Determination of the effect of brand and product identification on consumer palatability ratings of ground beef patties

Citation: Wilfong, A. K., McKillip, K. V., Gonzalez, J. M., Houser, T. A., Unruh, J. A., Boyle, E. A. E., & O'Quinn, T. G. (2016). Determination of the effect of brand and product identification on consumer palatability ratings of ground beef patties. Journal of Animal Science, 94(11), 4943-4958. doi:10.2527/jas2016-0894The objective of this study was to determine the effect of brand and product identification on consumer palatability ratings of ground beef patties. Six treatments were used in the study: 90/10 Certified Angus Beef (CAB) ground sirloin, 90/10 ground beef, 80/20 CAB ground chuck, 80/20 ground chuck, 80/20 ground beef, and 73/27 CAB ground beef. Ground beef was processed into 151.2-g patties using a patty former with 2 consecutively formed patties assigned to blind consumer testing and the following 2 assigned to informed testing. Following cooking to 74 degrees C, patties were cut into quarters and served to consumers. Consumers (n = 112) evaluated samples in 2 rounds for tenderness, juiciness, flavor liking, texture liking, and overall liking. Each trait was also rated as either acceptable or unacceptable. In the first round of testing, samples were blind evaluated, with no information about the treatments provided to consumers, but in the second round, product type and brand were disclosed prior to sample evaluation. Additionally, texture profile and shear force analyses were performed on patties from each treatment. Few differences were observed for palatability traits during blind consumer testing; however, during informed testing, 90/10 CAB ground sirloin was rated greatest (P < 0.05) for all palatability traits other than juiciness. Also, 90/10 CAB ground sirloin had increased (P < 0.05; (consumer informed score -consumer blind score)/consumer blind score) ratings for tenderness (17.4%), juiciness (36.5%), flavor liking (23.3%), texture liking (18.2%), and overall liking (24.7%) due to brand disclosure. Increased (P < 0.05) ratings were found for CAB products for multiple traits due to treatment disclosure, whereas the only non-CAB-branded product that received increased (P < 0.05) ratings during informed testing was 90/10 ground beef for tenderness and juiciness. Texture results indicated that decreased fat level increased hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness. These results indicate that when sampling ground beef without brand and product information, few consumers find differences in eating quality among ground beef treatments; however, when consumers are aware of the brand, fat level, and subprimal blend prior to sampling, these factors have a large impact on consumer eating satisfaction

Diversity of herbaceous species in a mesquite upland woodland of South Texas

A randomized complete block design experiment was conducted on a brush land which has grown into a mesquite upland woodland. The area is surrounded by farmlands and represents the only habitat available for wildlife. It is therefore subject to a stable population of wildlife. For this reason, a study of regeneration of herbaceous species and the diversity to decipher the impact of wildlife foraging in the area was essential to understand natural regeneration and habitat recovery in South Texas. The experiment was replicated four times with a 10 X 10 meter fencing to exclude grazing animals. The same dimensions were measured adjacent to each fenced area as the control. Results indicated that species diversity was significantly higher in the fenced area rather than the control plots. Also, height measurements of species including Southern Zexmenia, Drummond Phlox, Descurainia pinnata, Rudbeckia triloba, Dracopis amplexicaulis, Verbesina Enceliodes, Monarda punctata, Gaillardia pulchella, Onopordum acanthium L., indicated that height growth was significantly higher in two species in the fenced plots than the adjacent control plot

Times of Crisis: A Comparative Discourse Analysis of U.S. and Mexican Presidential Rhetoric

Language is a communicative tool that in the possession of politicians holds the power to be persuasive and aggressive, empowering and uniting, or disruptive and dividing. Previous research has relied on numerous methodological approaches to analyze political discourse from different viewpoints to reveal the manner in which politicians as part of political institutions transform and manipulate language. The current investigation performs a critical discourse analysis (CDA) based on the framework developed by Van Dijk (1993,1997) in order to demonstrate the speech act realization in a total of 14 political speeches delivered by American presidents Biden, Trump, and Obama and Mexican presidents López Obrador, Peña Nieto, and Calderón made from 2010-2022 at the onset of three crises: Russia-Ukraine, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis. The method of CDA incorporates the Speech Act theory of J.L Austin (1962) and Searle (1969), the Cooperative Principle of Grice (1975), and the Politeness theory of Brown & Levinson (1978) through a mixed-methods approach for obtaining quantitative and qualitative data. The pragmatic dimension of the investigation aims to address the following research questions: (1) What type of speech act realization occurs in the presidential discourse of Mexican and American presidents during times of crisis? Does these presidents’ discourse reveal any significant similarities or differences between the types of speech acts employed in their discourse?; (2) What does the implementation of specific speech acts in the political discourse reveal about the cultural and political differences between the United States and Mexico?; (3) What do the speech acts in the corpus reveal about the ways in which different political elites conceptualize their power and exhibit an image as a leader to their respective audiences? The results of the investigation revealed captivating similarities and differences in speech act frequencies, discursive strategies, ideologies, and political identity in the political discourse of Mexican and American presidents

Substance Abuse and the Rave Scene

This research study deals with substance abuse in the rave scene. A “Rave” is an all night party, usually featuring electronic music as the primary type of music. Basically, there is an enormous amount of controversy surrounding these parties because of the reputation espoused by the media and some government agencies. According to reports from the mass media, drug use by rave party attendees in previous years was extremely high and the prevalence of individuals taking controlled substances at these parties was overwhelming. This study addressed issues pertaining to the prevalence of drug use during raves and how many individuals truly consume controlled substances while attending these all night parties. These issues need to be addressed so that erroneous beliefs about what actually goes on at a rave can be revealed. The goal of this study was to find out whether the numbers of drug users increased, remained the same, or have decreased in prevalence of substance abuse during rave parties. Surveys were given out to college students. They were asked about rave attendance, drug usage during this time and what effect drug usage had on their rave attendance

Disparities in the Distribution of Paycheck Protection Program Funds Between Majority-White Neighborhoods and Neighborhoods of Color in California&nbsp;

In a collaborative report with the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (LPPI), CNK and LPPI researchers find that businesses in California’s communities of color are being left behind because they are receiving far less from the $600 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.&nbsp;The Paycheck Protection Program was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to help certain businesses continue paying their workers.The new report explicates how the lack of federal support will likely widen economic inequality in communities of color, which already had fewer small businesses and jobs than majority-white neighborhoods. The analysis uses data from the Small Business Administration, the Census Bureau’s ZIP Code Business Patterns Dataset and the American Community Survey.The researchers write that future federal pandemic relief efforts should earmark a percentage of funds to directly benefit businesses in disadvantaged communities, which the report finds generally have higher concentrations of residents of color

Disparities in the Distribution of Paycheck Protection Program Funds Between Majority-White Neighborhoods and Neighborhoods of Color in California&nbsp;

In a collaborative report with the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (LPPI), CNK and LPPI researchers find that businesses in California’s communities of color are being left behind because they are receiving far less from the $600 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program.&nbsp;The Paycheck Protection Program was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to help certain businesses continue paying their workers.The new report explicates how the lack of federal support will likely widen economic inequality in communities of color, which already had fewer small businesses and jobs than majority-white neighborhoods. The analysis uses data from the Small Business Administration, the Census Bureau’s ZIP Code Business Patterns Dataset and the American Community Survey.The researchers write that future federal pandemic relief efforts should earmark a percentage of funds to directly benefit businesses in disadvantaged communities, which the report finds generally have higher concentrations of residents of color

Switching to a Standard Chow Diet at Weaning Improves the Effects of Maternal and Postnatal High-Fat and High-Sucrose Diet on Cardiometabolic Health in Adult Male Mouse Offspring

Cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to obesity-associated heart disease. Maternal and postnatal diet plays an important role in cardiac function, yet the impacts of a mismatch between prenatal and postweaning diet on cardiometabolic function are not well understood. We tested the hypothesis that switching to a standard chow diet after weaning would attenuate systemic metabolic disorders and cardiac and mitochondrial dysfunction associated with maternal and postnatal high-fat/high-sucrose (HFHS) diet in mice. Six-month-old male CD1 offspring from dams fed a HFHS diet and weaned to the same HFHS diet (HH) or switched to a standard chow diet (HC) were compared to offspring from dams fed a low-fat/low-sucrose diet and maintained on the same diet (LL). HC did not decrease body weight (BW) but normalized glucose tolerance, plasma cholesterol, LDL, and insulin levels compared to the HH. Systolic function indicated by the percent fractional shortening was not altered by diet. In freshly isolated cardiac mitochondria, maximal oxidative phosphorylation-linked respiratory capacity and coupling efficiency were significantly higher in the HC in the presence of fatty acid substrate compared to LL and HH, with modification of genes associated with metabolism and mitochondrial function. Switching to a standard chow diet at weaning can attenuate the deleterious effects of long-term HFHS in adult male mouse offspring