abstract: Arizona has an abundant solar resource and technologically mature systems are available to capture it, but solar energy systems are still considered to be an innovative technology. Adoption rates for solar and wind energy systems rise and fall with the political tides, and are relatively low in most rural areas in Arizona. This thesis tests the hypothesis that a consumer profile developed to characterize the adopters of renewable energy technology (RET) systems in rural Arizona is the same as the profile of other area residents who performed renovations, upgrades or additions to their homes. Residents of Santa Cruz and Cochise Counties who had obtained building permits to either install a solar or wind energy system or to perform a substantial renovation or upgrade to their home were surveyed to gather demographic, psychographic and behavioristic data. The data from 133 survey responses (76 from RET adopters and 57 from non-adopters) provided insights about their decisions regarding whether or not to adopt a RET system. The results, which are statistically significant at the 99% level of confidence, indicate that RET adopters had smaller households, were older and had higher education levels and greater income levels than the non-adopters. The research also provides answers to three related questions: First, are the energy conservation habits of RET adopters the same as those of non-adopters? Second, what were the sources of information consulted and the most important factors that motivated the decision to purchase a solar or wind energy system? And finally, are any of the factors which influenced the decision to live in a rural area in southeastern Arizona related to the decision to purchase a renewable energy system? The answers are provided, along with a series of recommendations that are designed to inform marketers and other promoters of RETs about how to utilize these results to help achieve their goals. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Sustainability 2011

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:01:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EvellinPSN_DISSERT.pdf: 1170598 bytes, checksum: e224db9f68430539942131ccd5630957 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-18 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The dried beef is a food traditionally eaten by Northeastern and has an extensive trade in the city of Natal-RN. It is usually produced in an empirical manner, without any standardization in production. Characterized as partially dehydrated meat product, so that the activity of water present is not sufficient to prevent microbial growth, degradation or the production of microbial toxins. The guarantee that the market dried beef is to provide a quality product hygienic, microbiological, physicochemical and sensory stable and adequate for the safety and consumer satisfaction, which has been increasingly attracted to food with natural preservatives. Thus, the meat industries are replacing the current seasonings and natural preservatives for similar, with it without affecting the shelf life of products. Lactic acid has been used to meet these requirements. In this sense, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of lactic acid on the physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory, besides knowing the consumer profile of dried meat of the City of Natal / RN. The results demonstrated that the use of lactic acid in concentrations of 1% and 2% during the processing of dried meat, had statistically significant effect (p < 0.05) on the physico-chemical (pH and water activity) and consequently reduced the microbial count does not alter the taste of the new product developed. Regarding the results on the consumer profile, it was found that the majority of respondents (71.75%) did not observe the presence of the stamp of the Federal Inspection Service (SIF) to buy this meat food that 81.55% of consumers check the hygiene conditions of the site and handlers, however, a large proportion of respondents not concerned with the guarantee of origin of typical regional products featuring a hazard to food safety for consumers of the city of Natal-RN / A carne de sol ? um alimento tradicionalmente consumido pelos nordestinos e tem um com?rcio amplo na Cidade do Natal-RN. Normalmente ? produzida de maneira emp?rica, sem qualquer padroniza??o na produ??o. Caracterizado como produto c?rneo parcialmente desidratado, de maneira que a atividade de ?gua presente n?o ? suficiente para evitar o desenvolvimento microbiano, a degrada??o ou a produ??o de toxinas microbianas. A garantia de manuten??o do mercado de carne de sol consiste no fornecimento de produto com padr?es de qualidade higi?nicos, microbiol?gicos, f?sico-qu?micos e sensoriais adequados e est?veis visando ? seguran?a e satisfa??o do consumidor, o qual tem sido cada vez mais atra?do por alimentos com conservantes naturais. Deste modo, as ind?strias de carnes est?o substituindo os atuais condimentos e conservantes por semelhantes naturais, sem afetar com isso a vida de prateleira dos produtos. O ?cido l?tico vem sendo empregado para atender essas exig?ncias. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho objetivou-se avaliar o efeito do ?cido l?tico sobre as caracter?sticas f?sico-qu?micas, sensoriais e microbiol?gicas, al?m de conhecer o perfil do consumidor de carne de sol da Cidade do Natal/RN. Os resultados encontrados demonstraram que o emprego do ?cido l?tico em concentra??es de 1% e 2% durante o processamento da carne de sol, teve efeito estat?stico significativo (p < 0,05) sobre as caracter?stica f?sico-qu?micas (pH e atividade de ?gua) n?o alterando o sabor do novo produto elaborado. Com rela??o aos resultados sobre o perfil do consumidor, verificou-se que a maioria dos entrevistados (71,75%) n?o observa a presen?a do carimbo de Servi?o de Inspe??o Federal (SIF) ao comprarem este derivado c?rneo, que 81,55% dos consumidores verificam as condi??es de higiene do local e dos manipuladores, por?m, uma grande parte dos entrevistados n?o se preocupa com a garantia de origem dos produtos t?picos regionais caracterizando um perigo para a seguran?a alimentar dos consumidores da Cidade do Natal- RN