Consumer Point Of View Research Articles

Energy optimization of bread baking process undergoing quality constraints

International home energy rating regulations are forcing to use efficient cooking equipment and processes towards energy saving and sustainability. For this reason gas ovens are replaced by the electric ones, to get the highest energy rating. Due to this fact, the study of the technologies related to the energy efficiency in cooking is increasingly developing. Indeed, big industries are working to the energy optimization of their processes since decades, while there is still a lot of room in energy optimization of single household appliances. The achievement of a higher efficiency can have a big impact on the society only if the use of modern equipment gets widespread. The combination of several energy sources (e.g. forced convection, irradiation, microwave, etc.) and their optimization is an emerging target for oven manufacturers towards optimal oven design.In this work, an energy consumption analysis and optimization is applied to the case of bread baking. Each source of energy gets the due importance and the process conditions are compared. A basic quality standard is guaranteed by taking into account some quality markers, which are relevant based on a consumer viewpoint.

Making a Cloud Data Secure and Effective for Better Performance of Services

<p>Cloud data security is one of the major and crucial concern in everyday life. Now a days cloud computing is emerging as vast and fastest growing technology depending on the usage. Cloud computing does not allow to keep data at user site and thus a data security is concerned to be a major challenging task regarding data storage. This paper overall describes the monitoring of the cloud data concerning data storage. In this paper we proposed a new methodology that can efficiently managed the security to the data and provide privacy to the consumer using the services of the cloud. Our proposed technique provides data security by using the third party monitoring system which acts as an interface between the cloud consumer and cloud owner. Basically third party monitors the each and every activity of the cloud consumer and based upon his performance he respond to the cloud owner for taking decision. Our proposed concept provides the security from consumer point of view and owner side of view making the flexibility to the cloud infrastructure. Existing work focus mainly on security from owner side of view that not well fitted into the lifecycle of data security.</p>

Management perspectives on country of origin

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide a new perspective by conceptualising country of origin (COO) from a management perspective, identifying the impact different COO constructs have in the context of fashion retailer and manufacturer businesses.Design/methodology/approach– This qualitative study comprises a series of in-depth interviews with key informants from large-scale fashion retailers and manufacturers in the UK.Findings– The major findings of this research demonstrate that COO is considered a strategic business imperative but manifests in a variety of ways depending on brand positioning, long-term strategic plans, expertise, and brand values, etc.Research limitations/implications– This study contributes to the body of knowledge about the importance of COO. The findings of this research will have practical implications for manufacturers and retailers, informing the debate on the value of the “Made in […]” epithet. Findings are limited to the UK fashion clothing industry.Originality/value– This research presents a new perspective on the COO construct, addressing it from a management rather than consumer perspective. It argues that COO can be considered as a strategic dimension, which is manifested in a variety of ways. COO has been extensively researched from a consumer point of view but this research takes a new approach by presenting findings from a managerial point of view, with fashion manufacturing and retail branding as the context.

Fuzzy Rule-Based Expert System for Determining Trustworthiness of Cloud Service Providers

Cloud Computing has a great potential to transform the way we use technology. People have started using cloud services but they still have a lot of apprehensions resulting from the lack of trust on Cloud Service Provider (CSP) and the associated security risks. In this paper, we have proposed a fuzzy rule-based expert system that evaluates trustworthiness of a CSP from the viewpoint of consumers (called Direct-Trust), their Public-Review, and the Cloud Auditor (called Auditor-Trust). A survey has been conducted to rate the five CSPs on the basis of their Reliability, Performance, Security, and Usability. The data collected from the survey serve as the dataset to calculate the Direct-Trust and Public-Review. Auditor-Trust has been calculated using the data generated by Nasuni, a cloud storage company which evaluates CSPs on the basis of their Performance, Availability, Scalability, and Accuracy. Final Trustworthiness is then calculated by combining Direct-Trust, Public-Review, and Auditor-Trust. All the simulations have been done using Fuzzy Logic Toolbox of MATLAB. The results generated rank the CSPs according to their Final Trustworthiness. A scale of 1–5 has been used in all the calculations for ratings.

Sustainability of the Wine Market though Emerging Consumer Segments: The Case of U.S. Hispanic Consumers

With the increased globalization of the wine industry comes the need for in-depth examinations of emerging consumer segments. The current study approaches the topic of sustainability from the consumer viewpoint. Specifically, the current paper focuses on an emerging yet sizeable market of consumers - Hispanic wine consumers in the United States. Consumer data were collected via in-person intercepts at retail stores that predominately target Hispanic consumers. Findings suggest that Hispanic consumers drink wine fairly frequently, with the majority of the sample reporting wine consumption at least once a week. Slightly over half of the sample prefers red and dry wine, but about forty percent give preferences to sweet wine. Hispanic consumers perceive wine as a drink to be consumed at home, rather than in a restaurant or a bar. Price was named as the top purchase driver, followed by personal preferences and friend's recommendations.

Downscaling material flow analysis: The case of the cereal supply chain in France

The spatial reconstruction of the production, trade, transformation and consumption flows of a specific material, can become an important decision-help tool for improving resource management and for studying environmental pressures from the producer's to the consumer's viewpoint. One of the obstacles preventing its actual use in the decision-making process is that building such studies at various geographical scales proves to be costly both in time and manpower. In this article, we propose a semi-automatic methodology to overcome this issue: we describe our multi-scalar model and its data-reconciliation component and apply it to cereal flows. Namely, using official databases (Insee, Agreste, FranceAgriMer, SitraM) as well as corporate sources, we reconstructed the supply chain flows of the 22 French regions as well as the flows of four nested territories: France, the Rhône-Alpes region, the Isère department and the territory of the SCoT of Grenoble. We display the results using Sankey diagrams and discuss the intervals of confidence of the model's outputs. We conclude on the perspectives of coupling this model with economic, social and environmental aspects that would provide key information to decision-makers.

Modeling and recognition of smart grid faults by a combined approach of dissimilarity learning and one-class classification

Detecting faults in electrical power grids is of paramount importance, both from the electricity operator and consumer point of view. Modern electric power grids (smart grids) are equipped with smart sensors that allow to gather real-time information regarding the physical status of all components belonging to the whole infrastructure (e.g., cables and related insulation, transformers, and breakers). In real-world smart grid systems, usually, additional information that are related to the operational status of the grid are collected, such as meteorological information. Designing an efficient recognition model to discriminate faults in real-world smart grid system is hence a challenging task. This follows from the heterogeneity of the information that actually determine a typical fault condition. In this paper, we deal with the problem of modeling and recognizing faults in a real-world smart grid system, which supplies the entire city of Rome, Italy. Recognition of faults is addressed by following a combined approach of dissimilarity measures learning and one-class classification techniques. We provide here an in-depth study related to the available data and to the models based on the proposed one-class classification approach. Furthermore, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the fault recognition results by exploiting a fuzzy set based decision rule.

‘It is disgusting, but … ’: adolescent girls’ relationship to internet pornography as gender performance

Digital media are an important part of the lives of young people, who use these resources to access sexual materials such as pornography. This kind of consumption can reveal important aspects of their social lives. Starting from the viewpoint of consumers, this paper is a reflection on girls’ consumption of pornography and on the meanings they give to their practices and choices in the continuum between online and offline experiences. The research involved boys and girls from the ages of 16 to 18 using different techniques: six ‘co-construction groups’, 48 face-to-face interviews, and two online focus groups. The article describes girls’ experiences with internet pornography, underlining the symbolic use of pornographic material as exploration and definition of gender performance. According to girls, using internet pornography means to ‘play’ with gender borders: defining and redefining them, experiencing them, passing through them. These borders are connecting to the meaning of being a girl or a boy, but also to the common idea of ‘normality’ within the peer group.

27.1: Invited Paper: Opening the Door to New LCD Applications Via Polymer Walls

Free‐form, or unbreakable displays are attractive from a consumer point of view but are difficult to manufacture. We have developed state‐of‐the‐art liquid crystal mixtures that can create polymer wall structures within the display. This utilizes existing manufacturing techniques and enables flexible substrate based liquid crystal displays.

Satisfaction of Family Physician Plan: Viewpoint of Physicians and Health Service Consumers in Kerman, Southeast of Iran

Background: Family Physician plan is known as one of the most appropriate strategies to implement rural health insurance program in the form of referral system in Iran. This study aims to determine the satisfaction of family physicians and service consumers and its causes of dissatisfaction in the South of Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in Kerman Health Network. Nineteen family physicians and 370 service consumers were selected using stratified random sampling. Data was gathered using two standardized questionnaires. Frequency tables, frequency percentage, mean graphs, Z and Freedman statistical tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Mean scores of physicians’ satisfaction were 9.10 and 4.12 in staff performance and payment system, respectively. Service consumers were satisfaction of physician delivery care (7.25), and para-medical (3.61). Moreover, most physicians were interested in per capita (31/6%). Conclusion: Family physician and health service consumers are highly satisfied. Satisfaction is an important factor for ensuring service quality and any ignorance in this regard can reduce the quantity and quality of delivered care. Physicians are recommended to respect their consumers and consider their waiting time. Meanwhile, health system managers should promote physicians’ payment. [GMJ.2015;4(2):96-102]

The Food Quality Labels: Awareness and Willingness to Pay in the Context of the Czech Republic

The paper deals with quality labels utilization in the food products sector from consumer point of view and presents the results of research study which was conducted in the Czech Republic by interviewing a sample of 250 respondents selected by quota sampling methods. The study was aimed at analysing the consumers’ awareness and perceived credibility of food quality labels, at revealing their willingness to pay a higher price for certified products, and at determining whether significant differences do exist in the way consumers perceive the food quality labels based on their socio-demographic characteristics. The findings revealed a low awareness of food quality labels. A higher level of recognition as well as perceived credibility was proven for national quality labels. As the main problem were identified a poor information about quality labels and lack of confidence that certified products have declared characteristics. Consumers show an interest in getting information about the topic, they also express a willingness to pay a slightly higher price for certified products if they trust them. Our findings confirmed that significant differences do exist between socio-demographic characteristics of respondents (gender, age, education, and responsibility for food purchases) and their attitudes toward the labels; no significant difference was found based on income.

Microbiological quality analysis of raw, pasteurized, UHT milk samples collected from different locations in Bangladesh

Present study attempted to determine the microbiological quality of raw, pasteurized and UHT (Ultra High Temperature-processed) milk samples collected from different locations in Bangladesh. A total of 46 samples were studied including 22 raw milk samples from the local dairy markets and 24 different brands of pasteurized and ultrahigh temperature (UHT) treated milk manufactured in different beverage industries. The samples were examined for determining the total viable bacterial count (TVBC) and total coliform count (TCC). Results revealed that the raw milk samples were substandard in terms of TVBC and TCC. The range of TVBC and TCC in raw milk samples was 5.2×108 to 1.3×107 cfu/ml and 4.2×104 to 1.0×104 cfu/ml, respectively. On the contrary, the quality of pasteurized and UHT-treated milks was excellent. The TVBC range in pasteurized milk samples was from 1.8×103 to 1.1×102 cfu/ml, slightly lower than that recommended by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI). Interestingly sample numbers P-6, P-10 and P-12 of pasteurized milk samples had no growth at all both in terms of TVBC and TCC and none of the UHT processed milk contained any bacteria. So from the consumer point of view, both types of processed milk can be considered safe for consumption within the mentioned expiry date. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sjm.v4i1.22753 Stamford Journal of Microbiology, Vol.4(1) 2014: 5-8

Agent Based Model to Analyze Consumer Behavior in Consuming the Electricity Energy

Several studies have been conducted regarding save energy in consuming the electricity through the simple changes in routines and habits. In the case of electricity consumption, consumer behavior might influenced by several factors such as consumer profession, season, and environmental awareness. In this paper, we developed an Agent Based Model (ABM) to analyze the behavior of different agents in consuming the electricity energy for each type of profession (agent) as well as their interaction with the environment. This paper demonstrates a prototype agent based simulation model to estimate the electricity consumption based on the existing condition and some scenarios to reduce the electricity consumption from consumer point of view. From the scenario results, we analyzed the impact of the save energy to increase the electrification ratio.

Analysing the product and service aspects of a manufacturing supply chain: a dairy industry perspective

This paper has made an attempt to assess the relative importance of product and service aspects of a manufacturing supply chain. The relative performances of the product and service, from view point of consumers, in a dairy–food supply chain have been assessed critically to make inferences. The paper argues that both product and service aspects are relatively important to a consumer. To be more precise, with the best product (in terms of price, quality etc.) a very low service level will put the supply chain at sub–optimal level of performance. On the contrary, a poor quality product with highest level of service will also not perform well in the supply chain. However, the paper has endeavoured to assess both the attributes and concludes that service aspects (service level requirements) offset the product aspects for better supply chain performance, in comparison. The paper has also identified the critical components of product and service aspects of the dairy–food supply chain which required to be strengthened for better supply chain performance.

New consumer services provided by smart metering

This paper focuses on the issues of smart metering market and considers different services provided by smart metering from consumer point of view. Firstly, smart metering deployment challenges emerging and conventional tariffs, which modify a consumer behavior and thus, the entire electric energy market can be optimized since the customer is motivated to consume less energy. Secondly, the authors illustrate changes in electricity quality, which have an impact on consumer relations with utility. Additionally, two main indices of grid resilience – SAIDI and SAIFI – are exemplified to reveal the improvement potential of smart metering implementation in certain regions of Russia that also influence the consumer. Finally, in-home display and privacy problem directly reflect the consumer’s behavior, thus the private life rights should not be violated as they are guaranteed by law.

Advanced Natural Convection Cooling Designs for Light-Emitting Diode Bulb Systems

The movement to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems worldwide is accelerating quickly as energy savings and reduction in hazardous materials increase in importance. Government regulations and rapidly lowering prices help to further this trend. Today's strong drive is to replace light bulbs of common outputs (60 W, 75 W, and 100 W) without resorting to compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs containing mercury while maintaining the standard industry bulb size and shape referred to as A19. For many bulb designs, this A19 size and shape restriction forces a small heat sink which is barely capable of dissipating heat for 60 W equivalent LED bulbs with natural convection for today's LED efficacies. 75 W and 100 W equivalent bulbs require larger sizes, some method of forced cooling, or some unusual liquid cooling system; generally none of these approaches are desirable for light bulbs from a consumer point of view. Thus, there is interest in developing natural convection cooled A19 light bulb designs for LEDs that cool far more effectively than today's current designs. Current A19 size heat sink designs typically have thermal resistances of 5–7 °C/W. This paper presents designs utilizing the effects of chimney cooling, well developed for other fields that reduce heat sink resistances by significant amounts while meeting all other requirements for bulb system design. Numerical studies and test data show performance of 3–4 °C/W for various orientations including methods for keeping the chimney partially active in horizontal orientations. Significant parameters are also studied with effects upon performance. The simulations are in good agreement with the experimental data. Such chimney-based designs are shown to enable 75 W and 100 W equivalent LED light bulb designs critical for faster penetration of LED systems into general lighting applications.

Exploration of O2O Mode in the Retail Industry

In recent years, the retail industry is facing great changes brought by the Internet, and O2O commerce model is an emerging pattern, especially in the last two years, it has gradually been accepted in traditional industries. In particular the retail industry practitioners who face the huge impact of E-commerce are full of hope and expectation for value and impact that O2O model can bring. For this reason, from the consumer point of view this article firstly considers situation and attitude of the business, and combines with the market situation, then tries to introduce a more comprehensive O2O model and analyses theoretical studies to provide some references for the O2O model practitioners.

Carotenoids and egg quality

DOI: 10.15414/afz.2014.17.02.55–57 Received 9. May 2014 ǀ Accepted 29. May 2014 ǀ Available online 23. June 2014 From the viewpoint of consumers, great emphasis is placed on the colour of yolk. Hens cannot synthesize the pigments and thus the feed mixtures are source of pigments. Moreover, synthetic carophylls are used for colouring effect of yolk, but in this case, the limits must be observed in terms of human health. Therefore, natural alternatives are searched, which will have a similar colouring effect and will not negatively affect the egg quality. Natural sources of carotenoids such as carrot, alga Chlorella , marigold or lutein increase the concentration of health-promoting carotenoids in yolks and increase the quality of eggs. For practical use, there must be taken into account the price of natural sources of carotenoids. Keywords : carotenoids, carophyll, yolk colour, vitamins

Phenolic compounds in fresh and dried figs from Cilento (Italy), by considering breba crop and full crop, in comparison to Turkish and Greek dried figs.

Fresh and dried figs are important components of the Mediterranean diet. In Cilento (Southern Italy), figs belonging to cultivar "Dottato" are used for the production of "PDO Cilento white figs," as dried figs. In this article, we reported the characterization of the phenolic compounds in 19 fig samples: 9 fresh figs cultivar "Dottato" from Cilento (Italy), 10 dried fig samples from Cilento (2), Turkey (6), and Greece (2). The following phenolic compounds were identified and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/UV-DAD: chlorogenic acid, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid, luteolin-3,7-di-O-glucoside, luteolin 7-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-rutinoside, rutin, quercetin-3-glucoside, and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside. A discriminative analysis between the peel and pulp of the samples was carried out. The 1st crop ("breba") and the 2nd one (full crop) from Dottato figs were considered, as well as the effect of fig pollination. The majority of the phenolic compounds were predominant in the fig peel. Significant quantitative differences were found among fresh figs, whereas also some qualitative differences were obtained between fresh and dried figs from the same origin in Dottato cultivar, and among dried figs from different origins. Breba crop resulted richer in phenolics than figs of the 2nd crop. Considering the dried figs, the Turkish ones had the highest concentration in phenolic compounds. Other compounds such as the aminoacids tyrosine and tryptophan were also detected by HPLC-DAD analysis in Dottato figs, probably due to the similarity of their chemical structure. The results of this research could be useful to deepen the knowledge about the phenolic composition of a fruit that is particularly appreciated in Mediterranean area and presents an increasing interest worldwide. We also characterized a typical Italian fig (Cilento Dottato) that has relevant economical importance in Southern Italy; thus, our work could be applied by producers and industries for the valorization of dried figs as high-quality products. From the consumer viewpoint, a comparison among dried figs from different origins found on the retail market has a huge significance to inform about what the market offers and what product is the richest one in polyphenol content.

An Exploration of Success Factors for the Comprehensive Construction of a Shopping Area from the Consumer Point of View — A Case Study of the Business Area of Sanyi, Miaoli

With the development of Taiwan’s economy and increasing revenues of the people, people are increasingly interested in tourism and leisure lifestyles. Local governments in Taiwan develop their own unique shopping areas based on the considerations of their own characteristics. Woodcarving works display commercial, artistic, practical, aesthetical, and other features. From the heyday of export and domestic sales, the global downturn, and the establishment of the woodcarving museum, the industry experienced changes like the business cycle. During this period of thriving export, every household in Sanyi was creating wood carving products day and night. Due to the flourishing export of the wood carving industry of Sanyi, outside wood carvers came to Sanyi and introduced new artistic styles, resulting in different creative concepts of wood carving works. The majority of residents in Sanyi are Hakka, and over 50% of the people are engaging in the woodcarving industry. Presently, due to time, space, external, and internal factors, the woodcarving industry of Sanyi has gradually passed the heyday of export. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, this study analyzed the status and process of the development of the Sanyi woodcarving cultural and creative industry, as well as the change of marketing models. We explored whether emotional marketing methods can arouse the perception of consumption situations, and individual intrinsic emotions and feelings, while promoting proactive participation and purchase of woodcarving products to enrich the life of consumers. Moreover, this study discussed the depth and width of the impact on existing consumers and potential community members. By analyzing the woodcarving industry in Sanyi, Miaoli, as based on a conversion from the past, as well as current development and future vision, this study proposed marketing strategy suggestions as reference for the woodcarving industry.