Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1990. / Typescript. "Selected bibliography": leaves 38-41.

Childhood obesity in America is reaching epidemic proportions. This study explored whether daily online lunch menu information was sufficient to enable parents to advise their children about healthy and unhealthy menu choices in 350 Texas middle schools and whether online menu information strongly correlated with the descriptions of the offerings given by 52 school cafeteria managers in telephone interviews. Although schools are making efforts to describe their offerings, they are not vigorously taking advantage of the opportunity to aggressively inform or educate. They are not coding their descriptions in such a way as to explicitly brand food as healthy or unhealthy. They are also not labeling food as generally required by law for consumer services that provide food (except for the fresh produce that lines supermarket shelves). Instead, they only briefly describe what they are serving in the way of fruit in one or two word snippets. Finally, cafeteria managers’ online descriptions were inconsistent with what they described in interviews. Online and verbal descriptions were sometimes contradictory, raising questions about the accuracy of either type of description.

In order to better inform Canadians about the high level of calories, fat and sodium in most restaurants, policy makers and health advocates have suggested that nutritional information be added on the menu. But, before consumers can read this information there are other cues that bias calorie perceptions. These cues create certain expectations about the healthfulness of the menu items. For example, restaurants create “health halos” in which consumers are led to believe that their options are healthy when in reality they may not be (Wansink & Chandon, 2006). Do consumers notice this incongruence? Would their choices differ when nutritional values differed from expectations? The main objective of this research was to examine if calories, fat and sodium on a restaurant menu influence consumers to make healthier food choices. The moderating role of expectations about a restaurant’s food drawn from the expectation-disconfirmation paradigm was also examined to determine if consumer food choice differs when nutrition information is incongruent to expectations. Lastly, consumers’ sensitivity to price was studied when calories, fat and sodium were present. Undergraduate students (n=240) from the University of Guelph in a between and within-subjects design responded to three surveys. Discrete choice experiments were used with different levels of calories, fat and sodium to study the effect of these attributes on menu item choice. Findings indicate that nutrition information does lead to healthier choices when expectations are positively disconfirmed but not when they are negatively disconfirmed and when objective information is provided. Further, participants’ reported calories and fat to be more important than sodium. From a health, nutrition and policy maker’s standpoint, this finding is indicative of the fact that consumers do use calories, fat and sodium information on a menu, albeit, selectively.

This study focused on three different menu designs each with their own unique interactions and organizational structures to determine which design features would perform the best. Fifty-four participants completed 27 tasks using each of the three designs. The menus were analyzed based on task performance, accuracy, usability, intuitiveness, and user preference. Also, an analysis was conducted between two different menu organization styles: top-down menu organization (Method-TD) and bottom-up organization (Method-BU). There was no evidence that demographic factors had any effect on the overall results. By and large, the Stacked menu design received very positive results and feedback from all the participants. The Spatial design received average feedback with some participants preferring it while others struggled to use it and felt that it was too physically demanding. The worst performer was the Radial design that consistently ranked last and failed to pass usability and accuracy tests. A NGOMSL study was conducted to determine any differences in performance between a top-down menu organizational approach and a bottom-up approach or differences between the predicted task completion times and the reported times. The results of this study predicted that the Spatial design should have taken the least amount of time to perform, however, the experimental results showed that the Stacked design in fact out-performed the Spatial design’s task completion times. A potential explanation as to why the Stacked outperformed the Spatial is the increased physical demand of the Spatial design not anticipated with the NGOMSL analysis because of a design feature which caused a high level of cumbersomeness with the interactions. Overall, there were no statistical differences found between Method-TD and Method-BU, but a large difference found between the predicted times and observed times for Stacked, Radial, and Spatial. Participants overwhelmingly performed better than the predicted completion times for the Stacked design, but then did not complete the tasks by the predicted times for the Radial and Spatial. This study recommends the Stacked menu for VR environments and proposes further research into a Stacked-Spatial hybrid design to allow for the participant’s preferred design aspects of both designs to be used in a VR environment.

No description available.

För att påverka försäljning av mat och dryck använder restaurangen menyn som försäljningsverktyg. I uppsatsen diskuterades möjligheterna till ökad försäljning av mat och dryck genom att påverka gästens val med hjälp av placering samt färgval i en restaurangmeny. Syftet med undersökningen var att ta reda på hur färgsättning samt produkternas placering i en à la cartemeny påverkar restaurangens försäljning av mat och dryck. I metoden tog uppsatsförfattarna upp tillvägagångssätten som utförts för att få in materialet. Sökandet i databaserna där urvalet av de vetenskapliga artiklarna med hjälp av inklusions- och exklusionskriterierna redogörs. En av artiklarna hävdar att placeringen i en restaurangmeny kan påverka försäljningen medan två andra artiklar inte kunde finna någon direkt koppling. Det framgick att en restaurangmeny har avdelningar som gästen ägnar mer och mindre uppmärksamhet mot. Hur gästens val påverkas genom färg är en viktig faktor att använda sig av då restaurangen vill vara effektiv. Genom färg går det att påverka restaurangens försäljning. Färgsättningen i menyn rekommenderas att anpassa efter vad restaurangen vill förmedla. Placeringar i menyn kan få försäljningen att öka eller minska. / B-uppsatser

Purpose: The growth in obesity rates across the United States has been associated with increased consumption of energy dense meals consumed away from home. In an effort to help consumers make healthier food choices, some state law makers have begun to require the inclusion of nutrient information on fast food and chain restaurant menus. The objective of this research was to discover whether a consumer demand exists for healthier menu options and for disclosure of nutrient information on restaurant menus. Since much of the previous research has been concerned with fast food dining, this research was focused on examining the preferences and behaviors of diners at non-fast food restaurants. Methods: Eighty-four adults completed self-administered questionnaires during public expositions in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Results were tabulated frequencies and percentages. Comparisons were examined between gender and dining-out frequency categories. Results: Approximately 76% of participants indicated they had been concerned about ordering healthier menu items during the preceding month. Eighty-seven percent indicated a desire for disclosure of at least one specific nutrition fact on restaurant menus. Ninety-two percent indicated they would at least sometimes order menu items denoted as healthier on a restaurant menu. Women were more consistent than men in their demand for healthier food qualities. Conclusions: Results suggest that consumer demand does exist for healthier menu options and for nutrient information on restaurant menus. Further research will be necessary to determine how access to nutrient information will affect consumer choices.

This dissertation investigates the sluggish adjustment process of dividend payment in the stock market. First, I focus on the individual stocks. A casual investigation of observed dividends for individual stocks shows dividend adjustments are sluggish and discrete; this is not consistent with the Lintner??s stylized fact (1956) in which dividend adjustments are assumed to change continuously. Thus, I examine three possible explanations to account for dividend stickiness and discreteness: menu-costs (i.e. a constant adjustment cost), decision-making delays, and dividend adjustment asymmetry. I reject Dixit??s menu-cost model as an appropriate specification for the sluggish adjustment process of dividends. The empirical results imply that decisionmaking delays and dividend adjustment asymmetry might be possible explanations for sticky and discrete dividends on selected individual stocks. Second, I focus on the aggregate stock market. I use a quadratic adjustment cost model to examine whether adjustment costs can explain the slow adjustment of aggregate dividends. The empirical results suggest that adjustment costs might be a significant factor explaining the slow dividend adjustment for S&P 500. The value of relative weigh cost is related to the specification of target dividend. If target dividendsare related to earnings, then the empirical results suggest that the adjustment costs are about forty-fold more important than the deviation cost between the actual dividend and the target level in determining the dynamic dividend adjustment process. If target dividends are specified as proportion to the stock prices, the adjustment costs are about fourteen-fold more important than the deviation cost between actual dividend and target level when managers determine the dividends.

No description available.

abstract: As part of the recently passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, chain restaurants with 20 or more locations nationwide are required to post calorie information on menus and menu boards in order to help consumers make healthier decisions when dining out. Previous studies that have evaluated menu-labeling policies show mixed results and the majority have been conducted in urban cities along the east coast. This study was the first to look at the effectiveness of menu labeling in a southwest population. The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine if noticing or using calorie menu labels in a fast food restaurant was associated with purchasing fewer calories. A second aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and the likelihood of noticing and using menu labeling. Customer receipts and survey data were collected from 329 participants using street-intercept survey methodology at 29 McDonald's locations in low- and high-income neighborhoods throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. The study population was 63.5% male, 53.8% non-Hispanic white, and 50.8% low-income. Results showed that almost 60% of the study sample noticed calorie menu labeling and only 16% of participants reported using the information for food or beverage purchases. Income was the only socio-demographic characteristic that was associated with noticing menu labeling, with higher-income individuals being more likely to notice the information (p=0.029). Income was also found to be associated with using menu labels, with higher income individuals being more likely to use the information (p=0.04). Additionally, individuals with a bachelors degree or higher were more likely to use the information (p=0.023) and individuals aged 36 to 49 were least likely to use the information (p=0.046). There were no significant differences in average calories purchased among those who noticed menu labeling; however, those who reported using calorie information purchased 146 fewer calories than those who did not use the information (p=0.001). Based on these findings it is concluded that calorie menu labeling is an effective public policy and that nutrition education campaigns should accompany national menu labeling implementation in order to make the policy more effective across all socio-demographic groups. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Nutrition 2014