast electron-acoustic solitons and double layers in our multi-species plasma model. Our results are applied to the generation of broadband electrostatic noise in the dayside auroral region.
Consumer behaviour towards new products
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Bucatariu Mihaela
2017-07-01
Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to find a structure of consumer behaviour, especially regarding the preference for the newly-released products from the market. We intend to study the impact of the new, innovative products compared to the traditional ones. Empirical research is based on the selling mix of a company in Romania and Austria. The analysis of this case will be done with the support of an econometric model of simple regression. This research confirms the validation of the structure and the attitude of the consumers towards the new products, launched by that company. By applying this linear model, it is possible to identify the percentage of the increase or decrease in consumption of new products. The need of carrying out this study regarding the impact of the consumption of new products is to create a profile and to find the causes that influence their acquisition. The originality of this paper lays in studying some aspects of influence over the consumption of new products from McDonald’s in Romania and Austria. Where does McDonald’s stand regarding the digitalization? It is not enough to sell new products; it is also necessary to bring innovation in the organization. Nowadays consumers are more present in the online environment and retailers are adapting at a fast pace to their needs of direct communication and transparency. How does a company that faces Slow Food and Bio era, deal with consumers who are more preoccupied with the nutritive values of the nourishment act? Platforms for real-time communication with clients such as “Our food. Your question” redefined the term of transparency and helped McDonald’s stop bad rumors. The results of the research will show us if there really is transformation in behaviour towards traditional products and in what degree consumers are influenced by innovation.
Cartier, Louis-Jacques; Collins, Charlene; Lagacé, Mathieu; Douville, Pierre
2018-02-01
To compare the fasting and non-fasting lipid profile including ApoB in a cohort of patients from a community setting. Our purpose was to determine the proportion of results that could be explained by the known biological variation in the fasting state and to examine the additional impact of non-fasting on these same lipid parameters. 1093 adult outpatients with fasting lipid requests were recruited from February to September 2016 at the blood collection sites of the Moncton Hospital. Participants were asked to come back in the next 3-4days after having eaten a regular breakfast to have their blood drawn for a non-fasting lipid profile. 91.6% of patients in this study had a change in total cholesterol that fell within the biological variation expected for this parameter. Similar results were seen for HDL-C (94.3%) non-HDL-C (88.8%) and ApoB (93.0%). A smaller number of patients fell within the biological variation expected for TG (78.8%) and LDL-C (74.6%). An average TG increase of 0.3mmol/L was observed in fed patients no matter the level of fasting TG. A gradual widening in the range of change in TG concentration was observed as fasting TG increased. Similar results were seen in diabetic patients. Outside of LDL-C and TG, little changes were seen in lipid parameters in the postprandial state. A large part of these changes could be explained by the biological variation. We observed a gradual widening in the range of increase in TG for patients with higher fasting TG. Non-HDL-C and ApoB should be the treatment target of choice for patients in the non-fasting state. Copyright © 2017 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Dunn, Richard A; Sharkey, Joseph R; Horel, Scott
2012-01-01
Rural areas of the United States tend to have higher obesity rates than urban areas, particularly in regions with high proportions of non-white residents. This paper analyzes the effect of fast-food availability on the level of fast-food consumption and obesity risk among both white and non-white residents of central Texas. Potential endogeneity of fast-food availability is addressed through instrumental variables regression using distance to the nearest major highway as an instrument. We find that non-whites tend to exhibit higher obesity rates, greater access to fast-food establishments and higher consumption of fast-food meals compared to their white counterparts. In addition, we found that whites and non-whites respond differently to the availability of fast-food in rural environments. Greater availability is not associated with either greater consumption of fast-food meals or a higher obesity risk among the sample of whites. In contrast, greater availability of fast-food is positively associated with both the number of meals consumed for non-white rural residents and their obesity. While our results are robust to specification, the effect of availability on weight outcomes is notably weaker when indirectly calculated from the implied relationship between consumption and caloric intake. This highlights the importance of directly examining the proposed mechanism through which an environmental factor influences weight outcomes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Olsen, Svein Ottar; Tuu, Ho Huu; Grunert, Klaus G
2017-10-01
The main purpose of this study is to identify consumer segments based on the importance of product attributes when buying seafood for homemade meals on weekdays. There is a particular focus on the relative importance of the packaging attributes of fresh seafood. The results are based on a representative survey of 840 Norwegian consumers between 18 and 80 years of age. This study found that taste, freshness, nutritional value and naturalness are the most important attributes for the home consumption of seafood. Except for the high importance of information about expiration date, most other packaging attributes have only medium importance. Three consumer segments are identified based on the importance of 33 attributes associated with seafood: Perfectionists, Quality Conscious and Careless Consumers. The Quality Conscious consumers feel more self-confident in their evaluation of quality, and are less concerned with packaging, branding, convenience and emotional benefits compared to the Perfectionists. Careless Consumers are important as regular consumers of convenient and pre-packed seafood products and value recipe information on the packaging. The seafood industry may use the results provided in this study to strengthen their positioning of seafood across three different consumer segments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Napolitano, F; Castellini, C; Naspetti, S; Piasentier, E; Girolami, A; Braghieri, A
2013-03-01
Conventional chicken from a fast-growing strain (CC), organic chicken from a slow-growing strain (OSG), and organic chicken from a fast-growing strain (OFG) were used to assess descriptive sensory differences between organic and conventional breasts, to verify whether differences were perceived by consumers and to evaluate the effect of information about organic production on liking. A conventional quantitative-descriptive analysis was performed by a trained panel of 10 members on breast slices (1 cm thick) grilled at 300°C. A 150-member consumer panel (from southern, central, and northern Italy) rated CC, OSG, and OFG breasts according to 3 types of evaluation: tasting without information (perceived liking), information without tasting (expected liking), and tasting with information (actual liking). Breasts from different sources were clearly discriminated by the trained panel as meat from CC was perceived more tender than OFG (P consumers for perceived liking. However, consumer expected liking scores were higher for organic than for conventional products (P consumers were not. However, consumer liking was markedly affected by the information given on the organic production system, thus providing a tool to differentiate the product in an increasingly competitive market.
Fast nonconvex nonsmooth minimization methods for image restoration and reconstruction.
Nikolova, Mila; Ng, Michael K; Tam, Chi-Pan
2010-12-01
Nonconvex nonsmooth regularization has advantages over convex regularization for restoring images with neat edges. However, its practical interest used to be limited by the difficulty of the computational stage which requires a nonconvex nonsmooth minimization. In this paper, we deal with nonconvex nonsmooth minimization methods for image restoration and reconstruction. Our theoretical results show that the solution of the nonconvex nonsmooth minimization problem is composed of constant regions surrounded by closed contours and neat edges. The main goal of this paper is to develop fast minimization algorithms to solve the nonconvex nonsmooth minimization problem. Our experimental results show that the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithms.
Consumer purchasing patterns in response to calorie labeling legislation in New York City
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Elbel Brian
2011-05-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Obesity is a major public health threat and policies aimed at curbing this epidemic are emerging. National calorie labeling legislation is forthcoming and requires rigorous evaluation to examine its impact on consumers. The purpose of this study was to examine whether point-of-purchase calorie labels in New York City (NYC chain restaurants affected food purchasing patterns in a sample of lower income adults in NYC and Newark, NJ. Methods This study utilized a difference-in-difference design to survey 1,170 adult patrons of four popular chain restaurants in NYC and Newark, NJ (which did not introduce labeling before and after calorie labeling was implemented in NYC. Receipt data were collected and analyzed to examine food and beverage purchases and frequency of fast food consumption. Descriptive statistics were generated, and linear and logistic regression, difference-in-difference analysis, and predicted probabilities were used to analyze the data. Results A difference-in-difference analysis revealed no significant favorable differences and some unfavorable differences in food purchasing patterns and frequency of fast food consumption between adult patrons of fast food restaurants in NYC and Newark, NJ. Adults in NYC who reported noticing and using the calorie labels consumed fast food less frequently compared to adults who did not notice the labels (4.9 vs. 6.6 meals per week, p Conclusion While no favorable differences in purchasing as a result of labeling were noted, self-reported use of calorie labels was associated with some favorable behavioral patterns in a subset of adults in NYC. However, overall impact of the legislation may be limited. More research is needed to understand the most effective way to deliver calorie information to consumers.
Guthrie, David; McIntosh, Mishka; Callaly, Tom; Trauer, Tom; Coombs, Tim
2008-04-01
In this study conducted by consumer consultants, 50 consumers who have a Barwon Health case manager (the majority of whom were nurses) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to ascertain their attitudes towards the routine use of outcome measures. Forty participants (80% of those interviewed) reported they had been offered the Behaviour and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-32) to complete in routine care by their case managers and of those, 95% (n = 38) completed it. On those who completed the BASIS-32, 42% said their case manager had explained what the BASIS-32 would be used for, 45% said that the case manager had discussed their responses with them, 76% stated that completing the BASIS-32 had helped the case manager to understand them better and 66% believed that completing the BASIS-32 had led to them receiving better care. Only 30% of the group interviewed were aware that their case manager regularly completed a Health of the Nation Outcome Scales and Life Skills Profile. Feedback about the process of completing the BASIS-32 was obtained as well as suggestions on how the process may be improved. The results indicate that consumers see the benefit of routine outcome measurement and believe it leads to improved care. More information about outcome measures, including the clinician-rated outcome measures, needs to be provided to consumers if they are to be engaged constructively in this exercise.
Svastisalee, Chalida; Pagh Pedersen, Trine; Schipperijn, Jasper; Jørgensen, Sanne Ellegaard; Holstein, Bjørn E; Krølner, Rikke
2016-02-01
We examined associations between fast-food intake and perceived and objective fast-food outlet exposure. Information from the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children Study was linked to fast-food outlets in seventy-five school neighbourhoods. We used multivariate multilevel logistic regression analyses to examine associations between at least weekly fast-food intake and perceived and objective fast-food outlet measures. Data represent 4642 adolescents (aged 11-15 years) in Denmark. Boys reporting two or more fast-food outlets had 34% higher odds consuming fast food at least weekly. We detected higher odds of at least weekly fast-food intake among 15-year-old 9th graders (ORall=1.74; 95% CI 1.40, 2.18; ORboys=2.20; 95% CI 1.66, 2.91; ORgirls=1.41; 95% CI 1.03, 1.92), Danish speakers (ORall=2.32; 95% CI 1.68, 3.19; ORboys=2.58; 95% CI 1.69, 3.93; ORgirls=2.37; 95% CI 1.46, 3.84) and those travelling 15 min or less to school (ORall=1.21; 95% CI 1.00, 1.46; ORgirls=1.44; 95% CI 1.08, 1.93) compared with 11-year-old 5th graders, non-Danish speakers and those with longer travel times. Boys from middle- (OR=1.28; 95% CI 1.00, 1.65) and girls from low-income families (OR=1.46; 95% CI 1.05, 2.04) had higher odds of at least weekly fast-food intake compared with those from high-income backgrounds. Girls attending schools with canteens (OR=1.47; 95% CI 1.00, 2.15) had higher odds of at least weekly fast-food intake than girls at schools without canteens. The present study demonstrates that perceived food outlets may impact fast-food intake in boys while proximity impacts intake in girls. Public health planning could target food environments that emphasize a better understanding of how adolescents use local resources.
Daikhin, Luba; Ahissar, Merav
2015-07-01
Introducing simple stimulus regularities facilitates learning of both simple and complex tasks. This facilitation may reflect an implicit change in the strategies used to solve the task when successful predictions regarding incoming stimuli can be formed. We studied the modifications in brain activity associated with fast perceptual learning based on regularity detection. We administered a two-tone frequency discrimination task and measured brain activation (fMRI) under two conditions: with and without a repeated reference tone. Although participants could not explicitly tell the difference between these two conditions, the introduced regularity affected both performance and the pattern of brain activation. The "No-Reference" condition induced a larger activation in frontoparietal areas known to be part of the working memory network. However, only the condition with a reference showed fast learning, which was accompanied by a reduction of activity in two regions: the left intraparietal area, involved in stimulus retention, and the posterior superior-temporal area, involved in representing auditory regularities. We propose that this joint reduction reflects a reduction in the need for online storage of the compared tones. We further suggest that this change reflects an implicit strategic shift "backwards" from reliance mainly on working memory networks in the "No-Reference" condition to increased reliance on detected regularities stored in high-level auditory networks.
Impact of Light Salt Substitution for Regular Salt on Blood Pressure of Hypertensive Patients
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Carolina Lôbo de Almeida Barros
2015-02-01
Full Text Available Background: Studies have shown sodium restriction to have a beneficial effect on blood pressure (BP of hypertensive patients. Objective: To evaluate the impact of light salt substitution for regular salt on BP of hypertensive patients. Methods: Uncontrolled hypertensive patients of both sexes, 20 to 65 years-old, on stable doses of antihypertensive drugs were randomized into Intervention Group (IG - receiving light salt and Control Group (CG - receiving regular salt. Systolic BP (SBP and diastolic BP (DBP were analyzed by using casual BP measurements and Home Blood Pressure Monitoring (HBPM, and sodium and potassium excretion was assessed on 24-hour urine samples. The patients received 3 g of salt for daily consumption for 4 weeks. Results: The study evaluated 35 patients (65.7% women, 19 allocated to the IG and 16 to the CG. The mean age was 55.5 ± 7.4 years. Most participants had completed the Brazilian middle school (up to the 8th grade; n = 28; 80.0%, had a family income of up to US$ 600 (n = 17; 48.6% and practiced regular physical activity (n = 19; 54.3%. Two patients (5.7% were smokers and 40.0% consumed alcohol regularly (n = 14. The IG showed a significant reduction in both SBP and DBP on the casual measurements and HBPM (p < 0.05 and in sodium excretion (p = 0.016. The CG showed a significant reduction only in casual SBP (p = 0.032. Conclusions: The light salt substitution for regular salt significantly reduced BP of hypertensive patients.
Fast Superpixel Segmentation Algorithm for PolSAR Images
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zhang Yue
2017-10-01
Full Text Available As a pre-processing technique, superpixel segmentation algorithms should be of high computational efficiency, accurate boundary adherence and regular shape in homogeneous regions. A fast superpixel segmentation algorithm based on Iterative Edge Refinement (IER has shown to be applicable on optical images. However, it is difficult to obtain the ideal results when IER is applied directly to PolSAR images due to the speckle noise and small or slim regions in PolSAR images. To address these problems, in this study, the unstable pixel set is initialized as all the pixels in the PolSAR image instead of the initial grid edge pixels. In the local relabeling of the unstable pixels, the fast revised Wishart distance is utilized instead of the Euclidean distance in CIELAB color space. Then, a post-processing procedure based on dissimilarity measure is empolyed to remove isolated small superpixels as well as to retain the strong point targets. Finally, extensive experiments based on a simulated image and a real-world PolSAR image from Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AirSAR are conducted, showing that the proposed algorithm, compared with three state-of-the-art methods, performs better in terms of several commonly used evaluation criteria with high computational efficiency, accurate boundary adherence, and homogeneous regularity.
Bernabéu, Rodolfo; Rabadán, Adrián; El Orche, Nour E; Díaz, Mónica
2018-01-01
Analysis of the attributes determining the formation of consumers' preferences when buying lamb meat is a key aspect in increasing the demand for this product. To this end, by means of conjoint analysis, we determined lamb meat consumers' preferences according to their frequency of consumption, and we used logistic simulation to analyse market shares of the most valued attributes. After segmenting the market into habitual and occasional consumers of lamb meat, our results seem to suggest that while regular consumers base their preferences mostly on origin, occasional consumers take other attributes into account, such as Protected Geographical Origin (PGI) and organic production. An analysis of market shares shows that PGI significantly influences consumer preferences, while ecological production has a less marked impact. This finding confirms the usefulness of PGI in the lamb meat market and highlights the urgent need to improve the communication strategy of the organic production sector as a synergistic effect to increase its acceptance among consumers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Zara's case study: the strategy of the fast fashion pioneer
Costa, Ana Mafalda Ricardo Morgado
2017-01-01
L1, L81, M31 The Fashion Industry has been changing among the years, and fashion companies are changing the way they do business. They are focusing each day more on the consumers, and what they are looking for at that moment. Fast Fashion concept is gaining ground in the industry because now it is more important to always follow the latest trends and produce according to that, than to have just two collections per year for a higher price. Now, consumers are always looking...
Effective field theory dimensional regularization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lehmann, Dirk; Prezeau, Gary
2002-01-01
A Lorentz-covariant regularization scheme for effective field theories with an arbitrary number of propagating heavy and light particles is given. This regularization scheme leaves the low-energy analytic structure of Greens functions intact and preserves all the symmetries of the underlying Lagrangian. The power divergences of regularized loop integrals are controlled by the low-energy kinematic variables. Simple diagrammatic rules are derived for the regularization of arbitrary one-loop graphs and the generalization to higher loops is discussed
Effective field theory dimensional regularization
Lehmann, Dirk; Prézeau, Gary
2002-01-01
A Lorentz-covariant regularization scheme for effective field theories with an arbitrary number of propagating heavy and light particles is given. This regularization scheme leaves the low-energy analytic structure of Greens functions intact and preserves all the symmetries of the underlying Lagrangian. The power divergences of regularized loop integrals are controlled by the low-energy kinematic variables. Simple diagrammatic rules are derived for the regularization of arbitrary one-loop graphs and the generalization to higher loops is discussed.
Dietary Behaviours, Impulsivity and Food Involvement: Identification of Three Consumer Segments.
Sarmugam, Rani; Worsley, Anthony
2015-09-18
This study aims to (1) identify consumer segments based on consumers' impulsivity and level of food involvement, and (2) examine the dietary behaviours of each consumer segment. An Internet-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 530 respondents. The mean age of the participants was 49.2 ± 16.6 years, and 27% were tertiary educated. Two-stage cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments; "impulsive, involved" (33.4%), "rational, health conscious" (39.2%), and "uninvolved" (27.4%). The "impulsive, involved" segment was characterised by higher levels of impulsivity and food involvement (importance of food) compared to the other two segments. This segment also reported significantly more frequent consumption of fast foods, takeaways, convenience meals, salted snacks and use of ready-made sauces and mixes in cooking compared to the "rational, health conscious" consumers. They also reported higher frequency of preparing meals at home, cooking from scratch, using ready-made sauces and mixes in cooking and higher vegetable consumption compared to the "uninvolved" consumers. The findings show the need for customised approaches to the communication and promotion of healthy eating habits.
Chen, Qianqian; Wang, Yuren
2015-01-01
With the fast growing Chinese online marketplace and the increasing popularity of shopping imported products online in China, more and more practitioners and researchers are interested in understanding the cues that Chinese consumers use to evaluate imported products consumption online. Our quantitative study aims to identify what factors affect the behavior of Chinese online consumers towards imported products and the relationships between the identified factors and purchase intention, and t...
REGULAR PATTERN MINING (WITH JITTER ON WEIGHTED-DIRECTED DYNAMIC GRAPHS
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
A. GUPTA
2017-02-01
Full Text Available Real world graphs are mostly dynamic in nature, exhibiting time-varying behaviour in structure of the graph, weight on the edges and direction of the edges. Mining regular patterns in the occurrence of edge parameters gives an insight into the consumer trends over time in ecommerce co-purchasing networks. But such patterns need not necessarily be precise as in the case when some product goes out of stock or a group of customers becomes unavailable for a short period of time. Ignoring them may lead to loss of useful information and thus taking jitter into account becomes vital. To the best of our knowledge, no work has been yet reported to extract regular patterns considering a jitter of length greater than unity. In this article, we propose a novel method to find quasi regular patterns on weight and direction sequences of such graphs. The method involves analysing the dynamic network considering the inconsistencies in the occurrence of edges. It utilizes the relation between the occurrence sequence and the corresponding weight and direction sequences to speed up this process. Further, these patterns are used to determine the most central nodes (such as the most profit yielding products. To accomplish this we introduce the concept of dynamic closeness centrality and dynamic betweenness centrality. Experiments on Enron e-mail dataset and a synthetic dynamic network show that the presented approach is efficient, so it can be used to find patterns in large scale networks consisting of many timestamps.
2010-12-07
... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Regular Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board. ACTION: Regular meeting. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). Date and Time: The meeting of the Board will be held...
Influence of packaging information on consumer liking of chocolate milk.
Kim, M K; Lopetcharat, K; Drake, M A
2013-08-01
Chocolate milk varies widely in flavor, color, and viscosity, and liking is influenced by these properties. Additionally, package labels (declared fat content) and brand are some of the extrinsic factors that may influence consumer perception. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of packaging labels and brand name on consumer liking and purchase intent of chocolate milk. A consumer acceptance test, conjoint analysis survey, and Kano analysis were conducted. One hundred eight consumers evaluated 7 chocolate milks with and without brand or package information in a 2-d crossover design. A conjoint analysis survey and Kano analysis were conducted after the consumer acceptance test. Results were evaluated by 2-way ANOVA and multivariate analyses. Declared fat content and brand influenced overall liking and purchase intent for chocolate milks to differing degrees. A subsequent conjoint analysis (n=250) revealed that fat content was a driver of choice for purchasing chocolate milk followed by sugar content and brand. Brand name was less important for purchase intent of chocolate milk than fat or sugar content. Among fat content of chocolate milk, 2 and 1% fat level were most appealing to consumers, and reduced sugar and regular sugar were equally important for purchase intent. Kano analysis confirmed that fat content (whole milk, 1, or 2% fat chocolate milk) was an attractive attribute for consumer satisfaction, more so than brand. Organic labeling did not affect the purchase decision of chocolate milk; however, Kano results revealed that having an organic label on a package positively influenced consumer satisfaction. Findings from this study can help chocolate milk producers as well as food marketers better target their product labels with attributes that drive consumer choice of chocolate milk. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
General inverse problems for regular variation
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Damek, Ewa; Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; Rosinski, Jan
2014-01-01
Regular variation of distributional tails is known to be preserved by various linear transformations of some random structures. An inverse problem for regular variation aims at understanding whether the regular variation of a transformed random object is caused by regular variation of components ...
Review of fast reactor activities in India
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Paranjpe, S R [Reactor Research Centre, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu (India)
1981-05-01
It may be recalled that In the presentation at the last meeting of the IWGFR (13th Annual meeting), a broad outline of India's nuclear energy programme and the role of fast breeders in the programme has been provided. The steps taken to enable the fast breeders to fulfil their role have also been described. In brief, fast breeder reactors are considered as an essential and integral part of the programme of nuclear energy and constitute the second step in the programme, the first being the construction of natural uranium heavy water moderated reactors which will consume natural uranium but will produce plutonium to fuel fast breeder reactors. This basic position has remained unchanged and the Government is now taking steps to build a large number of heavy water reactors, say 10 million Kw capacity in the next 20 years. This defines the time frame for developing the fast breeder technology in the country. It has therefore been decided to mobilise the efforts towards design, construction and operation of a medium sized (about 500 M We) reactor by mid-nineties. Thus, the climate for fast breeder reactors is good and there is a good deal of enthusiasm amongst the scientists and engineers working in the field although the actual implementation of the programme during the year had to face certain difficulties.
Review of fast reactor activities in India
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Paranjpe, S.R.
1981-01-01
It may be recalled that In the presentation at the last meeting of the IWGFR (13th Annual meeting), a broad outline of India's nuclear energy programme and the role of fast breeders in the programme has been provided. The steps taken to enable the fast breeders to fulfil their role have also been described. In brief, fast breeder reactors are considered as an essential and integral part of the programme of nuclear energy and constitute the second step in the programme, the first being the construction of natural uranium heavy water moderated reactors which will consume natural uranium but will produce plutonium to fuel fast breeder reactors. This basic position has remained unchanged and the Government is now taking steps to build a large number of heavy water reactors, say 10 million Kw capacity in the next 20 years. This defines the time frame for developing the fast breeder technology in the country. It has therefore been decided to mobilise the efforts towards design, construction and operation of a medium sized (about 500 M We) reactor by mid-nineties. Thus, the climate for fast breeder reactors is good and there is a good deal of enthusiasm amongst the scientists and engineers working in the field although the actual implementation of the programme during the year had to face certain difficulties
Differences in consumer use of food labels by weight loss strategies and demographic characteristics
Bleich, Sara N.; Wolfson, Julia A.
2015-01-01
Background Little is known about national patterns in the use of fast food and packaged food labels among adults by weight loss strategies and demographic characteristics. Methods We analyzed the Consumer Behavior Module in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007?2010 among adults (N?=?9,690). For each of the outcome variables ? use of packed food and fast food menu labels ? multiple logistic regressions were used to adjust for potential differences in population characteris...
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Svetlana V. Doubova
2016-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background To analyze the factors associated with regular physical exercise and routine consumption of fruits and vegetables, and both healthy behaviors among Mexican older adults. Methods We conducted a secondary data analysis of the baseline data (2014 of the Study on Obesity, Sarcopenia and Fragility in older adults affiliated with the Mexican Institute of Social Security. The study included 948 adults who were ≥60 years of age. Multiple Poisson regression was performed. Results Routine consumption of fruits and vegetables was reported by 53.8 % of older adults, 42.7 % reported engaging in regular physical exercise and 23.1 % reported participating in both types of healthy behaviors. Women, adults with a stable income, those with a self-perception of good health and those with a history of physical exercise at the age of 50 years had an increased likelihood of engaging in healthy eating and regular physical activity. Conclusions Many older adults do not routinely consume fruits and vegetables or engage in regular physical exercise despite the fact that most have a fixed income and a social network. It is relevant to conduct research-based interventions that take into account the contextual factors to promote healthy behaviors.
Janssen, Anke M; Kremer, Stefanie; van Stipriaan, Willeke L; Noort, Martijn W J; de Vries, Jeanne H M; Temme, Elisabeth H M
2015-10-01
Processed foods are major contributors to excessive sodium intake in Western populations. We investigated the effect of food reformulation on daily dietary sodium intake. To determine whether uninformed consumers accept reduced-sodium lunches and to determine the effect of consuming reduced-sodium lunches on 24-hour urinary sodium excretion. A single-blind randomized controlled pretest-posttest design with two parallel treatment groups was used. Participants chose foods in an experimental real-life canteen setting at the Restaurant of the Future in Wageningen, the Netherlands, from May 16 until July 1, 2011. After a run-in period with regular foods for both groups, the intervention group (n=36) consumed foods with 29% to 61% sodium reduction (some were partially flavor compensated). The control group (n=38) continued consuming regular foods. Outcomes for assessment of acceptance were the amount of foods consumed, energy and sodium intake, remembered food liking, and intensity of sensory aspects. Influence on daily dietary sodium intake was assessed by 24-hour urinary sodium excretion. Between and within-subject comparisons were assessed by analysis of covariance. Energy intake and amount consumed of each food category per lunch remained similar for both groups. Compared with the control group, the intervention group's sodium intake per lunch was significantly reduced by -1,093 mg (adjusted difference) (95% CI -1,285 to -901), equivalent to 43 mmol sodium. Remembered food liking, taste intensity, and saltiness were scored similarly for almost all of the reduced-sodium foods compared with the regular foods. After consuming reduced-sodium lunches, compared with the control group, intervention participants' 24-hour urinary sodium excretion was significantly lower by -40 mEq (adjusted difference) (95% CI -63 to -16) than after consuming regular lunches, and this reflects a decreased daily sodium intake of 1 g. Comparing the two treatment groups, consumption of reduced
Investigating the effect of advertisement on consumer behavior
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sahar Khodakaram Arzanagh
2014-01-01
Full Text Available During the past few years, there has been tremendous increase in advertisement expenses all over the world. Therefore, it is important to examine, to investigate and to evaluate the performance of advertisement to reach organizations’ objectives. This paper presents an empirical investigation using highly reliable and efficient method called AIDA, which consists of four factors: attention, interest, desire and action. The study is implemented for one of Iranian food suppliers called TABAROK located in city of Mashad, Iran. The survey selects a sample of 300 regular customers and distributes a standard questionnaire among them. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.93, which is well above the minimum desirable level. Using Spearman correlation test, the study confirms that all four components of the survey influences consumer behavior, positively. The study also indicates that there were some positive and meaningful correlations among various components of the survey. In addition, applying Freedman test indicates that advertisement has the highest impact on convincing consumer to purchase product.
Tumewu, Ferdinand J; Mongdong, Vilanri G
2015-01-01
Nowadays retail industry has been growing quite fast supported by the consumer behavior that has begun to shift from traditional to modern retail market. APRINDO predicted that the growth would be around 10% by 2015. Indomaret franchise is the pioneer in Indonesia. The objective of this research is to identify the effect of marketing mix, service quality and brand equity on consumer buying decision. In this research, the population refers to the consumer of Indomaret Manado with cluster sampl...
Continuum-regularized quantum gravity
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chan Huesum; Halpern, M.B.
1987-01-01
The recent continuum regularization of d-dimensional Euclidean gravity is generalized to arbitrary power-law measure and studied in some detail as a representative example of coordinate-invariant regularization. The weak-coupling expansion of the theory illustrates a generic geometrization of regularized Schwinger-Dyson rules, generalizing previous rules in flat space and flat superspace. The rules are applied in a non-trivial explicit check of Einstein invariance at one loop: the cosmological counterterm is computed and its contribution is included in a verification that the graviton mass is zero. (orig.)
Food, Health and the Consumer: A European Perspective
Gormley, T. R. (Thomas Ronan); Downey, Gerry; O'Beirne, D.
1986-01-01
This article summarises the findings of a major study carried out under the FAST (Forecasting and Assessment in Science and Technology) programme of the EEC on food, health and the consumer. Further articles on specific parts of the study will be published in future issues of Farm and Food Research. The findings are applicable to most developed countries including Ireland and if implemented could have a significant affect on human health and also on food production and processing methods.
Consumer usage and reasons for using dietary supplements: report of a series of surveys.
Dickinson, Annette; Blatman, Judy; El-Dash, Neale; Franco, Julio C
2014-01-01
Consumer usage of dietary supplements is prevalent in the United States, and total usage is higher than reported in recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), because these surveys capture usage only in the 30 days prior to the respondent's interview and do not capture occasional and seasonal use throughout the year. We report data from a series of consumer surveys on the full extent of dietary supplement use, on the reasons for supplement use, and on the products most commonly taken, as well as other health habits of supplement users. The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a trade association of the dietary supplement industry, has contracted with Ipsos Public Affairs to conduct consumer surveys annually since 2000. The surveys have been administered online since 2007 to about 2000 subjects each year. We report 5 years of data (2007 to 2011) on the prevalence of dietary supplement use, as well as more detailed data from the 2011 survey on the products used, the reasons for using supplements, and other health habits of supplement users. The prevalence of supplement use fluctuated within the range of 64% to 69% from 2007 to 2011, and the prevalence of regular supplement use ranged from 48% to 53%, with no statistically significant differences from year to year. Over the 5-year period, the percentage of respondents who said that they regularly used a variety of supplements increased from 28% to 36%, and the increase from 2010 to 2011 was statistically significant. The percentage of respondents who said that they regularly used only a multivitamin, as opposed to a variety of supplements, declined from 24% to 17%, and the decrease from 2007 to 2008 was statistically significant. Detailed results from the 2011 survey confirm that supplement use increases with age and is higher in women than in men. Vitamin or mineral supplements were used by 67% of all respondents in 2011, specialty supplements by 35%, botanicals by 23%, and sports
Astrid (fast breeder nuclear reactor)
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2014-01-01
This document presents ASTRID (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration), a French project of sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor, fourth generation reactor which should be fuelled by uranium 238 rather than uranium 235, and should therefore need less extracted natural uranium to produce electricity. The operation principle of fast breeder reactors is described. They notably directly consume plutonium, allow an easier radioactive waste management as they transform long life radioactive elements into shorter life elements by transmutation. The regeneration process is briefly described, and the various operation modes are evoked (iso-generator, sub-generator, and breeder). Some peculiarities of sodium-cooled reactors are outlined. The Astrid operation principle is described, its main design innovations outlined. Various challenges are discussed regarding safety of supply and waste processing, and the safety of future reactors. Major actors are indicated: CEA, Areva, EDF, SEIV Alcen, Toshiba, Rolls Royce, and Comex. Some key data are indicated: expected lifetime, expected availability rate, cost. The projected site is Marcoule and fast breeder reactors operated or under construction in the world are indicated. The document also proposes an overview of the background and evolution of reactors of 4. generation
Online co-regularized algorithms
Ruijter, T. de; Tsivtsivadze, E.; Heskes, T.
2012-01-01
We propose an online co-regularized learning algorithm for classification and regression tasks. We demonstrate that by sequentially co-regularizing prediction functions on unlabeled data points, our algorithm provides improved performance in comparison to supervised methods on several UCI benchmarks
Geometric continuum regularization of quantum field theory
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Halpern, M.B.
1989-01-01
An overview of the continuum regularization program is given. The program is traced from its roots in stochastic quantization, with emphasis on the examples of regularized gauge theory, the regularized general nonlinear sigma model and regularized quantum gravity. In its coordinate-invariant form, the regularization is seen as entirely geometric: only the supermetric on field deformations is regularized, and the prescription provides universal nonperturbative invariant continuum regularization across all quantum field theory. 54 refs
Enabling fast charging – Battery thermal considerations
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Keyser, Matthew; Pesaran, Ahmad; Li, Qibo; Santhanagopalan, Shriram; Smith, Kandler
2017-01-01
Battery thermal barriers are reviewed with regards to extreme fast charging. Present-day thermal management systems for battery electric vehicles are inadequate in limiting the maximum temperature rise of the battery during extreme fast charging. If the battery thermal management system is not designed correctly, the temperature of the cells could reach abuse temperatures and potentially send the cells into thermal runaway. Furthermore, the cell and battery interconnect design needs to be improved to meet the lifetime expectations of the consumer. Each of these aspects is explored and addressed as well as outlining where the heat is generated in a cell, the efficiencies of power and energy cells, and what type of battery thermal management solutions are available in today’s market. Here, thermal management is not a limiting condition with regard to extreme fast charging, but many factors need to be addressed especially for future high specific energy density cells to meet U.S. Department of Energy cost and volume goals.
Metrology considerations in a fast emerging new energy sector
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Friis Pedersen, Troels
2013-01-01
The wind energy sector is emerging on the global energy scene as a fast new energy sector. In 2002 the globally installed wind energy capacity passed 32GW, corresponding to 0,4% of worlds electricity supply. The last five years the sector increased in installed capacity by 33% per year. A leading...... and loads, and measurements. Measurement institutes are organized in the MEASNET network and arrange regular conformity testing....
Consumer Issues and Consumer Protection in Asia.
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)
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Davide Grassi
2015-02-01
Full Text Available Hypertension and arterial stiffening are independent predictors of cardiovascular mortality. Flavonoids may exert some vascular protection. We investigated the effects of black tea on blood pressure (BP and wave reflections before and after fat load in hypertensives. According to a randomized, double-blind, controlled, cross-over design, 19 patients were assigned to consume black tea (129 mg flavonoids or placebo twice a day for eight days (13 day wash-out period. Digital volume pulse and BP were measured before and 1, 2, 3 and 4 h after tea consumption. Measurements were performed in a fasted state and after a fat load. Compared to placebo, reflection index and stiffness index decreased after tea consumption (p < 0.0001. Fat challenge increased wave reflection, which was counteracted by tea consumption (p < 0.0001. Black tea decreased systolic and diastolic BP (−3.2 mmHg, p < 0.005 and −2.6 mmHg, p < 0.0001; respectively and prevented BP increase after a fat load (p < 0.0001. Black tea consumption lowers wave reflections and BP in the fasting state, and during the challenging haemodynamic conditions after a fat load in hypertensives. Considering lipemia-induced impairment of arterial function may occur frequently during the day, our findings suggest regular consumption of black tea may be relevant for cardiovascular protection.
Save, H.; Bettadpur, S. V.
2013-12-01
It has been demonstrated before that using Tikhonov regularization produces spherical harmonic solutions from GRACE that have very little residual stripes while capturing all the signal observed by GRACE within the noise level. This paper demonstrates a two-step process and uses Tikhonov regularization to remove the residual stripes in the CSR regularized spherical harmonic coefficients when computing the spatial projections. We discuss methods to produce mass anomaly grids that have no stripe features while satisfying the necessary condition of capturing all observed signal within the GRACE noise level.
Regularized maximum correntropy machine
Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Wang, Yunji; Jing, Bing-Yi; Gao, Xin
2015-01-01
In this paper we investigate the usage of regularized correntropy framework for learning of classifiers from noisy labels. The class label predictors learned by minimizing transitional loss functions are sensitive to the noisy and outlying labels of training samples, because the transitional loss functions are equally applied to all the samples. To solve this problem, we propose to learn the class label predictors by maximizing the correntropy between the predicted labels and the true labels of the training samples, under the regularized Maximum Correntropy Criteria (MCC) framework. Moreover, we regularize the predictor parameter to control the complexity of the predictor. The learning problem is formulated by an objective function considering the parameter regularization and MCC simultaneously. By optimizing the objective function alternately, we develop a novel predictor learning algorithm. The experiments on two challenging pattern classification tasks show that it significantly outperforms the machines with transitional loss functions.
Regularized maximum correntropy machine
Wang, Jim Jing-Yan
2015-02-12
In this paper we investigate the usage of regularized correntropy framework for learning of classifiers from noisy labels. The class label predictors learned by minimizing transitional loss functions are sensitive to the noisy and outlying labels of training samples, because the transitional loss functions are equally applied to all the samples. To solve this problem, we propose to learn the class label predictors by maximizing the correntropy between the predicted labels and the true labels of the training samples, under the regularized Maximum Correntropy Criteria (MCC) framework. Moreover, we regularize the predictor parameter to control the complexity of the predictor. The learning problem is formulated by an objective function considering the parameter regularization and MCC simultaneously. By optimizing the objective function alternately, we develop a novel predictor learning algorithm. The experiments on two challenging pattern classification tasks show that it significantly outperforms the machines with transitional loss functions.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Seyyed Reza Attarzadeh Hosseini
2014-09-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Hunger and reduction in regular energy intake can lead to a number of problems based on their intensity. For instance, low energy level can cause blood cell production to decline or it may pose a higher risk of anemia. It can also weaken the immune system and platelet aggregation or negatively affect clot formation. This study aimed to have a closer look at fasting and regular physical activity and their impacts on body composition and blood hematological-biochemical parameters among professional wrestlers. Method: In this semi-experimental study, 9 subjects were selected by convenience sampling. The selected training program included participation in this exerciseprogram, 90 min per session, 6 times per week for a period of one month. Blood samples were obtained four times: before the start of Ramadan, 2 weeks after the start, during the last week and 2 weeks after the end of Ramadan. To make intra-group comparison, repeated measure analysis of variance was used. For all statistical comparisons, the level of significance was considered at PResults: Body weight and red blood cell count (RBC dropped significantly at the end of Ramadan (Respectively P= 0.001 and P=0.034. However, the number of white blood cells (WBC and circulating platelets (PLT significantly increased during fasting (Respectively P= 0.048 and P=0.042. As a matter of fact, PLT and WBC were the only factors which dramatically increased during fasting. Intra-group variations of tetracycline (TC, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, LDL: high-density lipoprotein (HDL, triglyceride (TG: HDL and TC: HDL reduced at the end of Ramadan. However, HDL levels drastically increased during fasting (P≤0.05. Conclusion: Based on the results of the research, despite being a regular activity and fasting has beneficial effects on lipid profile in athletes, however, they can with tangible changes in hematological factors may lead to weaken the immune system of athletes.
Foxall, Gordon R; Oliveira-Castro, Jorge M; Schrezenmaier, Teresa C
2004-06-30
Purchasers of fast-moving consumer goods generally exhibit multi-brand choice, selecting apparently randomly among a small subset or "repertoire" of tried and trusted brands. Their behavior shows both matching and maximization, though it is not clear just what the majority of buyers are maximizing. Each brand attracts, however, a small percentage of consumers who are 100%-loyal to it during the period of observation. Some of these are exclusively buyers of premium-priced brands who are presumably maximizing informational reinforcement because their demand for the brand is relatively price-insensitive or inelastic. Others buy exclusively the cheapest brands available and can be assumed to maximize utilitarian reinforcement since their behavior is particularly price-sensitive or elastic. Between them are the majority of consumers whose multi-brand buying takes the form of selecting a mixture of economy -- and premium-priced brands. Based on the analysis of buying patterns of 80 consumers for 9 product categories, the paper examines the continuum of consumers so defined and seeks to relate their buying behavior to the question of how and what consumers maximize.
Fast simulation of the trigger system of the ATLAS detector at LHC
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Epp, B.; Ghete, V.M.; Kuhn, D.; Zhang, Y.J.
2004-01-01
The trigger system of the ATLAS detector aims to maximize the physics coverage and to be open to new and possibly unforeseen physics signatures. It is a multi-level system, composed from a hardware trigger at level-1, followed by the high-level-trigger (level-2 and event-filter). In order to understand its performance, to optimize it and to reduce its total cost, the trigger system requires a detailed simulation which is time- and resource-consuming. An alternative to the full detector simulation is a so-called 'fast simulation' which starts the analysis from particle level and replaces the full detector simulation and the detailed particle tracking with parametrized distributions obtained from the full simulation and/or a simplified detector geometry. The fast simulation offers a less precise description of trigger performance, but it is faster and less resource-consuming. (author)
Consuming energy drinks at the age of 14 predicted legal and illegal substance use at 16.
Barrense-Dias, Yara; Berchtold, André; Akre, Christina; Surís, Joan-Carles
2016-11-01
This study examined whether consuming energy drinks at the age of 14 predicted substance use at 16. We followed 621 youths from an area of Switzerland who completed a longitudinal online survey in both 2012 and 2014 when they were 14 and 16 years of age. At 14, participants, who were divided into nonenergy drink users (n = 262), occasional users (n = 183) and regular users (n = 176), reported demographic, health-related and substance use data. Substance use at 16 was assessed through logistic regression using nonusers as the reference group and controlling for significant variables at 14. At the bivariate level, energy drink consumption was associated with substance use at both 14 and 16. Energy drink consumers were also more likely to be male, older, less academic, sleep less on schooldays and live in an urban area. In the multivariate analysis, smokers, alcohol misusers and cannabis users at the age of 16 were significantly more likely to have been regular energy drink users at the age of 14. Consuming energy drinks at 14 years of age predicted using legal and illegal substances at 16. Health providers should screen young adolescents for energy drink use and closely monitor weekly users. ©2016 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Branding Strategies for High Technology Products: The Effects of Consumer and Product Innovativeness
Truong, Y.; van Klink, R.; Simmons, G.; Grinstein, A.; Palmer, M.
2017-01-01
Choice of an appropriate branding strategy is a critical determinant of new product success. Prior work on fast-moving-consumer-goods (FMCG) prescribes that new products carry new (vs. existing) brand names to appeal to earlier adopters - a critical target for new products. However, such a
ORGANIC PRODUCTS, CONSUMER BEHAVIOR ON MARKET AND EUROPEAN ORGANIC PRODUCT MARKET SITUATION
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marcela Chreneková
2011-07-01
Full Text Available Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The market of organic products around the world increased its volume in Central and Eastern Europe with organic food market has a number of shared features, which include the relatively low demand for organic food, low share of regular customers, the problems of producers marketing, the lack of enterprises which process organic products. Consumer behavior purchasing organic foods is influenced by several factors, among which is dominated consumer personality, income, finances and lifestyle, as well as psychological factors such as perception, motivation, learning, cognition and attitudes. Cultural and social factors in consumer behavior exhibit a lesser degree. Organic fruit and organic vegetables quality is generally higher for content of biologically active substances such as vitamins, polyphenols and flavonoids. The content of pesticide residues in organic food is significantly lower than conventional production. Regular monitoring of chemical and microbiological safety of organic products already in the primary production occurring in the raw state and after working in various sectors of food, an intensification of awareness raising and targeted increased support for organic agriculture. Multifunctional sector and increased support for family farms oriented for sectors with higher added value than the home sale, production processing on the farm and so on. By support of the sale of high quality domestic production by the state will be possible to persuade more people to personal health status and greater consumption of organic food affects the health and prevent the occurrence of various diseases.doi:10.5219/96
Enabling fast charging - Infrastructure and economic considerations
Burnham, Andrew; Dufek, Eric J.; Stephens, Thomas; Francfort, James; Michelbacher, Christopher; Carlson, Richard B.; Zhang, Jiucai; Vijayagopal, Ram; Dias, Fernando; Mohanpurkar, Manish; Scoffield, Don; Hardy, Keith; Shirk, Matthew; Hovsapian, Rob; Ahmed, Shabbir; Bloom, Ira; Jansen, Andrew N.; Keyser, Matthew; Kreuzer, Cory; Markel, Anthony; Meintz, Andrew; Pesaran, Ahmad; Tanim, Tanvir R.
2017-11-01
The ability to charge battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on a time scale that is on par with the time to fuel an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) would remove a significant barrier to the adoption of BEVs. However, for viability, fast charging at this time scale needs to also occur at a price that is acceptable to consumers. Therefore, the cost drivers for both BEV owners and charging station providers are analyzed. In addition, key infrastructure considerations are examined, including grid stability and delivery of power, the design of fast charging stations and the design and use of electric vehicle service equipment. Each of these aspects have technical barriers that need to be addressed, and are directly linked to economic impacts to use and implementation. This discussion focuses on both the economic and infrastructure issues which exist and need to be addressed for the effective implementation of fast charging at 400 kW and above. In so doing, it has been found that there is a distinct need to effectively manage the intermittent, high power demand of fast charging, strategically plan infrastructure corridors, and to further understand the cost of operation of charging infrastructure and BEVs.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chaari, L.; Pesquet, J.Ch.; Chaari, L.; Ciuciu, Ph.; Benazza-Benyahia, A.
2011-01-01
To reduce scanning time and/or improve spatial/temporal resolution in some Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) applications, parallel MRI acquisition techniques with multiple coils acquisition have emerged since the early 1990's as powerful imaging methods that allow a faster acquisition process. In these techniques, the full FOV image has to be reconstructed from the resulting acquired under sampled k-space data. To this end, several reconstruction techniques have been proposed such as the widely-used Sensitivity Encoding (SENSE) method. However, the reconstructed image generally presents artifacts when perturbations occur in both the measured data and the estimated coil sensitivity profiles. In this paper, we aim at achieving accurate image reconstruction under degraded experimental conditions (low magnetic field and high reduction factor), in which neither the SENSE method nor the Tikhonov regularization in the image domain give convincing results. To this end, we present a novel method for SENSE-based reconstruction which proceeds with regularization in the complex wavelet domain by promoting sparsity. The proposed approach relies on a fast algorithm that enables the minimization of regularized non-differentiable criteria including more general penalties than a classical l 1 term. To further enhance the reconstructed image quality, local convex constraints are added to the regularization process. In vivo human brain experiments carried out on Gradient-Echo (GRE) anatomical and Echo Planar Imaging (EPI) functional MRI data at 1.5 T indicate that our algorithm provides reconstructed images with reduced artifacts for high reduction factors. (authors)
Piernas, Carmen; Mendez, Michelle A; Ng, Shu Wen; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M
2014-03-01
Few studies have investigated the diet quality of consumers of low-calorie-sweetened (LCS) and calorie-sweetened (CS) beverages. The objective was to examine the dietary quality and adherence to dietary purchasing and consumption patterns of beverage consumers from 2000 to 2010. We analyzed purchases for 140,352 households from the Homescan longitudinal data set 2000-2010 and dietary intake from NHANES 2003-2010 (n = 34,393). We defined mutually exclusive consumer profiles as main exposures: LCS beverages, CS beverages, LCS & CS beverages, and non/low consumers. As main outcomes, we explored dietary quality by using total energy and macronutrients (kcal/d). We performed factor analyses and applied factor scores to derive dietary patterns as secondary outcomes. Using multivariable linear (NHANES) and random-effects (Homescan) models, we investigated the associations between beverage profiles and dietary patterns. We found "prudent" and "breakfast" patterns in Homescan and NHANES, "ready-to-eat meals/fast-food" and "prudent/snacks/LCS desserts" patterns in Homescan, and "protein/potatoes" and "CS desserts/sweeteners" patterns in NHANES. In both data sets, compared with non/low consumers, both CS- and LCS-beverage consumers had a significantly higher total energy from foods, higher energy from total and SFAs, and lower probability of adherence to prudent and breakfast patterns. In Homescan, LCS-beverage consumers had a higher probability of adherence to 2 distinct patterns: a prudent/snacks/LCS dessert pattern and a ready-to-eat meals/fast-food purchasing pattern. Our findings suggest that overall dietary quality is lower in LCS-, CS-, and LCS & CS-beverage consumers relative to non/low consumers. Our study highlights the importance of targeting foods that are linked with sweetened beverages (either LCS or CS) in intervention and policy efforts that aim to improve nutrition in the United States.
Kim, Soonyoung; Kim, Dong-Il
2018-06-01
Aging is associated with increased body fat and lower lean body mass, which leads to increased prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to investigate the association of regular participation in walking and body mass index (BMI) with metabolic syndrome and its 5 criteria in elderly Koreans. A total of 3554 (male = 1581, female = 1973) elderly subjects (age ≥ 65 years), who participated in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V) were analyzed in this cross-sectional study. Participation in walking activity, BMI, metabolic syndrome and its 5 criteria; waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting glucose (FG) levels, triglyceride (TG) levels, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) levels, were measured. Subjects were categorized into four groups based on the duration and regularity of their walks and BMI. In the regular walking (≥30 min of continuous walking a day, on ≥5 days a week) and normal weight (BMI metabolic syndrome was 4.36 times higher (Odds ratio [OR]: 4.36, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.37-5.63) in the non-regular walking and overweight group than that of the regular walking and normal weight group after controlling for the influence of age, sex, and smoking status. Moreover, The BMI (β = 0.328, R 2 = 0.152) were more contributing factors than Regular walking (β = -0.011) for metabolic syndrome. In conclusions, regular participation in walking activity and implementing weight control may reduce the incidence rate of metabolic syndrome in elderly Koreans, with weight management serving as the greater influences of the two. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Cherif, Anissa; Roelands, Bart; Meeusen, Romain; Chamari, Karim
2016-01-01
The aim of this review was to highlight the potent effects of intermittent fasting on the cognitive performance of athletes at rest and during exercise. Exercise interacts with dietary factors and has a positive effect on brain functioning. Furthermore, physical activity and exercise can favorably influence brain plasticity. Mounting evidence indicates that exercise, in combination with diet, affects the management of energy metabolism and synaptic plasticity by affecting molecular mechanisms through brain-derived neurotrophic factor, an essential neurotrophin that acts at the interface of metabolism and plasticity. The literature has also shown that certain aspects of physical performance and mental health, such as coping and decision-making strategies, can be negatively affected by daylight fasting. However, there are several types of intermittent fasting. These include caloric restriction, which is distinct from fasting and allows subjects to drink water ad libitum while consuming a very low-calorie food intake. Another type is Ramadan intermittent fasting, which is a religious practice of Islam, where healthy adult Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours for 1 month. Other religious practices in Islam (Sunna) also encourage Muslims to practice intermittent fasting outside the month of Ramadan. Several cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have shown that intermittent fasting has crucial effects on physical and intellectual performance by affecting various aspects of bodily physiology and biochemistry that could be important for athletic success. Moreover, recent findings revealed that immunological variables are also involved in cognitive functioning and that intermittent fasting might impact the relationship between cytokine expression in the brain and cognitive deficits, including memory deficits.
Lezaeta, Alvaro; Bordeu, Edmundo; Næs, Tormod; Varela, Paula
2017-09-01
The aim of this study was to evaluate consumers' perception of a complex set of stimuli as aromatically enriched wines. For that, two consumer based profiling methods were compared, concurrently run with overall liking measurements: projective mapping based on choice or preference (PM-C), a newly proposed method, and check-all-that-apply (CATA) questions with an ideal sample, a more established, consumer-based method for product optimization. Reserve bottling and regular bottling of Sauvignon Blanc wines from three wineries were aromatically enriched with natural aromas collected by condensation during wine fermentation. A total of 144 consumers were enrolled in the study. The results revealed that both consumer-based highlighted the positive effect of aromatic enrichment on consumer perception and acceptance. However, PM-C generated a very detailed description, in which consumers focused less on the sensory aspects and more on the usage, attitudes, and reasons behind their choices. Providing a deeper understanding of the drivers of liking/disliking of enriched Sauvignon Blanc wines. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Socioeconomic status, youth's eating patterns and meals consumed away from home.
Hejazi, N; Mazloom, Z
2009-05-01
This study was design to determine whether there is a difference in the number of meals consumed away from home (restaurant or fast food) between low socioeconomic status (SES) and high SES adolescents. Additionally, this study sought to determine if the nutrients and food group chosen differs among children who consume meals away from home versus those who do not. Eighty four adolescences (51 boys and 33 girls) ages 12-16 years and their parents from Shiraz, Iran completed the three 24 h diet recalls (one weekend and two week days). The demographics questionnaire was also completed from each participant. Data analyzed using SPSS and hypothesis tested using one way ANOVA. There was no significant difference in the number of meals consumed away from home in low SES adolescents compared to high SES (p = 0.464). However, those who consumed meals away from home reported a higher percentage of calories from fat (p = 0.007) and serving of fried vegetables (p = 0.010) compared to those who consumed no meals away from home. These findings suggest that intervention for adolescents eating patterns should provide information on choosing healthy meals away from home.
Veer, van de E.; Herpen, van E.; Trijp, van J.C.M.
2016-01-01
External cues regularly override physiological cues in food consumption resulting in mindless eating. In a series of experiments, this study shows that mindfulness, an enhanced attention state, improves consumers’ reliance on physiological cues across consumption episodes. Consumers who are
Regularities of Multifractal Measures
Indian Academy of Sciences (India)
First, we prove the decomposition theorem for the regularities of multifractal Hausdorff measure and packing measure in R R d . This decomposition theorem enables us to split a set into regular and irregular parts, so that we can analyze each separately, and recombine them without affecting density properties. Next, we ...
Zhang, Xiaoyong; van der Lans, Ivo; Dagevos, Hans
2012-01-01
To simultaneously identify consumer segments based on individual-level consumption and community-level food retail environment data and to investigate whether the segments are associated with BMI and dietary knowledge in China. A multilevel latent class cluster model was applied to identify consumer segments based not only on their individual preferences for fast food, salty snack foods, and soft drinks and sugared fruit drinks, but also on the food retail environment at the community level. The data came from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) conducted in 2006 and two questionnaires for adults and communities were used. A total sample of 9788 adults living in 218 communities participated in the CHNS. We successfully identified four consumer segments. These four segments were embedded in two types of food retail environment: the saturated food retail environment and the deprived food retail environment. A three-factor solution was found for consumers' dietary knowledge. The four consumer segments were highly associated with consumers' dietary knowledge and a number of sociodemographic variables. The widespread discussion about the relationships between fast-food consumption and overweight/obesity is irrelevant for Chinese segments that do not have access to fast food. Factors that are most associated with segments with a higher BMI are consumers' (incorrect) dietary knowledge, the food retail environment and sociodemographics. The results provide valuable insight for policy interventions on reducing overweight/obesity in China. This study also indicates that despite the breathtaking changes in modern China, the impact of 'obesogenic' environments should not be assessed too strictly from a 'Western' perspective.
Adaptive Regularization of Neural Classifiers
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Andersen, Lars Nonboe; Larsen, Jan; Hansen, Lars Kai
1997-01-01
We present a regularization scheme which iteratively adapts the regularization parameters by minimizing the validation error. It is suggested to use the adaptive regularization scheme in conjunction with optimal brain damage pruning to optimize the architecture and to avoid overfitting. Furthermo......, we propose an improved neural classification architecture eliminating an inherent redundancy in the widely used SoftMax classification network. Numerical results demonstrate the viability of the method...
Cheng, Emelie; Khan, Nadia
2017-01-01
This thesis studies how trust in two different types of social media advertising, brand-generated content (BGC) and consumer-generated advertising (CGA), influence Millennials purchase intention towards brands in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. The phenomenon of CGA has caught researchers’ interest since it is believed to influence consumers’ purchase intention by affecting their trust in the advertising. There is, however, a lack of prior research and contrasting views regard...
6567 Volume 12 No. 5 August 2012 DETERMINANTS OF FAST ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
HENRY
2012-08-05
Aug 5, 2012 ... urbanization in Uganda offers new market opportunities for ... requires knowledge of the behaviour of consumers who eat away from home. ... This study on the determinants of fast-food consumption in Kampala district is the ..... which in this case is age, marital status, occupation and time spent away from ...
Condition Number Regularized Covariance Estimation.
Won, Joong-Ho; Lim, Johan; Kim, Seung-Jean; Rajaratnam, Bala
2013-06-01
Estimation of high-dimensional covariance matrices is known to be a difficult problem, has many applications, and is of current interest to the larger statistics community. In many applications including so-called the "large p small n " setting, the estimate of the covariance matrix is required to be not only invertible, but also well-conditioned. Although many regularization schemes attempt to do this, none of them address the ill-conditioning problem directly. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood approach, with the direct goal of obtaining a well-conditioned estimator. No sparsity assumption on either the covariance matrix or its inverse are are imposed, thus making our procedure more widely applicable. We demonstrate that the proposed regularization scheme is computationally efficient, yields a type of Steinian shrinkage estimator, and has a natural Bayesian interpretation. We investigate the theoretical properties of the regularized covariance estimator comprehensively, including its regularization path, and proceed to develop an approach that adaptively determines the level of regularization that is required. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of the regularized estimator in decision-theoretic comparisons and in the financial portfolio optimization setting. The proposed approach has desirable properties, and can serve as a competitive procedure, especially when the sample size is small and when a well-conditioned estimator is required.
Longacre, Meghan R; Drake, Keith M; Titus, Linda J; Cleveland, Lauren P; Langeloh, Gail; Hendricks, Kristy; Dalton, Madeline A
2016-01-01
Fast food restaurants spend millions of dollars annually on child-targeted marketing, a substantial portion of which is allocated to toy premiums for kids' meals. The objectives of this study were to describe fast food toy premiums, and examine whether young children's knowledge of fast food toy premiums was associated with their fast food consumption. Parents of 3- to 5-year old children were recruited from pediatric and WIC clinics in Southern New Hampshire, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April 2013-March 2014. Parents reported whether their children usually knew what toys were being offered at fast food restaurants, and whether children had eaten at any of four restaurants that offer toy premiums with kids' meals (McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Wendy's) during the 7 days preceding the survey. Seventy-one percent of eligible parents participated (N = 583); 48.4% did not receive any education beyond high school, and 27.1% of children were non-white. Half (49.7%) the children had eaten at one or more of the four fast food restaurants in the past week; one-third (33.9%) had eaten at McDonald's. The four restaurants released 49 unique toy premiums during the survey period; McDonald's released half of these. Even after controlling for parent fast food consumption and sociodemographics, children were 1.38 (95% CI = 1.04, 1.82) times more likely to have consumed McDonald's if they usually knew what toys were offered by fast food restaurants. We did not detect a relationship between children's toy knowledge and their intake of fast food from the other restaurants. In this community-based sample, young children's knowledge of fast food toys was associated with a greater frequency of eating at McDonald's, providing evidence in support of regulating child-directed marketing of unhealthy foods using toys. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Exercise and food compensation: exploring diet-related beliefs and behaviors of regular exercisers.
Dohle, Simone; Wansink, Brian; Zehnder, Lorena
2015-03-01
The goal of this qualitative study is to identify common beliefs and behaviors related to exercise and diet. Data were collected in focus group discussions with regular exercisers who were physically active between 1 and 5 h per week. Exercise objectives, beliefs and behaviors regarding food intake before, during, and after exercise, consumption of sport supplements, and dietary patterns on sedentary days were explored. All focus groups were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Participants reported that they reward themselves for being active by consuming food. Other exercisers had specific beliefs about dietary needs and how to compensate for exercise-induced losses along with exercise-related food likes and dislikes. The participants' food intake also depended on their personal exercise objectives, such as the goal of performing well in competitions. External and physiological factors also played a role in determining participants' dietary patterns. Results of this study show that exercising and dietary patterns are closely intertwined. In addition, we articulate new hypotheses and outline a research agenda that can help improve how regular exercisers eat.
Automated Measurement of Fast Mitochondrial Transport in Neurons
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kyle eMiller
2015-11-01
Full Text Available There is a growing recognition that fast mitochondrial transport in neurons is disrupted in multiple neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders. However a major constraint in identifying novel therapeutics based on mitochondrial transport is that the large-scale analysis of fast transport is time consuming. Here we describe methodologies for the automated analysis of fast mitochondrial transport from data acquired using a robotic microscope. We focused on addressing questions of measurement precision, speed, reliably, workflow ease, statistical processing and presentation. We used optical flow and particle tracking algorithms, implemented in ImageJ, to measure mitochondrial movement in primary cultured cortical and hippocampal neurons. With it, we are able to generate complete descriptions of movement profiles in an automated fashion of hundred of thousands of mitochondria with a processing time of approximately one hour. We describe the calibration of the parameters of the tracking algorithms and demonstrate that they are capable of measuring the fast transport of a single mitochondrion. We then show that the methods are capable of reliably measuring the inhibition of fast mitochondria transport induced by the disruption of microtubules with the drug nocodazole in both hippocampal and cortical neurons. This work lays the foundation for future large-scale screens designed to identify compounds that modulate mitochondrial motility.
Varela Mallou, J; Rial Boubeta, A; Braña Tobío, T
2001-05-01
Brand is a product attribute that, for many types of goods or services, makes a major contribution to consumer preferences. Conjoint analysis is a useful technique for the assessment of brand values for a given consumer or group of consumers. In this paper, an application of conjoint analysis to the estimation of brand values in the Spanish daily newspaper market is reported. Four newspaper attributes were considered: brand (i.e., newspaper name), price (0.60, 1.05, or 1.50 euros), Sunday supplement (yes/no), and daily pullout (yes/no). A total of 510 regular readers of the national press, stratified by age and sex, were asked to rank 16 profiles representing an orthogonal fraction of the possible attribute-level combinations. Brand was by far the most important attribute, whereas price had negligible effect. More generally, the results confirm the utility of conjoint analysis for assessing brand equity in the newspaper market and for estimating the relative importance of the various attributes to different subgroups of consumers.
Lee, Karen Kyeunghae; Yamada, Ann-Marie; Kim, Min Ah; Dinh, Tam Q
2015-09-01
Family involvement is important in the recovery experience of culturally diverse adults with schizophrenia. However, little is known about the influence of family among consumers purported to have close family ties without regular contact. This study explored Asian American consumers' views about family relationships and participation in their recovery. Secondary analysis of qualitative data from a larger project was conducted to explore family related themes of 8 Asian Americans receiving services from recovery-focused programs in urban Southern California. Most consumers described their family support as adequate while simultaneously reporting limited family involvement. Asia-born and U.S.-born Asian consumers varied in describing family support, suggesting providers consider nativity in culturally responsive service delivery. Families need not be present to affect the perspectives of Asian Americans receiving recovery-oriented services. The extent of family influences on recovery, beyond the initial determination of current family contact, requires further exploration. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
García-Torres, S; López-Gajardo, A; Mesías, F J
2016-04-01
This paper evaluates consumer liking and preferences towards organic beef from two production systems allowed by EU regulation: i) free-range and ii) intensive (fattened in feed-lot with organic feedstuff) as compared with conventionally produced beef. Data were obtained in April-May 2014 with a sample of 150 regular beef consumers who completed two tasks: firstly a sensory test where consumers tasted and rated the meats and secondly a conjoint analysis to study beef purchasing preferences. Willingness-to-pay for the different meats was also calculated from conjoint results. Results show that consumers preferred organic-from-concentrate beef at sensory level while organic beef from animals fed on grass was preferred when process characteristics (i.e. farming system) or attributes perceived at the point of purchase (i.e. colour) were evaluated. It was also found that the price-premium for organic beef is over 40%, with organic-fed-on grass beef preferred slightly over that fed-on-concentrate. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Piernas, Carmen; Mendez, Michelle A; Ng, Shu Wen; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Popkin, Barry M
2014-01-01
Background: Few studies have investigated the diet quality of consumers of low-calorie-sweetened (LCS) and calorie-sweetened (CS) beverages. Objective: The objective was to examine the dietary quality and adherence to dietary purchasing and consumption patterns of beverage consumers from 2000 to 2010. Design: We analyzed purchases for 140,352 households from the Homescan longitudinal data set 2000–2010 and dietary intake from NHANES 2003–2010 (n = 34,393). We defined mutually exclusive consumer profiles as main exposures: LCS beverages, CS beverages, LCS & CS beverages, and non/low consumers. As main outcomes, we explored dietary quality by using total energy and macronutrients (kcal/d). We performed factor analyses and applied factor scores to derive dietary patterns as secondary outcomes. Using multivariable linear (NHANES) and random-effects (Homescan) models, we investigated the associations between beverage profiles and dietary patterns. Results: We found “prudent” and “breakfast” patterns in Homescan and NHANES, “ready-to-eat meals/fast-food” and “prudent/snacks/LCS desserts” patterns in Homescan, and “protein/potatoes” and “CS desserts/sweeteners” patterns in NHANES. In both data sets, compared with non/low consumers, both CS- and LCS-beverage consumers had a significantly higher total energy from foods, higher energy from total and SFAs, and lower probability of adherence to prudent and breakfast patterns. In Homescan, LCS-beverage consumers had a higher probability of adherence to 2 distinct patterns: a prudent/snacks/LCS dessert pattern and a ready-to-eat meals/fast-food purchasing pattern. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that overall dietary quality is lower in LCS-, CS-, and LCS & CS–beverage consumers relative to non/low consumers. Our study highlights the importance of targeting foods that are linked with sweetened beverages (either LCS or CS) in intervention and policy efforts that aim to improve nutrition in the
Dunford, Elizabeth K; Wu, Jason H Y; Wellard-Cole, Lyndal; Watson, Wendy; Crino, Michelle; Petersen, Kristina; Neal, Bruce
2017-10-01
In June 2014, the Australian government agreed to the voluntary implementation of an interpretive 'Health Star Rating' (HSR) front-of-pack labelling system for packaged foods. The aim of the system is to make it easier for consumers to compare the healthiness of products based on number of stars. With many Australians consuming fast food there is a strong rationale for extending the HSR system to include fast food items. To examine the performance of the HSR system when applied to fast foods. Nutrient content data for fast food menu items were collected from the websites of 13 large Australian fast-food chains. The HSR was calculated for each menu item. Statistics describing HSR values for fast foods were calculated and compared to results for comparable packaged foods. Data for 1529 fast food products were compared to data for 3810 packaged food products across 16 of 17 fast food product categories. The mean HSR for the fast foods was 2.5 and ranged from 0.5 to 5.0 and corresponding values for the comparator packaged foods were 2.6 and 0.5 to 5.0. Visual inspection of the data showed broadly comparable distributions of HSR values across the fast food and the packaged food categories, although statistically significant differences were apparent for seven categories (all p fast foods and packaged food, and in others it appeared to reflect primarily differences in the mix of product types within a category. These data support the idea that the HSR system could be extended to Australian fast foods. There are likely to be significant benefits to the community from the use of a single standardised signposting system for healthiness across all fresh, packaged and restaurant foods. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fast generation of computer-generated holograms using wavelet shrinkage.
Shimobaba, Tomoyoshi; Ito, Tomoyoshi
2017-01-09
Computer-generated holograms (CGHs) are generated by superimposing complex amplitudes emitted from a number of object points. However, this superposition process remains very time-consuming even when using the latest computers. We propose a fast calculation algorithm for CGHs that uses a wavelet shrinkage method, eliminating small wavelet coefficient values to express approximated complex amplitudes using only a few representative wavelet coefficients.
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...
Are Customers Satisfied With Healthier Food Options At South African Fast-Food Outlets?
Michael C. Cant; Ricardo Machado; Melanie Gopaul
2014-01-01
Fast-food consumption has been a staple for many people; however, due to rising health concerns, there has been an increasing interest in the consumption of healthier food both in South Africa and elsewhere. Many consumers are demanding better quality foods that offer nutritional benefits. This global trend has led to fast-food outlets adding healthier food options to their menus. Limited literature exists on customer satisfaction with regards to the food quality of these healthier food optio...
Liu, Tingting; Liu, Hai; Chen, Zengzhao; Chen, Yingying; Wang, Shengming; Liu, Zhi; Zhang, Hao
2018-05-01
Infrared (IR) spectra are the fingerprints of the molecules, and the spectral band location closely relates to the structure of a molecule. Thus, specimen identification can be performed based on IR spectroscopy. However, spectrally overlapping components prevent the specific identification of hyperfine molecular information of different substances. In this paper, we propose a fast blind reconstruction approach for IR spectra, which is based on sparse and redundant representations over a dictionary. The proposed method recovers the spectrum with the discrete wavelet transform dictionary on its content. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is superior because of the better performance when compared with other state-of-the-art methods. The method the authors used remove the instrument aging issue to a large extent, thus leading the reconstruction IR spectra a more convenient tool for extracting features of an unknown material and interpreting it.
Fast breeder reactors: Experience and trends. V. 2
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1986-01-01
The IAEA Symposium on ''Fast Breeder Reactors: Experience and Future Trends'' was held, at the invitation of the Government of France, in Lyons, France, on 22-26 July 1985. It was hosted by the French Commissariat a l'energie atomique and Electricite de France. The purpose of the Symposium was to review the experience gained so far in the field of LMFBRs, taking into account the constructional, operational, technological, economic and fuel cycle aspects, and to consider the developmental trends as well as the international co-operation in fast breeder reactor design and utilization. The Symposium was attended by almost 400 participants (340 participants, 35 observers and 20 journalists) from 25 countries and five international organizations. More than 80 papers were presented and discussed during six regular sessions and four poster sessions. A separate abstract was prepared for each of these papers
Condition Number Regularized Covariance Estimation*
Won, Joong-Ho; Lim, Johan; Kim, Seung-Jean; Rajaratnam, Bala
2012-01-01
Estimation of high-dimensional covariance matrices is known to be a difficult problem, has many applications, and is of current interest to the larger statistics community. In many applications including so-called the “large p small n” setting, the estimate of the covariance matrix is required to be not only invertible, but also well-conditioned. Although many regularization schemes attempt to do this, none of them address the ill-conditioning problem directly. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood approach, with the direct goal of obtaining a well-conditioned estimator. No sparsity assumption on either the covariance matrix or its inverse are are imposed, thus making our procedure more widely applicable. We demonstrate that the proposed regularization scheme is computationally efficient, yields a type of Steinian shrinkage estimator, and has a natural Bayesian interpretation. We investigate the theoretical properties of the regularized covariance estimator comprehensively, including its regularization path, and proceed to develop an approach that adaptively determines the level of regularization that is required. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of the regularized estimator in decision-theoretic comparisons and in the financial portfolio optimization setting. The proposed approach has desirable properties, and can serve as a competitive procedure, especially when the sample size is small and when a well-conditioned estimator is required. PMID:23730197
Investigation on the role of consumer health orientation in the use of food labels.
Cavaliere, A; De Marchi, E; Banterle, A
2017-06-01
This study explored the relationship between health orientation (i.e. individual motivation to engage in healthy attitudes, beliefs and behaviours) and consumers' use of nutritional information on food labels. Specifically, this study analysed the relationship between a number of direct investments in health (namely those behaviours that can contribute directly to maintain a good health status) and use of nutritional information on food labels. Data for the analysis were collected through face-to-face interviews with a sample of 540 Italian consumers in charge of their grocery shopping. Forty grocery stores, including supermarkets and hypermarkets, were selected using a systematic sampling technique. Data were analysed using three equations and accounting for endogeneity issues. This study found that those consumer groups with low health orientation (specifically smokers, those who do not exercise regularly, and those with an unhealthy body weight) show little interest in nutritional labels. Nutritional labels as a tool to promote healthier food choices have a limited effect on those consumers in greatest need of pursuing healthier lifestyle habits. Alternative policy intervention should be undertaken to reach these consumer groups. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Chronic intermittent fasting improves cognitive functions and brain structures in mice.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Liaoliao Li
Full Text Available Obesity is a major health issue. Obesity started from teenagers has become a major health concern in recent years. Intermittent fasting increases the life span. However, it is not known whether obesity and intermittent fasting affect brain functions and structures before brain aging. Here, we subjected 7-week old CD-1 wild type male mice to intermittent (alternate-day fasting or high fat diet (45% caloric supplied by fat for 11 months. Mice on intermittent fasting had better learning and memory assessed by the Barnes maze and fear conditioning, thicker CA1 pyramidal cell layer, higher expression of drebrin, a dendritic protein, and lower oxidative stress than mice that had free access to regular diet (control mice. Mice fed with high fat diet was obese and with hyperlipidemia. They also had poorer exercise tolerance. However, these obese mice did not present significant learning and memory impairment or changes in brain structures or oxidative stress compared with control mice. These results suggest that intermittent fasting improves brain functions and structures and that high fat diet feeding started early in life does not cause significant changes in brain functions and structures in obese middle-aged animals.
Chronic intermittent fasting improves cognitive functions and brain structures in mice.
Li, Liaoliao; Wang, Zhi; Zuo, Zhiyi
2013-01-01
Obesity is a major health issue. Obesity started from teenagers has become a major health concern in recent years. Intermittent fasting increases the life span. However, it is not known whether obesity and intermittent fasting affect brain functions and structures before brain aging. Here, we subjected 7-week old CD-1 wild type male mice to intermittent (alternate-day) fasting or high fat diet (45% caloric supplied by fat) for 11 months. Mice on intermittent fasting had better learning and memory assessed by the Barnes maze and fear conditioning, thicker CA1 pyramidal cell layer, higher expression of drebrin, a dendritic protein, and lower oxidative stress than mice that had free access to regular diet (control mice). Mice fed with high fat diet was obese and with hyperlipidemia. They also had poorer exercise tolerance. However, these obese mice did not present significant learning and memory impairment or changes in brain structures or oxidative stress compared with control mice. These results suggest that intermittent fasting improves brain functions and structures and that high fat diet feeding started early in life does not cause significant changes in brain functions and structures in obese middle-aged animals.
Pan, Chu-Dong; Yu, Ling; Liu, Huan-Lin; Chen, Ze-Peng; Luo, Wen-Feng
2018-01-01
Moving force identification (MFI) is an important inverse problem in the field of bridge structural health monitoring (SHM). Reasonable signal structures of moving forces are rarely considered in the existing MFI methods. Interaction forces are complex because they contain both slowly-varying harmonic and impact signals due to bridge vibration and bumps on a bridge deck, respectively. Therefore, the interaction forces are usually hard to be expressed completely and sparsely by using a single basis function set. Based on the redundant concatenated dictionary and weighted l1-norm regularization method, a hybrid method is proposed for MFI in this study. The redundant dictionary consists of both trigonometric functions and rectangular functions used for matching the harmonic and impact signal features of unknown moving forces. The weighted l1-norm regularization method is introduced for formulation of MFI equation, so that the signal features of moving forces can be accurately extracted. The fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (FISTA) is used for solving the MFI problem. The optimal regularization parameter is appropriately chosen by the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) method. In order to assess the accuracy and the feasibility of the proposed method, a simply-supported beam bridge subjected to a moving force is taken as an example for numerical simulations. Finally, a series of experimental studies on MFI of a steel beam are performed in laboratory. Both numerical and experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately identify the moving forces with a strong robustness, and it has a better performance than the Tikhonov regularization method. Some related issues are discussed as well.
Sebastian, Rhonda S; Wilkinson Enns, Cecilia; Goldman, Joseph D
2009-02-01
To determine whether fast-food consumption is associated with adolescents' food group intakes and likelihood of meeting recommendations outlined in the MyPyramid Food Guidance System. Data from two 24-hour recalls collected in What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2004 were analyzed. Fast-food consumers were divided into tertiles based on the proportion of 2-day energy intake derived from fast food. Adolescent boys and nonpregnant girls aged 12 to 19 years (n=1,956). All statistical analyses included sample weights to account for the survey design. Regression analyses were used to detect associations between fast-food consumption and both food group intakes and percentages of individuals meeting MyPyramid recommendations, and to predict odds of meeting recommendations by fast-food consumption level. Fast-food consumption was associated negatively with MyPyramid fruit and milk group intakes (boys and girls) and positively with discretionary energy and solid fats (girls only). Negative associations were also found between fast-food consumption and percentages of adolescents meeting recommendations for milk (boys), fruits (girls), and vegetables and discretionary energy (boys and girls). Compared with those consuming no fast food, adolescents in the highest tertile of energy from fast food were less likely to meet recommendations for vegetables (odds ratio [OR]=0.16, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.05 to 0.52 for boys; OR=0.18, 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.79 for girls) and discretionary energy (OR=0.41, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.77 for boys; OR=0.04, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.24 for girls). No relationships were found between fast-food consumption and grains, meat/beans, and oils. Adolescents' intakes, whether containing fast food or not, need improvement. Fast food is one factor that impacts adolescents' intake of MyPyramid groups and their likelihood of meeting recommendations. Awareness of fast-food's role in discrepancies between adolescent intakes
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Melise Dantas Machado
2006-05-01
Full Text Available As mais importantes teorias sobre serviço afirmam que o consumidor estará satisfeito se perceber no serviço prestado um desempenho melhor ou igual às suas expectativas. A comparação entre a percepção de desempenho e a expectativa do consumidor em relação a cada item de serviço fornecerá o Gap (lacuna de satisfação. Quanto maior esse Gap, mais insatisfeito estará o consumidor com relação ao serviço prestado. Considerando este constructo, o objetivo deste artigo é verificar as determinantes da qualidade de serviço em empresas fast food. Para tanto, um instrumento de mensuração da qualidade em serviço - SERVQUAL - foi adaptado ao setor em questão e um survey foi realizado com 120 consumidores. Pelos resultados obtidos, pode-se verificar que a empresa pesquisada satisfaz os consumidores no que diz respeito a duas dimensões da qualidade e tem uma avaliação negativa para outras quatro, o que indica que ações de melhoria devem ser tomadas para satisfazer efetivamente os consumidores.The most important theories about service state that the consumer is satisfied if he considers the service meets or exceeds his expectations. A comparison of the consumer's perception of the performance and his expectations regarding each aspect of the service indicates the satisfaction gap. The greater the gap the higher the consumer's dissatisfaction with the service. Based on this assumption, this paper aims to identify the factors that determine the quality of services rendered by fast food companies. To this end, a quality-measuring instrument - SERVQUAL - was adapted to this business sector and a survey was carried out involving 120 customers of a specific fast food company. The results indicated that the company satisfied its customers in two quality dimensions but was negatively evaluated in four others, indicating the need for actions aimed at improving its service in order to effectively satisfy its customers.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Seyyed Reza Attarzadeh Hosseini
2014-12-01
Full Text Available Introduction: Increased levels of certain markers like fibrinogen and Homocysteine are independently associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Considering the numerous favorable effects of healthful nutrition and physical activity on reducing the risk of atherosclerosis, in this study we intend to take into account fasting and physical activity during the month of Ramadan and their impacts on Homocysteine and fibrinogen concentrations in overweight women. Materials and Methods: In this experiment, 22 overweight and obese women with a body mass index (BMI of greater than 25 kg/m2 aging from 20 to 45 years were enrolled into two groups by means of targeted-sampling method. One group involved fasting accompanied with regular physical activity (12 subjects and the other group involved only fasting (10 subjects. The protocol for the physical activity group consisted of three 60-minute sessions of aerobic exercise per week with a 50%- 65% heart rate reserved. Towards the end of Ramadan, the anthropometric and blood levels of Homocysteine and fibrinogen were closely measured. Data were analyzed using repeated measures and the significance level of P≤0 /05 was considered. Findings: A month of fasting along with regular physical activity did not prove to have any noticeable effects on the level of fibrinogen while a significant increase in the Homocysteine levels was discovered (P
Korean adolescents' perceptions of nutrition and health towards fast foods in Busan area
Yoon, Ji-young; Lee, Kyung-a
2008-01-01
Adolescents in Busan area were asked in a survey about their perception and attitudes towards fast food. Most respondents answered that they consume fast food once a month because it is fast, easily accessible and tasty. Although they perceived fast food as unhealthy and less nutritious, they were less aware of its effect on their health and nutritional status. The more knowledgeable respondents were about nutrition and health the less likely they were to choose fast food over other meals. However, respondents who had little or no knowledge about the nutritional factors of fast food accounted for 43.1%. As to their source of dietary information, students relied on themselves (31.0%), parents (20.5%) and friends (19.9%). The medium through which students got the most nutrition and health information was television (66.8%), followed by the Internet (36.7%) and magazines (29.7%). This study will enable educators to plan more effective strategies for improving the dietary knowledge of the adolescent population. PMID:20126603
Thermal Implications for Extreme Fast Charge
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Keyser, Matthew A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2017-08-14
Present-day thermal management systems for battery electric vehicles are inadequate in limiting the maximum temperature rise of the battery during extreme fast charging. If the battery thermal management system is not designed correctly, the temperature of the cells could reach abuse temperatures and potentially send the cells into thermal runaway. Furthermore, the cell and battery interconnect design needs to be improved to meet the lifetime expectations of the consumer. Each of these aspects is explored and addressed as well as outlining where the heat is generated in a cell, the efficiencies of power and energy cells, and what type of battery thermal management solutions are available in today's market. Thermal management is not a limiting condition with regard to extreme fast charging, but many factors need to be addressed especially for future high specific energy density cells to meet U.S. Department of Energy cost and volume goals.
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 ...
Ma, R; Castellanos, D C; Bachman, J
2016-07-01
China is in the midst of the nutrition transition with increasing rates of obesity and dietary changes. One contributor is the increase in fast food chains within the country. The purpose of this study was to develop a theory-based instrument that explores influencing factors of fast food consumption in adolescents residing in Beijing, China. Cross-sectional study. Value expectancy and theory of planned behaviour were utilised to explore influencing factors of fast food consumption in the target population. There were 201 Chinese adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. Cronbach's alpha correlation coefficients were used to examine internal reliability of the theory-based questionnaire. Bivariate correlations and a MANOVA were utilised to determine the relationship between theory-based constructs, body mass index (BMI)-for-age and fast food intake frequency as well as to determine differences in theory-based scores among fast food consumption frequency groupings. The theory-based questionnaire showed good reliability. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the theory-based subcategory scores between fast food frequency groups. A significant positive correlation was observed between times per week fast food was consumed and each theory-based subscale score. Using BMI-for-age of 176 participants, 81% were normal weight and 19% were considered overweight or obese. Results showed consumption of fast food to be on average 1.50 ± 1.33 per week. The relationship between BMI-for-age and times per week fast food was consumed was not significant. As the nutrition transition continues and fast food chains expand, it is important to explore factors effecting fast food consumption in China. Interventions targeting influencing factors can be developed to encourage healthy dietary choice in the midst of this transition. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Karaosman, Hakan; Morales Alonso, Gustavo; Brun, Alessandro
2014-01-01
"Slow Fashion" attempts to offset the demand for fast fashion and mass production (Fletcher, 2007). Consumers' response to sustainability-based practices is a limited discourse and studies for slow fashion concept are scarce. This study thus aims to enlighten the subject of how slow fashion concept could improve local economies and how Spanish consumers respond to such initiatives. This paper is based on an exploratory qualitative research for which focus group interviews including three grou...
Enabling fast charging – Infrastructure and economic considerations
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Burnham, Andrew; Dufek, Eric J.; Stephens, Thomas; Francfort, James; Michelbacher, Christopher
2017-01-01
The ability to charge battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on a time scale that is on par with the time to fuel an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) would remove a significant barrier to the adoption of BEVs. However, for viability, fast charging at this time scale needs to also occur at a price that is acceptable to consumers. Therefore, the cost drivers for both BEV owners and charging station providers are analyzed. In addition, key infrastructure considerations are examined, including grid stability and delivery of power, the design of fast charging stations and the design and use of electric vehicle service equipment. Each of these aspects have technical barriers that need to be addressed, and are directly linked to economic impacts to use and implementation. Here, this discussion focuses on both the economic and infrastructure issues which exist and need to be addressed for the effective implementation of fast charging up to 350 kW. In doing so, it has been found that there is a distinct need to effectively manage the intermittent, high power demand of fast charging, strategically plan infrastructure corridors, and to further understand the cost of operation of charging infrastructure and BEVs.
Longacre, Meghan R.; Drake, Keith M.; Titus, Linda J.; Cleveland, Lauren P.; Langeloh, Gail; Hendricks, Kristy; Dalton, Madeline A.
2015-01-01
Fast food restaurants spend millions of dollars annually on child-targeted marketing, a substantial portion of which is allocated to toy premiums for kids’ meals. The objectives of this study were to describe fast food toy premiums, and examine whether young children’s knowledge of fast food toy premiums was associated with their fast food consumption. Parents of 3- to 5-year old children were recruited from pediatric and WIC clinics in Southern New Hampshire, and completed a cross-sectional survey between April 2013–March 2014. Parents reported whether their children usually knew what toys were being offered at fast food restaurants, and whether children had eaten at any of four restaurants that offer toy premiums with kids’ meals (McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Wendy’s) during the 7 days preceding the survey. Seventy-one percent of eligible parents participated (N=583); 48.4% did not receive any education beyond high school, and 27.1% of children were non-white. Half (49.7%) the children had eaten at one or more of the four fast food restaurants in the past week; one-third (33.9%) had eaten at McDonald’s. The four restaurants released 49 unique toy premiums during the survey period; McDonald’s released half of these. Even after controlling for parent fast food consumption and sociodemographics, children were 1.38 (95% CI=1.04, 1.82) times more likely to have consumed McDonald’s if they usually knew what toys were offered by fast food restaurants. We did not detect a relationship between children’s toy knowledge and their intake of fast food from the other restaurants. In this community-based sample, young children’s knowledge of fast food toys was associated with a greater frequency of eating at McDonald’s, providing evidence in support of regulating child-directed marketing of unhealthy foods using toys. PMID:26471803
Consumer Economics and Consumer Mathematics Textbooks.
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…
A fast resonance interference treatment scheme with subgroup method
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Cao, L.; He, Q.; Wu, H.; Zu, T.; Shen, W.
2015-01-01
A fast Resonance Interference Factor (RIF) scheme is proposed to treat the resonance interference effects between different resonance nuclides. This scheme utilizes the conventional subgroup method to evaluate the self-shielded cross sections of the dominant resonance nuclide in the heterogeneous system and the hyper-fine energy group method to represent the resonance interference effects in a simplified homogeneous model. In this paper, the newly implemented scheme is compared to the background iteration scheme, the Resonance Nuclide Group (RNG) scheme and the conventional RIF scheme. The numerical results show that the errors of the effective self-shielded cross sections are significantly reduced by the fast RIF scheme compared with the background iteration scheme and the RNG scheme. Besides, the fast RIF scheme consumes less computation time than the conventional RIF schemes. The speed-up ratio is ~4.5 for MOX pin cell problems. (author)
Stark width regularities within spectral series of the lithium isoelectronic sequence
Tapalaga, Irinel; Trklja, Nora; Dojčinović, Ivan P.; Purić, Jagoš
2018-03-01
Stark width regularities within spectral series of the lithium isoelectronic sequence have been studied in an approach that includes both neutrals and ions. The influence of environmental conditions and certain atomic parameters on the Stark widths of spectral lines has been investigated. This study gives a simple model for the calculation of Stark broadening data for spectral lines within the lithium isoelectronic sequence. The proposed model requires fewer parameters than any other model. The obtained relations were used for predictions of Stark widths for transitions that have not yet been measured or calculated. In the framework of the present research, three algorithms for fast data processing have been made and they enable quality control and provide verification of the theoretically calculated results.
Fast 4D cone-beam CT from 60 s acquisitions
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
David C. Hansen
2018-01-01
Full Text Available Background & purpose: Four dimensional Cone beam CT (CBCT has many potential benefits for radiotherapy but suffers from poor image quality, long acquisition times, and/or long reconstruction times. In this work we present a fast iterative reconstruction algorithm for 4D reconstruction of fast acquisition cone beam CT, as well as a new method for temporal regularization and compare to state of the art methods for 4D CBCT. Materials & methods: Regularization parameters for the iterative algorithms were found automatically via computer optimization on 60 s acquisitions using the XCAT phantom. Nineteen lung cancer patients were scanned with 60 s arcs using the onboard image on a Varian trilogy linear accelerator. Images were reconstructed using an accelerated ordered subset algorithm. A frequency based temporal regularization algorithm was developed and compared to the McKinnon-Bates algorithm, 4D total variation and prior images compressed sensing (PICCS. Results: All reconstructions were completed in 60 s or less. The proposed method provided a structural similarity of 0.915, compared with 0.786 for the classic McKinnon-bates method. For the patient study, it provided fewer image artefacts than PICCS, and better spatial resolution than 4D TV. Conclusion: Four dimensional iterative CBCT reconstruction was done in less than 60 s, demonstrating the clinical feasibility. The frequency based method outperformed 4D total variation and PICCS on the simulated data, and for patients allowed for tumor location based on 60 s acquisitions, even for slowly breathing patients. It should thus be suitable for routine clinical use.
How Fast Do Students Forget What They Learn in Consumer Behavior? A Longitudinal Study
Bacon, Donald R.; Stewart, Kim A.
2006-01-01
The retention curve for knowledge acquired in a consumer behavior course is explored in a longitudinal study, tracking individual students from 8 to 101 weeks following course completion. Rasch measurement is used to link tests and to achieve intervally scaled measures of knowledge. The findings indicate that most of the knowledge gained in the…
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dustin Kai Yan Lau
2014-03-01
Full Text Available Background Unlike alphabetic languages, Chinese uses a logographic script. However, the pronunciation of many character’s phonetic radical has the same pronunciation as the character as a whole. These are considered regular characters and can be read through a lexical non-semantic route (Weekes & Chen, 1999. Pseudocharacters are another way to study this non-semantic route. A pseudocharacter is the combination of existing semantic and phonetic radicals in their legal positions resulting in a non-existing character (Ho, Chan, Chung, Lee, & Tsang, 2007. Pseudocharacters can be pronounced by direct derivation from the sound of its phonetic radical. Conversely, if the pronunciation of a character does not follow that of the phonetic radical, it is considered as irregular and can only be correctly read through the lexical-semantic route. The aim of the current investigation was to examine reading aloud in normal adults. We hypothesized that the regularity effect, previously described for alphabetical scripts and acquired dyslexic patients of Chinese (Weekes & Chen, 1999; Wu, Liu, Sun, Chromik, & Zhang, 2014, would also be present in normal adult Chinese readers. Method Participants. Thirty (50% female native Hong Kong Cantonese speakers with a mean age of 19.6 years and a mean education of 12.9 years. Stimuli. Sixty regular-, 60 irregular-, and 60 pseudo-characters (with at least 75% of name agreement in Chinese were matched by initial phoneme, number of strokes and family size. Additionally, regular- and irregular-characters were matched by frequency (low and consistency. Procedure. Each participant was asked to read aloud the stimuli presented on a laptop using the DMDX software. The order of stimuli presentation was randomized. Data analysis. ANOVAs were carried out by participants and items with RTs and errors as dependent variables and type of stimuli (regular-, irregular- and pseudo-character as repeated measures (F1 or between subject
Semiclassical eigenenergies in the wake of fast ions in solids
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Mueller, J.; Burgdoerfer, J.; Noid, D.W.
1990-01-01
We compare the semiclassical and quantum mechanical eigenenergies of an electron in the wake of a fast, highly charged ion traversing a solid. The classical dynamics of this system shows a transition from regular to chaotic motion as a function of the binding energy. The transition can also be seen in the quantal spectra. We find evidence for a connection between bifurcation of tori and disorder in the energy level sequences. 21 refs., 4 figs
A Perspective on Consumers 3.0: They Are Not Better Decision-Makers than Previous Generations
Houdek, Petr
2016-01-01
This perspective article builds upon the theory of local thinking in interpretation and prediction of consumer behavior in a contemporary world of information overload. It is shown that even informed and socially and environmentally responsible consumers (consumers 3.0) exhibit selective recall, limited attention, and bounded search in the perception and interpretation of price and quality of purchases. Their decisions fall into local cognitive frames, which specifically focus attention only on a narrow structure and content of the choice. The cognitive frames can be established by recent or regular purchases, but also extreme or primary purchase experiences. The article includes a short conceptual review of car, food, clothing, insurance, drugs, paintings, and other product purchases showing that the local cognitive frames often lead to bad bargains across various sectors. The article presents several suggestions for future research. PMID:27375527
A Perspective on Consumers 3.0: They Are Not Better Decision-Makers than Previous Generations.
Houdek, Petr
2016-01-01
This perspective article builds upon the theory of local thinking in interpretation and prediction of consumer behavior in a contemporary world of information overload. It is shown that even informed and socially and environmentally responsible consumers (consumers 3.0) exhibit selective recall, limited attention, and bounded search in the perception and interpretation of price and quality of purchases. Their decisions fall into local cognitive frames, which specifically focus attention only on a narrow structure and content of the choice. The cognitive frames can be established by recent or regular purchases, but also extreme or primary purchase experiences. The article includes a short conceptual review of car, food, clothing, insurance, drugs, paintings, and other product purchases showing that the local cognitive frames often lead to bad bargains across various sectors. The article presents several suggestions for future research.
A Perspective on Consumers 3.0: They Are Not Better Decision-Makers Than Previous Generations
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Petr eHoudek
2016-06-01
Full Text Available This perspective article builds upon the theory of local thinking in interpretation and prediction of consumer behavior in a contemporary world of information overload. It is shown that even informed and socially and environmentally responsible consumers (consumers 3.0 exhibit selective recall, limited attention and bounded search in the perception and interpretation of price and quality of purchases. Their decisions fall into local cognitive frames, which specifically focus attention only on a narrow structure and content of the choice. The cognitive frames can be established by recent or regular purchases, but also extreme or primary purchase experiences. The article includes a short conceptual review of car, food, clothing, insurance, drugs, paintings and other product purchases showing that the local cognitive frames often lead to bad bargains across various sectors. The article presents several suggestions for future research.
Fast Gridding on Commodity Graphics Hardware
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Sørensen, Thomas Sangild; Schaeffter, Tobias; Noe, Karsten Østergaard
2007-01-01
is the far most time consuming of the three steps (Table 1). Modern graphics cards (GPUs) can be utilised as a fast parallel processor provided that algorithms are reformulated in a parallel solution. The purpose of this work is to test the hypothesis, that a non-cartesian reconstruction can be efficiently...... implemented on graphics hardware giving a significant speedup compared to CPU based alternatives. We present a novel GPU implementation of the convolution step that overcomes the problems of memory bandwidth that has limited the speed of previous GPU gridding algorithms [2]....
Regularity effect in prospective memory during aging
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Geoffrey Blondelle
2016-10-01
Full Text Available Background: Regularity effect can affect performance in prospective memory (PM, but little is known on the cognitive processes linked to this effect. Moreover, its impacts with regard to aging remain unknown. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine regularity effect in PM in a lifespan perspective, with a sample of young, intermediate, and older adults. Objective and design: Our study examined the regularity effect in PM in three groups of participants: 28 young adults (18–30, 16 intermediate adults (40–55, and 25 older adults (65–80. The task, adapted from the Virtual Week, was designed to manipulate the regularity of the various activities of daily life that were to be recalled (regular repeated activities vs. irregular non-repeated activities. We examine the role of several cognitive functions including certain dimensions of executive functions (planning, inhibition, shifting, and binding, short-term memory, and retrospective episodic memory to identify those involved in PM, according to regularity and age. Results: A mixed-design ANOVA showed a main effect of task regularity and an interaction between age and regularity: an age-related difference in PM performances was found for irregular activities (older < young, but not for regular activities. All participants recalled more regular activities than irregular ones with no age effect. It appeared that recalling of regular activities only involved planning for both intermediate and older adults, while recalling of irregular ones were linked to planning, inhibition, short-term memory, binding, and retrospective episodic memory. Conclusion: Taken together, our data suggest that planning capacities seem to play a major role in remembering to perform intended actions with advancing age. Furthermore, the age-PM-paradox may be attenuated when the experimental design is adapted by implementing a familiar context through the use of activities of daily living. The clinical
J-regular rings with injectivities
Shen, Liang
2010-01-01
A ring $R$ is called a J-regular ring if R/J(R) is von Neumann regular, where J(R) is the Jacobson radical of R. It is proved that if R is J-regular, then (i) R is right n-injective if and only if every homomorphism from an $n$-generated small right ideal of $R$ to $R_{R}$ can be extended to one from $R_{R}$ to $R_{R}$; (ii) R is right FP-injective if and only if R is right (J, R)-FP-injective. Some known results are improved.
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Frisvad, Jeppe Revall; Wyvill, Geoff
2007-01-01
At the moment the noise functions available in a graphics programmer's toolbox are either slow to compute or they involve grid-line artifacts making them of lower quality. In this paper we present a real-time noise computation with no grid-line artifacts or other regularity problems. In other words......, we put a new tool in the box that computes fast high-quality noise. In addition to being free of artifacts, the noise we present does not rely on tabulated data (everything is computed on the fly) and it is easy to adjust quality vs. quantity for the noise. The noise is based on point rendering (like...... spot noise), but it extends to more than two dimensions. The fact that it is based on point rendering makes art direction of the noise much easier....
Efficient regularization with wavelet sparsity constraints in photoacoustic tomography
Frikel, Jürgen; Haltmeier, Markus
2018-02-01
In this paper, we consider the reconstruction problem of photoacoustic tomography (PAT) with a flat observation surface. We develop a direct reconstruction method that employs regularization with wavelet sparsity constraints. To that end, we derive a wavelet-vaguelette decomposition (WVD) for the PAT forward operator and a corresponding explicit reconstruction formula in the case of exact data. In the case of noisy data, we combine the WVD reconstruction formula with soft-thresholding, which yields a spatially adaptive estimation method. We demonstrate that our method is statistically optimal for white random noise if the unknown function is assumed to lie in any Besov-ball. We present generalizations of this approach and, in particular, we discuss the combination of PAT-vaguelette soft-thresholding with a total variation (TV) prior. We also provide an efficient implementation of the PAT-vaguelette transform that leads to fast image reconstruction algorithms supported by numerical results.
THE EFFECT OF 'ORGANIC' LABELS ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION OF CHOCOLATES
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marietta Kiss
2015-07-01
Full Text Available One of the most important success factors in the organic food industry is the positive image that a significant number of customers attach to organic products in many countries, which includes the perception of healthiness and also sensory characteristics such as smell, texture or taste. Several papers have examined the effect of organic certification on consumer perceptions for many types of products from a number of perspectives. The present study aims to reveal the effect of organic (‘bio’ labels on customers’ evaluation of chocolates regarding five product attributes: fragrance, taste, healthiness, calorie content and price. The two research questions are: (1 ‘How do consumers modify their perceptions about a given chocolate after receiving information as to whether the given chocolate is an organic or a non-organic product?’ and (2 ‘How do consumers’ evaluations of organic and non-organic chocolates relative to each other change after it is revealed which ones have an organic certificate?’ To find the answers an experiment was conducted on a sample of 32 second year bachelor university students from the ‘Commerce and Marketing’ major. During the experiment the students tasted 4 dark (2 regular and 2 organic and 3 milk (2 regular and 1 organic chocolates in two phases. In the first phase they had no information as to whether organic products were involved in the experiment, but in the second the organic products were labelled. The students had to evaluate fragrance, taste, healthiness, and calorie content, and estimate the price in both phases. The results show that ‘organic’ labels can significantly modify consumers’ perception and evaluation of chocolates with every attribute for one or more of the chocolates. Labelling can also widen the perceived gap between organic and regular chocolates according to fragrance, healthiness, calorie content and price. However, changes were identified only in the case of
Fast breeder reactor safety : a perspective
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kale, R.D.
1992-01-01
Taking into consideration India's limited reserves of natural and vast reserves of thorium, the fast reactor route holds a great promise for India's energy supply in future. The fast reactor fueled with 239 Pu/ 238 U (unused or depleted) produces (breeds) more fissionable fuel material 239 Pu than it consumes. Calculations show that a fast breeder reactor (FBR) increases energy potential of natural uranium by about 60 times. As the fast reactor can also convert 232 Th into 233 U which is a fissionable material, it can make India's thorium reserves a source of almost inexhaustible energy supply for a long time to come. Significant advantage of FBR plants cooled by sodium and their world-wide operating experience are reviewed. There are two main safety issues of FBR, one nuclear and the other non-nuclear. The nuclear issue concerns core disruptive accident and the non-nuclear one concerns the high chemical energy potential of sodium. These two issues are analysed and it is pointed that they are manageable by current design, construction and operational practices. Main findings of safety research during the last six to eight years in West European Countries and United States of America (US) are summarised. Three stage engineered safety provision incorporated into the design of the sodium cooled Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) commissioned at Kalpakkam are explained. The important design safety features of FBTR such as primary system containment, emergency core cooling, plant protection system, inherent safety features achieved through reactivity coefficients, and natural convection cooling are discussed. Theoretical analysis and experimental research in fast reactor safety carried out at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research during the past some years are reviewed. (M.G.B.)
Iterative Regularization with Minimum-Residual Methods
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jensen, Toke Koldborg; Hansen, Per Christian
2007-01-01
subspaces. We provide a combination of theory and numerical examples, and our analysis confirms the experience that MINRES and MR-II can work as general regularization methods. We also demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the same is not true, in general, for GMRES and RRGMRES their success......We study the regularization properties of iterative minimum-residual methods applied to discrete ill-posed problems. In these methods, the projection onto the underlying Krylov subspace acts as a regularizer, and the emphasis of this work is on the role played by the basis vectors of these Krylov...... as regularization methods is highly problem dependent....
Iterative regularization with minimum-residual methods
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jensen, Toke Koldborg; Hansen, Per Christian
2006-01-01
subspaces. We provide a combination of theory and numerical examples, and our analysis confirms the experience that MINRES and MR-II can work as general regularization methods. We also demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the same is not true, in general, for GMRES and RRGMRES - their success......We study the regularization properties of iterative minimum-residual methods applied to discrete ill-posed problems. In these methods, the projection onto the underlying Krylov subspace acts as a regularizer, and the emphasis of this work is on the role played by the basis vectors of these Krylov...... as regularization methods is highly problem dependent....
A framework for fast and secure packaging identification on mobile phones
Diephuis, Maurits; Voloshynovskiy, Svyatoslav; Holotyak, Taras; Stendardo, Nabil; Keel, Bruno
2014-02-01
In this paper, we address the problem of fast and secure packaging identification on mobile phones. It is a well known fact that consumer goods are counterfeited on a massive scale in certain regions of the world, illustrating how existing counter measures fall short or don't exist at all, as can be seen in the local absence of laws pertaining to brand protection. This paper introduces a technological tool that allows the consumer to quickly identify a product or package with a mobile device using a physical non-cloneable features in the form of a surface micro- structure image. This natural occurring identifier allows a producer or brand owner to track and trace all its products and gives the consumer a powerful tool to confirm the authenticity of an offered product.
Low-FODMAP vs regular rye bread in irritable bowel syndrome: Randomized SmartPill® study.
Pirkola, Laura; Laatikainen, Reijo; Loponen, Jussi; Hongisto, Sanna-Maria; Hillilä, Markku; Nuora, Anu; Yang, Baoru; Linderborg, Kaisa M; Freese, Riitta
2018-03-21
To compare the effects of regular vs low-FODMAP rye bread on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms and to study gastrointestinal conditions with SmartPill ® . Our aim was to evaluate if rye bread low in FODMAPs would cause reduced hydrogen excretion, lower intraluminal pressure, higher colonic pH, different transit times, and fewer IBS symptoms than regular rye bread. The study was a randomized, double-blind, controlled cross-over meal study. Female IBS patients ( n = 7) ate study breads at three consecutive meals during one day. The diet was similar for both study periods except for the FODMAP content of the bread consumed during the study day. Intraluminal pH, transit time, and pressure were measured by SmartPill, an indigestible motility capsule. Hydrogen excretion (a marker of colonic fermentation) expressed as area under the curve (AUC) (0-630 min) was [median (range)] 6300 (1785-10800) ppm∙min for low-FODMAP rye bread and 10 635 (4215-13080) ppm∙min for regular bread ( P = 0.028). Mean scores of gastrointestinal symptoms showed no statistically significant differences but suggested less flatulence after low-FODMAP bread consumption ( P = 0.063). Intraluminal pressure correlated significantly with total symptom score after regular rye bread (ρ = 0.786, P = 0.036) and nearly significantly after low-FODMAP bread consumption (ρ = 0.75, P = 0.052). We found no differences in pH, pressure, or transit times between the breads. Gastric residence of SmartPill was slower than expected. SmartPill left the stomach in less than 5 h only during one measurement (out of 14 measurements in total) and therefore did not follow on par with the rye bread bolus. Low-FODMAP rye bread reduced colonic fermentation vs regular rye bread. No difference was found in median values of intraluminal conditions of the gastrointestinal tract.
Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking.
Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Bensmail, Halima; Gao, Xin
2012-11-19
Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods. To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods. The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications.
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.
Prot, Olivier; SantolíK, OndřEj; Trotignon, Jean-Gabriel; Deferaudy, Hervé
2006-06-01
An entropy regularization algorithm (ERA) has been developed to compute the wave-energy density from electromagnetic field measurements. It is based on the wave distribution function (WDF) concept. To assess its suitability and efficiency, the algorithm is applied to experimental data that has already been analyzed using other inversion techniques. The FREJA satellite data that is used consists of six spectral matrices corresponding to six time-frequency points of an ELF hiss-event spectrogram. The WDF analysis is performed on these six points and the results are compared with those obtained previously. A statistical stability analysis confirms the stability of the solutions. The WDF computation is fast and without any prespecified parameters. The regularization parameter has been chosen in accordance with the Morozov's discrepancy principle. The Generalized Cross Validation and L-curve criterions are then tentatively used to provide a fully data-driven method. However, these criterions fail to determine a suitable value of the regularization parameter. Although the entropy regularization leads to solutions that agree fairly well with those already published, some differences are observed, and these are discussed in detail. The main advantage of the ERA is to return the WDF that exhibits the largest entropy and to avoid the use of a priori models, which sometimes seem to be more accurate but without any justification.
Dietary Behaviours, Impulsivity and Food Involvement: Identification of Three Consumer Segments
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rani Sarmugam
2015-09-01
Full Text Available This study aims to (1 identify consumer segments based on consumers’ impulsivity and level of food involvement, and (2 examine the dietary behaviours of each consumer segment. An Internet-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 530 respondents. The mean age of the participants was 49.2 ± 16.6 years, and 27% were tertiary educated. Two-stage cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments; “impulsive, involved” (33.4%, “rational, health conscious” (39.2%, and “uninvolved” (27.4%. The “impulsive, involved” segment was characterised by higher levels of impulsivity and food involvement (importance of food compared to the other two segments. This segment also reported significantly more frequent consumption of fast foods, takeaways, convenience meals, salted snacks and use of ready-made sauces and mixes in cooking compared to the “rational, health conscious” consumers. They also reported higher frequency of preparing meals at home, cooking from scratch, using ready-made sauces and mixes in cooking and higher vegetable consumption compared to the “uninvolved” consumers. The findings show the need for customised approaches to the communication and promotion of healthy eating habits.
Intelligent support of e-management for consumer-focused virtual enterprises
Chandra, Charu; Smirnov, Alexander V.
2000-10-01
The interest in consumer-focused virtual enterprises (VE) decision-making problem is growing fast. The purpose of this type of enterprise is to transform incomplete information about customer orders and available resources into-co-ordinated plans for production and replenishment of goods and services in the temporal network formed by collaborating units. This implies that information in the consumer-focused VE can be shared via Internet, Intranet, and Extranet for business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business service (B2B-S), and business-to-business goods (B2B-G) transactions. One of the goals of Internet-Based Management (e-management) is to facilitate transfer and sharing of data and knowledge in the context of enterprise collaboration. This paper discusses a generic framework of e-management that integrates intelligent information support group-decision making, and agreement modeling for a VE network. It offers the platform for design and modeling of diverse implementation strategies related to the type of agreement, optimization policies, decision-making strategies, organization structures, and information sharing strategies and mechanisms, and business policies for the VE.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Giovana LONGO-SILVA
Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the frequency of consumption of obesogenic foods among adolescents and its association with sociodemographic, family, behavioral, and environmental variables. Methods: Secondary data from the National School-Based Student Health Hurvey were analyzed from a representative sample of 9th grade Brazilian students (high school. A self-administered questionnaire, organized into thematic blocks, was used. The dependent variables were the consumption of deep fried snacks, packaged snacks, sugar candies, and soft drinks; consumption frequency for the seven days preceding the study was analyzed. Bivariate analysis was carried out to determine the empirical relationship between the regular consumption of these foods (≥3 days/week with sociodemographic, family, behavioral, and school structural variables. p-value <0.20 was used as the criterion for initial inclusion in the multivariate logistic analysis, which was conducted using the "Enter" method, and the results were expressed as adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval and p<0.05 indicating a statistically significance. Results: Regular food consumption ranged from 27.17% to 65.96%. The variables female gender, mobile phone ownership, Internet access at home, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, regular physical activity, eating while watching television or studying, watching television for at least 2 hours a day, and not willing to lose weight were associated in the final logistic models of all foods analyzed. Conclusion: It was concluded that fried snacks, packaged snacks, sugar candies, and soft drinks are regularly consumed by adolescents and that such consumption was associated with the sociodemographic, family, behavioral, and school structural variables.
Fuel Behavior Modeling Issues Associated with Future Fast Reactor Systems
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Yacout, A.M.; Hofman, G.L.; Lambert, J.D.B.; Kim, Y.S.
2007-01-01
Major issues of concern related to advanced fast reactor fuel behavior are discussed here with focus on phenomena that are encountered during irradiation of metallic fuel elements. Identification of those issues is part of an advanced fuel simulation effort that aims at improving fuel design and reducing reliance on conventional approach of design by experiment which is both time and resource consuming. (authors)
Holistic and consumer-centric assessment of beer: A multi-measurement approach.
Jaeger, Sara R; Cardello, Armand V; Chheang, Sok L; Beresford, Michelle K; Hedderley, Duncan I; Pineau, Benedicte
2017-09-01
Despite occupying a cornerstone position in consumer research and innovation, product liking/disliking provides only partial insight into consumer behaviour. By adopting a consumer-centric perspective and drawing on additional factors that underpin food-related consumer behaviour, a more complete product understanding is gained. The present research showcases this approach in a study with New Zealand beer (incl. pilsner, lager and ale categories). Implementation of a multi-variate approach with 128 regular beer drinkers provided assessments pertaining to liking and sensory novelty/complexity, situational appropriateness of consumption, as well as attitudes/perceptions and emotional associations. The 9 samples grouped into two clusters, where 4 of the beers were similar in being perceived as having less complex flavours, being appropriate for many uses and evoking stronger emotional associations of "relaxed/calm." The 4 beers were perceived as "easy to drink", and were, on average, most liked. One of the samples in this cluster was lighter in alcohol (2.5% ABV), but not inferior to beers with 4-5% ABV. The 5 beers in the second cluster were, on average, less liked and were associated with more negative emotions, e.g. "unhappy, "jittery", and "tense". Additional insights were gained from segmentation which identified two groups of consumers, named 'Lager Lovers' and 'Ale Aficionados'. Beers 1-4 were positively perceived by 'Lager Lovers' but less so by 'Ale Aficionados', and vice versa. The study was conducted under central location test conditions compatible with testing protocols often used in product research. The study protocol can be amended to include few/many consumer-centric measures and extended to product testing where packaging, brand, and other extrinsic information is available to consumers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Study of consumer fireworks post-blast residues by ATR-FTIR.
Martín-Alberca, Carlos; Zapata, Félix; Carrascosa, Héctor; Ortega-Ojeda, Fernando E; García-Ruiz, Carmen
2016-03-01
Specific analytical procedures are requested for the forensic analysis of pre- and post-blast consumer firework samples, which present significant challenges. Up to date, vibrational spectroscopic techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) have not been tested for the analysis of post-blast residues in spite of their interesting strengths for the forensic field. Therefore, this work proposes a simple and fast procedure for the sampling and analysis of consumer firework post-blast residues by a portable FTIR instrument with an Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) accessory. In addition, the post-blast residues spectra of several consumer fireworks were studied in order to achieve the identification of their original chemical compositions. Hence, this work analysed 22 standard reagents usually employed to make consumer fireworks, or because they are related to their combustion products. Then, 5 different consumer fireworks were exploded, and their residues were sampled with dry cotton swabs and directly analysed by ATR-FTIR. In addition, their pre-blast fuses and charges were also analysed in order to stablish a proper comparison. As a result, the identification of the original chemical compositions of the post-blast samples was obtained. Some of the compounds found were potassium chlorate, barium nitrate, potassium nitrate, potassium perchlorate or charcoal. An additional study involving chemometric tools found that the results might greatly depend on the swab head type used for the sampling, and its sampling efficiency. The proposed procedure could be used as a complementary technique for the analysis of consumer fireworks post-blast residues. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Effect of an acute fast on energy compensation and feeding behaviour in lean men and women.
Johnstone, A M; Faber, P; Gibney, E R; Elia, M; Horgan, G; Golden, B E; Stubbs, R J
2002-12-01
Humans appear to defend against energy deficit to a greater extent than energy surplus. Severe dietary energy restriction resulting in 5-30% weight loss often leads to hyperphagia and weight regain in lean subjects. However, the period of time over which fasting is often endured in Western society are far shorter, approximately 1-2 days. This study examined how a 36 h fast effected the subsequent day's energy and nutrient intake in a group of 24 healthy, lean men and women. Subjects underwent two 2 day treatments, termed 'fast' and 'maintenance'. During the 'fast' treatment, subjects were fed a maintenance diet on the day prior to the fast (day -1) to prevent overeating. They then consumed non-energy drinks only, from 20:00 h on day -1 to 08:00 h on day 2 (ad libitum feeding day), thus fasting for 36 h. On the 'maintenance' protocol, subjects received a maintenance diet throughout day 1. Throughout day 2 they had ad libitum access to a range of familiar foods, which were the same for both treatments. Body weight, blood glucose and respiratory quotient were used as compliance checks. Hunger was monitored on day's -1, 1 and 2 for the fast treatment only. On day 2, average energy intake was 10.2 vs 12.2 MJ/day (s.e.d. 1.0) on the post-maintenance and post-fast periods, respectively (P=0.049). Subjects altered feeding behaviour, in response to the fast, only at breakfast time, selecting a higher-fat meal (P<0.005). Compared to day -1, motivation to eat was elevated during the fast (P<0.05). This continued until breakfast was consumed during the re-feeding period (day 2), when values then returned to baseline. These data suggest that a 36 h fast, which generated a negative energy balance of approximately 12 MJ, did not induce a powerful, unconditioned stimulus to compensate on the subsequent day.
Rahayu, Try Desfi
2015-01-01
A survey which provided by AC Nielsen (2008) stated that 69% of cities in Indonesia used to consume the fast food. A total of 33% of them saidthat fast food is the choice for their lunch, 25% fortheir dinner, 9% fortheir such snack, and 2% for their breakfast. This condition will be growing along with the increasing consumption of fast food in Indonesia. This research provided by the authors aimed to determine the behavior of students of the Faculty of Medicine, University of North Sumatra (U...
PASTRY CONSUMER PROFILE: AN INVESTIGATION ON CLUJ-NAPOCA MARKET
CRISTINA RODICA (DULAU) PUSCAS; MONICA MARIA COROS; ADINA LETITIA NEGRUSA
2014-01-01
Among other producers and (re)sellers of snacks and fast-food, bakeries and pastry shops are some of the most dynamic enterprises that have developed both at national level and at the level of Cluj-Napoca during the recent years. Given the great variety of such snacks, the authors aim at sketching the profile of the pastry consumer on the market of Cluj-Napoca. The results of two quantitative studies conducted online and face-to-face in 2013 and 2014 are analyzed. These results are considered...
Tayyem, Reema F; Bawadi, Hiba A; Shehadah, Ihab; Bani-Hani, Kamal E; Takruri, Hamed; Al-Jaberi, Tareq; Heath, Dennis D
2018-01-27
Background: The effects of consuming fast foods, sweets and beverages on the development of colorectal cancer (CRC) are unclear. The aim of this case-control study was to assess possible associations between the consumption of different fast foods, sweets and beverages and CRC risk in a Jordanian population. Methods: Two hundred and twenty diagnosed CRC cases and 281 controls were enrolled. Diet history was obtained using a validated quantitative questionnaire. Results: Consumption of some types of fast food, and particularly falafel, was associated with an increased risk of developing CRC. Elevated risk was found for potato and corn chips with an AOR of 4.36 (95%CI: 1.24-15.28) for daily consumption and 3.33 (95%CI: 1.00-11.11) for ≥5 servings/week. Consuming 1-2 or >5 servings per week of fried potatoes or 2-3 servings per week of chicken in sandwiches also increased the risk while exposure to fresh tomato juice and hot pepper sauce on a monthly basis appeared to exert a protective effect. Conclusions: Consumption of fried fast food items was significantly linked with an increased risk of developing CRC in Jordan. Creative Commons Attribution License
A blind deconvolution method based on L1/L2 regularization prior in the gradient space
Cai, Ying; Shi, Yu; Hua, Xia
2018-02-01
In the process of image restoration, the result of image restoration is very different from the real image because of the existence of noise, in order to solve the ill posed problem in image restoration, a blind deconvolution method based on L1/L2 regularization prior to gradient domain is proposed. The method presented in this paper first adds a function to the prior knowledge, which is the ratio of the L1 norm to the L2 norm, and takes the function as the penalty term in the high frequency domain of the image. Then, the function is iteratively updated, and the iterative shrinkage threshold algorithm is applied to solve the high frequency image. In this paper, it is considered that the information in the gradient domain is better for the estimation of blur kernel, so the blur kernel is estimated in the gradient domain. This problem can be quickly implemented in the frequency domain by fast Fast Fourier Transform. In addition, in order to improve the effectiveness of the algorithm, we have added a multi-scale iterative optimization method. This paper proposes the blind deconvolution method based on L1/L2 regularization priors in the gradient space can obtain the unique and stable solution in the process of image restoration, which not only keeps the edges and details of the image, but also ensures the accuracy of the results.
Higher derivative regularization and chiral anomaly
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Nagahama, Yoshinori.
1985-02-01
A higher derivative regularization which automatically leads to the consistent chiral anomaly is analyzed in detail. It explicitly breaks all the local gauge symmetry but preserves global chiral symmetry and leads to the chirally symmetric consistent anomaly. This regularization thus clarifies the physics content contained in the consistent anomaly. We also briefly comment on the application of this higher derivative regularization to massless QED. (author)
The good, the bad and the ugly: The shifting ethical stance of Malaysian consumers
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Teck-Chai Lau
2010-10-01
Full Text Available Due to the recent business ethical problems in Malaysia such as tax fraud, deceptive advertising, production of unsafe products and copyright piracy, the current research aim to examine ethical issues in the marketplace from the perspective of consumers. There are three objectives of this research. The first objective is to investigate the effect of moral ideologies and Machiavellianism on consumer ethical beliefs. The second objective is to determine which of these ideologies exert the greatest influence on consumer ethical beliefs and the third objective is to discover whether Malaysian consumers have evolved in their ethical stance over the last ten years. The dependent variable in this research is the recently modified consumer ethics scale developed by Vitell and Muncy (2005. An online survey was adopted as data collection method as it was inexpensive, fast and could ensure high response rates. However it has several limitations such as the possible non-representativeness of Internet respondents to the Malaysian population and higher non-response error. The results indicated that idealism exerted the greatest influence on all the four dimensions of consumer ethics. It was also revealed that Malaysian consumers had evolved over the past ten years in their moral ideology: from relativism to idealism.
Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking
Wang, Jim Jing-Yan
2012-11-19
Background: Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods.Results: To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods.Conclusion: The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications. 2012 Wang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking
Wang, Jim Jing-Yan; Bensmail, Halima; Gao, Xin
2012-01-01
Background: Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods.Results: To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods.Conclusion: The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications. 2012 Wang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Multiple graph regularized protein domain ranking
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Wang Jim
2012-11-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein domain ranking is a fundamental task in structural biology. Most protein domain ranking methods rely on the pairwise comparison of protein domains while neglecting the global manifold structure of the protein domain database. Recently, graph regularized ranking that exploits the global structure of the graph defined by the pairwise similarities has been proposed. However, the existing graph regularized ranking methods are very sensitive to the choice of the graph model and parameters, and this remains a difficult problem for most of the protein domain ranking methods. Results To tackle this problem, we have developed the Multiple Graph regularized Ranking algorithm, MultiG-Rank. Instead of using a single graph to regularize the ranking scores, MultiG-Rank approximates the intrinsic manifold of protein domain distribution by combining multiple initial graphs for the regularization. Graph weights are learned with ranking scores jointly and automatically, by alternately minimizing an objective function in an iterative algorithm. Experimental results on a subset of the ASTRAL SCOP protein domain database demonstrate that MultiG-Rank achieves a better ranking performance than single graph regularized ranking methods and pairwise similarity based ranking methods. Conclusion The problem of graph model and parameter selection in graph regularized protein domain ranking can be solved effectively by combining multiple graphs. This aspect of generalization introduces a new frontier in applying multiple graphs to solving protein domain ranking applications.
Patterson, Rachel; Risby, Alexander
2012-01-01
Objective A major concern is the ubiquitous presence of fast food and takeaway outlets within easy walking distance of schools, particularly in the light of the increasing burden of childhood obesity. Here, the associations between the schoolchildren's weights, their consumption of fast food and takeaway outlets were examined in a deprived inner London Borough. Design This is a cross-sectional study. Participants 193 schoolchildren (aged between 11 and 14 years old) participated in this study. Main outcome measures Body mass index (BMI) percentiles specific for age and gender were obtained. Frequency of food and drinks purchased from fast food outlets and takeaway outlets over a weekly period and preferred types of drinks and food products usually consumed were measured. Results More than 50% of the children in our survey purchased food or drinks from fast food or takeaway outlets twice or more a week, with about 10% consuming fast food or drinks from these outlets daily. About 70% of these children from Black ethnic groups and 54% of Asians purchased fast food more than twice a week. BMI has a significantly inverse relationship to fast food consumption. However, when age and gender are accounted, the BMI age–gender percentile is no longer significantly related to fast food consumption. Conclusions This study revealed a very high frequency of fast food consumption among the schoolchildren. Taste, quick access and peer influence were major contributing factors. These schoolchildren are exposed to an obesogenic environment, and it is not surprising that in this situation, many of these children are already overweight and will likely become obese as adults. PMID:22721691
2010-09-02
... FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION Regular Meeting AGENCY: Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation Board (Board). DATE AND TIME: The meeting of the Board will be held at the offices of the Farm...
Seto, Masako; Morimoto, Kanehisa; Maruyama, Soichiro
2006-05-01
This study assessed the working and family life characteristics, and the degree of domestic and work strain of female workers with different employment statuses and weekly working hours who are rearing children. Participants were the mothers of preschoolers in a large Japanese city. We classified the women into three groups according to the hours they worked and their employment conditions. The three groups were: non-regular employees working less than 30 h a week (n=136); non-regular employees working 30 h or more per week (n=141); and regular employees working 30 h or more a week (n=184). We compared among the groups the subjective values of work, financial difficulties, childcare and housework burdens, psychological effects, and strains such as work and family strain, work-family conflict, and work dissatisfaction. Regular employees were more likely to report job pressures and inflexible work schedules and to experience more strain related to work and family than non-regular employees. Non-regular employees were more likely to be facing financial difficulties. In particular, non-regular employees working longer hours tended to encounter socioeconomic difficulties and often lacked support from family and friends. Female workers with children may have different social backgrounds and different stressors according to their working hours and work status.
Generation of sheet currents by high frequency fast MHD waves
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Núñez, Manuel, E-mail: mnjmhd@am.uva.es
2016-07-01
The evolution of fast magnetosonic waves of high frequency propagating into an axisymmetric equilibrium plasma is studied. By using the methods of weakly nonlinear geometrical optics, it is shown that the perturbation travels in the equatorial plane while satisfying a transport equation which enables us to predict the time and location of formation of shock waves. For plasmas of large magnetic Prandtl number, this would result into the creation of sheet currents which may give rise to magnetic reconnection and destruction of the original equilibrium. - Highlights: • Regular solutions of quasilinear hyperbolic systems may evolve into shocks. • The shock location is found for high frequency fast MHD waves. • The result is applied to static axisymmetric equilibria. • The previous process may lead to the formation of sheet currents and destruction of the equilibrium.
Ramadan Fasting and the Propensity for Learning: Is There a Cause for Concern?
Masismadi, Nur Adilah; Lee, Marcus J. C.; Che Muhamed, Ahmad Munir; Chia, Michael Y. H.; Aziz, Abdul Rashid
2017-01-01
The literature indicates that glucose deprivation, dehydration, decreased sleep quality and quantity, and mood changes, independently and adversely can influence cognitive functions and therefore learning. The Ramadan fast is an annual religious act undertaken by Muslims where individuals refrain from consuming food and fluid during daylight…
Library search with regular reflectance IR spectra
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Staat, H.; Korte, E.H.; Lampen, P.
1989-01-01
Characterisation in situ for coatings and other surface layers is generally favourable, but a prerequisite for precious items such as art objects. In infrared spectroscopy only reflection techniques are applicable here. However for attenuated total reflection (ATR) it is difficult to obtain the necessary optical contact of the crystal with the sample, when the latter is not perfectly plane or flexible. The measurement of diffuse reflectance demands a scattering sample and usually the reflectance is very poor. Therefore in most cases one is left with regular reflectance. Such spectra consist of dispersion-like feature instead of bands impeding their interpretation in the way the analyst is used to. Furthermore for computer search in common spectral libraries compiled from transmittance or absorbance spectra a transformation of the reflectance spectra is needed. The correct conversion is based on the Kramers-Kronig transformation. This somewhat time - consuming procedure can be speeded up by using appropriate approximations. A coarser conversion may be obtained from the first derivative of the reflectance spectrum which resembles the second derivative of a transmittance spectrum. The resulting distorted spectra can still be used successfully for the search in peak table libraries. Experiences with both transformations are presented. (author)
Ramadan fasting and the goals of sports nutrition around exercise.
Burke, Louise M; King, Christine
2012-01-01
Ramadan fasting, involving abstinence from fluid and food from sunrise to sundown, results in prolonged periods without nutrient intake and inflexibility with the timing of eating and drinking over the day. Dietary choices may also change due to special eating rituals. Although nutrition guidelines are specific to the sport, to the periodized training and competition calendar, and to the individual, many promote the consumption of carbohydrate and fluid before and during exercise, and consumption of protein, carbohydrate, and fluids soon after the session is completed. Failing to meet overall nutritional needs, or to provide specific nutritional support to a session of exercise, is likely to impair acute performance and reduce the effectiveness of training or recovery. Muslim athletes who fast during Ramadan should use overnight opportunities to consume foods and drinks that can supply the nutrients needed to promote performance, adaptation, and recovery in their sports. Because of the benefits of being able to consume at least some of these nutrients before, during or after an exercise session, the schedule of exercise should be shifted where possible to the beginning or end of the day, or during the evening when some nutritional support can be provided.
Incremental projection approach of regularization for inverse problems
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Souopgui, Innocent, E-mail: innocent.souopgui@usm.edu [The University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Marine Science (United States); Ngodock, Hans E., E-mail: hans.ngodock@nrlssc.navy.mil [Naval Research Laboratory (United States); Vidard, Arthur, E-mail: arthur.vidard@imag.fr; Le Dimet, François-Xavier, E-mail: ledimet@imag.fr [Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann (France)
2016-10-15
This paper presents an alternative approach to the regularized least squares solution of ill-posed inverse problems. Instead of solving a minimization problem with an objective function composed of a data term and a regularization term, the regularization information is used to define a projection onto a convex subspace of regularized candidate solutions. The objective function is modified to include the projection of each iterate in the place of the regularization. Numerical experiments based on the problem of motion estimation for geophysical fluid images, show the improvement of the proposed method compared with regularization methods. For the presented test case, the incremental projection method uses 7 times less computation time than the regularization method, to reach the same error target. Moreover, at convergence, the incremental projection is two order of magnitude more accurate than the regularization method.
Geometric regularizations and dual conifold transitions
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Landsteiner, Karl; Lazaroiu, Calin I.
2003-01-01
We consider a geometric regularization for the class of conifold transitions relating D-brane systems on noncompact Calabi-Yau spaces to certain flux backgrounds. This regularization respects the SL(2,Z) invariance of the flux superpotential, and allows for computation of the relevant periods through the method of Picard-Fuchs equations. The regularized geometry is a noncompact Calabi-Yau which can be viewed as a monodromic fibration, with the nontrivial monodromy being induced by the regulator. It reduces to the original, non-monodromic background when the regulator is removed. Using this regularization, we discuss the simple case of the local conifold, and show how the relevant field-theoretic information can be extracted in this approach. (author)
Are fish eaters healthier and do they consume less health-care resources?
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hostenkamp, Gisela; Sørensen, Jan
2010-01-01
Objective: Regular dietary intake of fish is associated with reduced risk of developing cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, and may improve general well-being. If fish eaters are healthier, they may use fewer health-care resources. The present study aimed to describe the reported intake...... of fish and fish products in a Danish general population, and to investigate whether fish consumption is associated with generic measures of self-reported health and consumption of health-care resources. Design: Data on eating patterns and health status for 3422 Danish adults were obtained by telephone...... interview in the Funen County Health Survey. These data were merged with individual-level register data on health-care utilisation. Survey respondents were categorised into those consuming fish at least once weekly (fish eaters) and those consuming fish less frequently (non-fish eaters). Results: People who...
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...
Software for fast cameras and image handling on MAST
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Shibaev, S.
2008-01-01
The rapid progress in fast imaging gives new opportunities for fusion research. The data obtained by fast cameras play an important and ever-increasing role in analysis and understanding of plasma phenomena. The fast cameras produce a huge amount of data which creates considerable problems for acquisition, analysis, and storage. We use a number of fast cameras on the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST). They cover several spectral ranges: broadband visible, infra-red and narrow band filtered for spectroscopic studies. These cameras are controlled by programs developed in-house. The programs provide full camera configuration and image acquisition in the MAST shot cycle. Despite the great variety of image sources, all images should be stored in a single format. This simplifies development of data handling tools and hence the data analysis. A universal file format has been developed for MAST images which supports storage in both raw and compressed forms, using either lossless or lossy compression. A number of access and conversion routines have been developed for all languages used on MAST. Two movie-style display tools have been developed-Windows native and Qt based for Linux. The camera control programs run as autonomous data acquisition units with full camera configuration set and stored locally. This allows easy porting of the code to other data acquisition systems. The software developed for MAST fast cameras has been adapted for several other tokamaks where it is in regular use
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Hansen, Lars Kai; Rasmussen, Carl Edward; Svarer, C.
1994-01-01
Regularization, e.g., in the form of weight decay, is important for training and optimization of neural network architectures. In this work the authors provide a tool based on asymptotic sampling theory, for iterative estimation of weight decay parameters. The basic idea is to do a gradient desce...
Voluntary Fasting to Control Post-Ramadan Weight Gain among Overweight and Obese Women
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Suriani Ismail
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of an Islamic voluntary fasting intervention to control post-Ramadan weight gain. Methods: This study was conducted between July and November 2011. Two weight loss intervention programmes were developed and implemented among groups of overweight or obese Malay women living in the Malaysian cities of Putrajaya and Seremban: a standard programme promoting control of food intake according to national dietary guidelines (group B and a faith-based programme promoting voluntary fasting in addition to the standard programme (group A. Participants’ dietary practices (i.e., voluntary fasting practices, frequency of fruit/vegetable consumption per week and quantity of carbohydrates/protein consumed per day, body mass index (BMI, blood pressure, fasting blood high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C and total cholesterol (TC:HDL-C ratio were assessed before Ramadan and three months post-Ramadan. Results: Voluntary fasting practices increased only in group A (P <0.01. Additionally, the quantity of protein/carbohydrates consumed per day, mean diastolic pressure and TC:HDL-C ratio decreased only in group A (P <0.01, 0.05, 0.02 and <0.01, respectively. Frequency of fruit/vegetable consumption per week, as well as HDL-C levels, increased only in group A (P = 0.03 and <0.01, respectively. Although changes in BMI between the groups was not significant (P = 0.08, BMI decrease among participants in group A was significant (P <0.01. Conclusion: Control of post-Ramadan weight gain was more evident in the faith-based intervention group. Healthcare providers should consider faith-based interventions to encourage weight loss during Ramadan and to prevent post-Ramadan weight gain among patients.
Voluntary Fasting to Control Post-Ramadan Weight Gain among Overweight and Obese Women
Ismail, Suriani; Shamsuddin, Khadijah; Latiff, Khalib A.; Saad, Hazizi A.; Majid, Latifah A.; Othman, Fadlan M.
2015-01-01
Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of an Islamic voluntary fasting intervention to control post-Ramadan weight gain. Methods: This study was conducted between July and November 2011. Two weight loss intervention programmes were developed and implemented among groups of overweight or obese Malay women living in the Malaysian cities of Putrajaya and Seremban: a standard programme promoting control of food intake according to national dietary guidelines (group B) and a faith-based programme promoting voluntary fasting in addition to the standard programme (group A). Participants’ dietary practices (i.e., voluntary fasting practices, frequency of fruit/vegetable consumption per week and quantity of carbohydrates/protein consumed per day), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, fasting blood high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC):HDL-C ratio were assessed before Ramadan and three months post-Ramadan. Results: Voluntary fasting practices increased only in group A (P <0.01). Additionally, the quantity of protein/carbohydrates consumed per day, mean diastolic pressure and TC:HDL-C ratio decreased only in group A (P <0.01, 0.05, 0.02 and <0.01, respectively). Frequency of fruit/vegetable consumption per week, as well as HDL-C levels, increased only in group A (P = 0.03 and <0.01, respectively). Although changes in BMI between the groups was not significant (P = 0.08), BMI decrease among participants in group A was significant (P <0.01). Conclusion: Control of post-Ramadan weight gain was more evident in the faith-based intervention group. Healthcare providers should consider faith-based interventions to encourage weight loss during Ramadan and to prevent post-Ramadan weight gain among patients. PMID:25685394
Regularizing portfolio optimization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Still, Susanne; Kondor, Imre
2010-01-01
The optimization of large portfolios displays an inherent instability due to estimation error. This poses a fundamental problem, because solutions that are not stable under sample fluctuations may look optimal for a given sample, but are, in effect, very far from optimal with respect to the average risk. In this paper, we approach the problem from the point of view of statistical learning theory. The occurrence of the instability is intimately related to over-fitting, which can be avoided using known regularization methods. We show how regularized portfolio optimization with the expected shortfall as a risk measure is related to support vector regression. The budget constraint dictates a modification. We present the resulting optimization problem and discuss the solution. The L2 norm of the weight vector is used as a regularizer, which corresponds to a diversification 'pressure'. This means that diversification, besides counteracting downward fluctuations in some assets by upward fluctuations in others, is also crucial because it improves the stability of the solution. The approach we provide here allows for the simultaneous treatment of optimization and diversification in one framework that enables the investor to trade off between the two, depending on the size of the available dataset.
Regularizing portfolio optimization
Still, Susanne; Kondor, Imre
2010-07-01
The optimization of large portfolios displays an inherent instability due to estimation error. This poses a fundamental problem, because solutions that are not stable under sample fluctuations may look optimal for a given sample, but are, in effect, very far from optimal with respect to the average risk. In this paper, we approach the problem from the point of view of statistical learning theory. The occurrence of the instability is intimately related to over-fitting, which can be avoided using known regularization methods. We show how regularized portfolio optimization with the expected shortfall as a risk measure is related to support vector regression. The budget constraint dictates a modification. We present the resulting optimization problem and discuss the solution. The L2 norm of the weight vector is used as a regularizer, which corresponds to a diversification 'pressure'. This means that diversification, besides counteracting downward fluctuations in some assets by upward fluctuations in others, is also crucial because it improves the stability of the solution. The approach we provide here allows for the simultaneous treatment of optimization and diversification in one framework that enables the investor to trade off between the two, depending on the size of the available dataset.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ahmed Abdulkadhim Hamad
2017-08-01
Full Text Available In this paper, different techniques are used to improve the turbo decoding of regular repeat accumulate (RA and irregular repeat accumulate (IRA codes. The adaptive scaling of a-posteriori information produced by Soft-output Viterbi decoder (SOVA is proposed. The encoded pilots are another scheme that applied for short length RA codes. This work also suggests a simple and a fast method to generate a random interleaver having a free 4 cycle Tanner graph. Progressive edge growth algorithm (PEG is also studied and simulated to create the Tanner graphs which have a great girth.
Consumers' preferences towards biodiesel in the Spanish transport sector: A case study in Catalonia
Kallas, Zein; Gil Roig, José María
2014-01-01
In this paper, we analyse the opinions, attitudes and willingness of consumers to pay for biodiesel as an alternative to diesel in Barcelona province. Data were gathered from face-toface structured questionnaires from 300 diesel car owners/users that regularly purchase fuel. A variation of the traditional choice experiments (CE) was used by excluding the price attribute from the design. In a subsequent contingent valuation (CV) exercise, respondents were asked to state their ma...
Tessellating the Sphere with Regular Polygons
Soto-Johnson, Hortensia; Bechthold, Dawn
2004-01-01
Tessellations in the Euclidean plane and regular polygons that tessellate the sphere are reviewed. The regular polygons that can possibly tesellate the sphere are spherical triangles, squares and pentagons.
Consumer-Brand Relationships under the Marketing 3.0 Paradigm: A Literature Review.
Gómez-Suárez, Mónica; Martínez-Ruiz, María Pilar; Martínez-Caraballo, Noemí
2017-01-01
Consumer-brand relationships encompass several dimensions, most of which have attracted growing research attention during the last years. Building these relationships is especially important in the marketing 3.0 era, where it is suggested that customers will choose those brands that satisfy their deepest needs. With these ideas in mind, this article provides a review of two key concepts implied in such relationships: brand love and customer engagement. Although both conceptions focus on different stages of consumer-brand relationships, they actually cover different perspectives on the same process. Moreover, they come from diverse conceptual paradigms: whilst brand love comes from the psychology discipline, engagement derives from diverse areas of the marketing field (e.g., the service-dominant logic perspective). However, their further empirical developments have taken place in marketing. Besides, both terms appear to be applied to different empirical perspectives: brand love is usually linked to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry and customer engagement to services.
Consumer-Brand Relationships under the Marketing 3.0 Paradigm: A Literature Review
Gómez-Suárez, Mónica; Martínez-Ruiz, María Pilar; Martínez-Caraballo, Noemí
2017-01-01
Consumer-brand relationships encompass several dimensions, most of which have attracted growing research attention during the last years. Building these relationships is especially important in the marketing 3.0 era, where it is suggested that customers will choose those brands that satisfy their deepest needs. With these ideas in mind, this article provides a review of two key concepts implied in such relationships: brand love and customer engagement. Although both conceptions focus on different stages of consumer-brand relationships, they actually cover different perspectives on the same process. Moreover, they come from diverse conceptual paradigms: whilst brand love comes from the psychology discipline, engagement derives from diverse areas of the marketing field (e.g., the service-dominant logic perspective). However, their further empirical developments have taken place in marketing. Besides, both terms appear to be applied to different empirical perspectives: brand love is usually linked to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry and customer engagement to services. PMID:28275360
BENÝŠKOVÁ, Ivetta
2014-01-01
Consumption of fast-food style meals increases the risk of occurrence of health problems that might result in some diseases called lifestyle diseases or diseases of civilization. Frequent fast food consumption and related inadequate eating habits lead to increased morbidity and mortality linked particularly to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and other health problems even from early age. This thesis analyses the problems of eating at fast food restaurants and stands f...
A general framework for regularized, similarity-based image restoration.
Kheradmand, Amin; Milanfar, Peyman
2014-12-01
Any image can be represented as a function defined on a weighted graph, in which the underlying structure of the image is encoded in kernel similarity and associated Laplacian matrices. In this paper, we develop an iterative graph-based framework for image restoration based on a new definition of the normalized graph Laplacian. We propose a cost function, which consists of a new data fidelity term and regularization term derived from the specific definition of the normalized graph Laplacian. The normalizing coefficients used in the definition of the Laplacian and associated regularization term are obtained using fast symmetry preserving matrix balancing. This results in some desired spectral properties for the normalized Laplacian such as being symmetric, positive semidefinite, and returning zero vector when applied to a constant image. Our algorithm comprises of outer and inner iterations, where in each outer iteration, the similarity weights are recomputed using the previous estimate and the updated objective function is minimized using inner conjugate gradient iterations. This procedure improves the performance of the algorithm for image deblurring, where we do not have access to a good initial estimate of the underlying image. In addition, the specific form of the cost function allows us to render the spectral analysis for the solutions of the corresponding linear equations. In addition, the proposed approach is general in the sense that we have shown its effectiveness for different restoration problems, including deblurring, denoising, and sharpening. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm on both synthetic and real examples.
Accretion onto some well-known regular black holes
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Jawad, Abdul; Shahzad, M.U.
2016-01-01
In this work, we discuss the accretion onto static spherically symmetric regular black holes for specific choices of the equation of state parameter. The underlying regular black holes are charged regular black holes using the Fermi-Dirac distribution, logistic distribution, nonlinear electrodynamics, respectively, and Kehagias-Sftesos asymptotically flat regular black holes. We obtain the critical radius, critical speed, and squared sound speed during the accretion process near the regular black holes. We also study the behavior of radial velocity, energy density, and the rate of change of the mass for each of the regular black holes. (orig.)
Accretion onto some well-known regular black holes
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Jawad, Abdul; Shahzad, M.U. [COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Department of Mathematics, Lahore (Pakistan)
2016-03-15
In this work, we discuss the accretion onto static spherically symmetric regular black holes for specific choices of the equation of state parameter. The underlying regular black holes are charged regular black holes using the Fermi-Dirac distribution, logistic distribution, nonlinear electrodynamics, respectively, and Kehagias-Sftesos asymptotically flat regular black holes. We obtain the critical radius, critical speed, and squared sound speed during the accretion process near the regular black holes. We also study the behavior of radial velocity, energy density, and the rate of change of the mass for each of the regular black holes. (orig.)
Accretion onto some well-known regular black holes
Jawad, Abdul; Shahzad, M. Umair
2016-03-01
In this work, we discuss the accretion onto static spherically symmetric regular black holes for specific choices of the equation of state parameter. The underlying regular black holes are charged regular black holes using the Fermi-Dirac distribution, logistic distribution, nonlinear electrodynamics, respectively, and Kehagias-Sftesos asymptotically flat regular black holes. We obtain the critical radius, critical speed, and squared sound speed during the accretion process near the regular black holes. We also study the behavior of radial velocity, energy density, and the rate of change of the mass for each of the regular black holes.
Internal cycle modeling and environmental assessment of multiple cycle consumer products
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tsiliyannis, C.A.
2012-01-01
Highlights: ► Dynamic flow models are presented for remanufactured, reused or recycled products. ► Early loss and stochastic return are included for fast and slow cycling products. ► The reuse-to-input flow ratio (Internal Cycle Factor, ICF) is determined. ► The cycle rate, which is increasing with the ICF, monitors eco-performance. ► Early internal cycle losses diminish the ICF, the cycle rate and performance. - Abstract: Dynamic annual flow models incorporating consumer discard and usage loss and featuring deterministic and stochastic end-of-cycle (EOC) return by the consumer are developed for reused or remanufactured products (multiple cycle products, MCPs), including fast and slow cycling, short and long-lived products. It is shown that internal flows (reuse and overall consumption) increase proportionally to the dimensionless internal cycle factor (ICF) which is related to environmental impact reduction factors. The combined reuse/recycle (or cycle) rate is shown capable for shortcut, albeit effective, monitoring of environmental performance in terms of waste production, virgin material extraction and manufacturing impacts of all MCPs, a task, which physical variables (lifetime, cycling frequency, mean or total number of return trips) and conventional rates, via which environmental policy has been officially implemented (e.g. recycling rate) cannot accomplish. The cycle rate is shown to be an increasing (hyperbolic) function of ICF. The impact of the stochastic EOC return characteristics on total reuse and consumption flows, as well as on eco-performance, is assessed: symmetric EOC return has a small, positive effect on performance compared to deterministic, while early shifted EOC return is more beneficial. In order to be efficient, environmental policy should set higher minimum reuse targets for higher trippage MCPs. The results may serve for monitoring, flow accounting and comparative eco-assessment of MCPs. They may be useful in identifying
Srdjan Sapic
2017-01-01
In terms of modern life, consumers have an increasing number of options when it comes to choosing a restaurant when they do not wish to eat at their homes. Fast food restaurants represent one of those options. In addition to domestic fast food restaurants, the development of global restaurant chains is also noticeable. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that affect the evaluations of products and services and the intentions of users in terms of using the services of fast foo...
Local concentration of fast-food outlets is associated with poor nutrition and obesity.
Kruger, Daniel J; Greenberg, Emily; Murphy, Jillian B; DiFazio, Lindsay A; Youra, Kathryn R
2014-01-01
We investigated the relationship of the local availability of fast-food restaurant locations with diet and obesity. We geocoded addresses of survey respondents and fast-food restaurant locations to assess the association between the local concentration of fast-food outlets, BMI, and fruit and vegetable consumption. The survey was conducted in Genesee County, Michigan. There were 1345 individuals included in this analysis, and the response rate was 25%. The Speak to Your Health! Community Survey included fruit and vegetable consumption items from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, height, weight, and demographics. We used ArcGIS to map fast-food outlets and survey respondents. Stepwise linear regressions identified unique predictors of body mass index (BMI) and fruit and vegetable consumption. Survey respondents had 8 ± 7 fast-food outlets within 2 miles of their home. Individuals living in close proximity to fast-food restaurants had higher BMIs t(1342) = 3.21, p food availability, which may constrain the success of nutrition promotion efforts. Efforts to decrease the local availability of unhealthy foods as well as programs to help consumers identify strategies for obtaining healthy meals at fast-food outlets may improve health outcomes.
Consumer sensory and hedonic perception of sheep meat coppa under blind and informed conditions.
de Andrade, Juliana Cunha; Nalério, Elen Silveira; Giongo, Citieli; de Barcellos, Marcia Dutra; Ares, Gastón; Deliza, Rosires
2018-03-01
The development of air-dried cured sheep meat products represents an interesting option to add value to the meat of adult animals. In this context, the aim of the present study was to evaluate consumer sensory and hedonic perception of sheep meat coppa, an innovative product. Four sheep meat coppa samples were formulated by varying smoking (smoked vs. non-smoked) and salt content (4.5% vs. 3.4%), and compared with two commercial samples of regular pork meat coppa. Samples were evaluated under blind or informed conditions by 202 consumers, who had to rate their liking and to answer a check-all-that-apply question. Sheep and pork meat coppa samples did not largely differ in their overall liking in both experimental conditions. Smoking and high salt content significantly increased consumers' hedonic perception of sheep meat coppa. The information included in the labels did not modify consumer hedonic perception but influenced their sensory description, particularly for the terms related to the type of meat used in their manufacture. Results indicate positive market opportunities for sheep meat coppa in the Brazilian market. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Diagrammatic methods in phase-space regularization
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bern, Z.; Halpern, M.B.; California Univ., Berkeley
1987-11-01
Using the scalar prototype and gauge theory as the simplest possible examples, diagrammatic methods are developed for the recently proposed phase-space form of continuum regularization. A number of one-loop and all-order applications are given, including general diagrammatic discussions of the nogrowth theorem and the uniqueness of the phase-space stochastic calculus. The approach also generates an alternate derivation of the equivalence of the large-β phase-space regularization to the more conventional coordinate-space regularization. (orig.)
Metric regularity and subdifferential calculus
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ioffe, A D
2000-01-01
The theory of metric regularity is an extension of two classical results: the Lyusternik tangent space theorem and the Graves surjection theorem. Developments in non-smooth analysis in the 1980s and 1990s paved the way for a number of far-reaching extensions of these results. It was also well understood that the phenomena behind the results are of metric origin, not connected with any linear structure. At the same time it became clear that some basic hypotheses of the subdifferential calculus are closely connected with the metric regularity of certain set-valued maps. The survey is devoted to the metric theory of metric regularity and its connection with subdifferential calculus in Banach spaces
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Zeng, Dong; Zhang, Xinyu; Bian, Zhaoying, E-mail: zybian@smu.edu.cn, E-mail: jhma@smu.edu.cn; Huang, Jing; Zhang, Hua; Lu, Lijun; Lyu, Wenbing; Feng, Qianjin; Chen, Wufan; Ma, Jianhua, E-mail: zybian@smu.edu.cn, E-mail: jhma@smu.edu.cn [Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515 (China); Zhang, Jing [Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052 (China)
2016-05-15
Purpose: Cerebral perfusion computed tomography (PCT) imaging as an accurate and fast acute ischemic stroke examination has been widely used in clinic. Meanwhile, a major drawback of PCT imaging is the high radiation dose due to its dynamic scan protocol. The purpose of this work is to develop a robust perfusion deconvolution approach via structure tensor total variation (STV) regularization (PD-STV) for estimating an accurate residue function in PCT imaging with the low-milliampere-seconds (low-mAs) data acquisition. Methods: Besides modeling the spatio-temporal structure information of PCT data, the STV regularization of the present PD-STV approach can utilize the higher order derivatives of the residue function to enhance denoising performance. To minimize the objective function, the authors propose an effective iterative algorithm with a shrinkage/thresholding scheme. A simulation study on a digital brain perfusion phantom and a clinical study on an old infarction patient were conducted to validate and evaluate the performance of the present PD-STV approach. Results: In the digital phantom study, visual inspection and quantitative metrics (i.e., the normalized mean square error, the peak signal-to-noise ratio, and the universal quality index) assessments demonstrated that the PD-STV approach outperformed other existing approaches in terms of the performance of noise-induced artifacts reduction and accurate perfusion hemodynamic maps (PHM) estimation. In the patient data study, the present PD-STV approach could yield accurate PHM estimation with several noticeable gains over other existing approaches in terms of visual inspection and correlation analysis. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the feasibility and efficacy of the present PD-STV approach in utilizing STV regularization to improve the accuracy of residue function estimation of cerebral PCT imaging in the case of low-mAs.
Sensory factors affecting female consumers' acceptability of nail polish.
Sun, C; Koppel, K; Adhikari, K
2015-12-01
The objectives of this study were to determine what sensory factors impact consumers' acceptability of nail polishes, to explore how these sensory factors impact consumers' acceptability of nail polishes, to investigate whether there are any consumer segments according to their overall acceptability on different nail polishes and to scrutinize how the consumer segments are related to the sensory factors. Ninety-eight females participated in a nail polish consumer study at Kansas State University. Eight commercial products belonging to four categories - regular (REG), gel (GEL), flake (FLK) and water-based (WAT) - were evaluated. Each nail polish sample was evaluated twice by each participant in two different tasks - a task devoted to applying and evaluating the product and a task devoted to observing the appearance and evaluating the product. Pearson's correlation analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), external preference mapping, cluster analysis and internal preference mapping were applied for data analysis. Participants' scores of overall liking of the nail polishes were similar in the application task and in the observation task. In general, participants liked the REG and GEL product samples more than the FLK and WAT samples. Among all the sensory attributes, appearance attributes were the major factors that affected participants' overall liking. Aroma seemed to be a minor factor to participants' overall liking. Some sensory attributes, such as runny, shininess, opacity, spreadability, smoothness, coverage and wet appearance, were found to drive participants' overall acceptability positively, whereas others such as pinhole, fatty-edges, blister, brushlines, pearl-like, flake-protrusion, glittery and initial-drag impacted participants' overall acceptability negatively. Four clusters of participants were identified according to their overall liking scores from both the application task and the observation task. Participants' acceptability, based on different
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Elisova, T.V.; Feoktistova, T.P.; Stavrakova, N.M.
1988-01-01
Comparative study of regularities of fast neutron radiobiological effect on Chinese hamster cells in culture under pulse and statistic irradiation regimes that was estimated by reproductive death of cells and induced frequency of resistence mutations to 6-tioguanine is carried out. It is stated that with the dose rate increase approximately by 6 orders radiobiological efficiency of fast neutrons decreases. It is suggested that one of the causes of decreasing pulse irradiation efficiency are processes on radiation-chemical level. 9 refs.; 3 figs
Duffey, Kiyah J; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Steffen, Lyn M; Jacobs, David R; Popkin, Barry M
2009-11-01
Although away-from-home eating is adversely associated with weight, other comorbidities have not been examined; therefore, we sought to determine the associations of fast food (e.g. Wendy's, McDonalds) and restaurant (sit-down style) consumption (times per week) with weight and multiple metabolic outcomes, including homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), waist circumference, and plasma triglycerides (TG), LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C). We used 3 waves of data (exam y 7, 10, and 20) from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, a prospective cohort study of black and white young adults [aged 25-42 y in 1992-93, n = 3643 (men, 1659; women, 1984)]. Individuals in the highest (vs. lowest) quartile of baseline (defined as the mean of y 7 and 10) fast food consumption had higher y 20 weight [adjusted mean (95% CI): 5.6 kg (CI, 2.1, 9.2); P = 0.002], HOMA-IR [0.9 (CI, 0.4, 1.3); P < 0.001], waist circumference [5.3 cm (CI, 2.8, 7.9); P < 0.000], TG concentrations [0.25 mmol/L (CI, 0.10, 0.40), 22.7 mg/dL (CI, 9.1, 36.3); P = 0.001], and lower HDL-C concentrations [-0.014 mmol/L (CI, -0.215, -0.067), 5.4 mg/dL (CI, -8.3, -2.6); P < 0.000]. Baseline restaurant consumption was unrelated to y 20 outcomes. Adjusted change in weekly restaurant (P < 0.05) and fast food intake (P < 0.001) was associated with 13-y changes in body weight [0.09 kg (CI, 0.02, 0.17) and 0.15 kg (CI, 0.06, 0.24), respectively] and waist circumference [0.08 cm (CI, 0.02, 0.14) and 0.12 cm (CI, 0.04, 0.20), respectively]. Fast food consumption may be an important target for the prevention of adverse metabolic health outcomes.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot
Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Lifestyle, dietary patterns and nutritional status of organic food consumers have rarely been described, while interest for a sustainable diet is markedly increasing. METHODS: Consumer attitude and frequency of use of 18 organic products were assessed in 54,311 adult participants in the Nutrinet-Santé cohort. Cluster analysis was performed to identify behaviors associated with organic product consumption. Socio-demographic characteristics, food consumption and nutrient intake across clusters are provided. Cross-sectional association with overweight/obesity was estimated using polytomous logistic regression. RESULTS: Five clusters were identified: 3 clusters of non-consumers whose reasons differed, occasional (OCOP, 51% and regular (RCOP, 14% organic product consumers. RCOP were more highly educated and physically active than other clusters. They also exhibited dietary patterns that included more plant foods and less sweet and alcoholic beverages, processed meat or milk. Their nutrient intake profiles (fatty acids, most minerals and vitamins, fibers were healthier and they more closely adhered to dietary guidelines. In multivariate models (after accounting for confounders, including level of adherence to nutritional guidelines, compared to those not interested in organic products, RCOP participants showed a markedly lower probability of overweight (excluding obesity (25 ≤ body mass index<30 and obesity (body mass index ≥ 30: -36% and -62% in men and -42% and -48% in women, respectively (P<0.0001. OCOP participants (% generally showed intermediate figures. CONCLUSIONS: Regular consumers of organic products, a sizeable group in our sample, exhibit specific socio-demographic characteristics, and an overall healthy profile which should be accounted for in further studies analyzing organic food intake and health markers.
Temporal regularity of the environment drives time perception
van Rijn, H; Rhodes, D; Di Luca, M
2016-01-01
It’s reasonable to assume that a regularly paced sequence should be perceived as regular, but here we show that perceived regularity depends on the context in which the sequence is embedded. We presented one group of participants with perceptually regularly paced sequences, and another group of participants with mostly irregularly paced sequences (75% irregular, 25% regular). The timing of the final stimulus in each sequence could be var- ied. In one experiment, we asked whether the last stim...
Facilitating consumer participation: an approach to finding the 'right' consumer.
Happell, Brenda
2010-01-01
Contemporary health care increasingly dictates that consumers of services should become active participants in the health care system. This has placed responsibility on administrators, managers and clinicians to include consumers in key strategic and decision making initiatives. However, this direction has not been accompanied by clear policies or guidelines. Consequently confusion about selecting consumers able to provide valuable input is identified as a barrier to active consumer involvement. The purpose of this paper is to address some concerns raised in the quest to find the "right" consumer, including: finding a consumer without an axe to grind; ensuring the consumer is representative of broader views; health professionals as consumer representatives. While these concerns are common they have not yet been extensively debated and discussed in the broader Literature. Strategies necessary to support consumers in participatory roles are also considered and the controversial subject of financial remuneration for consumers is also explored.
Evaluation of pump characteristic from measurement of fast deceleration
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Himr Daniel
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Article describes an experiment where a pump connected to the simple hydraulic circuit is decelerated. Since the deceleration is fast enough the operating point of the machine moves from the initial steady position to the breaking zone, turbine zone and back to the new steady position. A dependence of the specific energy and the torque on the flow rate was evaluated from the measurement of the input and output pressure, torque and rotational speed recorded during the deceleration. Obtained characteristic is much wider than curves obtained from regular measurement of steady state.
Saint-Eve, Anne; Leclercq, Hélène; Berthelo, Sébastien; Saulnier, Benjamin; Oettgen, Walther; Delarue, Julien
2016-04-01
In France, 50% of consumers sweeten plain yogurts prior to consumption. This study measured how much sugar consumers added under contextualized testing conditions. Participants (199 French adults who regularly consume plain yogurt adding sugar) were given a plain yogurt (125 g) at the end of a full meal and were allowed to sweeten it with their usual sweetener (caster sugar, honey, or jam). The quantities added were measured indirectly by weighing the sweetener containers before and after use; they were then converted into equivalent quantities of sucrose, or "added sugar." Participants were asked to describe their relative hunger, thirst, and liking for plain yogurt and to estimate the quantity of sweetener they had added. On average, participants added 13.6 g of sugar to their yogurts, which is higher than the 10.2 g of sugar contained in pre-sweetened commercial yogurts (125 g). More sugar was added when subjects used jam (24.4 g/yogurt, n = 36) as opposed to caster sugar (11.0 g/yogurt, n = 134) or honey (12.1 g/yogurt, n = 29). Age, socio-professional category, and BMI had a significant influence on added-sugar quantity. Based on behavior and attitude, participants could be separated into three evenly sized groups: "low sugar users" (n = 67, median = 6.1 g/yogurt), who tended to control their food intake, "medium sugar users" (n = 66, median = 11.4 g/yogurt), and "heavy sugar users" (n = 66, median = 19.9 g/yogurt) who sought immediate satisfaction. To our knowledge, this study is the first to provide robust data on the amount of sugar consumers add to plain yogurts in contextualized conditions (self preparation during a real meal). Our findings show that consumers underestimated by half the quantity of sweetener they added. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
FAST DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE INVERSION OF SOLAR CORONAL DATA
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Plowman, Joseph; Kankelborg, Charles; Martens, Petrus [Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States)
2013-07-01
We present a fast method for reconstructing differential emission measures (DEMs) using solar coronal data. The method consists of a fast, simple regularized inversion in conjunction with an iteration scheme for removal of residual negative emission measure. On average, it computes over 1000 DEMs s{sup -1} for a sample active region observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and achieves reduced chi-squared of order unity with no negative emission in all but a few test cases. The high performance of this method is especially relevant in the context of AIA, which images of order one million solar pixels per second. This paper describes the method, analyzes its fidelity, compares its performance and results with other DEM methods, and applies it to an active region and loop observed by AIA and by the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer on Hinode.
Self-stigma and empowerment in combined-CMHA and consumer-run services: two controlled trials.
Segal, Steven P; Silverman, Carol J; Temkin, Tanya L
2013-10-01
Self-help agencies (SHAs) are consumer-operated service organizations managed as participatory democracies involving members in all management tasks. Hierarchically organized board- and staff-run consumer-operated service programs (BSR-COSPs) are consumer managed, but they afford members less decision-making power. This study considered the relative effectiveness of SHAs and BSR-COSPs working jointly with community mental health agencies (CMHAs) and the role of organizational empowerment in reducing self-stigma. Clients seeking CMHA services were assigned in separate randomized controlled trials to a trial of combined SHA and CMHA services versus regular CMHA services (N=505) or to a trial of combined BSR-COSP and CMHA services versus regular CMHA services (N=139). Self-stigma, organizational empowerment, and self-efficacy were assessed at baseline and eight months with the Attitudes Toward Persons With Mental Illness Scale, the Organizationally Mediated Empowerment Scale, and the Self-Efficacy Scale. Outcomes were evaluated with fully recursive path analysis models. SHA-CMHA participants experienced greater positive change in self-stigma than CMHA-only participants, a result attributable to participation in the combined condition (b=1.20, p=.016) and increased organizational empowerment (b=.27, p=.003). BSR-COSP-CMHA participants experienced greater negative change in self-stigma than CMHA-only participants, a result attributable to participation in the combined service (b=-4.73, p=.031). In the SHA-CMHA trial, participants showed positive change in self-efficacy, whereas the change among BSR-COSP-CMHA participants was negative. Differential organizational empowerment efforts in the SHA and BSR-COSP appeared to account for the differing outcomes. Members experienced reduced self-stigma and increases in self-efficacy when they were engaged in responsible roles.
FAST: FAST Analysis of Sequences Toolbox
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Travis J. Lawrence
2015-05-01
Full Text Available FAST (FAST Analysis of Sequences Toolbox provides simple, powerful open source command-line tools to filter, transform, annotate and analyze biological sequence data. Modeled after the GNU (GNU’s Not Unix Textutils such as grep, cut, and tr, FAST tools such as fasgrep, fascut, and fastr make it easy to rapidly prototype expressive bioinformatic workflows in a compact and generic command vocabulary. Compact combinatorial encoding of data workflows with FAST commands can simplify the documentation and reproducibility of bioinformatic protocols, supporting better transparency in biological data science. Interface self-consistency and conformity with conventions of GNU, Matlab, Perl, BioPerl, R and GenBank help make FAST easy and rewarding to learn. FAST automates numerical, taxonomic, and text-based sorting, selection and transformation of sequence records and alignment sites based on content, index ranges, descriptive tags, annotated features, and in-line calculated analytics, including composition and codon usage. Automated content- and feature-based extraction of sites and support for molecular population genetic statistics makes FAST useful for molecular evolutionary analysis. FAST is portable, easy to install and secure thanks to the relative maturity of its Perl and BioPerl foundations, with stable releases posted to CPAN. Development as well as a publicly accessible Cookbook and Wiki are available on the FAST GitHub repository at https://github.com/tlawrence3/FAST. The default data exchange format in FAST is Multi-FastA (specifically, a restriction of BioPerl FastA format. Sanger and Illumina 1.8+ FastQ formatted files are also supported. FAST makes it easier for non-programmer biologists to interactively investigate and control biological data at the speed of thought.
The uniqueness of the regularization procedure
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Brzezowski, S.
1981-01-01
On the grounds of the BPHZ procedure, the criteria of correct regularization in perturbation calculations of QFT are given, together with the prescription for dividing the regularized formulas into the finite and infinite parts. (author)
Fast semi-automated lesion demarcation in stroke
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Bianca de Haan
2015-01-01
Full Text Available Lesion–behaviour mapping analyses require the demarcation of the brain lesion on each (usually transverse slice of the individual stroke patient's brain image. To date, this is generally thought to be most precise when done manually, which is, however, both time-consuming and potentially observer-dependent. Fully automated lesion demarcation methods have been developed to address these issues, but these are often not practicable in acute stroke research where for each patient only a single image modality is available and the available image modality differs over patients. In the current study, we evaluated a semi-automated lesion demarcation approach, the so-called Clusterize algorithm, in acute stroke patients scanned in a range of common image modalities. Our results suggest that, compared to the standard of manual lesion demarcation, the semi-automated Clusterize algorithm is capable of significantly speeding up lesion demarcation in the most commonly used image modalities, without loss of either lesion demarcation precision or lesion demarcation reproducibility. For the three investigated acute datasets (CT, DWI, T2FLAIR, containing a total of 44 patient images obtained in a regular clinical setting at patient admission, the reduction in processing time was on average 17.8 min per patient and this advantage increased with increasing lesion volume (up to 60 min per patient for the largest lesion volumes in our datasets. Additionally, our results suggest that performance of the Clusterize algorithm in a chronic dataset with 11 T1 images was comparable to its performance in the acute datasets. We thus advocate the use of the Clusterize algorithm, integrated into a simple, freely available SPM toolbox, for the precise, reliable and fast preparation of imaging data for lesion–behaviour mapping analyses.
Correlating consumer perception and consumer acceptability of traditional Doenjang in Korea.
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®
Coupling regularizes individual units in noisy populations
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ly Cheng; Ermentrout, G. Bard
2010-01-01
The regularity of a noisy system can modulate in various ways. It is well known that coupling in a population can lower the variability of the entire network; the collective activity is more regular. Here, we show that diffusive (reciprocal) coupling of two simple Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (O-U) processes can regularize the individual, even when it is coupled to a noisier process. In cellular networks, the regularity of individual cells is important when a select few play a significant role. The regularizing effect of coupling surprisingly applies also to general nonlinear noisy oscillators. However, unlike with the O-U process, coupling-induced regularity is robust to different kinds of coupling. With two coupled noisy oscillators, we derive an asymptotic formula assuming weak noise and coupling for the variance of the period (i.e., spike times) that accurately captures this effect. Moreover, we find that reciprocal coupling can regularize the individual period of higher dimensional oscillators such as the Morris-Lecar and Brusselator models, even when coupled to noisier oscillators. Coupling can have a counterintuitive and beneficial effect on noisy systems. These results have implications for the role of connectivity with noisy oscillators and the modulation of variability of individual oscillators.
Learning regularization parameters for general-form Tikhonov
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chung, Julianne; Español, Malena I
2017-01-01
Computing regularization parameters for general-form Tikhonov regularization can be an expensive and difficult task, especially if multiple parameters or many solutions need to be computed in real time. In this work, we assume training data is available and describe an efficient learning approach for computing regularization parameters that can be used for a large set of problems. We consider an empirical Bayes risk minimization framework for finding regularization parameters that minimize average errors for the training data. We first extend methods from Chung et al (2011 SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 33 3132–52) to the general-form Tikhonov problem. Then we develop a learning approach for multi-parameter Tikhonov problems, for the case where all involved matrices are simultaneously diagonalizable. For problems where this is not the case, we describe an approach to compute near-optimal regularization parameters by using operator approximations for the original problem. Finally, we propose a new class of regularizing filters, where solutions correspond to multi-parameter Tikhonov solutions, that requires less data than previously proposed optimal error filters, avoids the generalized SVD, and allows flexibility and novelty in the choice of regularization matrices. Numerical results for 1D and 2D examples using different norms on the errors show the effectiveness of our methods. (paper)
5 CFR 551.421 - Regular working hours.
2010-01-01
... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Regular working hours. 551.421 Section... Activities § 551.421 Regular working hours. (a) Under the Act there is no requirement that a Federal employee... distinction based on whether the activity is performed by an employee during regular working hours or outside...
Regular extensions of some classes of grammars
Nijholt, Antinus
Culik and Cohen introduced the class of LR-regular grammars, an extension of the LR(k) grammars. In this report we consider the analogous extension of the LL(k) grammers, called the LL-regular grammars. The relations of this class of grammars to other classes of grammars are shown. Every LL-regular
MEASUREMENT OF CONSUMER ETHNOCENTRISM OF SLOVAK CONSUMERS
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Janka Taborecka-Petrovicova
2014-10-01
Full Text Available The conceptualization of consumer ethnocentrism is inferred from the general concept of ethnocentrism which assumes that ethnocentrism starts with the culture into which an individual is born. Over time, the individual will accept the values and behaviour of this particular culture as a norm. However, when the individual becomes aware of other cultures with different values and behaviours, there develops the need of belonging and identification with own culture rather than that of others. When analysing the consumer ethnocentrism, it is also essential to examine whether consumer ethnocentrism operates uniformly across all consumers or there exist some specific factors moderating their ethnocentric tendencies. A lot of studies researching these issues can be found in various cultural contexts, however in Slovakia we found certain gap since there is just a few of them. The aim of the paper is to investigate the level of consumer ethnocentricity of Slovak consumers in general and with the respect to chosen variables – age and gender. The results can serve as an information base for decision-making process of marketing managers focusing especially on local production of domestic products.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Obregon, Octavio; Quevedo, Hernando; Ryan, Michael P.
2004-01-01
We construct a family of time and angular dependent, regular S-brane solutions which corresponds to a simple analytical continuation of the Zipoy-Voorhees 4-dimensional vacuum spacetime. The solutions are asymptotically flat and turn out to be free of singularities without requiring a twist in space. They can be considered as the simplest non-singular generalization of the singular S0-brane solution. We analyze the properties of a representative of this family of solutions and show that it resembles to some extent the asymptotic properties of the regular Kerr S-brane. The R-symmetry corresponds, however, to the general lorentzian symmetry. Several generalizations of this regular solution are derived which include a charged S-brane and an additional dilatonic field. (author)
Laxer, Rachel E; Janssen, Ian
2014-04-01
The study objective was to estimate the proportion of excessive fast-food consumption by youth that is attributable to living and attending school in a neighbourhood with a moderate or high density of fast-food restaurants. This was a cross-sectional study of 6099 Canadian youths (aged 11-15 years) from 255 school neighbourhoods. All participants lived within 1 km of their school. The density of chain fast-food restaurants within a 1-km circular buffer surrounding each school was determined using geographic information systems. Excessive fast-food consumption (≥2 times per week) was assessed by questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations. The population attributable risk estimates of excessive fast-food consumption due to neighbourhood exposure to fast-food restaurants were determined based on the prevalence of exposure and the results from the logistic regression. Eight percent of participants were excessive fast-food consumers. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors (i.e., gender, race, and socioeconomic status), it was found that youths from neighbourhoods with a moderate (odds ratio (OR), 1.68; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-2.54) or high (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.12-2.56) density of chain fast-food restaurants were more likely to be excessive fast-food consumers than were youths from neighbourhoods with no chain fast-food restaurants. Approximately 31% of excessive consumption was attributable to living in neighbourhoods with a moderate or high density of fast-food restaurants. Thus, the fast-food retail environment within which youth live and go to school is an important contributor to their eating behaviours.
Near-Regular Structure Discovery Using Linear Programming
Huang, Qixing
2014-06-02
Near-regular structures are common in manmade and natural objects. Algorithmic detection of such regularity greatly facilitates our understanding of shape structures, leads to compact encoding of input geometries, and enables efficient generation and manipulation of complex patterns on both acquired and synthesized objects. Such regularity manifests itself both in the repetition of certain geometric elements, as well as in the structured arrangement of the elements. We cast the regularity detection problem as an optimization and efficiently solve it using linear programming techniques. Our optimization has a discrete aspect, that is, the connectivity relationships among the elements, as well as a continuous aspect, namely the locations of the elements of interest. Both these aspects are captured by our near-regular structure extraction framework, which alternates between discrete and continuous optimizations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework on a variety of problems including near-regular structure extraction, structure-preserving pattern manipulation, and markerless correspondence detection. Robustness results with respect to geometric and topological noise are presented on synthesized, real-world, and also benchmark datasets. © 2014 ACM.
Regular Expression Matching and Operational Semantics
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Asiri Rathnayake
2011-08-01
Full Text Available Many programming languages and tools, ranging from grep to the Java String library, contain regular expression matchers. Rather than first translating a regular expression into a deterministic finite automaton, such implementations typically match the regular expression on the fly. Thus they can be seen as virtual machines interpreting the regular expression much as if it were a program with some non-deterministic constructs such as the Kleene star. We formalize this implementation technique for regular expression matching using operational semantics. Specifically, we derive a series of abstract machines, moving from the abstract definition of matching to increasingly realistic machines. First a continuation is added to the operational semantics to describe what remains to be matched after the current expression. Next, we represent the expression as a data structure using pointers, which enables redundant searches to be eliminated via testing for pointer equality. From there, we arrive both at Thompson's lockstep construction and a machine that performs some operations in parallel, suitable for implementation on a large number of cores, such as a GPU. We formalize the parallel machine using process algebra and report some preliminary experiments with an implementation on a graphics processor using CUDA.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hansaim Lim
2016-10-01
Full Text Available Target-based screening is one of the major approaches in drug discovery. Besides the intended target, unexpected drug off-target interactions often occur, and many of them have not been recognized and characterized. The off-target interactions can be responsible for either therapeutic or side effects. Thus, identifying the genome-wide off-targets of lead compounds or existing drugs will be critical for designing effective and safe drugs, and providing new opportunities for drug repurposing. Although many computational methods have been developed to predict drug-target interactions, they are either less accurate than the one that we are proposing here or computationally too intensive, thereby limiting their capability for large-scale off-target identification. In addition, the performances of most machine learning based algorithms have been mainly evaluated to predict off-target interactions in the same gene family for hundreds of chemicals. It is not clear how these algorithms perform in terms of detecting off-targets across gene families on a proteome scale. Here, we are presenting a fast and accurate off-target prediction method, REMAP, which is based on a dual regularized one-class collaborative filtering algorithm, to explore continuous chemical space, protein space, and their interactome on a large scale. When tested in a reliable, extensive, and cross-gene family benchmark, REMAP outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, REMAP is highly scalable. It can screen a dataset of 200 thousands chemicals against 20 thousands proteins within 2 hours. Using the reconstructed genome-wide target profile as the fingerprint of a chemical compound, we predicted that seven FDA-approved drugs can be repurposed as novel anti-cancer therapies. The anti-cancer activity of six of them is supported by experimental evidences. Thus, REMAP is a valuable addition to the existing in silico toolbox for drug target identification, drug repurposing
Lim, Hansaim; Poleksic, Aleksandar; Yao, Yuan; Tong, Hanghang; He, Di; Zhuang, Luke; Meng, Patrick; Xie, Lei
2016-10-01
Target-based screening is one of the major approaches in drug discovery. Besides the intended target, unexpected drug off-target interactions often occur, and many of them have not been recognized and characterized. The off-target interactions can be responsible for either therapeutic or side effects. Thus, identifying the genome-wide off-targets of lead compounds or existing drugs will be critical for designing effective and safe drugs, and providing new opportunities for drug repurposing. Although many computational methods have been developed to predict drug-target interactions, they are either less accurate than the one that we are proposing here or computationally too intensive, thereby limiting their capability for large-scale off-target identification. In addition, the performances of most machine learning based algorithms have been mainly evaluated to predict off-target interactions in the same gene family for hundreds of chemicals. It is not clear how these algorithms perform in terms of detecting off-targets across gene families on a proteome scale. Here, we are presenting a fast and accurate off-target prediction method, REMAP, which is based on a dual regularized one-class collaborative filtering algorithm, to explore continuous chemical space, protein space, and their interactome on a large scale. When tested in a reliable, extensive, and cross-gene family benchmark, REMAP outperforms the state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, REMAP is highly scalable. It can screen a dataset of 200 thousands chemicals against 20 thousands proteins within 2 hours. Using the reconstructed genome-wide target profile as the fingerprint of a chemical compound, we predicted that seven FDA-approved drugs can be repurposed as novel anti-cancer therapies. The anti-cancer activity of six of them is supported by experimental evidences. Thus, REMAP is a valuable addition to the existing in silico toolbox for drug target identification, drug repurposing, phenotypic screening, and
Crenelated fast oscillatory outputs of a two-delay electro-optic oscillator.
Weicker, Lionel; Erneux, Thomas; Jacquot, Maxime; Chembo, Yanne; Larger, Laurent
2012-02-01
An electro-optic oscillator subject to two distinct delayed feedbacks has been designed to develop pronounced broadband chaotic output. Its route to chaos starts with regular pulsating gigahertz oscillations that we investigate both experimentally and theoretically. Of particular physical interest are the transitions to various crenelated fast time-periodic oscillations, prior to the onset of chaotic regimes. The two-delay problem is described mathematically by two coupled delay-differential equations, which we analyze by using multiple-time-scale methods. We show that the interplay of a large delay and a relatively small delay is responsible for the onset of fast oscillations modulated by a slowly varying square-wave envelope. As the bifurcation parameter progressively increases, this envelope undergoes a sequence of bifurcations that corresponds to successive fixed points of a sine map.
Improved FHT Algorithms for Fast Computation of the Discrete Hartley Transform
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
M. T. Hamood
2013-05-01
Full Text Available In this paper, by using the symmetrical properties of the discrete Hartley transform (DHT, an improved radix-2 fast Hartley transform (FHT algorithm with arithmetic complexity comparable to that of the real-valued fast Fourier transform (RFFT is developed. It has a simple and regular butterfly structure and possesses the in-place computation property. Furthermore, using the same principles, the development can be extended to more efficient radix-based FHT algorithms. An example for the improved radix-4 FHT algorithm is given to show the validity of the presented method. The arithmetic complexity for the new algorithms are computed and then compared with the existing FHT algorithms. The results of these comparisons have shown that the developed algorithms reduce the number of multiplications and additions considerably.
Regular consumption of a flavanol-rich chocolate can improve oxidant stress in young soccer players.
Fraga, Cesar G; Actis-Goretta, Lucas; Ottaviani, Javier I; Carrasquedo, Fernando; Lotito, Silvina B; Lazarus, Sheryl; Schmitz, Harold H; Keen, Carl L
2005-03-01
The consumption of a diet rich in certain flavonoids, including the flavanol sub-class, has been associated with a reduced risk for vascular disease. We evaluated the effects of the regular consumption (14 d) of a flavanol-containing milk chocolate (FCMC) or cocoa butter chocolate (CBC) on variables related to vascular disease risk, oxidative stress and physical activity. Twenty-eight free-living, young (18-20 years old) male soccer players consumed daily 105 g of FCMC (168 mg of flavanols) or CBC (cardiovascular health and oxidant stress. The presence of significant quantities of flavanols in FCMC is likely to have been one of the contributing factors to these results.
Tetravalent one-regular graphs of order 4p2
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Feng, Yan-Quan; Kutnar, Klavdija; Marusic, Dragan
2014-01-01
A graph is one-regular if its automorphism group acts regularly on the set of its arcs. In this paper tetravalent one-regular graphs of order 4p2, where p is a prime, are classified.......A graph is one-regular if its automorphism group acts regularly on the set of its arcs. In this paper tetravalent one-regular graphs of order 4p2, where p is a prime, are classified....
Bleich, Sara N; Wolfson, Julia A
2015-12-22
Little is known about national patterns in the use of fast food and packaged food labels among adults by weight loss strategies and demographic characteristics. We analyzed the Consumer Behavior Module in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010 among adults (N = 9,690). For each of the outcome variables - use of packed food and fast food menu labels - multiple logistic regressions were used to adjust for potential differences in population characteristics by weight loss activities and demographic characteristics. Overall, 69 percent of adults reported they would use fast food information and 76 percent reported using the nutrition facts panel on packaged foods. Adults trying to lose weight had a greater likelihood of reporting use of nutrition information to choose fast foods (OR = 1.72; 95 % CI: 1.29, 2.29) and using the nutrition facts panel on food labels (OR = 1.92; 95 % CI: 1.60, 2.30). Black and Hispanic adults were more likely to report using ingredients lists on packaged foods compared to Whites (White -63 %, Black/Hispanic -68 %, p fast food nutrition information.
Adaptive grouping for the higher-order multilevel fast multipole method
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Borries, Oscar Peter; Jørgensen, Erik; Meincke, Peter
2014-01-01
An alternative parameter-free adaptive approach for the grouping of the basis function patterns in the multilevel fast multipole method is presented, yielding significant memory savings compared to the traditional Octree grouping for most discretizations, particularly when using higher-order basis...... functions. Results from both a uniformly and nonuniformly meshed scatterer are presented, showing how the technique is worthwhile even for regular meshes, and demonstrating that there is no loss of accuracy in spite of the large reduction in memory requirements and the relatively low computational cost....
Regularization and error assignment to unfolded distributions
Zech, Gunter
2011-01-01
The commonly used approach to present unfolded data only in graphical formwith the diagonal error depending on the regularization strength is unsatisfac-tory. It does not permit the adjustment of parameters of theories, the exclusionof theories that are admitted by the observed data and does not allow the com-bination of data from different experiments. We propose fixing the regulariza-tion strength by a p-value criterion, indicating the experimental uncertaintiesindependent of the regularization and publishing the unfolded data in additionwithout regularization. These considerations are illustrated with three differentunfolding and smoothing approaches applied to a toy example.
Development of welding and hardfacing technology for the fast reactor programme in India
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bhaduri, Arun Kumar
2013-01-01
Prior to the start of construction of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), extensive research backed technology development was planned and implemented for materials, welding consumables, fabrication of stringent-specification components and finalisation of quality assurance procedures of fabricated components. With close interaction amongst design, materials and non-destructive evaluation engineers, materials and welding consumable manufactures, and the fabrication industries, it has been possible to overcome the challenges during fabrication of all the structural welds and pipes. This paper presents a comprehensive experience of the development of welding and hardfacing technology for PFBR. (author)
POLA KONSUMSI FAST FOOD DAN SERAT SEBAGAI FAKTOR GIZI LEBIH PADA REMAJA
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vilda Ana Veria Setyawati
2016-07-01
data were analyzed with chi square test. The result showed that 58.5% of respondents were malnourished, which consists of underweight, overweight, obese I and obese II; while 41.5% of them were normal in nutrition status. It could be said that the teenagers had a problem with nutritional status. Fast food consumption (p = 0.21 and fiber consumption (p = 0.43 were not significantly associated with overweight. Most respondents consume fast food frequently (95.4% and consume fiber less (84.6%.
Temporal partitioning of adaptive responses of the murine heart to fasting.
Brewer, Rachel A; Collins, Helen E; Berry, Ryan D; Brahma, Manoja K; Tirado, Brian A; Peliciari-Garcia, Rodrigo A; Stanley, Haley L; Wende, Adam R; Taegtmeyer, Heinrich; Rajasekaran, Namakkal Soorappan; Darley-Usmar, Victor; Zhang, Jianhua; Frank, Stuart J; Chatham, John C; Young, Martin E
2018-03-15
Recent studies suggest that the time of day at which food is consumed dramatically influences clinically-relevant cardiometabolic parameters (e.g., adiposity, insulin sensitivity, and cardiac function). Meal feeding benefits may be the result of daily periods of feeding and/or fasting, highlighting the need for improved understanding of the temporal adaptation of cardiometabolic tissues (e.g., heart) to fasting. Such studies may provide mechanistic insight regarding how time-of-day-dependent feeding/fasting cycles influence cardiac function. We hypothesized that fasting during the sleep period elicits beneficial adaptation of the heart at transcriptional, translational, and metabolic levels. To test this hypothesis, temporal adaptation was investigated in wild-type mice fasted for 24-h, or for either the 12-h light/sleep phase or the 12-h dark/awake phase. Fasting maximally induced fatty acid responsive genes (e.g., Pdk4) during the dark/active phase; transcriptional changes were mirrored at translational (e.g., PDK4) and metabolic flux (e.g., glucose/oleate oxidation) levels. Similarly, maximal repression of myocardial p-mTOR and protein synthesis rates occurred during the dark phase; both parameters remained elevated in the heart of fasted mice during the light phase. In contrast, markers of autophagy (e.g., LC3II) exhibited peak responses to fasting during the light phase. Collectively, these data show that responsiveness of the heart to fasting is temporally partitioned. Autophagy peaks during the light/sleep phase, while repression of glucose utilization and protein synthesis is maximized during the dark/active phase. We speculate that sleep phase fasting may benefit cardiac function through augmentation of protein/cellular constituent turnover. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Higher order total variation regularization for EIT reconstruction.
Gong, Bo; Schullcke, Benjamin; Krueger-Ziolek, Sabine; Zhang, Fan; Mueller-Lisse, Ullrich; Moeller, Knut
2018-01-08
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) attempts to reveal the conductivity distribution of a domain based on the electrical boundary condition. This is an ill-posed inverse problem; its solution is very unstable. Total variation (TV) regularization is one of the techniques commonly employed to stabilize reconstructions. However, it is well known that TV regularization induces staircase effects, which are not realistic in clinical applications. To reduce such artifacts, modified TV regularization terms considering a higher order differential operator were developed in several previous studies. One of them is called total generalized variation (TGV) regularization. TGV regularization has been successively applied in image processing in a regular grid context. In this study, we adapted TGV regularization to the finite element model (FEM) framework for EIT reconstruction. Reconstructions using simulation and clinical data were performed. First results indicate that, in comparison to TV regularization, TGV regularization promotes more realistic images. Graphical abstract Reconstructed conductivity changes located on selected vertical lines. For each of the reconstructed images as well as the ground truth image, conductivity changes located along the selected left and right vertical lines are plotted. In these plots, the notation GT in the legend stands for ground truth, TV stands for total variation method, and TGV stands for total generalized variation method. Reconstructed conductivity distributions from the GREIT algorithm are also demonstrated.
Oxidative stress and antioxidants in athletes undertaking regular exercise training.
Watson, Trent A; MacDonald-Wicks, Lesley K; Garg, Manohar L
2005-04-01
Exercise has been shown to increase the production of reactive oxygen species to a point that can exceed antioxidant defenses to cause oxidative stress. Dietary intake of antioxidants, physical activity levels, various antioxidants and oxidative stress markers were examined in 20 exercise-trained "athletes" and 20 age- and sex-matched sedentary "controls." Plasma F2-isoprostanes, antioxidant enzyme activities, and uric acid levels were similar in athletes and sedentary controls. Plasma alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene were higher in athletes compared with sedentary controls. Total antioxidant capacity tended to be lower in athletes, with a significant difference between male athletes and male controls. Dietary intakes of antioxidants were also similar between groups and well above recommended dietary intakes for Australians. These findings suggest that athletes who consume a diet rich in antioxidants have elevated plasma alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene that were likely to be brought about by adaptive processes resulting from regular exercise.
Application of Turchin's method of statistical regularization
Zelenyi, Mikhail; Poliakova, Mariia; Nozik, Alexander; Khudyakov, Alexey
2018-04-01
During analysis of experimental data, one usually needs to restore a signal after it has been convoluted with some kind of apparatus function. According to Hadamard's definition this problem is ill-posed and requires regularization to provide sensible results. In this article we describe an implementation of the Turchin's method of statistical regularization based on the Bayesian approach to the regularization strategy.
Zair, Yassine; Kasbi-Chadli, Fatima; Housez, Beatrice; Pichelin, Mathieu; Cazaubiel, Murielle; Raoux, François; Ouguerram, Khadija
2013-07-18
During postprandial state, TG concentration is increasing and HDL cholesterol decreasing, leading to a transitory pro-atherosclerotic profile. Previous studies have reported that bicarbonate water improve postprandial lipemia. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of a strongly bicarbonated mineral water on lipoprotein levels during fasting and postprandial state. A controlled, randomised, double-blind cross-over design was conducted in 12 moderately hypercholesterolemic subjects after a daily ingestion of 1.25 L of mineral (SY) or low mineral water during eight weeks separated by a one week wash-out period. Blood samples were collected in first visit to the hospital (V1) before water consumption (referent or SY) and in a second visit (V2) after eight week water consumption period. The effect of the consumed water was studied in fasting and in postprandial state during ingestion of a meal and 0.5 L of water. Comparison of data between V1 and V2 after SY consumption showed a significant decrease in triglyceridemia (23%), VLDL TG (31%) and tendency to a decrease of VLDL cholesterol (p = 0.066) at fasting state. Whatever the consumed water during postprandial state, the measurement of total areas under curves did not show a significant difference. No difference was observed between SY and referent water consumption for measured parameters at fasting and postprandial state. When subjects consumed SY we showed a decrease of their basal TG and VLDLTG. The unexpected absence of effect of high mineralized water on postprandial lipemia, probably related to experimental conditions, is discussed in the discussion section.
On the regularities of gamma-ray initiated emission of really-secondary electrons
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Grudskij, M.Ya.; Roldugin, N.N.; Smirnov, V.V.
1982-01-01
Emission regularities of the really-secondary electrons from metals are discussed on the basis of experimental data on electron emission characteristics under gamma radiation of incident quanta produced for a wide energy range (Esub(γ)=0.03+-2 MeV) and atomic numbers of target materials (Z=13+-79). Comparison with published experimental and calculated data is performed. It is shown that yield of the really-secondary electrons into vacuum from the target surface bombarded with a normally incident collimated beam of gamma radiation calculating on energy unit absorbed in the yield zone of the really-secondary electrons is determined only with the target material emittivity and can be calculated if spatial-energy distributions and the number of secondary fast electrons emitted out of the target are known
On the regularized fermionic projector of the vacuum
Finster, Felix
2008-03-01
We construct families of fermionic projectors with spherically symmetric regularization, which satisfy the condition of a distributional MP-product. The method is to analyze regularization tails with a power law or logarithmic scaling in composite expressions in the fermionic projector. The resulting regularizations break the Lorentz symmetry and give rise to a multilayer structure of the fermionic projector near the light cone. Furthermore, we construct regularizations which go beyond the distributional MP-product in that they yield additional distributional contributions supported at the origin. The remaining freedom for the regularization parameters and the consequences for the normalization of the fermionic states are discussed.
On the regularized fermionic projector of the vacuum
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Finster, Felix
2008-01-01
We construct families of fermionic projectors with spherically symmetric regularization, which satisfy the condition of a distributional MP-product. The method is to analyze regularization tails with a power law or logarithmic scaling in composite expressions in the fermionic projector. The resulting regularizations break the Lorentz symmetry and give rise to a multilayer structure of the fermionic projector near the light cone. Furthermore, we construct regularizations which go beyond the distributional MP-product in that they yield additional distributional contributions supported at the origin. The remaining freedom for the regularization parameters and the consequences for the normalization of the fermionic states are discussed
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Costa, Ana I.A.
for ethical benefits to be introduced in fish production, namely for those perceived to be associated with food safety. Nevertheless, these findings also point out that consumers' may not always value the ethical attributes they consider relevant in a consistent manner, especially if these seem to contradict......This paper presents the outcome of a pilot study on Dutch consumers' willingness-to-pay for fresh fish originating from production systems with different levels of ethical attributes, as estimated through the performance of experimental auctions. Fifteen Dutch citizens living in Noord......-Holland and being regular consumers of fresh fish were selected to participate in this study. Two experimental sessions were held in December 2003. Information regarding the subjects, their knowledge about fish production systems and the perceived relevance of different ethical attributes was collected prior...
Bredberg, David; Holmquist, Johan
2009-01-01
Recent research on links between dimensions of consumer-based brand equity, as well as links to consumer involvement, has shown that it is a significant predictor of purchase behavior. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the affect brands have on consumer involvement. We attempt to investigate how consumer-based brand equity affects the level of consumer involvement. Based on consumer behavior theory and previous research of these areas, gathered primary data (an empirical investig...
Safety and feasibility of fasting in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy.
Dorff, Tanya B; Groshen, Susan; Garcia, Agustin; Shah, Manali; Tsao-Wei, Denice; Pham, Huyen; Cheng, Chia-Wei; Brandhorst, Sebastian; Cohen, Pinchas; Wei, Min; Longo, Valter; Quinn, David I
2016-06-10
Short-term starvation prior to chemotherapy administration protects mice against toxicity. We undertook dose-escalation of fasting prior to platinum-based chemotherapy to determine safety and feasibility in cancer patients. 3 cohorts fasted before chemotherapy for 24, 48 and 72 h (divided as 48 pre-chemo and 24 post-chemo) and recorded all calories consumed. Feasibility was defined as ≥ 3/6 subjects in each cohort consuming ≤ 200 kcal per 24 h during the fast period without excess toxicity. Oxidative stress was evaluated in leukocytes using the COMET assay. Insulin, glucose, ketones, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) were measured as biomarkers of the fasting state. The median age of our 20 subjects was 61, and 85 % were women. Feasibility criteria were met. Fasting-related toxicities were limited to ≤ grade 2, most commonly fatigue, headache, and dizziness. The COMET assay indicated reduced DNA damage in leukocytes from subjects who fasted for ≥48 h (p = 0.08). There was a non-significant trend toward less grade 3 or 4 neutropenia in the 48 and 72 h cohorts compared to 24 h cohort (p = 0.17). IGF-1 levels decreased by 30, 33 and 8 % in the 24, 48 and 72 h fasting cohorts respectively after the first fasting period. Fasting for 72 h around chemotherapy administration is safe and feasible for cancer patients. Biomarkers such as IGF-1 may facilitate assessment of differences in chemotherapy toxicity in subgroups achieving the physiologic fasting state. An onging randomized trial is studying the effect of 72 h of fasting. NCT00936364 , registered propectively on July 9, 2009.
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Soussaline, F.; LeCoq, C.; Raynaud, C.; Kellershohn
1982-01-01
The potential of the Regularizing Iterative Method (RIM), when used in brain studies, is evaluated. RIM is designed to provide fast and accurate reconstruction of tomographic images when non-uniform attenuation is to be accounted for. As indicated by phantom studies, this method improves the contrast and the signal-to-noise ratio as compared to those obtained with Filtered Back Projection (FBP) technique. Preliminary results obtained in brain studies using isopropil-amphetamine I-123 (AMPI-123) are very encouraging in terms of quantitative regional cellular activity. However, the clinical usefulness of this mathematically accurate reconstruction procedure is going to be demonstrated, in comparing quantitative data in heart or liver studies where control values can be obtained
Regularization modeling for large-eddy simulation
Geurts, Bernardus J.; Holm, D.D.
2003-01-01
A new modeling approach for large-eddy simulation (LES) is obtained by combining a "regularization principle" with an explicit filter and its inversion. This regularization approach allows a systematic derivation of the implied subgrid model, which resolves the closure problem. The central role of
Consuming Web Services on Mobile Platforms
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Alin COBARZAN
2010-01-01
Full Text Available Web services are an emerging technology that provides interoperability between applications running in different platforms. The Web services technology provide the best approach to Service Oriented Architecture envision of component collaboration for better business re-quirements fulfilment in large enterprise systems. The challenges in implementing Web services consuming clients for low-resources mobile devices connected through unreliable wireless connections are delimited. The paper also presents a communication architecture that moves the heavy load of XML-based messaging system from the mobile clients to an external middleware component. The middleware component will act like a gateway that lightly com-municates with the device in a client-server manner over a fast binary protocol and at the same time takes the responsibility of solving the request to the Web service.
Health care consumer reports: an evaluation of consumer perspectives.
Longo, Daniel R; Everet, Kevin D
2003-01-01
There has been a proliferation of health care consumer reports, also known as "consumer guides," "report cards," and "performance reports," which are designed to assist consumers in making more informed health care decisions. While there is evidence that providers use such reports to identify and make changes in practice, thus improving the quality of care, there is little empirical evidence on how consumer guides/report cards are used by consumers. This study fills that gap by surveying 925 patients as they wait for ambulatory care in several clinics in a midwestern city. Findings indicate that consumers are selective in their use of these reports and quickly identify those sections of the report of most interest to them. Report developers should take precautions to ensure such reports are viewed as credible sources of health care information.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Mark Elisabeth Theodorus Willems
2017-07-01
Full Text Available Background: Blood glucose and insulin are elevated after intake of carbohydrate, with levels returning to normal in about 2-3 hours after ingestion. We examined the effects of daily New Zealand blackcurrant intake over 7 days on fasting glucose and insulin levels and the responses of glucose and insulin during an oral glucose tolerance test (i.e. OGTT. Methods: Seventeen healthy participants (9 males, 8 females, age: 24±8 years, body mass: 75.4±16.4 kg, height 172±11 cm, body mass index: 25.3±3.3 consumed 6 g·day-1 New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC powder for 7 days. Every 6 g of the serving contained 138.6 mg anthocyanins, 49 mg vitamin C, and 5.2 g of carbohydrates with total phenolic content 271.6 mg. A cross-over design was used. Participants completed one OGTT before starting the supplementation (day 0 and another OGTT after 7 days of the supplementation (day 7. For the OGTT, participants were seated and consumed 75 g of glucose dissolved in 250 mL water. Finger prick capillary samples were taken before and every 30 minutes for a total of 120 minutes after consuming the glucose drink. Following duplicate glucose analysis, blood samples were centrifuged and then plasma was separated and frozen (-20°C for triplicate insulin analysis using a human 96-well insulin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IBL international, Hamburg, Germany. Results: NZBC had no effect on fasting glucose (control: 4.46±0.45; NZBC: 4.41±0.44 mmol·L1, P=0.657, although there was a trend for fasting insulin to be 14.3% lower (control: 66.5±28.2; NZBC: 57.0±29.5 pmol·L-1 (P=0.091. HOMA-IR was not different between the control and NZBC (1.81±0.73 vs 1.58±0.83 (P=0.126. With NZBC during the OGTT, plasma glucose at 60 min was 8.1% lower (control: 6.68±1.13; NZBC: 6.14±1.41 mmol·L-1; P=0.016, insulin at 30 min was 18.4% lower (control: 337.1±228.3; NZBC: 275.0±136.4 pmol·L-1; P= 0.021, and insulin at 60 min was 39.2% lower (control: 297.8±154.3; NZBC: 181.2
Brand name logo recognition of fast food and healthy food among children.
Arredondo, Elva; Castaneda, Diego; Elder, John P; Slymen, Donald; Dozier, David
2009-02-01
The fast food industry has been increasingly criticized for creating brand loyalty in young consumers. Food marketers are well versed in reaching children and youth given the importance of brand loyalty on future food purchasing behavior. In addition, food marketers are increasingly targeting the Hispanic population given their growing spending power. The fast food industry is among the leaders in reaching youth and ethnic minorities through their marketing efforts. The primary objective of this study was to determine if young children recognized fast food restaurant logos at a higher rate than other food brands. Methods Children (n = 155; 53% male; 87% Hispanic) ages 4-8 years were recruited from elementary schools and asked to match 10 logo cards to products depicted on a game board. Parents completed a survey assessing demographic and psychosocial characteristics associated with a healthy lifestyle in the home. Results Older children and children who were overweight were significantly more likely to recognize fast food restaurant logos than other food logos. Moreover, parents' psychosocial and socio-demographic characteristics were associated with the type of food logo recognized by the children. Conclusions Children's high recognition of fast food restaurant logos may reflect greater exposure to fast food advertisements. Families' socio-demographic characteristics play a role in children's recognition of food logos.
Optimal Fasting Time before Measurement of Serum Triglyceride Levels in Healthy Volunteers.
Pongsuthana, Surapun; Tivatunsakul, Naris
2016-02-01
Coronary heart disease is a major public health problem. Elevated triglyceride levels are a risk factor for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. Food intake interferes with the measurement of serum triglyceride levels, and in previous studies, fasting for 12 hours was recommended before blood sampling. In real-world practice, long fasting times cause patient discomfort and poor compliance, and the present study was, therefore, designed to determine the appropriate fasting time prior to measuring serum triglyceride levels. To determine the appropriate fasting time before measuring serum triglyceride levels. This was a pilot study performed using healthy volunteers aged between 20 and 30 years old from November 2013 to December 2013 at Rajavithi Hospital. The first blood sample was measured in the morning after fasting over 12 hours. The subjects then took their regular breakfast, after which they fasted for 8 hours. Blood samples were taken 6 and 8 hours later and sent to the laboratory for measurement of serum triglyceride levels. 40 volunteers, of whom 25 were female, were enrolled. Their mean age was 25.9 ± 2.81 years old, and their mean weight, height, and body mass index were 61.5 ± 12.5 kg, 167.2 ± 8.3 cm and 21.84 ± 3.1 kg/m2, respectively. Mean fasting serum triglyceride level at 12 hours was 80.23 ± 36.33 mg/dl, at 6 hours it was 110.65 ± 73.45 mg/dl, and at 8 hours it was 75.62 ± 46.81 mg/dl. The group fasting for 12 hours had significantly lower serum triglyceride levels than the group fasting for 6 hours (p-value = 0.003), but no significant difference was found between the group fasting for 12 hours and the one fasting for 8 hours (p-value = 0.493). The present study showed no significant difference in triglyceride levels in patients who had fasted or 8 hours and those who had done so for 12 hours. Fasting for only 8 hours before measurement of serum triglyceride may be sufficient.
Spatially-Variant Tikhonov Regularization for Double-Difference Waveform Inversion
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Lin, Youzuo [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Huang, Lianjie [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Zhang, Zhigang [Los Alamos National Laboratory
2011-01-01
Double-difference waveform inversion is a potential tool for quantitative monitoring for geologic carbon storage. It jointly inverts time-lapse seismic data for changes in reservoir geophysical properties. Due to the ill-posedness of waveform inversion, it is a great challenge to obtain reservoir changes accurately and efficiently, particularly when using time-lapse seismic reflection data. Regularization techniques can be utilized to address the issue of ill-posedness. The regularization parameter controls the smoothness of inversion results. A constant regularization parameter is normally used in waveform inversion, and an optimal regularization parameter has to be selected. The resulting inversion results are a trade off among regions with different smoothness or noise levels; therefore the images are either over regularized in some regions while under regularized in the others. In this paper, we employ a spatially-variant parameter in the Tikhonov regularization scheme used in double-difference waveform tomography to improve the inversion accuracy and robustness. We compare the results obtained using a spatially-variant parameter with those obtained using a constant regularization parameter and those produced without any regularization. We observe that, utilizing a spatially-variant regularization scheme, the target regions are well reconstructed while the noise is reduced in the other regions. We show that the spatially-variant regularization scheme provides the flexibility to regularize local regions based on the a priori information without increasing computational costs and the computer memory requirement.
Health and nutrition content claims on Australian fast-food websites.
Wellard, Lyndal; Koukoumas, Alexandra; Watson, Wendy L; Hughes, Clare
2017-03-01
To determine the extent that Australian fast-food websites contain nutrition content and health claims, and whether these claims are compliant with the new provisions of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code ('the Code'). Systematic content analysis of all web pages to identify nutrition content and health claims. Nutrition information panels were used to determine whether products with claims met Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criteria (NPSC) and qualifying criteria, and to compare them with the Code to determine compliance. Australian websites of forty-four fast-food chains including meals, bakery, ice cream, beverage and salad chains. Any products marketed on the websites using health or nutrition content claims. Of the forty-four fast-food websites, twenty (45 %) had at least one claim. A total of 2094 claims were identified on 371 products, including 1515 nutrition content (72 %) and 579 health claims (28 %). Five fast-food products with health (5 %) and 157 products with nutrition content claims (43 %) did not meet the requirements of the Code to allow them to carry such claims. New provisions in the Code came into effect in January 2016 after a 3-year transition. Food regulatory agencies should review fast-food websites to ensure compliance with the qualifying criteria for nutrition content and health claim regulations. This would prevent consumers from viewing unhealthy foods as healthier choices. Healthy choices could be facilitated by applying NPSC to nutrition content claims. Fast-food chains should be educated on the requirements of the Code regarding claims.
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Balantekin, M., E-mail: mujdatbalantekin@iyte.edu.tr [Electrical and Electronics Engineering, İzmir Institute of Technology, Urla, İzmir 35430 (Turkey); Satır, S.; Torello, D.; Değertekin, F. L. [Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0405 (United States)
2014-12-15
We present the proof-of-principle experiments of a high-speed actuation method to be used in tapping-mode atomic force microscopes (AFM). In this method, we do not employ a piezotube actuator to move the tip or the sample as in conventional AFM systems, but, we utilize a Q-controlled eigenmode of a cantilever to perform the fast actuation. We show that the actuation speed can be increased even with a regular cantilever.
Jie, Biao; Zhang, Daoqiang; Cheng, Bo; Shen, Dinggang
2013-01-01
Accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), as well as its prodromal stage (i.e., mild cognitive impairment, MCI), is very important for possible delay and early treatment of the disease. Recently, multi-modality methods have been used for fusing information from multiple different and complementary imaging and non-imaging modalities. Although there are a number of existing multi-modality methods, few of them have addressed the problem of joint identification of disease-related brain regions from multi-modality data for classification. In this paper, we proposed a manifold regularized multi-task learning framework to jointly select features from multi-modality data. Specifically, we formulate the multi-modality classification as a multi-task learning framework, where each task focuses on the classification based on each modality. In order to capture the intrinsic relatedness among multiple tasks (i.e., modalities), we adopted a group sparsity regularizer, which ensures only a small number of features to be selected jointly. In addition, we introduced a new manifold based Laplacian regularization term to preserve the geometric distribution of original data from each task, which can lead to the selection of more discriminative features. Furthermore, we extend our method to the semi-supervised setting, which is very important since the acquisition of a large set of labeled data (i.e., diagnosis of disease) is usually expensive and time-consuming, while the collection of unlabeled data is relatively much easier. To validate our method, we have performed extensive evaluations on the baseline Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) data of Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Between wine consumption and wine tourism: Consumer and spatial behavior of Israeli wine tourists
Shor, Noa; Mansfeld, Yoel
2010-01-01
The development of wine tourism worldwide has been accompanied by academic research on wine tourism and wine tourists. Wine tourists and wine enthusiasts have been found to share many socio-demographic similarities. It has been found that people visiting wineries consume wine on a regular basis, have an average to high level of knowledge about wine, and visit wineries and wine-producing regions a few times a year. Their involvement with wine is apparent both from their daily consumption and f...
Manifold Regularized Correlation Object Tracking.
Hu, Hongwei; Ma, Bo; Shen, Jianbing; Shao, Ling
2018-05-01
In this paper, we propose a manifold regularized correlation tracking method with augmented samples. To make better use of the unlabeled data and the manifold structure of the sample space, a manifold regularization-based correlation filter is introduced, which aims to assign similar labels to neighbor samples. Meanwhile, the regression model is learned by exploiting the block-circulant structure of matrices resulting from the augmented translated samples over multiple base samples cropped from both target and nontarget regions. Thus, the final classifier in our method is trained with positive, negative, and unlabeled base samples, which is a semisupervised learning framework. A block optimization strategy is further introduced to learn a manifold regularization-based correlation filter for efficient online tracking. Experiments on two public tracking data sets demonstrate the superior performance of our tracker compared with the state-of-the-art tracking approaches.
Tilles-Tirkkonen, Tanja; Pentikäinen, Saara; Lappi, Jenni; Karhunen, Leila; Poutanen, Kaisa; Mykkänen, Hannu
2011-12-01
To explore how the quality of school lunch consumed reflected overall eating patterns in school-aged children. Children filled in an Internet-based questionnaire about their eating patterns. The children were then divided into balanced and imbalanced school lunch eaters on the basis of their responses in the questionnaire. A balanced school lunch consisted of, by the definition used in the present study, a main dish, salad and bread. Eleven primary schools and one middle school in eastern Finland. A total of 531 schoolchildren (247 boys and 284 girls) aged 11-16 years. The school lunch was balanced in 46·5% of children. Eating a balanced school lunch was associated with overall healthier eating patterns outside school. Children who ate a balanced school lunch had more regular meal times and consumed healthier snacks. They ate fruit or berries and vegetables, dairy products and wholegrain foods more often, consumed fewer salty snacks, pizzas, meat pies and drank fewer soft drinks and energy drinks. Their eating patterns at home were also healthier, with vegetables being offered at every family dinner and fruit being offered daily, whereas soft drinks were offered seldom. The choices made by children in their school lunch reflect the overall eating patterns among school-aged children. Eating a balanced school lunch is associated with more regular meal patterns, the availability of healthier foods at home and an overall healthier diet, suggesting that healthy eating patterns are learnt at home.
From recreational to regular drug use
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Järvinen, Margaretha; Ravn, Signe
2011-01-01
This article analyses the process of going from recreational use to regular and problematic use of illegal drugs. We present a model containing six career contingencies relevant for young people’s progress from recreational to regular drug use: the closing of social networks, changes in forms...
Berezowska, Aleksandra; Fischer, Arnout R H; Ronteltap, Amber; Kuznesof, Sharron; Macready, Anna; Fallaize, Rosalind; van Trijp, Hans C M
2014-01-01
Personalised nutrition (PN) may provide major health benefits to consumers. A potential barrier to the uptake of PN is consumers' reluctance to disclose sensitive information upon which PN is based. This study adopts the privacy calculus to explore how PN service attributes contribute to consumers' privacy risk and personalisation benefit perceptions. Sixteen focus groups (n = 124) were held in 8 EU countries and discussed 9 PN services that differed in terms of personal information, communication channel, service provider, advice justification, scope, frequency, and customer lock-in. Transcripts were content analysed. The personal information that underpinned PN contributed to both privacy risk perception and personalisation benefit perception. Disclosing information face-to-face mitigated the perception of privacy risk and amplified the perception of personalisation benefit. PN provided by a qualified expert and justified by scientific evidence increased participants' value perception. Enhancing convenience, offering regular face-to face support, and employing customer lock-in strategies were perceived as beneficial. This study suggests that to encourage consumer adoption, PN has to account for face-to-face communication, expert advice providers, support, a lifestyle-change focus, and customised offers. The results provide an initial insight into service attributes that influence consumer adoption of PN. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.
Eslami, Taban; Saeed, Fahad
2018-04-20
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive brain imaging technique, which has been regularly used for studying brain’s functional activities in the past few years. A very well-used measure for capturing functional associations in brain is Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Pearson’s correlation is widely used for constructing functional network and studying dynamic functional connectivity of the brain. These are useful measures for understanding the effects of brain disorders on connectivities among brain regions. The fMRI scanners produce huge number of voxels and using traditional central processing unit (CPU)-based techniques for computing pairwise correlations is very time consuming especially when large number of subjects are being studied. In this paper, we propose a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based algorithm called Fast-GPU-PCC for computing pairwise Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Based on the symmetric property of Pearson’s correlation, this approach returns N ( N − 1 ) / 2 correlation coefficients located at strictly upper triangle part of the correlation matrix. Storing correlations in a one-dimensional array with the order as proposed in this paper is useful for further usage. Our experiments on real and synthetic fMRI data for different number of voxels and varying length of time series show that the proposed approach outperformed state of the art GPU-based techniques as well as the sequential CPU-based versions. We show that Fast-GPU-PCC runs 62 times faster than CPU-based version and about 2 to 3 times faster than two other state of the art GPU-based methods.
Regular variation on measure chains
Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database
Řehák, Pavel; Vitovec, J.
2010-01-01
Roč. 72, č. 1 (2010), s. 439-448 ISSN 0362-546X R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KJB100190701 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : regularly varying function * regularly varying sequence * measure chain * time scale * embedding theorem * representation theorem * second order dynamic equation * asymptotic properties Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.279, year: 2010 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362546X09008475
New regular black hole solutions
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lemos, Jose P. S.; Zanchin, Vilson T.
2011-01-01
In the present work we consider general relativity coupled to Maxwell's electromagnetism and charged matter. Under the assumption of spherical symmetry, there is a particular class of solutions that correspond to regular charged black holes whose interior region is de Sitter, the exterior region is Reissner-Nordstroem and there is a charged thin-layer in-between the two. The main physical and geometrical properties of such charged regular black holes are analyzed.
Manifold Regularized Correlation Object Tracking
Hu, Hongwei; Ma, Bo; Shen, Jianbing; Shao, Ling
2017-01-01
In this paper, we propose a manifold regularized correlation tracking method with augmented samples. To make better use of the unlabeled data and the manifold structure of the sample space, a manifold regularization-based correlation filter is introduced, which aims to assign similar labels to neighbor samples. Meanwhile, the regression model is learned by exploiting the block-circulant structure of matrices resulting from the augmented translated samples over multiple base samples cropped fr...
On geodesics in low regularity
Sämann, Clemens; Steinbauer, Roland
2018-02-01
We consider geodesics in both Riemannian and Lorentzian manifolds with metrics of low regularity. We discuss existence of extremal curves for continuous metrics and present several old and new examples that highlight their subtle interrelation with solutions of the geodesic equations. Then we turn to the initial value problem for geodesics for locally Lipschitz continuous metrics and generalize recent results on existence, regularity and uniqueness of solutions in the sense of Filippov.
Wilde-Piorko, M.; Polkowski, M.
2016-12-01
Seismic wave travel time calculation is the most common numerical operation in seismology. The most efficient is travel time calculation in 1D velocity model - for given source, receiver depths and angular distance time is calculated within fraction of a second. Unfortunately, in most cases 1D is not enough to encounter differentiating local and regional structures. Whenever possible travel time through 3D velocity model has to be calculated. It can be achieved using ray calculation or time propagation in space. While single ray path calculation is quick it is complicated to find the ray path that connects source with the receiver. Time propagation in space using Fast Marching Method seems more efficient in most cases, especially when there are multiple receivers. In this presentation final release of a Python module pySeismicFMM is presented - simple and very efficient tool for calculating travel time from sources to receivers. Calculation requires regular 2D or 3D velocity grid either in Cartesian or geographic coordinates. On desktop class computer calculation speed is 200k grid cells per second. Calculation has to be performed once for every source location and provides travel time to all receivers. pySeismicFMM is free and open source. Development of this tool is a part of authors PhD thesis. Source code of pySeismicFMM will be published before Fall Meeting. National Science Centre Poland provided financial support for this work via NCN grant DEC-2011/02/A/ST10/00284.