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This research centres on product package design related to older people's emotional needs. In particular, knowledge concerning the design of packages for transgenerational use linked to background social data has been elicited. The most distinctive accomplishment has been an exploration of the visual appeal of packaging design in relation to age, gender, education and emotional preference of older consumers. Findings are primarily related to the interaction older people in the UK with selected aspects of package design. Three areas of research have been brought together in this thesis: packaging design and multiple choice, emotional/psychological preference for packaging design characteristics and colour appeal associated ..w ith food character in packaging design. Investigations into the 'third age' and classifications beyond utilised a large sample from the 'Thousand Elders' and a range of packaging designs for selected food items. The significant findings indicate that familiarity and emotional response to packaging designs are key determinants in older consumers' intentions to purchase. Design relating to overall perception or technical cognition are shown to correlate with age related emotional feelings of arousal. Specific findings on such correlations are described in detail. A further 'emotional appeal' was found with colour; for example, green, yellow or bright tones were the most popular colour hue and value associated with varied qualities for food packaging design for specific age groups. Differences between ages, gender and education levels (hypothesised variables linked to design choices) are also analysed and correlated; for example, gender and age rather than educational level combinations appeared to significantly influence choice. Males aged between 55 and 64 relied on their experience of functional aspects for packaging design when considering a purchase. Females in the older age group of 65-74 were more emotional and considered visual appeal in a more personal way. However, few distinguishable psychological effects were noted for the over 75 year olds in their relationship with design. Personal characteristics of older people and their choice are presented in a combination of qualitative interpretation and numeric analysis. Key findings relate to the specific nature of older consumers behaviour in their engagement with packaging design.

The muscle specific intermediate filament protein, desmin, was shown to be a potentially useful insoluble antigen for the production of pork specific monoclonal antibodies and in the development of poultry meat specific immunoassays. Differential extraction and chromatographic purification procedures were optimised for the recovery of desmin from smooth and skeletal muscles in forms suitable for antibody production. Desmin of sufficient purity for the production of monoclonal antibodies was obtained using differential extractions followed by an anion exchange step and then a gel filtration step. Very pure desmin necessary for the production of polyclonal antibodies was obtained using electro-elution from SDS-PAGE of desmin enriched samples prepared by differential extraction only. Although smooth muscle was a rich source for desmin it was found that pork specific monoclonal antibodies produced with this immunogen were also tissue specific in simple assay formats and thus did not react with desmin enriched extracts of pork steak. Those antibodies that did react with extracts of pork steak also reacted with similar extracts of beef skeletal muscle. As a result of these findings, improvements to the extraction and purification procedures were made and applied to the recovery of pure desmin from pork skeletal muscle. Anti-desmin antibodies were recovered from the single successful fusion performed but none were found to be pork specific. Although outside the remit of this project it was noted that the tissue specificity of some of the anti-pork desmin antibodies may suggest a hitherto unrecognised tissue dependent post-translational modification of desmin. Polyclonal sera obtained from rabbits immunised with pure smooth muscle desmin obtained from pig stomach cross-reacted extensively with similar smooth and skeletal muscle extracts of beef, lamb and chicken. Although not species specific, these sera could be used as revealing antibodies in two site assays should a pork specific antiskeletal muscle antibody be created. Immunoassays for the detection and quantitation of chicken in beef were developed using the poultry specific monoclonal antibody 4B4/B2 produced in this laboratory by Dr. Ruth Bevan. An indirect antibody capture type ELISA was developed capable of detecting 10% w/w contamination of minced beefsteak with chicken meat along with a indirect Western blot technique capable of detecting 2% w/w contamination of minced beefsteak with chicken meat

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