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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Consumer Science'
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1
Jaeger, Sara Roust. "The application of consumer science techniques to explore consumer behaviour in relation to apples." Thesis, University of Reading, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.325165.
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Wallace, Rick L. "Consumer Health." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2005. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8788.
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Wallace, Rick L. "Consumer Health." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2006. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8776.
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Donelan, Amy K. "Consumer poultry handling behaviors." Thesis, Kansas State University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/20477.
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Master of ScienceHuman Nutrition
Delores H. Chambers
Understanding how consumers handle poultry can highlight gaps in consumer knowledge and practice of food safety. Quantitative research provides only a partial image, whereas qualitative data is helpful in gaining a complete picture of a shopper's behaviors. The objective of this study was to determine what poultry product microbes could potentially be transferred during purchasing and home storage; using a shop-along observational technique to observe actual shopping, transporting, and storing behavior of consumers with raw poultry products. In 71% (n=97) of the situations observed there was no visible hand sanitizer or wipes in the meat section of the grocery store. Plastic bags could be found in the meat section 85% (n=97) of the time, which only 25% of shoppers (n=82) used the bag for their poultry products. During transportation, the consumer bagged the poultry separately from other products in 71% of the observations. A majority of shoppers (59%) stored poultry without using a plastic bag or other container. Overall, there needs to be an increase in food safety education on the handling of poultry during purchasing, transporting, and storage.
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Trussler, Marc. "Consumer choice in political news." Thesis, McGill University, 2013. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=119471.
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This thesis is concerned with the role that consumer demand for news plays in political behaviour. While a great deal of study has been done to examine media supply, very little has looked into the other side of the equation. If we are interested in the distortions media creates, than part of that equation must be a concern with what types of news individuals select -- particularly in the 21st century context of a "high-choice" media-environment. I examine this problem through a new experimental method designed to overcome shortcomings in the existing research. Previous studies have focused their methodologies primarily on achieving generalizability, while the method here seeks to find a better balance with internal validity. I use this method to tackle two different areas: demand for negative and strategic news (Experiment One); and demand for news that confirms test-subjects ideological and partisan biases (Experiment Two). Both studies produce significant results that bolster confidence in this new methodology.Ce mémoire traite du rôle des demandes des consommateurs au niveau des nouvelles et la relation avec le comportement politique. Alors que plusieurs études ont traité de l'offre médiatique, peu se sont intéressées à l'autre côté de la médaille. Si nous sommes intéressés aux distorsions créées par les médias, il faut évidemment étudier le type de nouvelles que les individus sélectionnent. Cela est d'autant plus justifié que nous vivons dans une ère où l'environnement médiatique offre plusieurs choix de nouvelles aux consommateurs. J'étudie cette problématique à travers les méthodes expérimentales afin de surmonter les failles méthodologiques des études existantes. Les recherches précédentes se sont concentrées sur le fait d'avoir des résultats généralisables, alors que la présente recherche tente de trouver un meilleur équilibre avec la validité interne. J'utilise cette méthode afin de préciser deux différents champs : la demande pour des nouvelles stratégiques et négatives (Expérience #1); et, la demande pour des nouvelles satisfaisant l'idéologie et l'identification partisane des sujets-tests (Expérience #2). Les deux expériences produisent des résultats significatifs qui renforcent la confiance à avoir en cette nouvelle méthode.
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Wallace, Rick L. "Consumer Health Information." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2004. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8793.
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Endrizzi, Isabella <1975>. "Clustering of variables around latent components: an application in consumer science." Doctoral thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2008. http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/667/.
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The present work proposes a method based on CLV (Clustering around Latent
Variables) for identifying groups of consumers in L-shape data. This kind of datastructure
is very common in consumer studies where a panel of consumers is asked to
assess the global liking of a certain number of products and then, preference scores are
arranged in a two-way table Y. External information on both products (physicalchemical
description or sensory attributes) and consumers (socio-demographic
background, purchase behaviours or consumption habits) may be available in a row
descriptor matrix X and in a column descriptor matrix Z respectively. The aim of this
method is to automatically provide a consumer segmentation where all the three
matrices play an active role in the classification, getting homogeneous groups from all
points of view: preference, products and consumer characteristics.
The proposed clustering method is illustrated on data from preference studies on food
products: juices based on berry fruits and traditional cheeses from Trentino. The
hedonic ratings given by the consumer panel on the products under study were
explained with respect to the product chemical compounds, sensory evaluation and
consumer socio-demographic information, purchase behaviour and consumption habits.
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Miller, Vail Marie. "The Role of Consumers in the Success of the Consumer Driven Healthcare Movement." Cleveland, Ohio : Case Western Reserve University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1259787032.
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Thesis(Ph.D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2010Title from PDF (viewed on 2010-01-28) Department of Bioethics Includes abstract Includes bibliographical references and appendices Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center
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Alsaleh, Mansour A. "Enhancing consumer privacy in identity federation architectures." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27326.
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Internet usage has been growing significantly, and the issue of online privacy has become a correspondingly greater concern. Several recent surveys show that users' concern about the privacy of their personal information reduces their use of electronic businesses and Internet services; furthermore, many users choose to provide false data in order to protect their real identities. Identity federation aims to assemble an identity virtually from a user's personal information stored across multiple distinct identity management systems. Liberty Alliance is one of the most recognized projects in developing an open standard for federated network identity. Although one of the key objectives of the Liberty Alliance project is to enable consumers to protect the privacy and security of their network identity information, we believe that this objective is biased towards the business goals of the Liberty architecture rather than giving priority to privacy from the consumer's perspective. In fact, consumer privacy is among the main usage barriers that reduces the adoption of identity federation architectures. In this thesis, we aim to enhance consumer privacy in the Liberty Alliance architecture. In the first place, we identify and analyze previously-unknown potential privacy breaches and concerns within the Liberty identity federation frameworks and propose improvements and recommendations for the identified breaches. We also propose three new services to the Liberty Alliance identity federation architecture that will help in enhancing consumer privacy: user privacy preferences service, privacy seal service, and audit trail service. We present several use case scenarios to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new services and to show how they could merge effectively with the Liberty identity federation frameworks. Furthermore, we propose using the XPref language for our proposed Liberty user privacy preferences service and identify some APPEL issues in this context.
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Gordon, Ellen Derby. "Enhancing communication skills through family and consumer sciences." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2002. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2049.
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Keller-Ritter, Kelley A. "How graduate education impacts job satisfaction for family and consumer science teachers /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3137718.
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Arnett, Sally Elizabeth. "Job satisfaction, orientation, and commitment of Illinois family and consumer science teachers /." Available to subscribers only, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1594494081&sid=14&Fmt=2&clientId=1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Cope, Jessica. "Perceptions of Working Conditions of Family and Consumer Science Teachers in Kentucky." Thesis, Northern Kentucky University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10640325.
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Currently in Kentucky there is a shortage of applicants for filling vacant teaching positions, specifically Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teaching positions. There are more vacancies than there are teachers to fill the positions. This study’s primary purpose was to determine the current working conditions, perceptions of working conditions, and changes that could improve satisfaction for FACS teachers. This research included a survey and three focus groups with FACS teachers in Kentucky. Through these methods, data was collected to identify the areas that could use improvement and how these improvements could be made. The results were that most teachers were very satisfied or usually satisfied. For an increase in satisfaction, teachers indicated smaller class sizes, more money, updated classrooms, updated equipment and more administrative support.
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Cornelissen, Judith Jean. "Professional socialisation of family ecology and consumer science students at South African Universities." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1122.
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Thesis(PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.Professional socialisation can be described as a subconscious process whereby persons internalise behavioural norms and standards and form a sense of identity and commitment to a professional field. The primary goal of professional socialisation is considered to be internalisation of the professional culture and the development of a professional identity. It is learned through interaction with professionals and educators during a student’s education. It is a continuous, life-long process of learning formal knowledge, skills and rules, as well as informal and tacit knowledge, norms, values and loyalties within the profession. An understanding of the professional socialisation process is vital to all persons involved in postsecondary education, for it is the professional socialisation process that allows education to achieve its goals. This dissertation determined whether students of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences in South Africa are professionally socialised into developing a professional identity within the Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences profession. The objectives of the research included; to examine through a literature review the development of the profession and to propose a new position for the profession in South Africa; to identify the factors that influenced South African students when they decided on Family Ecology and Consumer Science as a field of study and the factors that influenced them while they were obtaining their degree at a South African university; to determine whether Family Ecology and Consumer Science students evidence the developmental stages of the Cohen model of the professional socialisation process; to determine Family Ecology and Consumer Science professionals’ perceptions of their professional preparation environments; and to analyse and compare Family Ecology and Consumer Science programmes at South African universities. A quantitative research methodology in the form of an analytical survey was undertaken with the participation of students and staff at South African universities where Family Ecology and Consumer Science programmes are offered by means of postal questionnaires. Three questionnaires were used in the research, namely; the Professional Socialisation Influences (PSI) questionnaire; the Professional Socialisation Staging Scale (PS3) questionnaire; and the Emphases, Process and Influences on the Professional Preparation Programmes questionnaire. A conceptual framework was used to compare the Family Ecology and Consumer Science professional preparation programmes presented at South African universities.. Descriptive statistics and the factor analysis method were used to examine the objectives to determine which factors influenced students to select Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences and the factors that influenced them while they were studying for a degree at a South African university. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Bonferroni Post-Hoc tests were used to examine whether Family Ecology and Consumer Science students evidenced the developmental stages of the Cohen model of the professional socialisation process. Descriptive statistics were used to examine Family Ecology and Consumer Science professionals’ perceptions of their professional preparation environments. The main findings drawn from the study indicated that Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences students, when selecting Family Ecology and Consumer Science as a profession, were influenced by the ‘Service Ideal’ and ‘Entrepreneurial’ factors. Aspects that elicited the highest percentage of positive responses from the respondents were; ‘desire to help others’; ‘a desire to improve the quality of family living’; ‘a desire to help people learn to do things’; and ‘entrepreneurial possibilities of the course’. While studying for a degree in Family Ecology and Consumer Science, they were influenced by the factors ‘Student Interaction’ and ‘Departmental Influences’. Aspects such as; ‘career opportunities available’; ‘application of what I learned to my personal life’; and ‘employment opportunities available’; were those that had the biggest influence.
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Croxall, Kathy C. "Family and Consumer Sciences Preservice Teachers' Computer Technology Preparation." DigitalCommons@USU, 2002. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2540.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze the preparation of Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) preservice teachers to teach FACS content using computer technology, a study that had not previously been undertaken. The focus of the study was FACS methods classes and activities, as reported by FACS teacher educators. A survey instrument was developed to determine how computer technology is incorporated into, modeled by the teacher, and required of students in FACS methods courses. The support FACS teacher educators receive from their college or university for teaching with technology, teacher educators' perceived computer skill and comfort levels, and importance placed by teacher educators on technology in secondary and college methods courses were also investigated. Respondents were asked their knowledge of the International Society for Technology in Education technology standards for teachers and their perceptions of preservice students' abilities to meet those standards.
The survey was prepared in both printed/mailed and on-line formats to investigate the reliability of using the Internet to conduct survey research with this population. The survey was sent to 208 teacher educators nationwide and information was obtained from 86 respondents for a 41% response rate.
Eleven research questions were answered. FACS teacher educators felt the inclusion of computer technology in both secondary classrooms and their own classrooms was important. While the majority reported average computer skills, they expressed confidence in their ability to teach and demonstrate technology in the classroom. FACS teacher educators were not aware of the ISTE standards but still rated their preservice students high on most standards.
Four hypotheses were tested. No differences were found in reported preservice student computer technology abilities and characteristics of the college or university, FACS department, or teacher educator characteristics. There were no differences in responses and characteristics of teacher educators who completed the survey in the print/mailed format and those completing it on-line. Statistically significant differences were found in response rates for printed/mailed versus on-line surveys. FACS teacher educators were more likely to return surveys they received through the mail than complete surveys available on-line. Implications for teacher educators, administrators, and professional organizations are drawn.
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Hu, Hongyi M. Eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "OpenWiFi : a consumer WiFi sharing system." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/41633.
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Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-72).
This thesis describes the design, implementation and evaluation of OpenWiFi, a consumer WiFi-sharing system. OpenWiFi aims to allow owners of WiFi access points (APs) to function as private internet service providers. The OpenWiFi model combines WiFi access facilities owned by participating individuals or businesses under a virtual network operator who offers internet access from these facilities to clients who subscribe and pay for the service. The major problems in designing and implementing OpenWiFi include providing secure separation between private users of home networks from paying clients, developing a billing model that guarantees correct and fair payments when both clients and AP owners are untrusted and generalizing our mechanisms so that OpenWiFi may operate on hetergenous underlying hardware and software. We solved these problems with simple, clean procedures implemented at wireless APs and at a central Open-WiFi server that require no client modification. We conducted a number of static and mobile experiments, the result of which show that OpenWiFi is usable by roaming users who do not move continuously as well as high mobility users who connect from automobiles traveling at vehicular speeds.
by Hongyi Hu.
M.Eng.
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Ocholi, Eleojo E. "Web engine for investigating consumer consideration." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53176.
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Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-38).
Today consumers are presented with a plethora of products each time they want to make a purchase. Sometimes they have up to thousands of options and configurations to pick from and yet many consumers are shown to initially screen this size to create a more manageable set to truly consider in an in-depth way. Companies today are looking for ways to ensure that their products make it into the smaller consideration sets of consumers in order to increase the probability of sales. This thesis documents the design of a web engine that provides a survey framework for investigating algorithms that aim to predict which products a user will place in their consideration set as well as to aid in investigating the factors that can lead to the modification of rules that govern a consumer's consideration set. Firstly I evaluated and documented the improvements required from older systems created by the research group. Then over the course of two studies I designed a highly modular system that is a new iteration of the older versions. Finally, more than 3500 participants used the system during field tests and the system was successful in mitigating the previous issues and delivering a better user experience as well as collecting the necessary data. This project lays the groundwork for a platform that can be used for generally investigation and testing consideration predictive algorithms in various retail spaces.
by Eleojo E. Ocholi.
M.Eng.
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Norton, Jennifer Elizabeth. "Fat reduction in chocolate : a multidisciplinary approach considering emulsion science and consumer expectations." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2012. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6131/.
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Chocolate is consumed in large quantities, but is high in fat and calories, and has limited nutritional benefits. Producing reduced-fat chocolate offers a way of reducing energy consumed, if the consumer will accept the product. The aims of the research presented in this thesis were: i) to investigate consumer response to reduced-fat chocolate; ii) to investigate formulation routes for producing a reduced fat chocolate. Focus group data indicated ambivalence towards chocolate, with some negativity towards the concept of a reduced-fat indulgent product. By manipulating label information it was shown that whilst consumers expected to like chocolate labelled ‘reduced-fat’ less than the standard chocolate, ratings of actual liking and of sensory attributes were similar. Thus, personal experience plays a greater role than expectations. This suggests that if the sensory characteristics of a reduced-fat chocolate can be matched to a standard chocolate, actual liking should not be affected. Packaging concepts indicated how different components of the package affect liking. Water in oil cocoa butter emulsions were produced using a high shear mixer and a margarine line. Formulation changes (emulsifier type and concentration, and gelatin concentration) and processing parameters (shaft speeds and temperatures, and flow rate) were considered. All emulsions had small droplets (typically 1-5μm) and little ‘free water’. When produced on the margarine line fat crystals in polymorphic form V were produced. Crystalline shells were also observed at the droplet interface. Pilot plant experiments resulted in comparable emulsions, with small droplets and fat crystals in form V. Although a full chocolate was not produced, the potential for margarine technology to produce a reduced-fat chocolate was demonstrated.
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Doshi, Chintan. "An integrated trusted processes framework for consumer-facing B2B networks." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27974.
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With the advent of the Internet, co-operating enterprises are increasingly sharing consumer data to deliver them information-rich online experiences with value-added services. At the same time, technological advances in web services standards based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design have enabled heterogeneous Business-to-Business (B2B) integration between enterprises. End-to-End business processes that span across multiple enterprises can be developed using the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). However, such processes must address issues that normally do not arise for processes within a single enterprise. A framework is needed which supports a SOA-enabled business process management approach but also has technical infrastructure to address issues related to identity, privacy, compliance, monitoring and people interaction. In our thesis, we accomplish this using a framework that supports the design, implementation and management of trusted B2B processes defined using the BPEL standard and deployed into Circle of Trust architecture as specified by the Liberty Alliance federated identity standards. A key contribution of our thesis was to extend the Circle of Trust architecture with a new entity that introduces components to help businesses manage their B2B processes. Two use-case scenarios involving information-rich B2B processes were implemented to evaluate our framework.
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Kamotani, Setsuko. "Consumer acceptance of ozone-treated whole shell eggs." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1243631693.
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Yuan, Danny. "Applications of machine learning : consumer credit risk analysis." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100614.
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Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-66).
Current credit bureau analytics, such as credit scores, are based on slowly varying consumer characteristics, and thus, they are not adaptable to changes in customers behaviors and market conditions over time. In this paper, we would like to apply machine-learning techniques to construct forecasting models of consumer credit risk. By aggregating credit accounts, credit bureau, and customer data given to us from a major commercial bank (which we will call the Bank, as per confidentiality agreement), we expect to be able to construct out-of-sample forecasts. The resulting models would be able to tackle common challenges faced by chief risk officers and policymakers, such as deciding when and how much to cut individuals account credit lines, evaluating the credit score for current and prospective customers, and forecasting aggregate consumer credit defaults and delinquencies for the purpose of enterprise-wide and macroprudential risk management.
by Danny Yuan.
M. Eng.
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Terrell, Matthew. "Utilising virtual communities for innovative consumer identification." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51814/.
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Consumers can play a pivotal role in the development of new products and services. People are observed to independently create and modify existing products in order to meet their needs, unmet by current market offerings (Luthje 2004; Von Hippel & Urban 1988; Hienerth & Lettl 2011). Research into these innovative consumers has shown they can be differentiated from other consumers by a set of characteristics. This has enabled firms to identify and engage with these consumers, document their behaviour and integrate them into the process of developing new products and services. By doing so firms have experienced a range of benefits including an increase in product novelty, attractiveness and variety (Franke & Shah 2003; Schreier & Pruegl 2008; Franke et al. 2006). Today firms are utilising virtual communities to access consumer knowledge, discover their emerging needs and observe their own innovations. This has had a positive effect on a firm’s innovation output and performance (Ryzhkova 2015; Wadell et al. 2013; Carbonell et al. 2009). Many investigations have started to focus on virtual communities, and their utility for firms to identify consumers, but given the sheer size of virtual communities, and their heterogeneity, our understanding of how to exploit these resources are under-explored. This thesis conducted a series of investigations, seeking to contribute a new perspective on consumer innovation research in a number of different areas. The core aim is to provide a new understanding of how organisations can use virtual communities to help them efficiently identify innovative consumers in the pursuit of new insights and innovation. The investigation focuses on how to approach the identification of innovative consumers in virtual communities. Firstly the consumer’s choice of the virtual community, which reveals innovative consumers, specifically those who are more willing to collaborate with organisations, are more likely to exist in forum style virtual communities. These are free from functionality that facilitates acts of selling and professional endeavours, such as shopping carts and file exchange mechanisms. This has never before been considered as an influencing factor in the process of identifying innovating consumers, and shows that organisations could positively influence the overall outcome of the collaboration process with consumers if a consumer’s choice of community was also included in the identification process. Ultimately this could have a positive knock-on effect to the type, and success of, the resulting innovation produced when collaborating with consumers for new product development (NPD). This study suggests that organisations need to take into consideration the following factors: community functionality, to reduce the number of consumers with professional interests; and the community social systems, to understand the values and ideologies of virtual communities when it comes to external collaboration. Additionally, this investigation expands on the existing knowledge about using weblog data for identification, by analysing the relationships between their self-reported data and web-log data. This is the first time the observation of weblog data and its potential to influence the wider use of weblog data has been taken into consideration. Almost all previous investigations appear to observe data that is isolated to a specific community (Füller et al. 2008), and do not consider how metrics could be transferable across communities to influence the overall approach to online consumer identifications, across communities. Finally this study provides new knowledge on the application of the community manager in the process of identifying innovative consumers. The research concludes by highlighting novel insights gained from interviewing community managers. The significance, and arguably, the advantageous position held by the community managers, places them in a position to influence social systems that inform the perceptions of external collaboration; they understand the community dynamics and often individual characteristics of community members, and they act as a gatekeeper to the community. These findings show that, for organisations looking to collaborate with consumers of the community, they should approach the community managers first. They can provide organisations with insights about the community social system, their values and ideologies, which will indicate the effectiveness of the community for identification. Essentially, by collating the findings from the thesis, organisations can add timesaving steps in the process of identification.
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Sun, J. (Jia). "Exploring the factors affecting online consumer behavior in China:case: Taobao." Master's thesis, University of Oulu, 2018. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-201811093003.
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With the development of electronic commerce, the number of online consumers increase a lot. Consumers are willing to purchase products online since it has great advantages such as saving time, creating convenience and offering more choices. As the biggest and most innovative retail e-commerce market in the world, China possesses 17% online retailing sales from total retail sales in 2017. As the largest e-commerce site in China, Taobao takes over 80% of the e-commerce market share.
The purpose of this thesis is to do in-depth exploration of the factors that affecting online consumer behavior in China. Taobao is selected as the case of online shopping platform.
A systematic literature review was conducted to investigate the existing articles related to the factors that affecting online consumer behavior when people do shopping on Taobao. Then a qualitative study was designed to examine the factors in depth. An in-depth interview was organized among 10 Taobao users in order to extent the validity of the research. Qualitative content analysis was used as data analysis method and Nvivo was selected as the analyzing tool.
Five categories were classified in both SLR and in-depth interview. The commodity factor was examined as one of the most influential factors. It consists of product quality, price, styles and brands. Factors related sellers including seller’s service quality, seller’s website quality, seller’s commercial credits and online reputation are considered as key factors as well. Social commerce activities such as social media sharing, online reviews, online rating and online forum have significant impacts on online consumer behavior. In addition, web quality and functionality of Taobao and some consumer personal factors including consumer’s mood and perceived risks also play an important role. Consumers’ own requirements, the relationship among Taobao and other software applications and the anti-counterfeiting mechanism of Taobao were three new codes found during the research.
In conclusion, commodity factors, factors related to sellers, social commerce activities, web quality and functionality of Taobao and consumer personal factors were found as five categories of factors that affecting online consumer behavior when do shopping on Taobao. Quality of products was considered as the most important one. Three pieces of new codes were added by this study. The limitation of the study was discussed and the direction of future research was pointed out.
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Trumbull, Johnathan Gunnar 1968. "National approaches to consumer protection in France and Germany, 1970-1990." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36098.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Political Science, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (p. 379-404).
This research investigates the growth of product market regulation in France and Germany from 1970 to 1990. It finds that these countries have pursued divergent strategies for regulating their domestic product markets. France has treated consumers as citizens, granting them special political protections against product risk. Germany has treated consumers as producers, emphasizing consumer information as a means of combatting market failure. This policy divergence resulted from the different institutional contexts in which the issues of consumer policy were first raised and resolved. As a consequence of these broad institutional differences, France and Germany have put in place divergent national consumption regimes, in which different sets of consumer and producer interests are systematically emphasized in government regulation. Such national divergence in consumption regimes is important because it will increasingly influence consumer and producer decisions about product choice, and these choices in turn set the terms of national variations of capitalism.
by Johnathan Gunnar Trumbull.
Ph.D.
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Eames, Malcolm. "United Kingdom Government food research and development policy : food safety, food science and the consumer." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.238807.
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Johnson, Douglas Alan. "A consumer study evaluating the extent technology education textbooks use 1993 benchmarks for science literacy." Online version, 1999. http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/1999/1999johnsond.pdf.
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Moore, Vivianne E. "A quantitative comparative study measuring consumer satisfaction based on health record format." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3576426.
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This research study used a quantitative comparative method to investigate the relationship between consumer satisfaction and communication based on the format of health record. The central problem investigated in this research study related to the format of health record used and consumer satisfaction with care provided and effect on communication with provider. The purpose of this current research was to ascertain if statistically significant differences existed between the format of health records (electronic versus paper) and the level of consumer satisfaction with care provided and communication with provider. The results of this research study found no support for the ideas that consumer satisfaction and consumer communication with their doctor were related to the format of the health record. Based on the results, further investigation is suggested to specify how the implementation of electronic health records may affect consumer satisfaction with health care provided and how this may affect communication with health care provider.
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Wilson, Joseph 1968. "Consumer welfare and government regulation of telecommunications : lessons for Pakistan." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28037.
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Governments started regulating the telecommunications industry, firstly, because the governments thought that the industry possessed the characteristics of what is generally known as 'natural monopoly' and, secondly, to protect the users of telephone services from potential abuses that are associated with the monopoly power. The governmental intervention went so far that, with the exception of few countries, virtually everywhere in the world telecommunications services were provided by the government departments of Post Telephone and Telegraph (PTT). However, with the technological advances made in the telecommunications industry, the industry can no longer be characterized as 'natural monopoly,' and, therefore, the primary rationale for regulating telecommunications industry is undermined. Despite the technological advancements and the move to deregulate telecommunications industry prevalent elsewhere in the world, some developing countries are adamant in maintaining their monopoly over the provision of telecommunications services. What was regulated to protect the consumers against the monopoly abuses is now regulated to extract monopoly profits from the consumers. This paper adopts the premise that whether governments regulate an industry, or deregulate it, or introduce competition in it, they should strictly adhere to the objective of governmental intervention, that is, consumer welfare.
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Saavedra-Peña, Gladynel. "Saccade latency determination using video recordings from consumer-grade devices." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120397.
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Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 87-92).
Accurate quantification of neurodegenerative disease progression and neurocognitive decline is an ongoing challenge that muddles efforts to understand and treat these conditions. The golden standard to track neurodegenerative disease progression is a neurocognitive assessment administered through a series of forms and questionnaires, both of which suffer from high retest variability. Thus, there is a need for a validated biomarker that can accurately track neurocognitive decline or disease progression unobtrusively. Clinical studies have shown that saccade latency - a measure of eye movement reaction time - can be significantly different between healthy subjects and neurodegenerative disease patients. Hence, we propose and test a system that enables measurement and tracking of saccade latency outside of the clinical environment, without relying on supplemental or special-purpose illumination. iTracker-face, a variant of a deep-learning approach that estimates gaze on mobile devices, was tailored to measure saccade latency on video sequences obtained with an iPhone 6. Additionally, our model-based approach for saccade latency estimation provides a means to automatically detect eye position traces that should not be included in further analysis (AUC = 0.92). We recorded over 20,000 saccade latencies in 30 healthy subjects and observed that there is a substantial amount of intra- and inter- subject variability in the mean saccade latency ([mu]) and associated standard deviation (sigma). Among the subjects with the most saccade latency measurements, [mu] ranged from 128 to 173 ms, while a varied from 24 to 53 ms. Our results suggest that accurate and robust saccade latency determination is feasible using consumer-grade cameras and might therefore enable unobtrusive tracking of neurodegenerative disease progression.
by Gladynel Saavedra-Peña.
S.M.
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Mattocks, Benjamin A. "An evaluation of support vector machines in consumer credit analysis." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85446.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 49-50).
This thesis examines a support vector machine approach for determining consumer credit. The support vector machine using a radial basis function (RBF) kernel is compared to a previous implementation of a decision tree machine learning model. The dataset used for evaluation was provided by a large bank and includes relevant consumer-level data, including transactions and credit-bureau data. The results suggest that a support vector machine offers similar performance to decision trees, but the parameters specifying the soft-margin constraint and the inverse-width used in the RBF kernel could significantly affect its performance.
by Benjamin A. Mattocks.
M. Eng.
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Pirisola, Isaac. "Maximising resource efficiency for the manufacture of lamellar based consumer products." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2014. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2003579/.
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The work disseminated within this Thesis pertain to an industrially funded study whose primary aims were to enhance the understanding of the effect of a range of process variables on the underlying microstructure of a rinse-off Hair Conditioner. The study utilised a range of analytical techniques namely; rheology, microscopy, SAXS and thermal transition. Findings herein have demonstrated that through process optimisation, more resource efficient processes are achievable which offer the possibility to significantly reduce raw materials use whilst maintaining a desired viscosity. In some cases a significant raw material reduction of 40 % could be realised (calculated on the amount of FA, CS & QUAT in the formulation) if the following steps are applied; i. Initial formation of the FA, CS & QUAT lamellar system such that the morphological makeup is predominantly a QUAT/CS rich Lβ microstructure - this is primarily a function of process temperature whilst ensuring fine state of dispersion of this product intermediate. ii. Followed by a dispersive and distributive mixing step to reduce QUATS rich Lβ microstructure domain size via a low temperature, high shear post processing operation – a function of increasing deformation rates within mixing equipment. In addition to this, the Controlled Deformation Dynamic Mixing technology was found to be an efficient device at delivering the required deformation rates to the hair conditioner product, compared to the other mixing technologies tested. Deformation rates have been characterised with respect to [1] extensional (a function of process flow-rate), [2] rotational shear rates (a function of mixer rotational speed) and more importantly [3] Mixer design (a function of equipment geometry). The trio determines the deformation rates available to process fluids during an operation, and likewise vital to any scale-up operation for geometrically similar CDDM devices. The main commercial outputs for this work therefore can be estimated using Euromonitor figures, which state that the total UK market for hair conditioner alone is £324.4 million per annum. Thus if we assume even a fraction of the raw material costs can be realised in the supply chain, saving of several million per annum are conceivable.
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Whigham, Paul Alexander. "A management science approach for developing a decision model for portfolio rationalization of consumer personal computers." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99038.
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Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2015. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 47).
Commoditization of the PC market has led to a shift in strategy at Dell away from customization towards defining specific consumer configurations ahead of time. This shift creates new planning and decision processes around which configurations to select. Given configurations are defined before true demand can be measured, variability leads to selection of configurations based on imperfect knowledge. The existing variety of configurations has imposed substantial complexity costs on Dell. Modeling this selection process as a Newsvendor "life-time buy" includes this variability while optimizing for profit. Estimated costs of overage, costs of underage, and complexity costs are used as inputs. This thesis seeks to develop a framework informing configuration selection decisions based on demand variability and expected profit. A heuristic model uses configuration volume estimates, profit margin estimates, and historical regional bias in submitted forecasts to score and rank potential configurations. This heuristic determines which configurations to select within a fixed maximum total number of configurations limit, based on the business's market share growth and profit goals. This maximum limit is set by Dell's Vice Chairman Jeff Clarke. The results of this heuristic show a decrease in decision process time, an increase in process transparency, and increase in expected profit. A what-if scenario analysis shows an annual increase of 3.4% in profit which amounts to several million dollars. These results were gathered through implementing the model in November 2014 and comparing the heuristic-based decisions against past process decisions.
by Paul Alexander Whigham.
M.B.A.
S.M.
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Sakagawa, Amber Tsuruko. "Development of soy-enhanced vegetable beverages: evaluation of processing effects and consumer acceptance." The Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1400146963.
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Oladeji, Olamide. "Network partitioning algorithms for electricity consumer clustering." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122917.
Full textAbstract:
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: S.M. in Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Technology and Policy Program, 2018
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-103).
In many developing countries, access to electricity remains a significant challenge. Electrification planners in these countries often have to make important decisions on the mode of electrification and the planning of electrical networks for those without access, while under resource constraints. To facilitate the achievement of universal energy access, the Reference Electrification Model (REM), a computational model capable of providing techno-economic analysis and data-driven decision support for these planning efforts, has been developed. Primary among REM's capabilities is the recommendation of the least-cost mode of electrification - i.e by electric grid extension or off-grid systems - for non-electrified consumers in a region under analysis, while considering technical, economic and environmental constraints.
This is achieved by the identification of consumer clusters (either as clusters of off-grid microgrids, stand-alone systems or grid-extension projects) using underlying clustering methods in the model. This thesis focuses on the development and implementation of partitioning algorithms to achieve this purpose. Building on previously implemented efforts on the clustering and recommendation capabilities of REM, this work presents the development, analysis and performance evaluation of alternative approaches to the consumer clustering process, in comparison with REM's previously incorporated clustering methodology. Results show that the alternative methodology proposed can compare favorably with the hitherto implemented method in REM. Consequently, the integration of the pro- posed network partitioning procedures within REM, as well as some potential future research directions, is discussed.
Finally, this thesis concludes with a discourse on the social and regulatory aspects of energy access and electricity planning in developing countries, providing some perspectives on the development policies and business models that complement the technological contributions of this work.
by Olamide Oladeji.
S.M. in Technology and Policy
S.M.
S.M.inTechnologyandPolicy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Technology and Policy Program
S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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MacGregor, Elizabeth. "The development and evaluation of measurements on spaghetti with diverse quality characteristics." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16613.
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Thesis (MSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Pasta manufacturing is a process whereby wheat flour is converted into a shelf-stable food that is more desirable than native wheat flour. It can be fortified and may serve as a valuable source of nutrition in developing countries. Quality measures are of importance in the production process to ensure a consistent and acceptable finished product. Literature provides information on many aspects of wheat types, milling techniques and processing of pasta. Protein content and quality of cultivated wheat varieties is of major importance to produce quality pasta products. Wheat types of lower protein content are more readily available than traditionally used durum wheat. As in all food products, the cost of final products is of major importance. Bread wheat is generally less expensive than durum wheat. However, product quality (and thus acceptability) may be lower. Direct measurements of product quality are currently limited to protein content, moisture content, colour analyses and certain other characteristics measurable in a laboratory, for example mechanical strength and firmness. Direct measurements of defects that may affect final product quality, such as cracks and fissures on the strands of spaghetti, different types of spots and lines on the strands, broken units, units sticking together and odd shapes are not well documented. During the first part of this study, spaghetti quality evaluation techniques were reviewed, improved or developed and thereafter standardised. This developmental research was conducted to establish valid and reliable measures (with a high degree of repeatability) for the evaluation of dry and cooked pasta quality characteristics. A wide variety of available products on the South African market were evaluated for different quality characteristics. From this evaluation standards were drawn up, tested for validity and reliability by means of repeatability. Minimum sample sizes for the evaluation of different quality characteristics were calculated and presented in the study, together with reference photographs that can be used to evaluate spaghetti. This study found that colour evaluation by means of commercially available apparatus needs revision. This study suggests the use of multiple layers when evaluating translucent food products for colour. The occurrence of fissures and flour spots are of importance for the quality of the final product. This study provides a set of valid and reliable measurements for measuring the quality of dry and cooked spaghetti. Simple techniques can therefore be used to detect the presence or absence of these defects. Thereafter an empirical study was conducted to describe the differences between spaghetti prepared from durum and non-durum wheat, dried at different temperatures and at different relative humidity. Spaghetti samples of diverse perceived quality, from different manufacturers, were purchased and evaluated. Standard methods and the newly developed testing methods were used to test whether these methods effectively distinguish between spaghetti of diverse quality, reflecting on the validity of the methods. Correlations were calculated between dependent and independent variables in an attempt to find possible explanations for certain defects or quality differences, and to test certain theories in the literature. Certain relationships between quality characteristics were found, while others were questioned. The most important proven relationships were between protein content and its effects on reducing quality defects such as fissures, breakages and cooking losses. The relationship between ash content and spaghetti colour could not be confirmed in this study. This study confirmed that protein remains one of the most important variables to ensure consistent quality spaghetti.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Pastavervaardiging is ‘n proses waartydens koring meel omskep word in a produk met ‘n stabiele en lang rakleeftyd wat meer gewens is as die oorspronklike koring meel. Pasta kan gefortifiseer word and kan dien as a waardevolle voedingsbron in ontwikkelende lande. Om ‘n konstante en aanvaarbaare finale produk te verseker is kwaliteitmetings gedurende die produksie proses belangrik. Die literatuur voorsien heelwat inligting rakende aspekte van belang vir pastakwaliteit, byvoorbeeld koringtipes, maaltegnieke en die vervaardigingsproses. Proteïninhoud en die kwaliteit daarvan is van groot belang tydens die produksie van hoë kwaliteit pasta. Koringtipes met ‘n laer proteïninhoud is meer geredelik beskikbaar as tradisionele durumkoring. Soos met alle voedselprodukte, is die koste van die finale produk van groot belang. Oor die algemeen verhandel broodkoring teen laer pryse as durumkoring. Die produkkwaliteit en aanvaarbaarheid van pasta vervaardig van broodkoring kan egter laer wees as dié van durumkoring. Direkte metings van produkkwalitiet is tans beperk tot proteïninhoud, voginhoud, kleuranalise en sekere eienskappe meetbaar in ‘n laboratorium, byvoorbeeld meganiese sterkte en fermheid. Die direkte meting van defekte wat finale produkkwaliteit kan beïnvloed, byvoorbeeld barste, krake, meel kolletjies, strepe op spaghetti-eenhede, gebreekte eenhede, eenhede wat aan mekaar kleef en ongewone vorms, is nie goed gedokumenteer nie. Gedurende die eerste gedeelte van hierdie studie, is ‘n oorsig van spaghetti evaluasie tegnieke beskikbaar in die literatuur gdoen, waarna sekeres verbeter is, ander ontwikkel is en finaal gestandariseer is. Hierdie navorsing is uitgevoer om geldige en betroubare metings (met ‘n hoë graad van herhaalbaarheid) vir die evaluasie van droë- en gaar pastakwalitietseienskappe vas te stel. ‘n Wye verskeidenheid van produkte beskikbaar op die Suid-Afrikaanse mark is ge-evalueer ten opsigte van verskillende kwaliteitseienskappe. Vanuit hierdie evaluasies is standaarde saamgestel en getoets vir geldigheid en betroubaarheid deur middel van herhaalbaarheid. ‘n Minimum steekproefgrootte per kwaliteitseienskap is bereken en word vermeld in hierdie studie. Daarmeesaam word verwysingsfoto’s aangebied wat gebruik kan word tydens die evaluasie van spaghetti. Hierdie studie bied a stel geldige en betroubare meting vir die kwaliteit van droe en gaan spaghetti. Eenvoudige tegnieke kan dus gebruik word om die voorkoms van hierdie defekte te meet. Met afloop van die verkennende studie, is ‘n empiriese studie gedoen om die verskille te beskryf tussen pasta vervaardig van durum en brood koring, gedroog teen verskillende temperature en relatiewe humiditeit. Spaghettimonsters met oënskynlike diverse kwaliteit, vervaardig deur verskillende maatskappye, is aangekoop en ge-evalueer. Standaardmetings en nuutontwerpte metings is gebruik om te bevestig of die metings kan onderskei tussen spaghetti met uiteenlopende kwaliteit, wat reflekteer op die geldigheid van die metingsmetodes. Korrelasies is bereken tussen afhanklike en onafhanklike veranderlikes in ‘n poging om moontlike verklarings vir sekere defekte of kwaliteitsverskille te vind, en ook om sekere teoriëe in die literatuur te toets. Die verband tussen sekere kwaliteitseienskappe is bevestig en bewys, terwyl ander bevraagteken was. Die mees belangrike verband was proteïninhoud en die effek daarvan om die voorkoms van defekte, soos barste, gebreekte eenhede en kookverliese te verlaag. Die verband tussen asinhoud en spaghettikleur kon nie in hierdie studie bevestig word nie. Hierdie studie het bevestig dat proteïn die mees belangrike veranderlike is wat oorweeg moet word wanneer ‘n konstante hoë kwaliteit spaghettiproduk vervaardig word. Kleurevaluasie met behulp van kommersieel-beskikbare apparaat vereis hersiening. Hierdie studie stel voor dat tydens kleur evaluasie van voedsel wat lig deurlaatbaar is, dit in veelvoudige lae evalueer moet word. Die voorkoms van defekte soos barste, krake of meel kolletjies is van belang ten opsigte van finale produkkwaliteit. Hierdie studie bied riglyne vir die evaluasie van die genoemde defekte. Die voorkoms van hierdie defekte is van groter belang as die graad waarteen die defek voorkom. Eenvoudige tegnieke kan vervolgens gebruik word om die teenwoordigheid of afwesigheid van hierdie defekte te bepaal.
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Janse, van Noordwyk H. S. "Perceived importance of retail store image attributes to the female large-size apparel consumer in a multicultural society." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52988.
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Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An opportunity currently exists for retailers to develop store image strategies to target the female large-size apparel consumer market within the multicultural South African consumer society. This exploratory study set out to generate and describe retail store image attributes perceived as important to the female large-size apparel consumer within the South African context, as well as identifying differences and similarities in the perception of these attributes based on race and age group. The study also aimed to determine if the existing store image attribute groupings by Lindquist (1974-1975:31) is applicable when studying the female largesize apparel consumer. Focus groups were used as method of data collection in this study. The sample population (n=37) consisted of account holders who purchased apparel from a specific large-size apparel retail store during a specific time period. Three race groups, namely Africans, Coloureds, and Whites, as well as three age groups i.e. 20-29, 30-39, and 40-54 year age groups were included. Each focus group was homogenous in race and age composition. A facilitator conducted group discussions by following a focus group schedule. The first part of the discussion generated retail store image attributes deemed important by the focus group participants, followed by the rating of the perceived importance of these attributes using the Schutte Visual Scale. The second part of the discussion generated participants' description of Lindquist's nine identified store image attribute groupings, followed by the rating of the perceived importance of each of these attribute groupings using the Schutte Visual Scale. Transcriptions of all the focus group discussions were made. For the first part of the study the transcriptions were compiled into composite lists and refined based on Lindquist's nine attribute groupings. The aggregate ratings for each specific attribute and attribute grouping were calculated. For the second part of the study's results, the descriptions of each of Lindquist's nine attribute groupings was compiled into a single list of descriptive attributes. The aggregate ratings for each of these attributes groupings were calculated. Respondents perceived Merchandise and Clientele the most important attribute groupings in the analysis of all race and age groups, followed by Service, Post-transaction satisfaction, Promotion and Store atmosphere. Institutional factors and Physical facilities were perceived as the least important attribute groupings. No attributes relating to Convenience were generated. In the analysis of race and age groups, Merchandise and Service, followed by Store atmosphere, were perceived as the most important attribute groupings by most of the focus groups. The specific attributes generated by the different groups showed similarities, whereas the rating and definition of these attributes differed. Lindquist's descriptions of the nine attribute groupings were compared to the descriptions of the respondents. Similarities and differences were identified. Recommendations were made to refine and adapt Lindquist's attribute groupings and descriptions to develop a store image research framework that could be more applicable to the female large-size apparel consumer. This exploratory study provides some insight into the perceived importance of retail store image attributes by the female large-size apparel consumer, given the context of a multi-cultural South African society. Recommendations for future research were made and the implications for retailers were outlined.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar bestaan tans 'n geleentheid vir kleinhandelaars om 'n winkelbeeld strategie te ontwikkel wat gemik is op die vroulike groter figuur kledingverbruiker binne die multikulturele Suid- Afrikaanse verbruikersamelewing. Hierdie verkennende studie poog om kleinhandel winkelbeeldeienskappe wat deur die vroulike groter figuur kledingverbruiker binne die Suid- Afrikaanse konteks as belangrik beskou word, te genereer en te beskryf, sowel as om die verskille en ooreenkomste in persepsies van die belangrikheid van hierdie eienskappe tussen ras en ouderdomsgroep te identifiseer. Die studie het ook ten doeI om te bepaal of die bestaande winkelbeeldeienskap groeperinge, soos deur Lindquist (1974-1975:31) voorgestel, toepaslik is wanneer die vroulike groter figuur kledingverbruiker bestudeer word. Fokusgroepe is as metode van data-insameling gebruik. Die steekproef (n=37) was rekeninghouers wat aankope gedoen het by 'n bepaalde groter figuur kledingkleinhandelaar binne 'n spesifieke tydsperiode (n=37). Drie rassegroepe naamlik Swartes, Kleurlinge, en Blankes, sowel as drie ouderdomsgroepe te wete 20-29, 30-39, en 40-54-jariges is ingesluit. Elke fokusgroep was homogeen in ras- en ouderdomsamestelling. 'n Fasiliteerder het die fokusgroepbesprekings gevoer deur 'n fokusgroepskedule te volg. Die eerste deel van die bespreking het kleinhandel winkelbeeldeienskappe, wat deur die fokusgroepdeelnemers as belangrik beskou is, gegenereer. Dit is gevolg deur die meting van die respondente se persepsie van die belangrikheid van hierdie eienskappe met behulp van die Schutte Visuele Skaal. Die tweede deel van die bespreking het beskrywings van Lindquist se nege winkelbeeldeienskap groeperinge gegenereer en is gevolg deur die meting van respondente se persepsie van die belangrikheid van hierdie eienskap groeperinge met behulp van die Schutte Visuele Skaal. Transkripsies is van al die fokusgroepbesprekings gemaak. Vir die eerste deel van die studie is die transkripsies in lyste van spesifieke eienskappe saamgestel en georden volgens Lindquist se nege eienskap groeperinge. Die gemiddelde waarde vir elke spesifieke eienskap sowel as vir die eienskap groepering is bereken. Vir die tweede deel van die studie is beskrywings van elk van Lindquist se nege eienskap groepering saamgestel in 'n enkele lys van beskrywende eienskappe. Die gemiddelde waarde vir elk van hierdie eienskap groeperinge is bereken. Respondente beskou Goedere (Merchandise) en Kliëntebasis (Clientele) as die belangrikste eienskap groeperinge in 'n analise van alle ras- en ouderdomsgroepe, gevolg deur Diens (Service), Na-verkoop tevredenheid (Post-transaction satisfaction), Promosie (Promotion) en Winkelatmosfeer (Store atmosphere). Institusionele faktore (Institutional factors) en Fisiese fasiliteite (Physical facilities) is die minste belangrik. Geen eienskappe wat met Gerief (Convenience) verband hou, is gegenereer nie. In die analise van ras- en ouderdomsgroepe is Goedere en Diens, gevolg deur Winkelatmosfeer, as die belangrikste eienskap groeperinge beskou deur meeste van die fokusgroepe. Die spesifieke eienskappe wat deur die verskillende groepe gegenereer is, dui op ooreenkomste, terwyl die gemiddelde waarde en fokus van die eienskappe verskil. Lindquist se beskrywings van die nege eienskap groeperinge is vergelyk met die beskrywings van die respondente. Ooreenkomste en verskille is geïdentifiseer. Voorstelle is gemaak om Lindquist se eienskap groeperinge en beskrywings te verfyn en aan te pas ten einde 'n winkelbeeld navorsingsraamwerk te ontwikkel wat meer toepaslik is op die vroulike groter figuur kledingverbruiker. Hierdie verkennende studie bied insig in die vroulike groter figuur kledingverbruiker se persepsies van die belangrikheid van kleinhandel winkelbeeldeienskappe, gegewe die konteks van 'n multkulturele Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing. Aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing word gemaak en die implikasies vir kleinhandelaars is uitgewys.
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Wallace, Rick L. "Rethinking the Role of Clergy as Consumer Health Educators." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8729.
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Wallace, Rick L., Bruce Behringer, Grace Ghansah, and Nakia J. Cook. "Rethinking the Role of Clergy as Consumer Health Educators." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2011. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8734.
Full textAbstract:
Objective: Many people in the Appalachian region turn to their churches in times of crisis. A diagnosis of cancer is seen as a personal and family crisis. The purpose of this study is to partner with a regional comprehensive cancer control coalition and an interdenominational group of religious professionals to identify, develop, and test contents for a set of classes to better prepare and educate religious leaders who regularly are required to assist their church members with a diagnosis of cancer.
Methods: This project will be done in four steps.1. identify elements of a cancer curriculum for preachers2. develop learning modules and install lessons on computer tablets3. pilot use of tablets with two clusters of two community preachers4. evaluate changes in knowledge and sense of communication with medical professionalsData will be analyzed using focus groups both before and after the use of the tablets with the community preachers.
Results: Two cohorts of eight pastors were selected from two remote rural regions. Four modules were located on iPad devices that covered various aspects of consumer health information including MedlinePlus, communication issues, and development of health information outreach as a component of ministry. Data collection and analysis is ongoing.
Conclusions: Using clergy and other nontraditional delivery venues for consumer health information is well worth pursuing.
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Wallace, Rick L. "Rethinking the Role of Clergy as Consumer Health Educators." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2011. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8735.
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Tomaszewski, Mark. "Application of consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices to human motion analysis." Thesis, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10255111.
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Human upper limb motion analysis with sensing by way of consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices presents a rich set of scientific, technological, and practical implementation challenges. The need for such systems is motivated by the popular trend toward the development of home based rehabilitative motor therapy systems in which patients perform therapy alone while a technological solution connects the patient to a therapist by performing data acquisition, analysis, and the reporting of evaluation results remotely. The choice to use COTS devices mirrors the reasons why they have become universally accepted in society in recent times. They are inexpensive, easy to use, manufactured to be deployable at large scale, and satisfactorily performant for their intended applications. These claims for the use of COTS devices also resound with requirements that make them suitable for use as low-cost equipment in academic research.
The focus of this work is on the development of a proof of concept human upper limb motion capture system using Myo and Sphero. The end-to-end development of the motion capture system begins with developing the software that is required to interact with these devices in MATLAB. Each of Myo and Sphero receive a fully-featured device interface that’s easy to use in native MATLAB m-code. Then, a theoretical framework for upper limb motion capture and analysis is developed in which the devices’ inertial measurement unit data is used to determine the pose of a subject’s upper limb. The framework provides faculties for model calibration, registration of the model with a virtual world, and analysis methods that enable successful validation of the model’s correctness as well as evaluation of its accuracy as shown by the concrete example in this work.
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Brekke, Sarah. "Trans-free fats and oils: chemistry and consumer acceptance." Kansas State University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/16268.
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Master of ScienceDepartment of Food Science
Delores Chambers
Research has shown that trans fat consumption increases the levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and has a direct correlation to the incidence of heart disease. It is now widely believed that trans fat intake adversely affects the health of consumers. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruling, effective January 1, 2006, required declaration of trans fat content on all Nutrition Facts labels of food products. Around the same time local governments, such as the city of New York, and some restaurants followed suit by eliminating trans fats from their menus. The food industry’s initial concern with trans fat elimination/reduction was the loss of some functionality such as shelf life, stability, and creaming ability with trans-free fats and oils. Researchers are working to develop new trans-free fats and oils that do not have negative sensory properties and maintain the functionality of traditionally hydrogenated oils when used in baked and fried goods. This is an overview of the chemistry, health risks, and research that has been performed to either reduce or eliminate trans fats in food products.
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Tlhong, Tumelo Maud. "Meat quality of raw and processed guinea fowl (Numeda meleagris)." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1898.
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Thesis (MSc (Consumer Science)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.The purpose of this study was to investigate the chemical composition mineral and cholesterol content of the different cuts (breast, drumstick and thigh) of raw guinea fowl meat. The study also aimed at establishing the effect of cooking method on guinea fowl quality attributes by investigating the effect of different cooking methods on the chemical composition and sensory attributes of the different cuts. The effect of injecting a brine solution on the chemical composition and sensory attributes were also investigated. There were no differences in terms of moisture content of the various cuts raw guinea fowl meat The breast had significantly higher protein content when compared to drumstick and thigh (P<0.05). The fat content was similar for all the cuts (P>0.05). Whilst the drumstick had significantly the lowest value for ash content when compared to the thigh. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and total unsaturated fatty acids (TUFAs) were not different (P>0.05) in all the cuts. Drumstick had significantly higher monounsaturated fatty acids compared to other cuts (P<0.05), and it had the highest polyunsaturated fatty acids (P<0.05). The breast had the lowest (P<0.05) n-6 fatty acid value (44.25) and had relatively the lowest Polyunsaturated:Saturated (P:S) fatty acid ratio of 1.74 when compared to the other cuts. High n-6:n-3 ratios, ranging from 7.05 to 16.58, were also found in all the cuts. Cholesterol was lowest (P<0.05) in the breast. Seventeen amino acids were found, including the eight of the nine essential amino acids. Significant differences were found in amino acid values for the different cuts. Values of iron were significantly higher in the drumstick and thigh cuts (P<0.05), whilst drumstick had the highest zinc content of all the cuts (P<0.05). On investigating the effect of three cooking methods (baking-bag, foil-wrap, open-roasting at 140ºC for 65 minutes) on the chemical composition, the open-roasting method produced higher moisture content (P<0.05) consistently for all cuts, with the breast having the highest and the drumstick the lowest (P<0.05). The moisture content of the baking-bag method on the other hand was consistently the lowest (P>0.05). This effect was significant for the breast, which had lost the most moisture (P<0.05). The baking-bag method consistently resulted in a higher protein content, which is attributed to the higher moisture loss (P<0.05) in comparison with the other methods, resulting in a more concentrated product. With regard to the fat content no effect resulting from the cooking methods could be observed (P>0.05), but the cuts’ natural fat content was reflected especially in the open–roasting method (P<0.05) giving further support to the understanding that the open-roasting method indeed made the least inroads on the chemical composition of guinea fowl meat under these restraints: controlled for cooking time and temperature, internal temperature not controlled. All the cuts cooked according to all the methods, had the favourable >0.4 Polyunsaturated:Saturated fatty acids (P:S) ratio, ranging from 0.91 to 1.42 between cuts and treatments. The n-6:n-3 ratio was below the recommended beneficial value, namely <4:1, in all the cuts irrespective of all the cooking methods, ranging from 2.47 to 3.08. The study of the effect of the three cooking methods (baking-bag, foil-wrap and open-roast) on the sensory attributes of the breast meat revealed that aroma-intensity of the three cooking treatments did not differ significantly (P>0.05). Foil-wrap produced a more tender and juicier product (P<0.05), while, when using the baking-bag method, values for flavour decreased (P<0.05). It is proposed that a higher internal temperature (which was not controlled) was attained when using the baking-bag method (temperature and time controlled) resulting in loss of volatile flavour components. The effect of the three cooking methods (baking-bag, foil-wrap and open-roast) on the proximate composition (moisture, protein, fat and ash) of raw and cooked breast meat was investigated. As anticipated raw breast meat had higher moisture content (74.55%, P<0.05) than the cooked cuts, with open-roasting showing the highest (68.55%) value and foil-wrap close second (68.12%). These values differed significantly from the baking-bag method (66.06%, P<0.05). An investigation on the effect of brine infusion on the sensory attributes and chemical composition (proximate and fatty acid composition, and mineral content) of breast meat, baked in foil-wrap, was carried out using descriptive sensory analysis with the injected breast and the control as variable. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) between the injected and the control samples for any of the sensory attributes of aroma, tenderness, initial juiciness, sustained juiciness and flavour. Judge:treatment variations were observed for all the attributes, and samples differed for all attributes except for aroma. It is proposed that the use of the hand injector could not effectively distribute the brine solution, hence the recommendation to repeat the experiment using an electronic multineedle-injector. No effect was observed for the proximate composition (P>0.05). Further research pertaining to cooking methods of meat of free-range guinea fowl is recommended to address certain issues that have been highlighted.
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Bupo, Ana Dinorah. "The development of an innovative culinary product prepared from green leafy vegetables for the urban consumer." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/73421.
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Indigenous or wild leafy vegetables are very nutritious foods which are underutilised. They have made a positive impact on the nutrient intake of local communities for many years due to their vitamin and mineral content, as well as their phytochemicals and antioxidants. The increase in the desire and need for convenience foods also makes it imperative that healthy options are made available amongst other convenience food products: time is valuable to the modern urban consumer, but issues of poor health attributed to convenience foods are on the rise around the world, especially obesity in South Africa. The use of African green leafy vegetables (AGLVs) helps to prevent traditional foods from becoming lost in a westernised environment, and also allows a healthier alternative product to be made available. In order to do this, consumers are vital to the process of product development as they are the ones who have the final say as to whether a product will be successful or not.
The aim of this study was to investigate and determine the desired characteristics and specifications of AGLV products, to develop four culinary products using these vegetables, and lastly to evaluate one selected culinary product by means of sensory evaluation and consumer acceptance. This study was conducted in three phases. During the first phase a data content analysis was conducted to determine trends in the market in order to identify four possible product options for consumers to select from. In this first phase, a research questionnaire was applied to collect demographic information, establish background knowledge and product characteristics of these vegetables as well as consumption information of the participants to determine what type of convenience food product is desired. This was done to obtain background knowledge of the subjects. During Phase 2 the four products were developed by following an experimental procedure. In Phase 3 one developed product was selected for sensory evaluation, which ultimately aimed to describe and evaluate the final product.
The target population for this study was urban consumers residing in Gauteng who were from different education levels, gender, race and age groups (over the age of 18 so that they were able to make their own purchasing decisions). The participants also had to be able to communicate in English, read and write English, and be computer literate.
Overall the findings confirmed that the participants in the study desired morogo pasta to be developed to the convenience stage of ready-to-cook. Apart from the type of product chosen by the participants, it was evident that the morogo pasta should be seasoned (to mask the strong vegetable taste), could have a green colouring (as it was not indicated whether it should have a green colour or not) and could have a morogo or vegetable odour.
This study contributes to closing the gap in the knowledge of the development of innovative indigenous leafy vegetable products. The process used would enable another innovative culinary product to be developed. It also promotes the use of indigenous leafy vegetables which are sometimes seen as inferior but have the potential to be developed. The growth in the consumption of products provided by the local ecosystem is also recognised internationally and is becoming more widespread. Value was also added to the study by a combination of culinary innovation and traditional recipe development used in the development process.
Keywords:
African green leafy vegetables (AGLVs), morogo, recipe development, consumer-led product development, sensory evaluation, Check All That Apply (CATA)Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2020.
Consumer Science
MSc
Unrestricted
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Weyant, Emily, Nakia J. Woodward, Rachel R. Walden, Rick L. Wallace, and Kelly R. Loyd. "Promoting Consumer Health Materials at Remote Area Medical Clinics." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2019. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/8823.
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Al-Turk, Amanda. "Consumer Attitudes and Acceptability of Catfish Prepared in a Low-Fat Manner." MSSTATE, 2007. http://sun.library.msstate.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-04042007-191019/.
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Consumption of farm-raised catfish in the United States has increased over the last few decades. However, consumers usually prefer it as a deep-fried product, especially in the southern United States. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the acceptability of low-fat baked catfish using a Central Location Test. Subjects (n=137) tasted, compared, and evaluated samples of low-fat baked catfish and deep-fried catfish. Results indicated that the fried product was favored (p <0.05) over the baked product. The majority of subjects (93.4%) identified the baked product as the healthier choice. Most subjects (85.7%) indicated that catfish was an overall healthy food choice. Reasons for consuming catfish included taste (75.6%), convenience (15.1%), health reasons (7.6%), and cost (1.7%). The majority of subjects (63.8%) indicated that they normally consumed catfish as a deep-fried product, but 91.9% indicated that they would be willing to consume catfish prepared in a low-fat manner.
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Huffaker, Stacey A. "Successes and Challenges of Family and Consumer Science Extension Agents in the Implementation of Couple and Relationship Education." DigitalCommons@USU, 2011. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/855.
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Although healthy relationship initiatives are becoming more common, relatively little is known about the processes and outcomes of these initiatives. This study uses a phenomenological qualitative approach to examine the experiences of Family and Consumer Science (FCS) extension agents in the implementation of couple and relationship education in the Utah Healthy Relationship Initiative. Data were collected through quarterly report forms submitted by extension agents describing successes and barriers to their work. Successes in the project related to collaborative partnerships, attendance/participation, and positive outcomes for participants. Collaborative partnerships were instrumental in reaching more participants and finding cultural resources. The challenges that agents reported included constraints for participants and agents' difficulties with resources. The findings underscore the benefits of creating flexible, low-intensity, and low-cost activities that attract participants and reduce some of the barriers to participation, as well as teaming up with community organizations to implement couple and relationship education programs.
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Trupiano, Michael (Michael Vito) 1977. "A taxonomy for assessing fitness of mobile data services in US consumer markets." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/86845.
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Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-105).
by Michael Trupiano.
M.Eng.
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Abel, Logan B. "Design and analysis of low-cost x-ray imaging system incorporating consumer camera imaging." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/119040.
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Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2018.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 52-54).
X-ray imaging is a core component of our modern medical diagnosis arsenal in combatting a broad range of disease. X-ray imaging allows medical professionals to see the internal structure and layout of the human body, and in this way allows for the visualization of unseen ailments. A current "disease of poverty" which is the target of this study is tuberculosis, a lung bacteria which is visible on x-ray imaging. X-ray imaging is a well known and used technology, yet x-ray imaging remains very expensive and unwieldy for use in less-developed regions of the world. Within the last three to four decades, the world has seen a massive explosion in consumer camera technology development, largely driven by circuit miniaturization, and this has led to cheaper and higher resolution cameras being produced. X-ray images themselves rely on a material to turn x-rays, the photons which pass through the person in medical imaging, into electrical signals which can be read by a computer. This collection of x-ray photons can be done through the coupling of a scintillating screen and a camera which images the scintillating screen to create an x-ray image. This study explores this particular method of x-ray imaging which is likely to be cheaper than existing methods of x-ray imaging, yet also likely yields images of poorer resolution and contrast distinction in x-ray images. The theoretical components necessary to setup such a system in the most efficient manner possible were analyzed, taking into consideration safety and finance constraints. The imaging capabilities of a Nikon D810 (f/1.4, 50 mm lens) and iPhone 5S (f/2.2 lens), higher and lower quality cameras respectively, were analyzed using three scintillating screens, the MCI Optonix DRZ High, Scintacor DRZ Medium, and Scintacor DRZ Ultrafine screens, to capture the x-rays produced from a 14 mA 100 kV x-ray tube. It was found that the Nikon D810 coupled with the MCI Optonix DRZ High Screen produced results similar in performance to current medical imaging, and the iPhone 5S images were too noisy to be conclusive. Further work should go into developing a more finalized and standalone product that can be tested in clinically important settings, as this study does provide the proof-of-concept framework for this to be possible.
by Logan B. Abel.
S.B.
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Ladas, Alexandros. "Potential of psychological information to support knowledge discovery in consumer debt analysis." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34070/.
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In this work, we develop a Data Mining framework to explore the multifaceted nature of consumer indebtedness. Data Mining with its numerous techniques and methods poses as a powerful toolbox to handle the sensitivity of these data and explore the psychological aspects of this social phenomenon. Thus, we begin with a series of transformations that deal with any inconsistencies the data may contain but more importantly they capture the essential psychological information hidden in the data and represent it in a new feature space as behavioural data. Then, we propose a novel consensus clustering framework to uncover patterns of consumer behaviour which draws upon the ability of cluster ensembles to reveal robust clusters from diffcult datasets. Our Homals Consensus, models successfully the relationships between different clusterings in the cluster ensemble and manages to uncover representative clusters that are more suitable for explaining the complex patterns of a socio-economic dataset. Finally under a supervised learning approach the behavioural aspects of consumer indebtedness are assessed. In more detail, we take advantage of the exibility Neural Networks provide in determining their architecture in order to propose a novel Neural Network solution, named TopDNN, that can handle non-linearities in the data and takes into account the extracted behavioural knowledge by incorporating it in the model. All the above sketch an elaborate framework that can reveal the potential of the behavioural data to support Knowledge Discovery in Consumer Debt Analysis on one hand and the ability of Data Mining to supplement existing models and theories of complex and sensitive nature on the other.
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De, Bruin Riette. "Die versoenbaarheid van katoen/nylon- en katoen/poliester- skeringgebreide terriestofhanddoeke met industriele versorgingsprosedures." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16604.
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Thesis (MVerbruikerswet)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to investigate the compatibility of cotton/nylon and cotton/polyester warpknit terry towelling fabrics with industrial laundering procedures. The literature review focused, on the one hand, on the manufacture, finishing and structure of warp-knit terry towelling fabrics as well as on the physical structure, chemical nature and characteristics of the textile fibres used in the manufacturing of the towelling. On the other hand, a full exposition of the industrial laundering processes is provided, with specific reference to aspects that can have an effect on the towelling fabrics during the wash and tumble-drying cycles. Chapters Three and Four are reports on two research projects that can each be read independently. The aim of the first project was to determine the effect of industrial laundering procedures on the durability of cotton warp-knit terry towelling fabrics with a synthetic base structure. The tensile strength of cotton warp-knit terry towelling samples with a synthetic base structure was determined in the warp and weft directions and after 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wash cycles as well as wash and tumble-drying cycles. The tensile strengths in the warp direction of the washed terry towelling samples decreased significantly (p < 0.001) after 50 wash cycles. In contrast to this, the tensile strength in the weft direction increased, although not significantly (p > 0.05). As far as the comparison of the effect of industrial wash and wash and tumble-drying cycles is concerned, the tensile strengths in the warp direction of the towelling samples that were washed and washed/tumble-dried, were significantly lower (p < 0.001) after 20 and after 50 laundering cycles. As far as the tensile strengths in the weft direction were concerned, a similar pattern as with the wash and wash/tumble-drying processes, occurred. The tensile strengths initially increased and then gradually decreased. Furthermore, the tumble-drying process had greater damaging effects after 40 laundering cycles (p = 0.043) and especially after 50 laundering cycles (p < 0.0001). The aim of the second research project was to compare the durability of cotton warp-knit terry towelling fabrics with a nylon base structure with cotton warp-knit terry towelling fabrics with a polyester base structure after they had been subjected to industrial laundering processes. It was first established whether cotton/nylon and cotton/polyester warp-knit terry towelling fabrics are comparable. Secondly, the durability of cotton/nylon and cotton/polyester terry towelling fabrics was compared by determining the tensile strengths of the samples in the warp direction after they have been subjected to 50 industrial wash as well as wash and tumble-drying cycles. The two groups of untreated samples were regarded as similar on the basis of the percentage of fibre composition, knit fabric structure, knit density, mass and tensile strength. After 50 industrial wash cycles the tensile strengths of the cotton/nylon and cotton/polyester warp-knit terry towelling samples decreased significantly (p < 0.05). But there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the tensile strengths of the cotton/nylon and the cotton/polyester terry towelling samples after 50 washing cycles. There was a highly significant difference (p < 0.001) between the tensile strengths of the cotton/nylon and the cotton/polyester terry towelling samples after 50 wash and tumble-drying cycles. The tensile strength of the cotton/polyester terry towelling samples remained practically unchanged after the 50 wash/tumble-drying cycles, with the tensile strength of the cotton/nylon terry towelling samples decreased significantly (p < 0.001).
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die studie was om ondersoek in te stel na die versoenbaarheid van katoen/nylon- en katoen/poliëster- skeringgebreide terriestofhanddoeke met industriële versorgingsprosedures. In die literatuuroorsig is daar enersyds gefokus op die vervaardiging, afwerking en struktuur van skeringgebreide terriehanddoekstowwe asook op die fisiese struktuur, chemiese aard en eienskappe van die tekstielvesels waarvan die handdoeke vervaardig is. Andersyds is ’n volledige uiteensetting van industriële versorgingsprosedures gegee, met spesifieke verwysing na aspekte wat tydens die was- en tuimeldrogingsiklusse ’n uitwerking op die handdoekstowwe kan hê. Hoofstukke drie en vier is opgeskryf as twee navorsingsprojekte wat elk ‘n geheel vorm. Die doel van die eerste projek was om die effek van industriële versorgingsprosedures op die duursaamheid van katoen skeringgebreide terriestofhanddoeke met ‘n sintetiese basisstruktuur te bepaal. Die breeksterkte van katoen skeringgebreide terriestofmonsters met ’n sintetiese basisstruktuur is in die skering- en inslagrigtings tydens en na afloop van 10, 20, 30, 40, en 50 was- asook was- en tuimeldrogingsiklusse bepaal. Die breeksterktes in die skeringrigting van die gewaste terriestofmonsters het betekenisvol afgeneem (p < 0.001) na 50 wassiklusse. In teenstelling hiermee het die breeksterktes in die inslagrigting toegeneem, hoewel nie betekenisvol nie (p > 0.05). Wat die vergelyking van die effek van industriële was- en was en tuimeldrogingsiklusse betref, is die breeksterktes in die skeringrigting van die handdoekmonsters wat gewas en gewas/getuimeldroog is, beduidend laer (p < 0.001) na 20 en na 50 versorgingsiklusse. Wat die breeksterktes in die inslagrigting betref het ‘n soortgelyke patroon by die was- en was/tuimeldrogingprosesse voorgekom. Die breeksterktes neem aanvanklik toe en daarna geleidelik af. Verder het die tuimeldrogingsproses na 40 versorgingsiklusse (p = 0.043) en veral na 50 versorgingsiklusse (p < 0.0001) ’n groter skadelike effek getoon. Die doel van die tweede navorsingsprojek was om die duursaamheid van katoen skeringgebreide terriestowwe met ’n nylon basisstruktuur te vergelyk met katoen skeringgebreide terriestowwe met ’n poliëster basisstruktuur nadat dit aan industriële versorgingsprosedures blootgestel is. Daar is eerstens vasgestel of katoen/nylon en katoen/poliëster terriehanddoekstowwe vergelykbaar is. Tweedens is die duursaamheid van katoen/nylon en katoen/poliëster terriestowwe vergelyk deur die breeksterktes van die monsters in die skeringrigting te bepaal nadat dit aan 50 industriële wasasook was- en tuimeldrogingsiklusse blootgestel is. Die twee groepe onbehandelde monsters is as soortgelyk beskou op grond van die persentasie veselsamestelling, breistofstruktuur, breidigtheid, massa en breeksterkte. Na 50 industriële wassiklusse het die breeksterktes van die katoen/nylon en katoen/poliëster skeringgebreide terriestofmonsters betekenisvol (p < 0.05) afgeneem. Daar was egter nie ’n betekenisvolle verskil (p > 0.05) tussen die breeksterktes van die katoen/nylon en katoen/poliëster terriestofmonsters na 50 wassiklusse nie. Daar was ’n hoogs betekenisvolle verskil (p < 0.001) tussen die breeksterktes van die katoen/nylon en katoen/poliëster terriestofmonsters na die 50 was/tuimeldrogingsiklusse. Die breeksterkte van die katoen/poliëster terriestofmonsters het na die 50 was/tuimeldrogingsiklusse feitlik onveranderd gebly terwyl die breeksterkte van die katoen/nylon terriestofmonsters hoogs betekenisvol (p < 0.001) afgeneem het.