Hybrid modelling of the consumption of organic foods in Iran using exploratory factor analysis and an artificial neural network

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaser Sobhanifard

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a hybrid model of the consumption of organic foods, combining the use of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and an artificial neural network (ANN). Design/methodology/approach The study has three phases. In the first phase, the Delphi method is employed, and 15 motives for the consumption of organic food are identified; these motives are used to develop the model in the second phase. Finally, in the last phase, an ANN is used to rank the motives to determine their priority. Findings The EFA model explored includes four factors that have a positive effect on the level of organic food consumption. These are naturalness, trust, sanitariness and marketing. Results from the use of an ANN indicate that the main variables in organic food consumption are claims, psychological variables and doubt. From the results of the EFA model it is clear these three variables are components of the factor of trust. Practical implications Marketers can use the model developed in this paper to satisfy the needs of their customers and hence enhance their market share and profitability. This study shows that improvements in truth in the claims made for organic products, perceived security from using these products and doubts about the safety of other foods can lead marketers to their goal. Informative advertisements can inculcate trust and naturalness among consumers as main factors. Originality/value The main contribution of this study is the light it sheds on how consumers think about organic foods. It develops a model incorporating motives for consuming organic food and determining the priorities held by consumers of organic foods.

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Aslihan Nasir ◽  
Fahri Karakaya

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine profiles of consumers in organic foods market segments and determine their attitudes toward organic food consumption. Consequently, we explore whether there are differences among these consumer segments in terms of their health orientation, socially responsible consumption, environmental responsibility and values and lifestyles. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 316 consumers were surveyed at supermarkets and malls in one of the largest metropolitan areas of a European city. Findings – The cluster analysis performed indicates that there are three segments based on consumer attitudes toward organic foods: favorable, neutral and unfavorable. The results show that the consumer segment with more favorable attitudes toward organic foods exhibits higher levels of health orientation and socially responsible consumption behavior when compared to other segments. Practical implications – It important for marketers to understand organic foods market segments so that they can target them with the appropriate marketing mix. For this reason, we attempt to identify consumer segments based on their attitudes and behavior concerning organic foods. In doing so, we examine the profiles of consumers in each organic food market segment and their attitudes toward organic food consumption. Originality/value – Organic food consumption is growing at a fast pace despite economic problems around the world. This study has identified three market segments (consumer profiles) with different attitudes and behavior towards organic foods.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Himanshu Goel ◽  
Narinder Pal Singh

Purpose Artificial neural network (ANN) is a powerful technique to forecast the time series data such as the stock market. Therefore, this study aims to predict the Indian stock market closing price using ANNs. Design/methodology/approach The input variables identified from the literature are some macroeconomic variables and a global stock market factor. The study uses an ANN with Scaled Conjugate Gradient Algorithm (SCG) to forecast the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex. Findings The empirical findings reveal that the ANN model is able to achieve 93% accuracy in predicting the BSE Sensex closing prices. Moreover, the results indicate that the Morgan Stanley Capital International world index is the most important variable and the index of industrial production is the least important in predicting Sensex. Research limitations/implications The findings of the study have implications for the investors of all categories such as foreign institutional investors, domestic institutional investors and investment houses. Originality/value The novelty of this study lies in the fact that there are hardly any studies that use ANN to forecast the Indian stock market using macroeconomic indicators.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Hsiang Chen ◽  
Chien-Yi Huang ◽  
Yan-Ci Huang

Purpose The purpose of this study is to use the Taguchi Method for parametric design in the early stages of product development. electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues can be considered in the early stages of product design to reduce counter-measure components, product cost and labor consumption increases due to a number of design changes in the R&D cycle and to accelerate the R&D process. Design/methodology/approach The three EMC characteristics, including radiated emission, conducted emission and fast transient impulse immunity of power, are considered response values; control factors are determined with respect to the relevant parameters for printed circuit board and mechanical design of the product and peripheral devices used in conjunction with the product are considered as noise factors. The optimal parameter set is determined by using the principal component gray relational analysis in conjunction with both response surface methodology and artificial neural network. Findings Market specifications and cost of components are considered to propose an optimal parameter design set with the number of grounded screw holes being 14, the size of the shell heat dissipation holes being 3 mm and the arrangement angle of shell heat dissipation holes being 45 degrees, to dispose of 390 O filters on the noise source. Originality/value The optimal parameter set can improve EMC effectively to accommodate the design specifications required by customers and pass test regulations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isham Alzoubi ◽  
Mahmoud Delavar ◽  
Farhad Mirzaei ◽  
Babak Nadjar Arrabi

Purpose This work aims to determine the best linear model using an artificial neural network (ANN) with the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA-ANN) and ANN to predict the energy consumption for land leveling. Design/methodology/approach Using ANN, integrating artificial neural network and imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA-ANN) and sensitivity analysis (SA) can lead to a noticeable improvement in the environment. In this research, effects of various soil properties such as embankment volume, soil compressibility factor, specific gravity, moisture content, slope, sand per cent and soil swelling index on energy consumption were investigated. Findings According to the results, 10-8-3-1, 10-8-2-5-1, 10-5-8-10-1 and 10-6-4-1 multilayer perceptron network structures were chosen as the best arrangements and were trained using the Levenberg–Marquardt method as the network training function. Sensitivity analysis revealed that only three variables, namely, density, soil compressibility factor and cut-fill volume (V), had the highest sensitivity on the output parameters, including labor energy, fuel energy, total machinery cost and total machinery energy. Based on the results, ICA-ANN had a better performance in the prediction of output parameters in comparison with conventional methods such as ANN or particle swarm optimization (PSO)-ANN. Statistical factors of root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (R2) illustrate the superiority of ICA-ANN over other methods by values of about 0.02 and 0.99, respectively. Originality/value A limited number of research studies related to energy consumption in land leveling have been done on energy as a function of volume of excavation and embankment. However, in this research, energy and cost of land leveling are shown to be functions of all the properties of the land, including the slope, coefficient of swelling, density of the soil, soil moisture and special weight dirt. Therefore, the authors believe that this paper contains new and significant information adequate for justifying publication in an international journal.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 1774-1787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katayoun Behzadafshar ◽  
Fahimeh Mohebbi ◽  
Mehran Soltani Tehrani ◽  
Mahdi Hasanipanah ◽  
Omid Tabrizi

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose three imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA)-based models for predicting the blast-induced ground vibrations in Shur River dam region, Iran.Design/methodology/approachFor this aim, 76 data sets were used to establish the ICA-linear, ICA-power and ICA-quadratic models. For comparison aims, artificial neural network and empirical models were also developed. Burden to spacing ratio, distance between shot points and installed seismograph, stemming, powder factor and max charge per delay were used as the models’ input, and the peak particle velocity (PPV) parameter was used as the models’ output.FindingsAfter modeling, the various statistical evaluation criteria such as coefficient of determination (R2) were applied to choose the most precise model in predicting the PPV. The results indicate the ICA-based models proposed in the present study were more acceptable and reliable than the artificial neural network and empirical models. Moreover, ICA linear model with theR2 of 0.939 was the most precise model for predicting the PPV in the present study.Originality/valueIn the present paper, the authors have proposed three novel prediction methods based on ICA to predict the PPV. In the next step, we compared the performance of the proposed ICA-based models with the artificial neural network and empirical models. The results indicated that the ICA-based models proposed in the present paper were superior in terms of high accuracy and have the capacity to generalize.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Vaseem Chavhan ◽  
M. Ramesh Naidu ◽  
Hayavadana Jamakhandi

Purpose This paper aims to propose the artificial neural network (ANN) and regression models for the estimation of the thread consumption at multilayered seam assembly stitched with lock stitch 301. Design/methodology/approach In the present study, the generalized regression and neural network models are developed by considering the fabric types: woven, nonwoven and multilayer combination thereof, with basic sewing parameters: sewing thread linear density, stitch density, needle count and fabric assembly thickness. The network with feed-forward backpropagation is considered to build the ANN, and the training function trainlm of MATLAB software is used to adjust weight and basic values according to the optimization of Levenberg Marquardt. The performance of networks measured in terms of the mean squared error and the layer output is set according to the sigmoid transfer function. Findings The proposed ANN and regression model are able to predict the thread consumption with more accuracy for multilayered seam assembly. The predictability of thread consumption from available geometrical models, regression models and industrial empirical techniques are compared with proposed linear regression, quadratic regression and neural network models. The proposed quadratic regression model showed a good correlation with practical thread consumption value and more accuracy in prediction with an overall 4.3% error, as compared to other techniques for given multilayer substrates. Further, the developed ANN network showed good accuracy in the prediction of thread consumption. Originality/value The estimation of thread consumed while stitching is the prerequisite of the garment industry for inventory management especially with the introduction of the costly high-performance sewing thread. In practice, different types of fabrics are stitched at multilayer combinations at different locations of the stitched product. The ANN and regression models are developed for multilayered seam assembly of woven and nonwoven fabric blend composition for better prediction of thread consumption.


Author(s):  
Khairul Nizam Mahmud ◽  
Asmat-Nizam Abdul-Talib

Organic food is becoming popular among today's millennial consumers because of increased awareness of healthy lifestyles. Scholars and practitioners attempt to understand what drives consumers to purchase organic foods toward developing market domination strategies and tactics. Since organic food tends to be more expensive than non-organic, this study aims to analyze the impact of consumer values on their tendency to buy organic food. Consumption values are an important factor that could drive consumer behavior and their preferences for goods or services. Consumption values are defined in terms of the required benefits from the purchase and consumption of the preferred products. Sheth, Newman, and Gross defined consumption values in terms of practical, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional values.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 917-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarika Sharma ◽  
Smarajit Ghosh

Purpose This paper aims to develop a capacitor position in radial distribution networks with a specific end goal to enhance the voltage profile, diminish the genuine power misfortune and accomplish temperate sparing. The issue of the capacitor situation in electric appropriation systems incorporates augmenting vitality and peak power loss by technique for capacitor establishments. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a novel strategy using rough thinking to pick reasonable applicant hubs in a dissemination structure for capacitor situation. Voltages and power loss reduction indices of distribution networks hubs are shown by fuzzy enrollment capacities. Findings A fuzzy expert system containing a course of action of heuristic rules is then used to ascertain the capacitor position appropriateness of each hub in the circulation structure. The sizing of capacitor is solved by using hybrid artificial bee colony–cuckoo search optimization. Practical implications Finally, a short-term load forecasting based on artificial neural network is evaluated for predicting the size of the capacitor for future loads. The proposed capacitor allocation is implemented on 69-node radial distribution network as well as 34-node radial distribution network and the results are evaluated. Originality/value Simulation results show that the proposed method has reduced the overall losses of the system compared with existing approaches.


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