Pattern, the visual mathematics: A search for logical connections in design through mathematics, science, and multicultural arts

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The influence of pH, water activity, and reducing sugars on kinetics of thermal thiamin breakdown in model systems and ground pork

Kinetic studies of thermal thiamin breakdown in phosphate-buffered model systems and ground pork were conducted over the temperature range 75 to 95°C in order to evaluate the effects of pH, processing temperature, water activity and different kinds of reducing sugars on thiamin stability. Semilog plots of thiamin retention versus heating time at 75, 85, and 95°C for model systems and ground pork gave straight lines with high coefficients of determination (r[superscript]2 = 0.95-0.99) for every combination of processing parameters, which indicated that the rates of thiamin degradation were adequately described by a first order reaction rate model. The Arrhenius activation energy values indicated that thiamin in pork (85-93 kJ/Mole) was less temperature dependent than that in aqueous buffered model systems (100-140 kJ/Mole). The relatively constant activation energy over the temperature range from 75 to 95°C, which was proved by high coefficients of determination (r[superscript]2 = 0.84-0.99), is an indication that the degradation pathway remained the same over the investigated range;Temperature was the most important factor influencing thiamin stability. At high temperatures and above neutral pH, thiamin was very unstable and easily destroyed during thermal processing. An increase in thiamin concentration retarded the thiamin degradation rate. Reducing water activity of the aqueous model to 0.90 by adding glycerol adversely affected thiamin retention. One of the main interests in this study was to confirm the effect of the browning reaction between thiamin and reducing sugars on thiamin breakdown. The order of increasing magnitude of their effect of the reducing sugars on thiamin breakdown was: xylose, fructose, glucose, and sucrose. This order matches the general findings in Maillard browning reaction studies in model systems using amino acids and reducing sugars

Shopping for cultural products on the Internet

The present study examined the structural interrelationships among consumer characteristics, shopping attitude, and shopping intention based on Fishbein and Azjen\u27s (1975) Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Study objectives were: (1) to identify characteristics of consumers who shop for cultural products on the Internet, (2) to propose theoretical models explaining consumers\u27 shopping for cultural products on the Internet, and (3) to empirically test the proposed models using a random sample of subjects who shop for cultural products on the Internet.;Findings from the present study indicated that consumer characteristics, the product, and the Website were all important factors to predict consumers\u27 intention to shop for cultural products on the Internet. Individuals with certain characteristics of Cultural Creatives (Ray & Anderson, 2000) appear to be an important target market for selling cultural products on the Internet. While both product quality and Website attributes were important factors influencing a positive attitude toward shopping for cultural products on the Internet, only consumers\u27 positive beliefs about the Website significantly influenced their intention to shop on the Internet. Specifically, merchandising, such as keeping products in stock and offering competitive prices, appeared to be a critical factor in determining customers\u27 shopping intention. This study also revealed that consumers\u27 utilitarian shopping value appears to be more dominant than hedonic shopping value when they shop for cultural products on the Internet. For consumers with utilitarian shopping value, all aspects of the Website, information quality, merchandising, interface, and protection were important to make their shopping trip successful. Finally, proposed models with good fit and significant paths between belief structures and intention supported the effectiveness of the extended TRA in the context of cultural product shopping on the Internet. Implications of the study and recommendations for future research were provided

Anti-Laws of Luxury Fashion Marketing

Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, and Hermès embrace unique elements such as creative vision, symbolic power, heritage, rarity, and exclusivity on the basis of marketing strategies. While traditional marketing strategies may not be suited for luxury products, Kapferer and Bastien (2012) address 24 anti-laws the luxury sector maintains for its pricing power and profitability. These anti-laws reject conventional marketing practices such as target marketing, positioning, market research, celebrity endorsement, promotion, volume growth, and selling on the Internet. To help students attain a concrete understanding of the 24 anti-laws of luxury marketing and an ability to apply them to luxury fashion brands, a group project (a group of two) was developed in the upper-level luxury fashion brand management course in the Fashion Merchandising and Design program

Coauthorship in Clothing and Textiles Research

Publication is highly important for academic researchers because it leads to opportunities for them to be awarded funding, prestige, prizes, promotion, and tenure. Due to the emphasis of publications, there has also been an increasing trend in multiple authorships in clothing and textiles (C&T) research. However, little attention has been paid to co-authorship practices and motivations. Therefore, this research attempts to investigate coauthorship experiences among C&T researchers. Data collection took place via on-line survey of ITAA membership. The findings of this study showed that C&T researchers engaged in coauthorship primarily to improve the overall quality of their work by combining complementary skills and pursuing joint ideas and common interests. While they were overall satisfied with their most recent coauthorship experience, some experienced problems with inappropriate authorship. This research calls for further discussion on addressing issues related to coauthorship and developing some guidelines for determining authorship in C&T research

The Role of the Creative Director in Sustaining the Luxury Fashion Brand

The findings of this study show recent examples of creative directors who have successfully managed four components of Kapferer and Bastien\u27s (2012) model. We also addressed issues creative directors face while attempting to balance luxury status with modernization and accessibility. In addition, specific strategies that creative directors have employed in response to the increasingly fast-paced and technology-influenced industry were discussed. The results of this study highlight examples of strategies creative directors use that have proven to be either successful or unsuccessful, providing an extensive guide for creative directors, brand managers, and marketers. Because there is limited scholarly research regarding the role of creative directors of luxury brands, the present study attempts to fill this gap

Factors Influencing Pro-Environmental Behavior in Craft Businesses

Since the arts and crafts movement in the early twentieth century, discourse on craft revolves around the conflict over industrialization. The current craft movement builds on these same responses to the industrialized world while addressing environmental issues and sustainability. However, craft literature does not address the pro-environmental business practices of craft artisans or motivational drivers of such behaviors. Therefore, this study attempts to expand the understanding of value and belief drivers of pro-environmental behaviors by identifying the pro-environmental behaviors of craft artisan business owners and by determining the factors that influence those behaviors. The value-belief-norm (VBN) theory of environmentalism (Stern, Dietz, Abel, Guagnano & Kalof, 1999) was used to outline the causal influences of pro-environmental behaviors in craft businesses and structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the relationships proposed in the theory

Neural Underpinnings of Aesthetic Experience: What Can We Learn from Neuroaesthetics?

The purpose of this research is to provide an overview of neuroaesthetics that enhances our understanding of consumer responses to the aesthetics of fashion products.The present research focused on addressing principles of neuroaesthetics and why some design elements are objectively more attractive and aesthetically pleasing to human brains than others. This study\u27s findings will help build a bridge between neuroaesthetics and fashion studies and offer a potential guide for future fashion research

Neuromarketing: A New Approach for Fashion Marketing?

The predominant focus of marketing research is done on the conscious mind but future marketing research needs to simultaneously focus on understanding both the conscious and nonconscious mind (Zaltman, 2000). Six underlying principles of the human brain suggest: 1) the nonconscious mind governs thought processes; 2) the majority of human communication is non-verbal (especially in an emotional context); 3) the majority of the human brain is dedicated to deciphering visual information; 4) humans think in visual representations, not words; 5) feeling or emotions precede thoughts; and the human brain disregards 60% of the information it is presented with during half a day (Ebbinghaus, 1992)