Metodi multi-blocco per analizzare il gradimento dei consumatori di alimenti

Today's researchers easily gather large amounts of data of different origin and type. In sensory and consumer studies the objective is the collection of data to better understand consumer behavior in the market. Statistical methods are thus necessary to identify the relevant information and draw the best possible conclusions from such complex data sets. In experimental sensory and consumer studies, information about different product attributes, many consumer characteristics and consumer acceptance or preference can be collected. Well-known statistical methods are used to reveal important information from multivariate data tables. These methods can, for example, identify key product attributes that determine which food people like. In many cases, anyway, one is also interested in more complex relations, such as the relations between different consumer characteristics and between consumer characteristics and acceptance. Another example is the relation between sensory and additional product attributes for the insight into drivers of liking. New method development is thus needed for combining or decomposing high order data tables in order to reveal the new types of underlying phenomena for the purpose of data analysis and prediction. In this thesis a number of tools, so-called multi-block methods, are presented and discussed in order to handle multiple blocks of data arisen from experimental sensory and consumer studies. Some of the methods can be considered as extensions and some others as combinations of well-known statistical techniques. Their use is beneficial when analysing different types of data sets and when measurements can be organised in conceptually meaningful blocks. An example of such a natural division into blocks may be data of different properties considered on the same set of objects (e.g. sensory and chemical attributes of products; consumer habits and attitudes). Multi-block strategies are here developed with the aim of improving knowledge on the consumer acceptance of food products, by means of different types of product attributes and/or consumer characteristics. When product, consumer and acceptance data are included in one single study, the different dimensionality between blocks will be the main issue. In addition, a deep understanding of consumer acceptance requires insight into average acceptance patterns and individual differences. Consumer heterogeneity and strategies for segmenting the population of consumers are thus investigated throughout the thesis. The multi-block methods proposed in the present thesis are clear, easy to reproduce in standard software packages and flexible in their use. Results show the potential of these methods for the understanding of consumers in general and for improved insight into consumer individual differences. This is important for products development, successful marketing strategies and other practical implications for the industry.Dagens forskere samler lett inn store mengder data av ulike typer. I sensorikk- og forbrukerstudier er målsettingen med datainnsamlingen å få bedre forståelse av forbrukerens oppførsel i markedet. Statistiske metoder er nødvendige for å avdekke relevant informasjon og trekke best mulige konklusjoner fra slike komplekse datasett. I sensorikk- og forbrukerstudier kan for eksempel informasjon om ulike produktegenskaper, forbrukerkarakteristikker og forbrukeraksept eller preferanse, samles inn. Det finnes etablerte statistiske metoder for å avdekke viktig informasjon i multivariate datasett. Disse metodene kan for eksempel identifisere viktige produktegenskaper som avgjør hvilken mat folk liker. I mange tilfeller er man i tillegg interessert i mer komplekse sammenhenger, for eksempel mellom ulike forbrukerkarakteristikker og mellom forbrukerkarakteristikker og aksept for et produkt. Et annet eksempel er sammenhengen mellom sensorikk og produktegenskaper for å få innsikt i hva som gjør at man liker produktet. Utvikling av nye metoder er derfor nødvendig for å kombinere og bryte ned komplekse data, for å avdekke nye typer underliggende fenomener. I denne avhandlingen blir en rekke statistiske verktøy, såkalte multiblokkmetoder, presentert, og anvendelser på data fra sensorikk- og forbrukerstudier blir diskutert. Metodene er utvidelser og kombinasjoner av velkjente statistiske teknikker. Multiblokkmetodene er nyttige når man skal analysere data som kan ordnes i begrepsmessig meningsfulle blokker. Et eksempel der man kan ordne dataene i slike naturlige blokker er der ulike egenskaper blir vurdert på samme objekt (for eksempel sensoriske og kjemiske egenskaper hos produkter, og holdninger og vaner hos forbruker). Multiblokkstrategiene er her utviklet med mål om å få økt kunnskap om forbrukeres aksept av matvarer, ved hjelp av ulike typer produktegenskaper og/eller forbrukerkarakteristikker. Når data om produkt, forbruker og aksept er inkludert i en enkelt studie, blir ulik dimensjon mellom blokkene hovedutfordringen. En dyp forståelse av forbrukeraksept krever i tillegg innsikt i både gjennomsnittlige akseptmønstre og individuelle forskjeller. Uensartethet mellom forbrukerne og strategier for segmentering av forbrukerpopulasjonen er derfor et gjennomgående tema i avhandlingen. Multiblokkmetodene som blir lagt frem i denne avhandlingen er tydelige, fleksible, og lar seg utføre med standard softwarepakker. Resultater viser potensialet til disse metodene for å forstå forbrukere generelt, og få bedre innsikt i individuelle forskjeller mellom forbrukere. Dette er viktig for å utvikle produkter, skape vellykkede markedsstrategier, og andre praktiske implikasjoner for industrien

How Job Demands and Resources Relate to Experiences of Bullying and Negative Acts among University Employees

This article addresses a gap in the work psychology literature regarding psychosocial working conditions and bullying among staff in academic organizations. We examine the influences, institutional demands, and resources attached to given academic positions, such as how the level of social support and cooperation influence the level of experienced negative acts at work and bullying in different work groups in an academic work environment. We also examine whether some professions or positions in an academic organization are more vulnerable due to organizational structure, perceived and experienced resources, and demands to bullying or experiencing more negative acts at work. A common division of different employees in the university sector is between administrative/technical staff and scientific personnel. Our hypothesis in this study is that there are significant differences among these two groups regarding levels of experienced social support and cooperation, as well as levels of experienced negative acts at work. We postulate that differences in job demands and resources lead to significantly different levels of self-reported bullying for the two main groups of personnel. We expect scientific personnel to be more exposed to negative acts at work and bullying due to differences in the demands and resources associated with these positions.publishedVersio

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia