Laboratory experiments have indicated that exposure to restorative ambiences in food environments can lead to beneficial outcomes for consumers, but there is little evidence if this positive effect ...holds true in real-life consumption conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the effects of lunch restaurant ambience on customers' emotional responses, stress recovery, food choices, and generation of plate waste. The expectation was that ambience inducing positive emotional responses would lead to alleviated stress, healthier food choices, and reduced plate waste. A field experiment with a baseline and two experimental ambiences ('nature ambience' to induce positive emotions and 'fast food ambience' to induce less positive emotions) including visual and auditory stimuli was conducted in a lunch restaurant for one week per ambience. Emotional responses, and objective and subjective stress were measured from a subgroup of participants (
= 32). Food choices and plate waste were measured for all customers (
= 1610-1805 depending on the study week). During 'nature ambience' week, customers more often chose vegetarian dishes and generated less plate waste. The results on emotional responses and stress recovery were partially in line with the expectations. The study provides real-life evidence that restaurant ambience modification could lead to beneficial consequences for customers.
ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to characterize the thermal environment in the selection and packing areas of a packing house and its effects on the quality of table grapes produced in the São ...Francisco Valley, Brazil. The thermal environment was monitored during the winter and summer seasons. The highest value of air temperature (Tair) and the lowest relative humidity (RH) observed in the packing house were 35 °C and 40.0%, respectively, obtained during the summer, for 8 h. After observing the thermal environment data of the packing house, simulations were performed to evaluate the effect of the ideal environmental storage conditions and observed thermal conditions on the postharvest quality of “Thompson” grapes. Grapes were harvested and stored directly at the ideal temperature and RH of 0 °C and 90%, respectively, or previously exposed to a temperature of 35 °C and RH of 40% for 8 h, the thermal environment observed in the evaluated packing house, followed by storage at 0 °C and 90% RH. Fruit exposure to high temperature and low RH before the ideal storage conditions resulted in higher loss of berry firmness and weight, along with increased soluble solids and dry matter content of rachis and berry. Based on these results, the environmental conditions observed in the packing house result in berry dehydration, which accelerates the loss of fruit quality during storage.
RESUMO Objetivou-se caracterizar o ambiente térmico da área de seleção e embalagem de um 'packing house' e seus efeitos sobre a qualidade de uvas de mesa produzidas no Vale do São Francisco. O ambiente térmico foi monitorado durante as estações de inverno e verão. Os maiores valores de temperatura do ar (Tar) e menores de umidade relativa do ar (UR) observados no packing house, foram 35 °C e 40,0%, respectivamente, obtidos durante o verão, por 8 h. Após a observação dos dados do ambiente térmico do packing house, foram feitas simulações para avaliar o efeito de condições ambientais ideais de armazenamento e das condições térmicas observadas sobre a qualidade pós-colheita de uvas ‘Thompson’. Neste contexto, uvas foram colhidas e diretamente armazenadas em temperatura e umidade ideais (0 °C e 90%), ou foram expostas previamente a uma temperatura do ar de 35 °C e umidade relativa do ar de 40% por 8 h, simulando o ambiente térmico observado no packing house avaliado, sendo posteriormente armazenada a 0 °C e 90%. A exposição dos frutos ao ambiente observado no packing house resultou em maiores perdas de firmeza e peso de bagas, assim como aumentou os teores de sólidos solúveis e matéria seca do engaço e da baga. De acordo com os resultados obtidos, as condições ambientais observadas no packing house resultam na desidratação das bagas, acelerando a perda de qualidade dos frutos durante o armazenamento.
Esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida com o objetivo de caracterizar os efeitos do ambiente térmico nos índices de conforto, respostas fisiológicas e no desempenho de bezerras Girolando, alojadas em abrigos ...individuais cobertos com diferentes materiais. O experimento foi realizado entre janeiro e março de 2012, com duração de 56 dias, conduzido com 24 bezerras de composição genética 7/8 Holandês-Gir aos 15 dias de vida e com peso médio de 40,6 kg. Os tratamentos consistiram em três tipos de cobertura, palha de palmeira, telha de polímero reciclado e telha de fibrocimento, com 8 repetições. O delineamento experimental adotado foi o inteiramente casualizado com comparação entre médias pelo teste de Tukey (p < 0,05). A entalpia e a carga térmica radiante diferiram estatisticamente em todos os tratamentos sendo os menores valores apresentados pelos abrigos com cobertura de telha reciclada, 59,3 kJ kg-1 de ar seco e 444,8 W m-2, respectivamente. Não houve diferença significativa em nenhuma das variáveis fisiológicas estudadas, porém a frequência respiratória esteve elevada em todos os tratamentos sendo mais acentuada nos animais sob cobertura de fibrocimento (57,2 mov min-1) indicando mais suscetibilidade ao estresse térmico.
This paper presents the design and evaluation of four sonification methods to support monitoring and diagnosis in Electrocardiography (ECG). In particular we focus on an ECG abnormality called ...ST-elevation which is an important indicator of a myocardial infarction. Since myocardial infarction represents a life-threatening condition it is of essential value to detect an ST-elevation as early as possible. As part of the evaluated sound designs, we propose two novel sonifications: (i)
Polarity sonification
, a continuous parameter-mapping sonification using a formant synthesizer and (ii)
Stethoscope sonification
, a combination of the ECG signal and a stethoscope recording. The other two designs, (iii) the
water ambience sonification
and the (iv)
morph sonification
, were presented in our previous work about ECG sonification (Aldana Blanco AL, Steffen G, Thomas H (2016) In: Proceedings of Interactive Sonification Workshop (ISon). Bielefeld, Germany). The study evaluates three components across the proposed sonifications (1) detection performance, meaning if participants are able to detect a transition from healthy to unhealthy states, (2) classification accuracy, that evaluates if participants can accurately classify the severity of the pathology, and (3) aesthetics and usability (pleasantness, informativeness and long-term listening). The study results show that the
polarity
design had the highest accuracy rates in the detection task whereas the
stethoscope sonification
obtained the better score in the classification assignment. Concerning aesthetics, the
water ambience sonification
was regarded as the most pleasant. Furthermore, we found a significant difference between sound/music experts and non-experts in terms of the error rates obtained in the detection task using the
morph sonification
and also in the classification task using the
stethoscope sonification
. Overall, the group of experts obtained lower error rates than the group of non-experts, which means that further training could improve accuracy rates and, particularly for designs that rely mainly on pitch variations, additional training is needed in the non-experts group.
Resumen Este artículo presenta tres perspectivas analíticas sobre la relación entre computación ubicua (ubicomp) y diversas dimensiones sociales y culturales. Para ello, se reconstruyen las últimas ...tres décadas de producción teórica sobre el tema. En el primer apartado se analizan posiciones instrumentalistas que examinan el impacto, la aplicación y la adopción de estos desarrollos en distintas áreas, así como las tendencias que descubren su complejidad. Posteriormente, en una segunda sección se indagan los dilemas éticos y las críticas culturales que surgen ante la omnipresencia de la informática (pervasive computing). En tercer lugar se estudian las tendencias políticas que emergen ante la ubicomp. Por último, se recuperan las potencialidades abiertas al pensar estas perspectivas en conjunto
Consensus-based protein engineering strategy has been applied to various proteins and it can lead to the design of proteins with enhanced biological performance. Histone-like HUs comprise a protein ...family with sequence variety within a highly conserved 3D-fold. HU function includes compacting and regulating bacterial DNA in a wide range of biological conditions in bacteria. To explore the possible impact of consensus-based design in the thermodynamic stability of HU proteins, the approach was applied using a dataset of sequences derived from a group of 40 mesostable, thermostable, and hyperthermostable HUs. The consensus-derived HU protein was named HU
Best
, since it is expected to perform best. The synthetic HU gene was overexpressed in
E. coli
and the recombinant protein was purified. Subsequently, HU
Best
was characterized concerning its correct folding and thermodynamic stability, as well as its ability to interact with plasmid DNA. A substantial increase in HU
Best
stability at high temperatures is observed. HU
Best
has significantly improved biological performance at ambience temperature, presenting very low
K
d
values for binding plasmid DNA as indicated from the Gibbs energy profile of HU
Best
. This
K
d
may be associated to conformational changes leading to decreased thermodynamic stability and, therefore, higher flexibility at ambient temperature.
Preparaçöes processadas pelo método sous vide sao uma alternativa para o design de produtos que permitem ao consumidor comer de forma rápida e prática, sem perda das características sensoriais e ...nutricionais dos alimentos. O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar as propriedades sensoriais, a apreciaçao e as características e predisposiçöes para o consumo de pratos prontos de alta qualidade nutricional, com vegetais produzidos localmente e cozidos pela técnica sous vide. Um folhado de vegetáis e um hambúrguer de frango e vegetáis foram preparados para a caracterizaçao sensorial. Questöes relacionadas aos hábitos do consumidor e a predisposiçao para compra deste tipo de produto foram incorporadas a pesquisa. Os consumidores realizaram a avaliaçao sensorial em sua casa, no ambiente habitual em que consumiram suas refeiçöes habituais. Os resultados revelaram que a maioria dos consumidores aceitou o folhado (100 %) e o hambúrguer (92 %), e também relatou uma predisposiçao para a compra de ambas as preparaçöes (87 % e 84 %, respectivamente). As principais características que atraíram o possível consumidor foram qualidade (95 %), disponibilidade no mercado (89 %), falta de habilidades culinárias (87 %), preço (84 %), escassez de tempo investido na preparaçao (78 %) e ocupaçao do consumidor (73 %). Esses tipos de preparaçöes constituem uma alternativa inovadora para o design de produtos de maior qualidade nutricional, sem desconsiderar os requisitos para seu consumo.
In this paper, two new image multi-color transfer algorithms for still images and image sequences are proposed. These methods can be used to capture the artistic ambience or "mood" of the source ...image and transfer that same color ambience to the target image. The performance and effectiveness of these new algorithms are demonstrated through simulations and comparisons to other state of the art methods, including Alla's, Reinhard's and Pitie's methods. These algorithms are straight-forward, automatic, and suitable for various practical recoloring applications, including coloring, color correction, animation and color restoration for imaging tools and consumer products. This work is also useful for fast implementation of special effects for the entertainment industry and reduces manual labor costs for these types of tasks. Another contribution of this paper is the introduction of a new color transfer quality measure. The new measure is highly consistent with human perception, even compared to other current color transfer quality measures such as Xiao's measure and Xiang's measure 1 .
Group recommendation (GR) has become a trending topic in online social network ambience. The emotion and behaviour recommendation online is a familiar topic in SM (Social media) mining. As nowadays ...focus on online social NW developed a lot group recommendation acts as a hotspot for accessing. At present, many deep-learning-based approaches are leveraged to locate preferences of groups for elements. That, too predicting peculiar consecutive elements are targeted, in which groups are interested. The accused survey projects a correlation model which in turn consist of elements to handle the concern is been discussed. The primary element is noted according to the user preference and their substantial needs. All the habits of the clients are noted and their behaviours are recorded. Then, a semi-supervised learning is proved to be easy than supervised models conceive. The approach further use a two graph based theory in further discussion. Many privileged system process amenities with small user groups. These groups are not measured in terms of classification accuracy. Equally the recommendations are pre-processed in terms of speed and measurability. In this survey paper a proposed new framework to accomplish the goal of exploring the group interests are composed. The connections between group users are discussed. In order to enhance the group recommendation many methods were used an effective model. Social Group Recommendation (SGR) scheme with TrAdaBoost (Boosting for transfer learning) are recommended to raise the performance of group recommendation in online. A unique aggregation performance of integration recommending media list is discussed. The recommender systems all interest subgroups as the final group recommendation results are given._
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