134 research outputs found
Understanding sensory analysis in consumer-driven product development in chocolate confectionary
In today’s business, developing new products is a key objective for food companies. Studies on product development state that in the food industry this process needs to be consumer-driven. However, in order for consumer-driven food product development to be successful, one needs to understand the complexity of food perception and food preference by consumers.
This doctoral research aims to identify opportunities how sensory analysis can play a part in this innovation process or at least serve as a tool to gather information for improving the features (marketing, product or process) of a product. The overall objective of this research is to investigate key drivers for consumer preference related to chocolate products. Understanding the influencing sensory characteristics, grasping the motives and attitudes towards chocolate consumption and identifying the most important extrinsic and intrinsic attributes which lead to preference are necessities in successful product development.
This doctoral research is divided in three major parts. Part I focuses on the sensory evaluation of chocolate products and how this can be interlinked with product characterisation and process parameters. Part II studies emotions and consumer behaviour towards chocolate consumption and Part III incorporates sensory analysis in consumer-driven product development
Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies
Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task
Motivations Associated with Food Choices and Eating Practices
This book is generally focused on food choice and which factors are associated with the decisions that define people’s eating behaviour. These factor are highly variable and include influences from the surrounding environment as well as the individual characteristics of each person. The book includes a number of chapters that address these issues from different points of view. Some explore the psychology of food choices or the cultural aspects and tradition, as well as the influence of surrounding contexts. Others focus on the role of lifestyle on eating practices and health motivations, but also the food marketing and the sensory aspects of food, as a way to incentive consumption. Finally, sustainability concerns and environmental impacts can also shape and help change people’s food choices.Within the chapters gathered on this book you will find key topics that apply to everyday food choices or that can help target food consumption goals towards better health, more sustainable food chains and happier life styles
Fear Classification using Affective Computing with Physiological Information and Smart-Wearables
Mención Internacional en el título de doctorAmong the 17 Sustainable Development Goals proposed within the 2030 Agenda
and adopted by all of the United Nations member states, the fifth SDG is a call
for action to effectively turn gender equality into a fundamental human right and
an essential foundation for a better world. It includes the eradication of all types
of violence against women. Focusing on the technological perspective, the range of
available solutions intended to prevent this social problem is very limited. Moreover,
most of the solutions are based on a panic button approach, leaving aside
the usage and integration of current state-of-the-art technologies, such as the Internet
of Things (IoT), affective computing, cyber-physical systems, and smart-sensors.
Thus, the main purpose of this research is to provide new insight into the design and
development of tools to prevent and combat Gender-based Violence risky situations
and, even, aggressions, from a technological perspective, but without leaving aside
the different sociological considerations directly related to the problem. To achieve
such an objective, we rely on the application of affective computing from a realist
point of view, i.e. targeting the generation of systems and tools capable of being implemented
and used nowadays or within an achievable time-frame. This pragmatic
vision is channelled through: 1) an exhaustive study of the existing technological
tools and mechanisms oriented to the fight Gender-based Violence, 2) the proposal
of a new smart-wearable system intended to deal with some of the current technological
encountered limitations, 3) a novel fear-related emotion classification approach
to disentangle the relation between emotions and physiology, and 4) the definition
and release of a new multi-modal dataset for emotion recognition in women.
Firstly, different fear classification systems using a reduced set of physiological signals are explored and designed. This is done by employing open datasets together
with the combination of time, frequency and non-linear domain techniques. This
design process is encompassed by trade-offs between both physiological considerations
and embedded capabilities. The latter is of paramount importance due to
the edge-computing focus of this research. Two results are highlighted in this first
task, the designed fear classification system that employed the DEAP dataset data
and achieved an AUC of 81.60% and a Gmean of 81.55% on average for a subjectindependent
approach, and only two physiological signals; and the designed fear
classification system that employed the MAHNOB dataset data achieving an AUC
of 86.00% and a Gmean of 73.78% on average for a subject-independent approach,
only three physiological signals, and a Leave-One-Subject-Out configuration. A detailed
comparison with other emotion recognition systems proposed in the literature
is presented, which proves that the obtained metrics are in line with the state-ofthe-
art.
Secondly, Bindi is presented. This is an end-to-end autonomous multimodal system
leveraging affective IoT throughout auditory and physiological commercial off-theshelf
smart-sensors, hierarchical multisensorial fusion, and secured server architecture
to combat Gender-based Violence by automatically detecting risky situations
based on a multimodal intelligence engine and then triggering a protection protocol.
Specifically, this research is focused onto the hardware and software design of one of
the two edge-computing devices within Bindi. This is a bracelet integrating three
physiological sensors, actuators, power monitoring integrated chips, and a System-
On-Chip with wireless capabilities. Within this context, different embedded design
space explorations are presented: embedded filtering evaluation, online physiological
signal quality assessment, feature extraction, and power consumption analysis.
The reported results in all these processes are successfully validated and, for some
of them, even compared against physiological standard measurement equipment.
Amongst the different obtained results regarding the embedded design and implementation
within the bracelet of Bindi, it should be highlighted that its low power
consumption provides a battery life to be approximately 40 hours when using a 500
mAh battery.
Finally, the particularities of our use case and the scarcity of open multimodal datasets dealing with emotional immersive technology, labelling methodology considering
the gender perspective, balanced stimuli distribution regarding the target
emotions, and recovery processes based on the physiological signals of the volunteers
to quantify and isolate the emotional activation between stimuli, led us to the definition
and elaboration of Women and Emotion Multi-modal Affective Computing
(WEMAC) dataset. This is a multimodal dataset in which 104 women who never
experienced Gender-based Violence that performed different emotion-related stimuli
visualisations in a laboratory environment. The previous fear binary classification
systems were improved and applied to this novel multimodal dataset. For instance,
the proposed multimodal fear recognition system using this dataset reports up to
60.20% and 67.59% for ACC and F1-score, respectively. These values represent a
competitive result in comparison with the state-of-the-art that deal with similar
multi-modal use cases.
In general, this PhD thesis has opened a new research line within the research group
under which it has been developed. Moreover, this work has established a solid base
from which to expand knowledge and continue research targeting the generation of
both mechanisms to help vulnerable groups and socially oriented technology.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y Automática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: David Atienza Alonso.- Secretaria: Susana Patón Álvarez.- Vocal: Eduardo de la Torre Arnan
Modern Quilting: DIY Discourse
This study explores the modern quilting movement from the perspective of members of the Modern Quilt Guild (MQG), a new guild that includes both online and in-person elements. Twenty-six members of seven MQG’s across the United States were interviewed. The interviews focused on the factors that draw participants into the MQG as well as how the art/craft debate shapes the experiences of modern quilters. This study concludes that modern quilting is both an attitude and an aesthetic. The attitude of modern quilting encompasses common themes among participants like the lack of rules dictating their quilting practices and an open and inviting atmosphere at meetings. The attitude portion of modern quilting was present to some degree in all participants of this study. The current aesthetic of modern quilting emphasizes clean lines, minimalism, and solid fabrics, among many other characteristics. All the participants of this study did not embody the aesthetic of modern quilting. The results suggest that all participants are drawn to the guild due to the attitude of modern quilting whereas only some participants are inclined to join due to the aesthetic of modern quilting. The aesthetic of modern quilting does not appear to be tied to the art/craft debate in that most participants did not link the differences between art and craft to their own work. The study also illustrates the excitement, motivation, and enjoyment that surrounds MQG membership for the participants of this study.
Advisor: Michael Jame
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