Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-49). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, August 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-137). Also available in electronic version.

There is a growing consensus that agricultural and rural lands contribute more than just commodity outputs; they also contribute non-market or non-commodity outputs as well. These non-market attributes of agriculture are well documented; ecosystem services, rural heritage, rural economic validity, and domestic food security to name a few. Increasingly, countries want to compensate producers of agricultural commodities for providing these non-market externalities as well. Policy decision makers in the United States need adequate information about the attitudinal, demographic, and economic preferences of the public for financially supporting these non-market commodities. Our research, using the contingent valuation research method, found that select attitudinal and demographic variables were significant in the public's decision to support a willingness to pay question regarding the compensation for the provision of such non-market goods. In addition, mean household willingness to pay for the non-market provisions from agricultural and rural lands was calculated for the U.S.

This dissertation investigates the role of reference-dependent preferences in different areas of application, both from an empirical/experimental and a theoretical perspective. Despite their common focus, all chapters are self-contained and can be read independently. In the first chapter, entitled "Does Loss Aversion Beat Procrastination? A Behavioral Health Intervention at the Gym", I analyze the implications of reference-dependent preferences in the domains of self-control and optimal incentive design. Financial incentives are a common tool to encourage overcoming self-control problems and developing beneficial habits. There are different means by which such incentives can be provided, yet, up to date there is little empirical evidence on the relative effectiveness of different incentive designs. I present the results of a field experiment that explores whether and how incentives that are economically equivalent but framed differently affect the likelihood of exercising at a gym. I find that framing incentives in terms of losses, meaning individuals lose cash incentives by not exercising, encourages more frequent visits to the gym than framing incentives in terms of financial gains. After removing these incentives, I observe habit formation in gym exercise only if incentives were framed as losses rather than gains. The findings are consistent with the concept of reference-dependent preferences and loss aversion and suggest that cost reductions and performance improvements can be achieved if opting to frame incentives in terms of losses. The second chapter, entitled "Salience-adjusted Expectation-based Reference Points: Theory and Experiment", studies the consequences of reference-dependent preferences in the domain of decision making under uncertainty. Recent theories of expectation-based reference-dependent preferences offer a structured approach of the formation of reference points, yet do not incorporate important context-specific characteristics. One implicit assumption is that individuals rationally form their reference point as expectations, by correctly predicting the probabilistic environment they are facing. A second assumption is that in subsequent unanticipated decisionmaking problems, individuals consider previously formed lagged expectations as their reference point. In an experimental setup, I demonstrate that specific contextual factors affect the composition of expectation-based reference points. First, while expectations are formed, outcomes that attract the moment of first focus receive a higher weight. Second, in subsequent unanticipated decision making under uncertainty, the outcomes of the choice set affect to which extent lagged expectations are considered as a reference point, depending on the associated intensity of gains and losses. Finally, apart from providing empirical evidence on the limitations of current theories of expectation-based reference-dependence, I present a theoretical extension that can overcome some of these limitations by allowing reference points to be contingent on salient contextual effects. In the third chapter, entitled "Competitive Persuasive Advertising under Consumer Loss Aversion", I examine the role of reference-dependent preferences in the domain of consumer choice. In particular, I analyze the effects of expectation-based loss aversion in imperfect competition when consumers’ gain-loss utility is susceptible to salience effects. I present a theoretical model in which consumers’ gain-loss utility associated with the expectation to buy the most salient products within their contextual environment is inflated upwards, whereas the gain-loss utility associated with the expectation to buy the least salient products is deflated downwards. Firms can strategically manage consumers’ gain-loss utility by investing in salience-enhancing activities, such as persuasive advertising. If consumers are initially aware of prices but uncertain about their individual match value from the purchase, persuasive advertising has strictly anticompetitive consequences. This is because it allows firms to mitigate consumers’ experienced losses from higher prices, which reduces competitivepressure. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

No description available.

abstract: Skyline queries are a well-established technique used in multi criteria decision applications. There is a recent interest among the research community to efficiently compute skylines but the problem of presenting the skyline that takes into account the preferences of the user is still open. Each user has varying interests towards each attribute and hence "one size fits all" methodology might not satisfy all the users. True user satisfaction can be obtained only when the skyline is tailored specifically for each user based on his preferences. This research investigates the problem of preference aware skyline processing which consists of inferring the preferences of users and computing a skyline specific to that user, taking into account his preferences. This research proposes a model that transforms the data from a given space to a user preferential space where each attribute represents the preference of the user. This study proposes two techniques "Preferential Skyline Processing" and "Latent Skyline Processing" to efficiently compute preference aware skylines in the user preferential space. Finally, through extensive experiments and performance analysis the correctness of the recommendations and the algorithm's ability to outperform the naïve ones is confirmed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2014

abstract: ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate physical activity (PA) program characteristics preferred by low-income childbearing age Latinas and the relationship with the participants’ personal characteristics, cultural values, and acculturation. This was an exploratory study guided by the Preferences and Health Behavior Model (PaHBM), developed by this investigator. Recruitment occurred at three sites; two sites were located in Phoenix, AZ and one site was located in Houston, TX. Non pregnant Latinas between 18 to 35 years old were included (N=275). Latinas were excluded if they were pregnant, incarcerated, physically or mentally disabled, or had chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular disease). Quantitative data were collected using the Predictors and Preferences of Physical Activity Research Intervention Participation in an Underserved Latina Community Questionnaire, developed by this author, along with the Brief Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans, and the Mexican American Cultural Values Scale. The hypotheses were tested utilizing Chi-square, Pearson correlation and logistic regression. Annual family income, parity, country of origin, BMI and acculturation were the personal characteristics significantly associated with preferred PA program by this group of Latinas. Latino women were heterogeneous in their preferences. In general, sixty percent endorsed dancing as the type of activity preferred, 20% preferred PA education and 20% preferred walking. Major differences were found between the types of activity the Latino women were currently participating in compared to their preferred type of activity. Of the 124 who reported to be walking/jogging, almost half (49) preferred dancing, 22 preferred PA education and only 12 preferred walking. The study findings add to the existing knowledge by looking at factors that should be considered when developing PA interventions as well as when prescribing or recommending PA to this population. These results demonstrate the need to identify the preferred PA program characteristics of Latinas prior to developing interventions. Failure to know the patient’s preferred PA program characteristics may result in prescribing or recommending an undesired activity and decrease participation in PA interventions. RESUMEN El propósito de este estudio fue identificar las características preferidas en un programa de actividad física por una comunidad de mujeres Latinas de bajos recursos económicos y en edad fértil, así como la relación de esas características con sus propias características personales, sus valores culturales y su adaptación a la comunidad Anglosajona. Este fue un estudio exploratorio guiado por el “Modelo Preferencias y Comportamiento Saludables” (PaHBM), por sus siglas en Ingles, desarrollado por esta investigadora. El reclutamiento de las Latinas ocurrió en tres sedes: Una en Houston, TX y dos en Phoenix, AZ. Las mujeres Latinas fueron incluidas si tenían entre 18 y 35 años de edad. Se excluyeron mujeres que estaban embarazadas, estuvieran encarceladas, físicamente o mentalmente incapacitadas o que sufrieran alguna enfermedad crónica. Los datos cuantitativos fueron recolectados a través de una encuesta llamada “Predictores y preferencias de participación en un programa investigativo de actividad física”, desarrollada por la autora de este estudio, además utilizando la escala breve de aculturación para Mejicanos Americanos y la escala de valores culturales en Mejicanos Americanos. Las hipótesis fueron probadas utilizando el Chi-cuadrado, la correlación de Pearson, y la regresión lógica. Las características personales más asociadas con las características del programa preferido fueron el salario anual de la familia, el número de hijos, el país de origen, y el índice de masa corporal. En general, 60% prefirieron bailar, 20% clases de actividad física y 20% caminar. Mayores diferencias se encontraron en el tipo de actividad en las que las mujeres Latinas estaban participando, comparado con lo que ellas preferían. De 124 participantes que estaban caminando o trotando, 49 Latinas (39%) preferían bailar, 22 Latinas (17%) preferían clases de actividad física y solo 12 Latinas (10%) prefirieron caminar. Estos resultados demuestran la necesidad de identificar las características del programa de actividad física antes de crear dicho programa. Estos resultados son una adición a los conocimientos existentes, en los que se identificaron factores que deben ser considerados cuando se planea un programa así como cuando se prescribe o se recomienda actividad física a esta población. Sera un fracaso no conocer las preferencias de una paciente para mantenerse físicamente activa porque puede resultar en la prescripción o recomendación de actividades que la paciente no desea y esto se traducirá en reducción de la participación en programas de actividad física. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2016

The milk industry in the Eastern Cape is very competitive and milk suppliers must use all means, including packaging, to influence buying behaviour. The aim of the study was to investigate customer preferences with regard to milk packaging in the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) area. The purpose was to develop a better understanding of customer preferences so that packaging could be designed to satisfy customer expectations and needs. The research design was based on a quantitative approach (non-experimental) and the study was descriptive in nature. The measuring instrument was a self-developed questionnaire, which was developed based on the literature study and previous empirical studies conducted by Adam and Ali (2014a) and Ahmed, Pumar and Amin (2014). The sample consisted of 199 adult shoppers in the Nelson Mandela Bay area, selected through snowball and quota sampling. Data was collected with the help of fieldworkers, coded into Microsoft Excel and processed with statistical software. Descriptive statistics and canonical correlation analysis were used to identify customer preferences and relationships between the different dimensions of milk packaging. The results revealed that size, materials, convenience in handing and product information (expiry date) were important. Colour and design were not regarded as important by the target group.

The purpose of this research is to study the attitudes of new-car buyers regarding the franchised automobile dealer, to identify those factors which are the most important to the buyer when selecting the dealer, and to measure the effects of dealer competition in various sized cities on the attitudes of buyers.