Effects of Species Information and Furniture Price on Consumer Preferences for Selected Woods

Changing consumer tastes and species availability are influencing the design and manufacture of hardwood products. In addition, the globalization of wood product markets is exposing U.S. consumers to new species. This research evaluates consumer preferences for six domestic wood species—three from the eastern United States and three from the western United States. The survey was designed to evaluate four treatment effects including two price points and the presence vs. absence of species identification labels. Four different pieces of furniture (dresser, entertainment center, hutch, and desk) were considered. Data were collected at Pacific Northwest home shows in late 2004 and early 2005. There were no significant differences in the species preferences expressed by consumers between price points at either level of species information. This indicates that furniture price did not significantly influence species preferences for the selected pieces. However, there were significant differences in consumer species preferences with and without labels at the higher price points. For the entertainment center, preference was greater for cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) when species information was provided, but oak (Quercus rubra L.) was preferred when no species label was provided. When viewing the hutch, consumers preferred cherry and maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) when species labels were present, whereas oak, birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), and spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) were preferred when no species labels were present. Lastly, for the desk, spruce was more preferred with no information, and cherry was more preferred when species information was included. No preference differences were detected for the dresser. Overall, consumers expressed the highest preference for cherry; the second most preferred species was oak. With the exception of oak, consumer knowledge of the species investigated was low. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that species information be provided for furniture pieces made from cherry and maple at higher price points, as preferences for these species can be enhanced in such cases

Predicting attitude towards performance enhancing substance use: A comprehensive test of the Sport Drug Control Model with elite Australian athletes

Objectives: This study presents a comprehensive examination of the Sport Drug Control Model via survey data of elite Australian athletes. Design: A cross-sectional nationwide mail survey. Methods: A mail survey of 1237 elite Australian athletes was conducted. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the model. Results: Morality (personal moral stance on performance-enhancing substances use), reference group opinion (perceived moral stance of reference group on performance-enhancing substances use) and legitimacy (perceptions of the drug testing and appeals processes) evidenced significant relationships with attitude towards performance-enhancing substances use, which in turn was positively associated with doping behaviour. The model accounted for 81% and 13% of the variance in attitude towards performance-enhancing substances use and doping behaviour, respectively. Conclusions: These findings validate the usefulness of the Sport Drug Control Model for understanding influences on performance-enhancing substances use. Nevertheless, there is a need to survey athletes representing a broader range of competition levels and cross-cultural research to test the model’s applicability to other populations of athletes

Consumer Preferences for Kitchen Cabinets Made from Red Alder: A Comparison to Other Hardwoods

In Alaska, red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) is an abundant but commercially underutilized species despite having properties suitable for higher value products, including furniture and cabinetry. However, it lacks the name recognition of more traditional hardwoods. Our research measured the effect of this lack of familiarity on consumer preferences for red alder products, allowing the development of more effective marketing strategies for the species. Our study was conducted in two West Coast market—Seattle, WA, and Anchorage, AK, where attendees at home shows were surveyed about their preferences for cabinet doors made from several different species: cherry (Prunus spp.), red oak (Quercus rubra), hickory (Carya spp.), maple (Acer spp.), and three red alder doors with different levels of stain. Two measures of consumer preference were used: relative popularity (percent of time chosen as favorite), and willingness to pay (the price premium consumers were willing to pay for their favorite versus second favorite door). Maple and cherry doors were overall the most popular doors, as measured by percent of time chosen as favorite. Cherry and red oak showed large increases in popularity when their species names were known, whereas all other species declined in popularity (based on chi-square evaluations). All three alder doors declined in popularity when their names were known, with heavy-stained alder exhibiting the steepest decline. Estimates of mean willingness to pay ranged from $15.70 for moderate-stained alder to$39.30 for maple, suggesting that consumers are willing to pay a significant price premium for their favorite door. With the exception of oak and cherry, doors that were chosen as favorite more (less) often, commanded a higher (lower) price premium. Therefore, doors that are more popular have potential advantages in achieving higher market shares and greater price premiums. Results suggest that when marketing red alder products little, if any, emphasis should be placed on the red alder name; rather emphasis should be placed on red alder's visual characteristics

If you build it, will they come?

National forests have a wealth of natural amenities that attract over 175 million recreational visitors a year. Although natural amenities draw visitors to national forests, many of the recreational activities that they engage in require built amenities, such as roads, campgrounds, boat ramps, and trails. We estimate regression models of the effect of two common built amenities—campgrounds and picnic areas—on national-forest visitation controlling for natural amenities and accounting for the endogenous relationship between visitation and built amenities. We found that campgrounds and picnic areas are significantly and positively correlated with visitation

Process Evaluation of the Act-Belong-Commit Mentally Healthy WA campaign: First 12 months data

Objective: To assess the extent of partnerships established by and exposure obtained for the Act-Belong-Commit Campaign in the six intervention towns in the first 12 months from October 2005 to September 2006.Methods: In each town, data were collated on media exposure, partnerships established and co-branding of community-based events and activities under the Act-Belong-Commit banner.Results: In the first 12 months of the Campaign, four press advertisements were developed and placed twice a month for 12 months in a local newspaper in each town. The total coverage area was 45,350 cm2, with a media buy of $63,000. The campaign generated a total of 124 campaign-related press articles in these local newspapers (27,538 cm2), equating to approximately$38,000 worth of paid media in terms of coverage area (cm2). In total, 59 key partnerships were established, holding 115 co-branded community events and activities. The Campaign attracted 21 sponsorships for partners, totalling approximately $250,000, with a further$40,000 for merchandise resources.Conclusions:The partnerships with community organisations facilitated the co-banding of events and activities which provided opportunities for individuals to Act-Belong-Commit. The Campaign officers were successful in forming ongoing partnerships in each of the towns, no doubt because the campaign offered these partners significant benefits for their co-operation. The Campaign officers were instrumental in securing sponsorships of community events and activities which provided substantial funding to the sponsored organisations and further opportunities to promote the Act-Belong-Commit message. A substantial amount of unpaid media was generated mainly through good working relationships with the local media, again because the campaign offered them not only paid advertising but good stories and picture opportunities at local events.Implications:Establishing strong working relationships with partners, including the media, is dependent on being able to offer partners something of value to them in return. All health promotion efforts, but particularly those dealing with small community-based organisations or country town branches of larger organisations need to ensure that their efforts to engage partners is accompanied by an understanding of the partner organisations? needs

Computer and analytic models of fighter intercept capability

This thesis describes a simulation model of fighter operations, and sets it in the context of a hierarchy of defence models. The fighter model is then applied to two problems which developed from an assessment of the contribution of sensors to the air defence of the UK. These concern the influence of raid indirect routing and sensor information accuracy on the intercept capability of fighters scrambled from ground alert. Mathematical models of these two aspects of fighter operations are also developed; this dual approach ensures that the studies are both analytically understandable and operationally acceptable. Examples are given of the number of fighters from a single base which could intercept a concentrated (point) raid against a single offset target . In the case of raid indirect routing the main variables are the angle of the incoming feint track and the warning distance. In the analysis of the effect of sensor information errors the main variables are the actual position of the raid when warning is given and the errors in raid coordinates, heading and speed due to degradation of the warning system. In both cases of indirect routing and information errors alternative scramble and control procedures are considered. The work described in this thesis is a step towards an attempt to determine the more favourable procedures which a fighter force might adopt in the face of subtle raid tactics and degraded sensor performance. It also provides an illustration of the interplay between mathematical methods and computer models in the analysis of fighter operations.<p

Impact Evaluation of the Act-Belong-Commit Mental Health Promotion Campaign

Purpose – Act-Belong-Commit is a community-based positive mental health promotion campaign that targets individuals to engage in activities that enhance their mental health while targeting community organisations that provide such activities to promote their activities under the banner of the Act-Belong-Commit message. This paper aims to detail key findings from a population impact evaluation of the campaign conducted in 2010.Design/methodology/approach – Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) were conducted on a randomly selected adult sample (n=1,113) using quotas to obtain equal representation by age and gender. The questionnaire contained items gauging campaign reach, the impact of the campaign on individual beliefs and behaviours, and perceived societal impact of the campaign on mental illness stigma and openness to mental health issues.Findings – The campaign reached 75 per cent of the population. Amongst those exposed to the campaign, 25 per cent reported changing the way they thought about mental health and mental illness, and 20 per cent reported some behaviour change. The campaign was perceived to be effective in making people more open about mental health issues (77 per cent of reached respondents) and reducing stigma surrounding mental illness (68 per cent of reached respondents).Practical implications – The campaign provides a framework for increasing mental health literacy on a population scale.Originality/value – With its focus on the positive aspects of mental health, the paper shows that the campaign is unique in promoting behaviours that people can and should do to build and maintain good mental health, while also encouraging community organisations and groups that provide mentally healthy activities to partner with the campaign to make mental health “everybody's business”

Perfectionistic profiles among elite athletes and differences in their motivational orientations

Although there is an emerging body of research that has examined perfectionistic clusters in the general population, few studies have explored such profiles in athlete samples. The purposes of this research were to explore perfectionistic profiles within a sample of elite athletes and the differences between them on key motivational variables. A sample of 423 elite athletes (179 males, 244 females) aged between 14 and 66 years (M = 25.64; SD = 8.57) from a variety of team (e.g., rowing, hockey, baseball, rugby) and individual sports (e.g., cycling, athletics, triathlon, gymnastics) completed a multisection questionnaire including measures of sport perfectionism, motivation regulation, achievement goals, and fear of failure. Cluster analyses revealed the existence of three perfectionism profiles, namely, nonperfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists, and adaptive perfectionists. Subsequent analyses generally supported the robustness of these perfectionism profiles in terms of differential motivational orientations (achievement goals, fear of failure, and motivation regulation) in hypothesized directions. Overall, the differences in motivational orientations between the three clusters supported a categorical conceptualization of perfectionism

Positively Versus Negatively Framed Product Attributes: The

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that the positive framing of a meat product attribute (i.e., 75% lean) results in more positive evaluation of the product than its presumed equivalent negative framing (25% fat). Other framing studies, particularly those dealing with health messages, show mixed results, although there is a tendency in favor of negative framing. Involvement has been hypothesized to account for these conflicting results, in that under high-involvement conditions, negative framing has been found to be superior, with positive framing superior under low-involvement conditions. This article replicates the original meat product study with respect to product attribute framing, and extends this by analyzing the data with respect to subjects&apos; involvement in dietary fat decisions. The study also explores the relationship between framing effects and the influence of the frame on some decision-making reference point