Attitude-behaviour dissonance regarding the importance of food preservation for customers

The aim of the study was to identify the importance of individual food product attributes (the use of preservatives, processing method, shelf-life period and nutritional value) as well as their relation to the purchase behaviour. To achieve this, consumer preferences were decomposed in conditions of full access to information, and data was compared with actual consumer behaviour related to making purchasing decisions in front of the store shelf. Based on data from 338 respondents, conjoint analysis and repeated ANOVA measurements were carried out, allowing to eliminate individual behavioural patterns. The results showed a dissonance between the consumers attitudes towards the attributes and their shopping behaviour. The processing method was the most important declared attribute for consumers, meanwhile this information was the least searched for during purchase. At the same time, shelf-life period marked as the least important was the main information searched for by consumers when shopping. The results also show a clear dislike towards the use of microwaves as a preservation method, while traditional thermal preservation was marked as the most positive for consumers. In addition, consumers were classified into 3 heterogeneous groups, identifying differences in the preferences of food attributes. The obtained results have practical value relating not only to the preferences of individual attributes, but also to their various variants. The results can be a guide for companies to properly label food products. The indicated dissonance illustrates the educational gap and related insufficient motivation to get to know the product before buying it. This is extremely important in connection with technological development and new food processing methods.     

海拉尔盆地的古河道砂体识别方法

本文基于海拉尔盆地贝尔凹陷西北部高精度三维地震资料,通过对时间域、频率域地震属性的分析,研究了河道砂体的变化及分布规律,总结出了一套利用时间域、频率域地震属性识别古河道的方法。其中对河道砂体较为敏感的沿层属性主要有均方根振幅、反射强度梯度、有效带宽及瞬时频度等。利用这种识别方法在该区找到水下分流河道砂体和河口坝砂体,为该区的岩性勘探部署提供了具体目标。     

基于属性相关表的关系模式全部候选关键字求法

本文提出了属性相关表这样一种新的概念，定义了相应的运算并研究了它的有关性质及定理，在此基础上提出了用属性相关表求关系模式全部主属性的等级，并给出了用主属性来组合关系模式全部候选关键字的算法，上述算法的时间复杂度均为Ｏ（ｎ＾２）。     

松辽盆地南部岩性圈闭识别技术及效果

寻找隐蔽油气藏一直是油气勘探中的难题,我国东部吉林油田的中浅层已进入高成熟勘探阶段,油气勘探已由早期的构造圈闭勘探转变为现今的以隐蔽圈闭勘探为主的阶段。本文针对松辽盆地南部的西部前缘带三维连片工区及伊通地堑岔路河断陷,综合应用构造精细解释、声波曲线重构波阻抗反演、层序地层学、地震相及沉积(微)相分析、模型正演、地震属性分析、频谱分解及三维可视化等技术手段,所提供的多口探井获得工业油气流或有良好的油气显示,取得了较好的解释效果。     

多属性神经网络地震反演在NB油田水平井钻探中的应用

NB油田位于渤海海域,为新近系河流相稠油油田,储层横向分布不稳定,砂体厚度薄、连通性较差,油水关系复杂,开发设计部署了大量水平井。选择神经网络反演方法,建立地震属性与储层参数的非线性关系,进而根据其关系反演得到储层参数数据体,利用该数据体沿层切片提取储层预测信息,研究储层发育规律,指导该油田水平井的部署和钻探,取得了较好的效果,降低了钻探风险。用神经网络地震反演方法进行储层预测研究,指导水平井钻探,在渤海海域尚属首次。     

Drying Characteristics of Barley Grain Dried in a Spouted-Bed and Combined IR-Convection Dryers

A study was performed to determine the drying characteristics and quality of barley grain dried in a laboratory scale spouted-bed dryer at 30, 35, 40, and 45°C and an inlet air velocity of 23 m/s^-1, and in an IR-convection dryer under an infrared radiation intensity of 0.048, 0.061, 0.073, and 0.107 W cm^-2 at an air velocity of 0.5 m/s^-1. The results show that the first, relatively short, phase of a sharp decrease in the drying rate was followed by the phase of a slow decrease. The time of barley drying depended on temperature of inlet air in a spouted-bed dryer and on radiation intensities in an IR-convection dryer. Barley drying at 45°C in a spouted-bed dryer was accompanied by the lowest total energy consumption. The average specific energy consumption was lower and the average efficiency of drying was higher for drying in a spouted-bed dryer. The effective diffusivities were in the range 2.20-4.52 × 10^-11 m² s^-1 and 3.04-4.79 × 10^-11 m²/s^-1 for barley dried in a spouted-bed and in an IR-convection dryer, respectively. There were no significant differences in kernel germination energy and capacity between the two drying methods tested.     

Relative importance of evaluation criteria for enterprise systems: a conjoint study

Abstract.  While a large body of research exists on the development and implementation of software, organizations are increasingly acquiring enterprise software packages [e.g. enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems] instead of custom developing their own software applications. To be competitive in the marketplace, software package development firms must manage the three-pronged trade-off between cost, quality and functionality. Surprisingly, prior research has made little attempt to investigate the characteristics of packaged software that influence management information system (MIS) managers' likelihood of recommending purchase. As a result, both the criteria by which MIS managers evaluate prospective packaged systems and the attributes that lead to commercially competitive ERP software products are poorly understood. This paper examines this understudied issue through a conjoint study. We focus on ERP systems, which are among the largest and most complex packaged systems that are purchased by organizations. In a conjoint study, 1008 evaluation decisions based on hypothetical ERP software package profiles were completed by managers in 126 organizations. The study represents the first empirical investigation of the relative importance that managers ascribe to various factors that are believed to be important in evaluating packaged software. The results provide important insights for both organizations that acquire such systems and those that develop them. The results show that functionality, reliability, cost, ease of use and ease of customization are judged to be important criteria, while ease of implementation and vendor reputation were not found to be significant. Functionality and reliability were found to be the most heavily weighted factors. We conclude the paper with a detailed discussion of the results and their implications for software acquisition and development practice.     

AVO属性交会图解释技术在碳酸盐岩储层预测中的应用

AVO属性交会图解释技术是通过正演模型提取AV0属性，再根据模型和实际地震数据在AVO属性交会图上的分布关系，建立储层岩性参数、含流体特征与AVO属性间的对应关系。该法以模型正演分析为基础，以地震数据AVO属性为外推控制条件，将地震、地质和测井信息紧密地结合起来，从而达到识别储层的目的。本文以川东LJZ地区飞仙关鲕滩储层为例，通过对已知钻、测井资料分析和模型正演，确定鲕滩储层的地震属性响应模式及其交会图上的分布特征，识别储层岩性和含流体性质，进而确定储层的气水界面。     

Supporting inconsistent rules in database systems

When a set of rules generates (conflicting) values for a virtual attribute of some tuple, the system must resolve the inconsistency and decide on a unique value that is assigned to that attribute. In most current systems, the conflict is resolved based on criteria that choose one of the rules in the conflicting set and use the value that it generated. There are several applications, however, where inconsistencies of the above form arise, whose semantics demand a different form of resolution. We propose a general framework for the study of the conflict resolution problem, and suggest a variety of resolution criteria, which collectively subsume all previously known solutions. With several new criteria being introduced, the semantics of several applications are captured more accurately than in the past. We discuss how conflict resolution criteria can be specified at the schema or the rule-module level. Finally, we suggest some implementation techniques based on rule indexing, which allow conflicts to be resolved efficiently at compile time, so that at run time only a single rule is processed.An earlier version of this work appeared under the title Conflict Resolution of Rules Assigning Values to Virtual Attributes inProceedings of the 1989 ACM-Sigmod Conference, Portland, OR, June 1989, pp. 205–214.Partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant IRI-9157368 (PYI Award) and by grants from DEC, HP, and AT&T.Partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant IRI-9057573 (PYI Award), IBM, DEC, and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS).     

Impact of initial moisture content levels,freezing rate and instant controlled pressure drop treatment (DIC) on dehydrofreezing process and quality attributes of quince fruits

Dehydrofreezing process involves water partial removal before freezing. This treatment has been proposed in order to reduce the negative impacts of conventional or even accelerated freezing, especially on the textural quality of high water content fruits and vegetables. Indeed, in such cases, freezing and thawing processes result in severe damage of the integrity of product’s cell structure due to the formation of ice crystals. For this purpose, quince fruits (7?g H₂O/g db) were subjected to convective air drying of 40?°C and 3m/s to reach different water content levels of 2, 1, and 0.3?g H₂O/g db. Freezing profiles obtained at various freezing rates (V₁, V₂, and V₃) for different water contents allowed the main freezing characteristics such as the Initial Freezing Temperature (IFT), the Practical Freezing time (PFt), and the Specific Freezing time (SFt) to be assessed. The impact of freezing rate was important on PFt and SFt, and more pronounced for high water contents (W between 7 and 2?g H₂O/g db (dry basis)). Furthermore, IFT decreased sharply when initial sample water content decreased. Indeed, it started at ?0.8?°C for W?=?7g H₂O/g db, while it reached a value of ?8.2?°C for samples of W?=?1g H₂O/g db. Since convective air drying normally triggers shrinkage which causes a detrimental deformation of fruit structures, instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) treatment was used to improve the texture and enhance the whole dehydrofreezing performance and the final frozen-thawed product quality. Moreover, DIC implied a slight increase of PFt compared to untreated ones. On the other hand, quality attributes were estimated through the assessment of thawed water exudate (TWE g H₂O/100?g db), color and texture (maximum puncture force as index of firmness): freezing rate and water content had great impacts on TWE. Hence, the lower the water content, the weaker the TWE. Furthermore, the TWE of the pre-dried quince (0.3?g H₂O/g db) had higher value for DIC-textured samples than for the un-treated ones. Indeed, DIC-texturing leads to a well-controlled structure expansion of the cell wall. These textural changes resulted in more lixiviation of residual water. Consequently, water becomes more available, hence more releasable after thawing. Finally, the partial removal of water by air drying before freezing remarkably reduced the negative impact of freezing/thawing processes on final quince color. Decisively, the firmness of quince fruit increased with the decrease of water content level.

Abbreviations: DMC: Dry Matter Concentration (%); DIC: Instant controlled pressure drop; W: Water content dry basis (g H₂O/g db); IFT: Initial Freezing Temperature (°C); PFt: Practical Freezing time (min); SFt: Specific Freezing time (min); TWE: Thawed Water Exudate (g H₂O/100?g db); L, a, and b: Color coordinates; (L): The degrees of lightness; (a) and (–a): The redness (a) or greenness (?a), respectively; (b) and (?b): The yellowness (b) or blueness (?b), respectively; ΔE*_ab: Total color difference; L₀, a₀, and b₀: Color coordinates of fresh or dried quince samples; SD: Standard Deviation; ANOVA: Analysis of variances; LSD: Least Significant Differences; cp: Specific Heat of the product depending on composition (dry material and water content)(KJ/kg K); cp_d: Specific Heat of the dry material (KJ/kg K); cp_W: Specific Heat of water (KJ/kg K); V₁: Freezing rate without insulation; V₂: Freezing rate with a food stretch film insulation with thickness e2?=?3?mm and thermal conductivity λ₂?=?0.17 W/m K; V₃: Freezing rate with a versatile flexible insulation (Armacell) with thickness e3?=?13mm and weak thermal conductivity λ₃?=?0.036 W/m K; v_d: Volume of dry material of quince sample (mm³); v_H2O: Volume of quince sample water (mm³); v_t: Total volume of quince sample (mm³); e₀: Quince sample thickness (mm); e₂: Insulation thickness in the case V2; = 3?mm; ; e₃: Insulation thickness in the case V3; = 13?mm; ; λ₀: Quince sample conductivity (W/m K); λ₂: Insulation conductivity in the case V2;?=?0.17 W/m K; ; λ₃: Insulation conductivity in the case V3;?=?0.036 W/m K; λ_d: Conductivity of quince sample dry material (W/m K); λ_H2O: Conductivity of water (W/m K); λ_equiv: Equivalent conductivity of quince sample versus water content (W/m K); m_i and m_f: Weights of the frozen and thawed samples, respectively