Consumer segmentation based on food neophobia and its application to product development

When evaluating the acceptability of food products, companies often focus on specific demographics for recruiting and screening consumers. However, this information may not necessarily explain the variability in the test results. Other elements, such as consumer psychographic profiles, may help better understand test participants’ responses. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of food neophobia (reluctance to/avoidance of novel foods) on acceptability of novel food items. Six salad dressings with novel flavor combinations were chosen for evaluation in a central location test. Consumers were screened using the food neophobia scale (Pliner & Hobden, 1992) as well as liking of salad dressings. Each subject evaluated three of six dressings for hedonic and diagnostic attributes. Neophobic subjects rated the salad dressings significantly lower (p < 0.05) than neophilics for all hedonic attributes with the exception of appearance. These results were consistent for all dressings. However, when looking at the hedonic mean scores from both groups, the products were ranked in similar order in that the best liked and least liked dressing for the neophilic group was the same as those for the neophobic group. For diagnostic attributes, while the mean scores were significantly different for neophobics and neophilics, the percentage of “just-about-right” scores did not differ. These results suggest that food neophobia may impact the degree with which a product is liked or disliked by consumers, but it may not affect how products are ranked based on hedonic mean scores. Therefore, while understanding the psychographic composition of a consumer test respondent base may help explain why some products score higher or lower in acceptability, it may not alter the sensory guidance provided to product development regarding the specific flavor and texture attributes that were tested.     

Analytical modeling of energy efficiency in heterogeneous processors

Energy efficiency is increasingly critical for multi-core processors and many-core accelerators. In order to increase energy efficiency, chip manufacturers are developing heterogeneous CMP chips.     

"Where similarity beats redundancy: The importance of context, higher order similarity, and response assignment": Correction to Eidels, Townsend, and Pomerantz (2008).

Reports an error in Where similarity beats redundancy: The importance of context, higher order similarity, and response assignment by Ami Eidels, James T. Townsend and James R. Pomerantz (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2008[Dec], Vol 34[6], 1441-1463). The DOIs for the article and the supplemental materials were incorrectly listed. The correct DOIs are provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-16831-008.) People are especially efficient in processing certain visual stimuli such as human faces or good configurations. It has been suggested that topology and geometry play important roles in configural perception. Visual search is one area in which configurality seems to matter. When either of 2 target features leads to a correct response and the sequence includes trials in which either or both targets are present, the result is a redundant-target paradigm. It is common for such experiments to find faster performance with the double target than with either alone, something that is difficult to explain with ordinary serial models. This redundant-targets study uses figures that can be dissimilar in their topology and geometry and manipulates the stimulus set and the stimulus-response assignments. The authors found that the combination of higher order similarity (e.g., topological) among the features in the stimulus set and response assignment can effectively overpower or facilitate the redundant-target effect, depending on the exact nature of the former characteristics. Several reasonable models of redundant-targets performance are falsified. Parallel models with the potential for channel interactions are supported by the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrical conductivity of seeded combustion products of water gas-air system

The dependence of the electrical conductivity of seeded combustion products of water gas-air system on preheating and oxygen enrichment of air has been analytically investigated. Optimum oxygen enrichment is estimated to be around 40% while preheating could be carried for temperatures in the range of 1100 to 1400 K. The conductivity of the system is found to increase with the addition of extra CO to the fuel.     

Mos: A multicomputer distributed operating system

This paper describes the goals and the internal structure of MOS, a Multicomputer distributed Operating System. MOS is a general-purpose time-sharing operating system which makes a cluster of loosely connected independent homogeneous computers behave as a single-machine UNIX system. The main goals of the system include network transparency, decentralized control, site autonomy and dynamic process migration. The main objective in the design of the system was to reduce the complexity of the system, while maintaining good performance. The internal structure of the system can be characterized by modularity, a high degree of information hiding, hierarchical organization and remote procedure calls.     

Advanced methods for displays and remote control of robots

An in-depth evaluation of the usability and situation awareness performance of different displays and destination controls of robots are presented. In two experiments we evaluate the way information is presented to the operator and assess different means for controlling the robot. Our study compares three types of displays: a “blocks” display, a HUD (head-up display), and a radar display, and two types of controls: touch screen and hand gestures. The HUD demonstrated better performance when compared to the blocks display and was perceived to have greater usability compared to the radar display. The HUD was also found to be more useful when the operation of the robot was more difficult, i.e., when using the hand-gesture method. The experiments also pointed to the importance of using a wide viewing angle to minimize distortion and for easier coping with the difficulties of locating objects in the field of view margins. The touch screen was found to be superior in terms of both objective performance and its perceived usability. No differences were found between the displays and the controllers in terms of situation awareness. This research sheds light on the preferred display type and controlling method for operating robots from a distance, making it easier to cope with the challenges of operating such systems.     

Stress relaxation in low‐shrink‐force polyolefin films

The morphology and stress relaxation of coextruded five‐layer LLDPE (linear low‐density polyethylene)/EVA (ethylene‐vinyl‐acetate) copolymer films were studied. Increasing VA (vinyl acetate) content in EVA causes a decrease of shrink tension in the films, which can be explained by a decrease in amount of crystallinity. The relaxation time spectrum of the coextruded crosslinked LLDPE/EVA films is similar to the relaxation time spectrum of crosslinked LLDPE film at room temperature. However, at elevated temperatures, an additional peak appears on the spectrum of coextruded film. The cause of this peak is temperature‐ and stress‐induced recrystallization of EVA during the relaxation test. This recrystallization was confirmed with DSC and wide angle X‐ray analysis. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:1716–1720, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.