The purposes of this study were to investigate consumer satisfaction, preferences, and care procedures of selected nightgown fabrics. Additionally, demographic information was obtained to characterize the sample. The data were provided by 54 females in Delaware, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. Eight subjects, each wearing two different gown fabrics participated from five states; however, one participant each from Massachusetts and Vermont was disqualified. The four fabrics used in this study, representative of those available in the marketplace for the manufacture of ladies sleepwear, were made from: (1) 100% polyester, pink, brushed knit, (2) 100% nylon, lavender tricot, (3) 80/20% acetate-polyester, blue-green, brushed knit, and (4) 80/20% acetate-nylong, yellow-green, brushed knit. Preliminary and terminal interview questionnaires were used to collect the data as well as satisfaction ratings cards. Frequency distributions and percentages were used to characterize the findings from this study. Participants tended to be fairly young, well educated and dwellers of single family houses. The majority earned incomes in excess of $10,000. Automatic washers and dryers were used predominately. A variety of textile goods were laundered in the same loads as the sleepwear. Wearers indicated preferences for one or the other of the two gowns on each of the following factors: ease of soil removal, colorfastness, shape retention, appearance, hand, and durability. The 100% polyester, brushed knit fabric was preferred overall, but other fabrics received higher ratings on individual factors. On satisfaction factors, hand and ease of care were the most pleasing characteristics. Static electricity continues to be a problem. Satisfaction scores were somewhat parallel to preferences. / Master of Science

The "Dine To Your Heart's Content" program was assessed from points of view of selected patrons and restaurateurs in Virginia. Restaurateurs were interviewed and patrons responded to a mail questionnaire. Patrons were divided into four groups: 1)those following a heart healthy diet due to a physician's recommendation, 2)those with a self reported family history of heart disease, 3)those expressing interest in heart disease, and 4)those who expressed little or no interest in heart health. The frequencies with which patrons dined away from home, dined in restaurants offering this program, and complied with a heart healthy diet when dining out were analyzed. There were no significant differences among groups relative to these factors. The perceived degree of benefit provided by this program also was investigated. Those expressing little or no interest in heart health reported receiving significantly less benefit from the program than the other groups (p<0.02). Restaurateurs' perceptions of the wants and needs of these patrons and of the advantages and disadvantages of this program were explored. The perceived needs for nutrition training for restaurateurs and their waitstaff also were examined. Ninety-six percent of the restaurateurs expressed a need for nutrition education. Patrons, restaurateurs, and waitstaff were tested for knowledge of food composition relative to fats and oils. The average score was 6.2 out of 13 points with no significant differences in scores among groups. Major recommendations suggested for this program include: l)assistance to restaurateurs in the identification of appropriate menu items and in communicating menu attributes positively, and 2)improved nutritional education for both patrons and waitstaff to increase awareness and understanding of the program. / Master of Science

This study investigated female consumers’ awareness of and preference for brand name apparel, sought to determine the relationship between these variables and the purchase of brand name apparel, and attempted to determine the sample’s perceptions of branded apparel. The respondents’ brand name apparel awareness, preference, and perception were also investigated in relation to several demographic variables. Women professors and secretaries employed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI&SU) were chosen as the sample for this study. A questionnaire was developed to ascertain the needed information and was distributed to 471 women by the intercampus mail system during the summer of 1985. The sample consisted of 97 secretaries and 73 professors, for a total of 170 participants. It was found that the brand name of apparel was unimportant to the sampled consumers in the purchase of dresses for the job, sleepwear and casual clothing. Within these classifications, consumers were generally more concerned with intrinsic garment features such as fit, construction, material, care, and style. Magazines were not found to be a major vehicle to provide clothing information, nor was magazine readership found to be related to the respondents’ levels of overall recognition and preference for name brand clothing. Consumers who were exposed to brand name apparel via media or store displays had a greater level of brand recognition and recall, which ultimately lead to greater preference for brand name apparel. Occupation and total household income were not found to be significant determinants of brand name awareness and preference. / M.S.

Foraging activity and food preferences of odorous house ants (Tapinoma sessile (SAY)) were investigated in both the field and laboratory. Foraging activity was examined in the field from April to September 2001 by attracting T. sessile to feeding stations containing a 20% sucrose solution. Ant foraging activity was recorded over a twenty-four hour period along with ambient temperature to examine possible correlations with ant activity patterns. Results indicate that foraging activity may be influenced by both time and temperature. In April and May when temperatures dropped below approximately 10 C, little or no foraging activity was observed. However, in the summer when temperatures were generally higher, foraging activity was greater during relatively cooler times of the day and night. Under laboratory conditions, T. sessile was attracted to feeding stations and foraged throughout the day and night at a constant temperature of approximately 25 C. Evaluations of seasonal food preferences using carbohydrate, protein and lipid samples were also conducted throughout the spring and summer. Results indicated no seasonal shifts in food preference in foraging ants; T sessile consistently preferred sugar and protein rewards over lipids. Macronutrient choice assays were preformed on T. sessile to evaluate specific food preferences. Several different carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and salts were tested in both liquid and gel formulation. Results indicated significantly greater consumption of sucrose solution at a concentration of approximately 20% compared with other sugars tested (fructose, glucose, trehalose and maltose). In addition, strong feeding responses were observed to both casein hydrolysate and lactalbumin hydrolysate at a 5% concentration. The addition of NaCl to 15% sucrose gel samples also enhanced feeding responses. Lipids were generally ignored by T. sessile and in most cases decreased consumption of the sample. Various amino acids did not enhance feeding responses and were similar to water. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine the extent to which boaters and riverfront landowners on the Great Egg Harbor River are similar or different in perceptions of environmental and social conditions and preferences for management; and (2) to explore factors that contribute to riverfront landowners' and visitors' opinions about possible management decisions for the river. The Great Egg Harbor River represents a complex challenge, with designation as a unit of the Wild and Scenic River system, overseen by the National Park Service, but ownership by twelve municipalities and hundreds of private landowners. Understanding similarities and differences between stakeholders is especially important in such a setting. Data were collected by on-site contact forms for boaters and a 12-page mailback questionnaire for both boaters and riverfront landowners. The final sample size for the mail survey was 428, representing an overall response rate of 44%. Boaters and landowners reported similar evaluations of general crowding and conflict, but landowners were significantly more sensitive to conflicts between boaters and landowners than were boaters. In terms of environmental issues, boaters were significantly more disposed to pro-environmental attitudes than were landowners. Landowners evaluated recreational developments more negatively than did boaters. With respect to management preferences, boaters and landowners did not significantly differ in their evaluation of increased law enforcement and actions that would restrict development and recreational use. On average, both groups supported these types of management actions. However, boaters and landowners significantly differed in their evaluation of management actions that provide additional river access. Although both groups generally opposed additional access, landowners were more opposed to these actions than were boaters. In addition, boaters were more supportive of visitor services than were landowners. Although classification as boater or landowner contributed to preferences for some management actions (increased law enforcement and additional river access), other variables were better predictors of these preferences. Pro-environmental attitudes contributed to preferences for increased law enforcement, restrictions on development and recreational use, and visitor services. Attitudes about development also influenced preferences for increased law enforcement and restrictions, but contributed to preferences for additional river access as well. Other explanatory variables included perceptions of general conflict and activity preference (motorized or non-motorized). These variables contributed to preferences for increased law enforcement and restrictions on development and recreational use. Results from this study indicate that managers need to better understand the correlates of management support in order to meet a more diverse set of visitor needs. Understanding the contribution of a variety of variables in management preferences will likely help resource managers better understand stakeholder groups and how they will respond to proposed management actions. Managers can use such information to better communicate river management goals, thus fostering more widespread constituency support for proposed actions. / Master of Science

The basic purpose of this study was to discover through the use of a projective technique whether the brand purchased by a consumer affects others' perceptions of her image. Several theoretical concepts formed the basis for this study. An understanding of the theory behind symbols was needed in order to understand the way in which products and brands can become symbols for consumers. Product and self-image theories help to explain the relationship between the two images and how congruency between the two can affect consumers' perceptions. The concept of culture was introduced as an added variable in order to discern if culture has an effect upon self-image and/or the perception of product/brand images. / Master of Science

Economic preferences are fundamental to risky decision making and other economic decision- making. Unlike traditional economics, which routinely assumes that individuals are endowed with stable preferences and try to maximize the expected utility when facing risky decision-making problems, behavioral economics and neuroeconomics offer research strategies that help us explore the factors that influence economic preferences and risky decision-making process. This dissertation consists of three essays studying the underlying experiential influences on economic preferences and neurobiological effects on risky decision making. Chapter 2 examines whether experiences during adolescence have a long-term effect on economic preferences. Between 1966 and 1976, China's Sent-Down Movement required seventeen million urban teenagers to spend several years living and working in rural areas. The program had a number of goals for participants, including learning empathy for rural laborers and developing collectivist values. The sent-down movement can be regarded as a natural experiment, which allows us to investigate whether this government policy was successful in effecting a lasting change to economic preferences. Using a modified Global Preference Survey and employing a regression discontinuity design, we find that the experience of being Sent-Down significantly changed participants' risk preferences, other-regarding preferences, and attitudes toward government. Chapter 3 explores how the arousal system modulates attention and investment behavior. Experimental research shows that human decision making is shaped by emotions associated with an outcome's success or failure. Regret, for example, is a powerful predictor of future investment decisions in asset markets. Using a fictive learning model to capture regret, we examine changes in pupil diameter of participants performing a sequential investing task. By manipulating task uncertainty, we show that pupil dilation is positively correlated with both asset price variance and regret. In addition, pupil linked arousal is positively associated with the learning rate. We conclude that the pupil–linked arousal system helps regulate investment behavior in a dynamic market environment. Chapter 4 explores the complex process by which people make risky choices. While traditional models, like expected utility theory, model choice as the selection of the outcome with the highest probability-weighted value, research shows that in some environments these models do a poor job of describing behavior. This study explores the role of attention, pupil-linked arousal, and salience in risky choice. First, we replicate earlier findings that those choices are consistent with expected utility theory when the calculation is easy, however, as the calculation becomes harder, they make decisions by comparing unweighted payoffs and are attend to the salient option. Further, we find that pupil-linked arousal is associated with the level of cognitive effort needed to calculate expected utility. Finally, we show that arousal reflects cognitive effort associated with resisted selecting a more salient option. / Doctor of Philosophy / Economic decisions are those involving trade-offs where an individual must give up one item or possibility to get another. Economic preferences define which outcome an individual will value more, and helps explain why, for example, some people invest their money in high-risk and high- yield bonds while others keep their money in their savings account. Economists and other social scientists are interested in the differences between individuals' economic preferences, how they are formed, and how they translate into peoples' decisions. Risky decision making is one common type of economic decision that people make daily, for example, investing in the stock market, gambling in casinos, buying lottery tickets or trying a new restaurant. We know that when two people make different decisions that sometimes it is because they have different preferences, and sometimes it is because they go about making decisions in different ways. This dissertation explores whether people's early experiences have a long-term impact on economic preferences (Chapter 2), and investigate the roles that attention, emotional arousal, and information salience play in risky decision making (Chapters 3 4) using research methods from behavioral economics, experimental economics, and neuroeconomics. The scientific mission of this dissertation is to deepen our understanding of how and why people make choices. We add to the evidence that economic preferences are not inborn and stable; instead, they are shaped by people's experiences. We also explore risky choices like investing money and find that while people often try to minimize regret, our emotional arousal system significantly affects our attention patterns and behavior. In addition, when faced with decisions requiring calculations that are hard to do in your head, people make different decisions than when the calculations are easy. Overall, we paint a picture of human decision-makers whose past experiences and current options determine both the nature of their choices and how they make them.

(Study-Specific definition of 'Culture') For the purpose of this study, cultures will be defined by broad rather than specific categorization. The cultures of race and biological sex are material and thus more frequently observed and studied by educational researchers. However, the obvious debate about the concrete identity of one individual as belonging to only one race and one sex make the borders of these terms fluid and mutable. Unless the terms 'race' and 'sex' signify a self-identified choice by the individuals, they are just as limiting and possibly offense as the outside identification of 'gender' and 'ethnicity'. Assumption is therefore a cautious ground for educators, and a broader idea of personal identity is necessary. This study will thus refer to 'cultures' in terms of typically practiced beliefs. Since some of the beliefs discussed may overlap and apply to multiple cultures, the term will apply to the group in discussion. Teachers and educators may then avoid inappropriate judgments as they see students individually demonstrate the beliefs described and act accordingly. (Study-Specific definition of 'Reading Motivational Methodologies') Reading motivational methodologies will be defined as the actions and ideas presented by teachers, reading coaches, and tutors meant to stimulate and encourage the practice and mastery of reading. These methods may be tangible, observable, and repeatable. They may also be ideological or perceptual. (Study-Specific Areas of Exploration and Discussion) Communication is a tool. Whether verbal or written, it is created and carried out with purpose. Reading is a form of communication performed in almost every major global culture, yet utilized in different ways according to a number of factors. The values of a culture entirely define the usage of verbal and written messages. If reading is performed for different reasons by different groups of people, wouldn't it naturally follow that our purposes for becoming literate vary as well? What motivational tools will then help all students to develop a desire a read? This is a multi-dimensional question which includes many factors. One of the more complicated, qualitative factors of the answer is that of cultural perception and thought. As previously stated, communication is a tool. Tools are utilized for different purposes, and consequently different ways of thinking, of knowing, and of questioning arise within the classroom. According to Vacca and Vacca, "different cultures may place different emphasis and value on various cognitive activities"1 This implies that certain activities may intellectually stimulate familiar cognitive processes, building on student schema activation, while other activities require students to build newer processing skills. For example, "some societies ... emphasize memorization and analytical thinking over the ability to experiment or make predictions"2 Students from such societies might be able to do extremely well at language arts activities like spelling or literary essays, but have a harder time making a mind-map of the themes a story represents. In my study, I plan to explore different perceptions of important cognitive practices among groups through use of the Schwartz Model of classroom group interaction. This entails: 1) Emphasis on individual and group performance 2) Emphasis on assertiveness and a desire for group accord 3) Emphasis on reasons for acting in the interest of others 4) Emphasis on individual thought and success These differences in the reception of information create a need for different literal classroom practices. One of the most practical areas to explore and measure is that of literal classroom practices. Some areas investigated in relation to the Schwartz Model are: 1) Group setting preferences. Does the student prefer to work alone, in small groups, or as a class? 2) Auditory preferences. Does the student prefer to read aloud to the class, be read to by the teacher, be read to by a peer, be read to be an audio device, or read alone silently? 3) Visual preferences. Does the student like being provided with relevant pictures, charts and graphs, or will this make the student feel overwhelmed and inundated with information? 4) Literary analyzation group setting preferences. Does the student prefer to read and analyze literature alone, in small groups, or as a class? 5) Personal choice preferences. Does the student prefer to choose their own literature, or have literature selected for them? 6) Extrinsic reward preferences. Does the student prefer tangible rewards, or some form of teacher/peer praise? 7) Goal setting preferences. Does the student prefer specific, small goals or general, larger goals? 8) Creative options preferences. Does the student prefer to be given specific directions, or creative freedom? Other factors include technology available and content covered. The last factor which I plan to explore is that of cognitive dissonance as an affective and moral factor. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), African American high school seniors scored lower on the NAEP reading exam in 2002 than any other ethnic group. One factor clearly influenced test performance among the group: the amount of time spent reading for enjoyment outside of school. The NEAP test is graded on a scale of 1-3. 10% of African American seniors who read for pleasure scored a 3 on the test; only 6% of students with the same demographic who did not read for pleasure scored a 3. According to these statistics, the impact of the ability to find joy in reading is obvious. These statistics on are not atypical and not limited to one ethnic group, and many similar studies are also often transcendental of race. Affective topics such as this tend to be ignored, namely in later grades and at higher levels of achievement due to the fact that "research funding for adolescent literacy ... is minuscule in relation to the big bucks federal and state agencies spend on early literacy and early intervention research"3 Yet it is this aspect of literacy development which entirely influences the ability to move onto cognitive factors. 6) Extrinsic reward preferences. Does the student prefer tangible rewards, or some form of teacher/peer praise? 7) Goal setting preferences. Does the student prefer specific, small goals or general, larger goals? 8) Creative options preferences. Does the student prefer to be given specific directions, or creative freedom? Other factors include technology available and content covered. The last factor which I plan to explore is that of cognitive dissonance as an affective • and moral factor. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), African American high school seniors scored lower on the NAEP reading exam in 2002 than any other ethnic group. One factor clearly influenced test performance among the group: the amount of time spent reading for enjoyment outside of school. The NEAP test is graded on a scale of 1-3. 10% of African American seniors who read for pleasure scored a 3 on the test; only 6% of students with the same demographic who did not read for pleasure scored a 3. According to these statistics, the impact of the ability to find joy in reading is obvious. These statistics on are not atypical and not limited to one ethnic group, and many similar studies are also often transcendental of race. Affective topics such as this tend to be ignored, namely in later grades and at higher levels of achievement due to the fact that "research funding for adolescent literacy ... is minuscule in relation to the big bucks federal and state agencies spend on early literacy and early intervention research"3 Yet it is this aspect of literacy development which entirely influences the ability to move onto cognitive factors. All three factors are intrinsically linked: affective factors inspire students to read, cognitive factors grant students the ability to read, and classroom practices allow for the effective and appropriate growth of readers. The final section aims to express the extreme complexity of cross-cultural communication and the factors which can influence the positive or negative outcome of such contact while covering the multitude of options available to different forms of educators who are faced with a multicultural classroom.

The purpose of the present study was to study differences between cancer patients and noncancer patients in taste acuity and in salivation to food and stimuli associated with food. Subjects were twenty male cancer patients and eighteen patients hospitalized for noncancer-related illnesses. All cancer patients were tested prior to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The study was conducted on two consecutive days. On Day 1 taste acuity was measured to bitter, sweet, sour and salty flavors using the forced choice three-stimulus drop technique on concentration from 6-2000 mm/l. Subjects completed a questionnaire on appetite difficulties, the Multiple Adjective Affect Check List (MAACL), and rated a list of snacks on a 5-point scale. On Day 2 salivary responding (using the Strongin-Hinsie Peck Test) was measured after subjects were told to expect food, after the presentation of food and after ingestion. For each subject, testing occurred in the morning and in the afternoon to high and low preferred foods. Cancer patients were significantly more likely than noncancer patients to report appetite difficulties which included premature satiety, decreased appetite, and changes in food preference. Cancer and noncancer patients did not differ reliably on the MAACL or in taste acuity. In salivation testing, the presentation of food increased salivation in noncancer patients but decreased salivation in cancer patients. However, the differences between cancer and noncancer patients was not reliable. The interaction between illness condition and test trials during the presentation of food did approach significance. The lack of reliable effects for illness condition may have occurred because the interval of food deprivation was too short to elicit reliable increases in salivation and external and social cues which normally accompany mealtime were not present during testing. / Ph. D.

Yes / Our paper examines the distress anomaly on the Chinese stock markets. We show that the anomaly disappears after controlling for institutional ownership. We propose two hypotheses. The growing scale of institutional investors and changes in institutional preferences can generate greater demand shocks for stocks with low distress risk than those with high distress risk, causing the former to outperform the latter. Consistent with our hypotheses, the growth of institutions explains the anomaly when the institutional market share increases rapidly. We also show that institutional preferences for stocks with low distress risk have significantly increased over time and changes in preferences also explain the anomaly. Finally, momentum trading and gradual incorporation of distress information cannot account for the anomaly.