Promoting a local brand: Assessing the Economic Benefits of the Texas Superstar® and Earth-Kind® Promotion on Place (POP) Program

This paper aims to evaluate consumer’s awareness and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for two ornamental brands in Texas: Texas Superstar® and Earth-Kind®, after a Promotion on Place (POP) Program was developed by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Consumer’s characteristics that are more likely to influence brand awareness and WTP are identified.Brand recognition, Willingness to pay, Consumer preferences, Ornamentals, Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing,

Repeat Buying Behavior for Ornamental Plants: A Consumer Profile

The main objective of this research was to study what stimulates repeat buying behavior for ornamental plants by segmenting consumer demographics and other important variables in the purchasing decision for ornamental plants. Specifically, we looked at the number of transactions per month as a function of the purpose of the purchase. Consumer’s behavioral and socio-demographic characteristics that are more likely to influence the number of ornamental transactions were also identified.Green Industry, flower demand, consumer preferences, Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing, M31, R22,

Motion states inference through 3D shoulder gait analysis and Hierarchical Hidden Markov Models

Automatically inferring human intention from walking movements is an important research concern in robotics and other fields of study. It is generally derived from temporal motion of limb position relative to the body. These changes can also be reected in the change of stance and gait. Conventional systems relying on gait are usually based on tracking the lower body motion (hip, foot) and are extracted from monocular camera data. However, such data can be inaccessible in crowded environments where occlusions of the lower body are prevalent. This paper proposes a novel approach to utilize upper body 3D-motion and Hierarchical Hidden Markov Models to estimate human ambulatory states, such as quietly standing, starting to walk (gait initiation), walking (gait cycle), or stopping (gait termination). Methods have been tested on real data acquired through a motion capture system where foot measurements (heels and toes) were used as ground truth data for labeling the states to train and test the models. Current results demonstrate the feasibility of using such a system to infer lower-body motion states and sub-states through observations of 3D shoulder motion online. Our results enable applications in situations where only upper body motion is readily observable

Damage profiles of ultrashallow B implants in Si and the Kinchin-Pease relationship

Damage distributions resulting from 0.1-2 keV B+ implantation at room temperature into Si(100) to doses ranging from 1×1014 to 2×1016 cm-2 have been determined using high-depth-resolution medium-energy-ion scattering in the double alignment mode. For all B+ doses and energies investigated a 3-4 nm deep, near-surface damage peak was observed while for energies at and above 1 keV, a second damage peak developed beyond the mean projected B+ ion range of 5.3 nm. This dual damage peak structure is due to dynamic annealing processes. For the near-surface peak it is observed that, at the lowest implant energies and doses used, for which recombination processes are suppressed due to the proximity of the surface capturing interstitials, the value of the damage production yield for low-mass B+ ions is equal or greater than the modified Kinchin-Pease model predictions [G. H. Kinchin and R. S. Pease, Rep. Prog. Phys. 18, 1 (1955); G. H. Kinchin and R. S. Pease, J. Nucl. Energy 1, 200 (1955); P. Sigmund, Appl. Phys. Lett. 14, 114 (1969)]

Foundation technology for developing an autonomous Complex Dwell-time Diagnostics (CDD) Tool

© 2015 ATRF, Commonwealth of Australia. All rights reserved. As the demand for rail services grows, intense pressure is placed on stations at the centre of rail networks where large crowds of rail passengers alight and board trains during peak periods. The time it takes for this to occur — the dwell-time — can become extended when high numbers of people congest and cross paths. Where a track section is operating at short headways, extended dwell-times can cause delays to scheduled services that can in turn cause a cascade of delays that eventually affect entire networks. Where networks are operating at close to their ceiling capacity, dwell-time management is essential and in most cases requires the introduction of special operating procedures. This paper details our work towards developing an autonomous Complex Dwell-time Diagnostics (CDD) Tool — a low cost technology, capable of providing information on multiple dwell events in real time. At present, rail operators are not able to access reliable and detailed enough data on train dwell operations and passenger behaviour. This is because much of the necessary data has to be collected manually. The lack of rich data means train crews and platform staff are not empowered to do all they could to potentially stabilise and reduce dwell-times. By better supporting service providers with high quality data analysis, the number of viable train paths can be increased, potentially delaying the need to invest in high cost hard infrastructures such as additional tracks. The foundation technology needed to create CDD discussed in this paper comprises a 3D image data based autonomous system capable of detecting dwell events during operations and then create business information that can be accessed by service providers in real time during rail operations. Initial tests of the technology have been carried out at Brisbane Central rail station. A discussion of the results to date is provided and their implications for next steps

Small Farmers’ Use of Social Media and Other Channels for Marketing their Agricultural Products

We examined small farmers’ use of and preference for different channels for marketing agricultural products and explored differences by gender, age group, and education level. Farmers markets and social media were preferred channels, with participants under age 55 being more likely than those 55 and over to prefer and use social media and agree that social media would be useful for promoting products and increasing sales. While selling via social media could provide a larger market, one challenge is that the average age of Mississippi farm operators is 59. Therefore, Extension must consider multiple approaches for delivering training on marketing

New primary renal diagnosis codes for the ERA-EDTA

The European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry has produced a new set of primary renal diagnosis (PRD) codes that are intended for use by affiliated registries. It is designed specifically for use in renal centres and registries but is aligned with international coding standards supported by the WHO (International Classification of Diseases) and the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (SNOMED Clinical Terms). It is available as supplementary material to this paper and free on the internet for non-commercial, clinical, quality improvement and research use, and by agreement with the ERA-EDTA Registry for use by commercial organizations. Conversion between the old and the new PRD codes is possible. The new codes are very flexible and will be actively managed to keep them up-to-date and to ensure that renal medicine can remain at the forefront of the electronic revolution in medicine, epidemiology research and the use of decision support systems to improve the care of patients

A snapshot of European registries on chronic kidney disease patients not on kidney replacement therapy

Non peer reviewe

Three dimensional reconstruction to visualize atrial fibrillation activation patterns on curved atrial geometry

Background: The rotational activation created by spiral waves may be a mechanism for atrial fibrillation (AF), yet it is unclear how activation patterns obtained from endocardial baskets are influenced by the 3D geometric curvature of the atrium or 'unfolding' into 2D maps. We develop algorithms that can visualize spiral waves and their tip locations on curved atrial geometries. We use these algorithms to quantify differences in AF maps and spiral tip locations between 3D basket reconstructions, projection onto 3D anatomical shells and unfolded 2D surfaces. Methods: We tested our algorithms in N = 20 patients in whom AF was recorded from 64-pole baskets (Abbott, CA). Phase maps were generated by non-proprietary software to identify the tips of spiral waves, indicated by phase singularities. The number and density of spiral tips were compared in patient-specific 3D shells constructed from the basket, as well as 3D maps from clinical electroanatomic mapping systems and 2D maps. Results: Patients (59.4±12.7 yrs, 60% M) showed 1.7±0.8 phase singularities/patient, in whom ablation terminated AF in 11/20 patients (55%). There was no difference in the location of phase singularities, between 3D curved surfaces and 2D unfolded surfaces, with a median correlation coefficient between phase singularity density maps of 0.985 (0.978-0.990). No significant impact was noted by phase singularities location in more curved regions or relative to the basket location (p>0.1). Conclusions: AF maps and phase singularities mapped by endocardial baskets are qualitatively and quantitatively similar whether calculated by 3D phase maps on patient-specific curved atrial geometries or in 2D. Phase maps on patient-specific geometries may be easier to interpret relative to critical structures for ablation planning