scholarly journals Exploring the Effects of “Sound Shape” on Consumer Preference

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Michael Schutz ◽  
Jeanine K. Stefanucci
Keyword(s):  
Interaction Design ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
User Preference ◽  
Amplitude Envelope

Interfaces play a crucial role in a device’s success or failure. Although visual aspects generally receive more attention, findings from sonic interaction design increasingly illustrate the importance of auditory aesthetics in creating desirable products. Here we show that small changes to the amplitude envelope (i.e., “sound shape”) of tones affect user preference. Specifically, participants are willing to pay 9% more for products using sounds with decaying-amplitude envelopes rather than abruptly ending envelopes that are common in many device sounds. These findings hold important implications for cost-effective changes that could potentially improve a product’s desirability and perceived value.

scholarly journals The Grass is Greener: How Greenery Impacts the Perceptions of Urban Residential Property

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykolas Simas Poškus ◽  
Diana Poškienė
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Residential Property ◽  
Effective Solution ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Positive Effect

Can different types of greenery improve the perceived value, safety, prestige, coziness, and aesthetics of multistory residential buildings?<br />To find the answer, two studies were carried out. In Study 1, participants filled in questionnaires designed to measure the perceived value,<br />safety, prestige, coziness, and aesthetics of a building. Every questionnaire was accompanied with one of four images of the same residential building, the only difference between them was the type of greenery present near the building. Participants were asked to evaluate the building in the image by filling in the questionnaire. A convenience sample of 238 university students (mean age 20, SD = 2) participated in the experiment. Study 2 was an internet-based survey in which participants were presented with four images of a residential building and were asked to identify the most cozy, most expensive, most prestigious, most safe, and most aesthetic building. The pictures were the same as in Study 1. A snowball sample of 356 respondents (mean age 30, SD = 11) participated in the survey. The results indicate that buildings with sophisticated greenery and plain grass greenery are perceived most favorably, while unkempt and chaotic greenery were found to be associated with worse overall perceptions and decreased perceived value of residential property. When creating green spaces near residential buildings, we recommend considering plain grass greenery as it is the most cost-effective solution and has a positive effect on the perceptions of residential property and its value.

scholarly journals Automatic fruit morphology phenome and genetic analysis: An application in the octoploid strawberry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Zingaretti ◽  
A. Monfort ◽  
M. Pérez-Enciso
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Shape Descriptor ◽  
Fruit Shape ◽  
Fruit Morphology ◽  
Additive Component ◽  
Variational Autoencoder ◽  
Phenotype Measurement ◽  
Breeding Efficiency

ABSTRACTAutomatizing phenotype measurement is needed to increase plant breeding efficiency. Morphological traits are relevant in many fruit breeding programs, as appearance influences consumer preference. Often, these traits are manually or semi-automatically obtained. Yet, fruit morphology evaluation can be boosted by resorting to fully automatized procedures and digital images provide a cost-effective opportunity for this purpose. Here, we present an automatized pipeline for comprehensive phenomic and genetic analysis of morphology traits extracted from internal and external strawberry images. The pipeline segments, classifies and labels the images, extracts conformation features, including linear (area, perimeter, height, width, circularity, shape descriptor, ratio between height and width) and multivariate (Fourier Elliptical components and Generalized Procrustes) statistics. Internal color patterns are obtained using an autoencoder to smooth out the image. In addition, we develop a variational autoencoder to automatically detect the most likely number of underlying shapes. Bayesian modeling is employed to estimate both additive and dominant effects for all traits. As expected, conformational traits are clearly heritable. Interestingly, dominance variance is higher than the additive component for most of the traits. Overall, we show that fruit shape and color can be quickly and automatically evaluated and is moderately heritable. Although we study the strawberry species, the algorithm can be applied to other fruits, as shown in the GitHub repository https://github.com/lauzingaretti/DeepAFS.

scholarly journals Automatic Fruit Morphology Phenome and Genetic Analysis: An Application in the Octoploid Strawberry

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Laura M. Zingaretti ◽  
Amparo Monfort ◽  
Miguel Pérez-Enciso
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Shape Descriptor ◽  
Fruit Shape ◽  
Fruit Morphology ◽  
Additive Component ◽  
Variational Autoencoder ◽  
Phenotype Measurement ◽  
Breeding Efficiency

Automatizing phenotype measurement will decisively contribute to increase plant breeding efficiency. Among phenotypes, morphological traits are relevant in many fruit breeding programs, as appearance influences consumer preference. Often, these traits are manually or semiautomatically obtained. Yet, fruit morphology evaluation can be enhanced using fully automatized procedures and digital images provide a cost-effective opportunity for this purpose. Here, we present an automatized pipeline for comprehensive phenomic and genetic analysis of morphology traits extracted from internal and external strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) images. The pipeline segments, classifies, and labels the images and extracts conformation features, including linear (area, perimeter, height, width, circularity, shape descriptor, ratio between height and width) and multivariate (Fourier elliptical components and Generalized Procrustes) statistics. Internal color patterns are obtained using an autoencoder to smooth out the image. In addition, we develop a variational autoencoder to automatically detect the most likely number of underlying shapes. Bayesian modeling is employed to estimate both additive and dominance effects for all traits. As expected, conformational traits are clearly heritable. Interestingly, dominance variance is higher than the additive component for most of the traits. Overall, we show that fruit shape and color can be quickly and automatically evaluated and are moderately heritable. Although we study strawberry images, the algorithm can be applied to other fruits, as shown in the GitHub repository.

scholarly journals Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for the Tourism Packages: A Conjoint Study of a Rural Destination

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Beckman ◽  
Kuo-Liang “Matt” Chang
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
Small Cities ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Leisure Travelers

Many small cities and towns seek to promote their destinations to leisure travelers via their website. Leisure travelers consist of singles, couples, families, and friends travelling together. While not part of the more lucrative group market, leisure travelers are nonetheless important to the economy of a destination. For instance, families that travel are looking for the types of restaurants, hotels, and activities that are family-friendly. Couples may be looking for a romantic getaway including a charming hotel and a pleasant restaurant. Some destinations will attempt to cater to these travelers by providing packages on their website that cater to families and couples. Thus, it is important to determine what types of packages families (and couples) want for their trip, the perceived value of the packages, and how much they would be willing to pay for these packages. This study uses a choice-based conjoint study to determine willingness to pay (WTP) for various package choices geared towards families in a rural destination.

Soma-based Non-Physical Instrument Design in Electronic Music Performance

Leonardo ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Mary Mainsbridge
Keyword(s):  
Interaction Design ◽  
Electronic Music ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Musical Instrument ◽  
The Body ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Motion Sensors

Attention to the role of the body and bodily awareness in human-computer interaction is increasing. Broader availability of cost-effective motion sensors in mobile and gaming applications has prompted a shift to body-centred design methods. This article examines the relevance of embodied sketching activities drawn from soma-based and sonic interaction design to digital musical instrument (DMI) development. It focuses specifically on the Telechord, a novel motion-controlled system that promotes exploratory methods for exploring connections between movement and sound. By emphasising the felt aspects of movement-based design and performance, this approach places performer experience at the forefront, complementing technical efforts to enhance nuance and coherence in current DMI design research. Keywords: Whole body movement, soma-based design, sonic interaction design; embodied sketching; vocal sketching; digital musical instrument (DMI) design.

Visitor Management in Recreation Areas

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Yung Jim
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Informal Education ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
User Preference ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Visitor Management ◽  
Recreation Areas ◽  
Responsible Attitude

The ever-increasing demands for outdoor recreation have caused widespread ecological damages in many parts of the world, so that methods to contain deleterious impacts and maintain the quality of recreational experience must be earnestly sought. Besides the commonlyprescribed preventive and ameliorative actions on the resource-base, visitor management which can provide cost-effective and long-term solutions deserves more attention than hitherto. This paper evaluates a spectrum of relevant options including the subtle (influencing userbehaviour), through the intermediate (redistributing use), to the regulatory (rationing use).The reduction of per caput impact can, naturally, raise the capacity of an area to accommodate continuing use. Minimum impact techniques can substantially curtail the largely inadvertent damage due to ignorance rather than malice, while recreational planning and management can take into account the changing user preference. Appropriate data to guide management decisions can be acquired through innovative non-contact approaches, including visitor observation, to solicit candid and spontaneous responses. Good-quality information, conveyed through different channels in ample time before a visit, can effectively modify user behaviour and perception. Formal and informal education, to inculcate a responsible attitude towards the natural environment, can bring long-range benefits. Citizen participation can furnish diversified and useroriented perspectives that are important for successful programmes.

Human Factors Assessment of a Pediatric Elliptical Machine With Cost Effective Modifications

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-203
Author(s):  
Rumena Begum ◽  
Bernadette McCrory
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Stride Length ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Kinematic Analyses ◽  
Cardio Vascular ◽  
Training Objective

Background: Developing and sustaining cardio vascular fitness for ambulation are common rehabilitation foci for children with disabilities and their families. Properly designed elliptical trainers may help with pediatric rehabilitation training. Objective: This study focused on the investigation of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) associated with a pediatric elliptical machine, its redesign, and proposing further modifications based on user’s feedback to aid usability, comfort, safety, and interaction. Method: Twenty-eight children(11 typically developing and 17 with physical disabilities and/or chronic conditions) who are 3 to 12 years old, their parents and caregivers, and clinicians participated in the evaluation of the machine before and after modification. Temporospatial data of the children were collected, and their interaction with the machine was assessed. Results: Most features, (i.e., chair height, chair depth, console height, stride length, pedalstraps, and steps height etc.) resulted in positive child and adults’ assessments, whereas six other features resulted in divergent user assessments. Clinicia ns were satisfied with the positioningof chair, stationary handles, pedal, and pedalstraps. However, a lack of adjustability of the stride length was significantly associated with less-than-optimal elliptical training (p = 0.044). Clinicians and 94.3% adult caregivers agreed on the less-than-optimal elliptical training for the children while using the redesigned machine. Conclusion: The modified elliptical machine is a cost effective one and comfortable with im proved safety. A continuously adjustable stride length of 40cm to 110cm was recommended based on kinematic analyses. Additional modifications were suggested to improve the elliptical’s interaction design.

Probability of User Fit for Spatially Optimized Products

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Garneau ◽  
Matthew Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Product Performance ◽  
User Preference ◽  
Body Dimensions ◽  
Performance Metric ◽  
Target User ◽  
Parametric Studies

This study offers a new method for understanding the likelihood of acceptable fit for users of adjustable products and environments and is a useful tool for aiding the designer in making decisions about problems involving human variability. Accommodation, which describes the ability of a user to interact with a device or environment in a preferred way, is a key product performance metric. Methods that offer a better understanding of accommodation of broad user populations would allow for the design of products that are more cost-effective, safer, and/or lead to greater levels of customer satisfaction. This work uses parametric studies to explore the characteristics of a target user population and the probability of accommodating individuals of a given body size. Performance regions are identified in both the problem’s design space (the product dimensions under consideration) and the anthropometry space of the target population (the relevant body dimensions of product users). The existence of probability contours is a result of outcome uncertainty due to anthropometry-independent user preference, and the analysis is achieved by assessing binary accommodation of individuals using a “virtual fit” method with many iterations. Two case studies, one univariate and one bivariate in both performance and anthropometry spaces, are presented. An important outcome of the decision making framework described in this work is the ability to intuitively gauge who in the population of target users will be disaccommodated by a design and how to improve overall accommodation.

scholarly journals Surveying the Temporal Structure of Sounds Used in Music Perception

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schutz ◽  
Jonathan M. Vaisberg
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Spectral Structure ◽  
Amplitude Envelope ◽  
Trapezoidal Shape ◽  
Definition Of

Recent work from our lab illustrates amplitude envelope’s crucial role in both perceptual (Schutz, 2009) and cognitive (Schutz & Stefanucci, 2010) processing. Consequently, we surveyed the amplitude envelopes of sounds used in Music Perception, categorizing them as either flat (i.e., trapezoidal shape), percussive (aka “damped” or “decaying”), other, or undefined. Curiously, the undefined category represented the largest percentage of sounds observed, with 35% lacking definition of this important property (approximately 27% were percussive, 27% flat, and 11% other). This omission of relevant information was not indicative of general inattention to methodological detail. Studies using tones with undefined amplitude envelopes generally defined other properties such as spectral structure (85%), duration (80%), and even model of headphones/speakers (65%) at high rates. Consequently, this targeted omission is intriguing, and suggests amplitude envelope is an area ripe for future research.

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