Consumer evaluation of meat quality from barrows, immunocastrates and boars in six countries

The practice of surgical castration of piglets and its alternatives is still under debate. Production of boars may impair meat quality due to boar taint and reduced tenderness compared to meat from surgically castrated male pigs, while immunocastration reduces boar taint and may improve meat quality but seems to be less accepted by the pig chain. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the consumer’s sensory appreciation of meat from barrows (BAs), immunocastrates (ICs) and boars (BOs) in six European countries, taking into account the selection of tainted carcass and consumers’ appreciation of boar taint. Loin chops of 30 BAs, 30 ICs and 30 BOs were evaluated by 752 consumers in six countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. Consumers rated odour, flavour, tenderness, juiciness, overall liking and willingness to buy and sensitivity to and liking of androstenone (AND) and liking of skatole (SKA) was also tested. In each of the six countries, consumers liked the odour of the BO samples less than that of BA, and IC intermediate. For flavour, tenderness, juiciness, overall liking and willingness to buy, liking scores given by the Czech, Polish and Portuguese consumers significantly differed between the BA, BO and IC. Willingness to buy was highest for BA by Czech and Polish consumers and for BA and IC by Portuguese consumers. The frequency of the negative check all terms that apply terms also differed, with a higher frequency of disgusting for BO compared to BA and IC and of off-flavour, irritating, manure, sweat, disappointing compared to BA, and intermediate for IC. 31% of the consumers disliked the odour of AND (NEGAND), and 36% of them were not sensitive; in contrast, 77% of the consumers disliked SKA (NEGSKA). The decrease in flavour liking score for BO compared to BA and IC was more outspoken by the NEGAND consumer, while NEGSKA consumers gave an overall lower liking score independent of the type of male pig. The results of this study indicate that IC can be a valid alternative for surgical castration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Legends as a Device for Interacting with Visualizations

Users and developers of visualization tools must deal with the problem of specifying what information to show and how to represent it. Typically, the user\u27s focus of interest will change over time, and the specifications must change with the user\u27s interests. Techniques for the simple, direct, and intuitive creation and refinement of these specifications can be useful. In this paper we show how legends, a natural element of graphical displays, may be used as a direct and unobstrusive interaction device through which users may interactively specify new visualizations and animations

Legends as a Device for Interacting with Visualizations

Users and developers of visualization tools must deal with the problem of specifying what information to show and how to represent it. Typically, the user's focus of interest will change over time, and the specifications must change with the user's interests. Techniques for the simple, direct, and intuitive creation and refinement of these specifications can be useful. In this paper we show how legends, a natural element of graphical displays, may be used as a direct and unobtrusive interaction device through which users may interactively specify new visualizations and animations

Algorithm Animation Beneficial in Understanding Distributed Algorithms

Previous studies of program visualization have failed to provide convincing support for the benefits of algorithm animation in promoting the understanding of computations. This paper presents a study in which the use of program visualization resulted in a significantly better understanding of a distributed computation. Understanding was measured in terms of the number of correct responses to questions about the algorithm. The environment used in this study differs from that of previous studies in a number of aspects; it combines the use of distributed algorithm visualization, 3-D visualization, and legends

Empirical evidence that algorithm animation promoted understand of distributed algorithms

Previous studies of program visualization have generally failed to provide convincing support for the benefits of algorithm animation in promoting the understanding of computations. This paper presents a study in which the use of program visualization resulted in significantly better understanding of a distributed computation. Understanding was measured in terms of the number of correct responses to questions about the algorithm. The environment used in this study differs from that of previous studies in a number of aspects; it combines the use of distributed algorithm visualization, 3-D visualization, and legends. In addition, the design of both the experiment and animation focused on reducing cognitive noise. 1