As sensory marketing is becoming a more widely used strategy in the world, the need to distinguish oneself is more important than ever. The general knowledge of sensory cues, their interplay and sensory overload among Swedish retail beauty companies is researched in this thesis. We set out to identify the baseline knowledge of the store personnel and the implications thereof in Sweden on the subjects formerly mentioned.       This investigative study aims to provide an insight into the workings and knowledge gap of retail store design from the perspective of store personnel with sensory- marketing, interplay and congruency in mind with focus on the senses vision, audio and scent. The knowledge of these are assumed to influence a stores’ ability to cater to and adapt to everyday and sensory-sensitive consumers. The study also aims to provide an insight into the subject of sensory overload, what causes it and the effects that might be had from the experience.    To achieve this, we formed the research questions: “How do beauty retail stores in Sweden keep sensorial interplay in mind when designing their retail setting?” and “How do beauty retail stores in Sweden take sensory overload into consideration?”. We performed qualitative interviews with Swedish retail beauty stores’ employees. A foundational knowledge was established in the form of a literature review followed by empirical findings, to be discussed in the analysis.   The conclusions drawn from our research, were that there is awareness among managers on sensory marketing. However, sensory cues are commonly broken down and compartmentalized into singular events. While we found that there are congruence considerations taken as to how the cues relate to the stores’ brand, there seemed to be little to none taken to how the cues interplay with each other. We could also conclude that sensory overload is not a consideration. However, that there are various reasons to this, one major being that Swedish retailers are careful about the implementation of sensory experiences and therefore consider themselves safe from the possibility.

No description available.

Implications of water chemistry on milk synthesis are not well described yet water is an important nutrient for dairy cattle. High mineral concentrations (>0.3 mg/kg Fe and others) may be associated with natural levels in ground water, contaminating sources, drought conditions, or storage systems. This study evaluated effects of added iron in bovine drinking water on milk composition (Ca, Cu, Fe, P) measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and oxidative stability measured by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assay for malondialdehyde (MDA), volatile chemistry and sensory analysis (triangle test). Prepared ferrous lactate treatments, corresponding to 0, 2, 5, and 12.5 mg/kg drinking water levels were given abomasally (10 L/d) to 4 lactating dairy cows over 4 periods (1 wk infusion/period) in a Latin square design. Milk was collected (d6 of infusion), processed (homogenized, pasteurized), and analyzed within 72 h of processing and 7 d of refrigerated storage. No differences in MDA (1.46�0.04 mg/kg) or iron (0.22�0.01 mg/kg) were observed in processed milk. Cross effects analysis (treatment*cow) showed significant differences in calcium, copper and iron (P < 0.05). Sensory differences (P < 0.05), in treatment vs. control, suggested iron from water sources contributes to milk flavor changes. A case study with high and low (0.99; 0.014 mg/kg) iron treatments revealed no significant differences (P > 0.05) in mineral composition (0.23�0.06 mg/kg Fe) or MDA (0.77�0.03 mg/kg) of raw milk. Iron added to milk causes changes in oxidation; high levels of iron in bovine drinking water may not have observed effects. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Neuromodulatory systems, such as the locus coeruleus (LC) - norepinephrine (NE) system, are integral in the modulation of behavioral state, which in turn exerts a heavy influence on sensory processing, perception, and behavior. LC neurons project diffusely through the forebrain as the sole source of NE. LC tonic firing rate has been shown to correlate with arousal level and behavioral performance. As the LC-NE system innervates sensory pathways and NE has been shown to affect neuronal response, the LC-NE system could potentially allow for state-dependent modulation of sensory processing. However, the precise link between LC activation and sensory processing in the various stages of the sensory pathway that underly perception remained elusive. It is well established that thalamic relay nuclei play an essential role in gating the flow of sensory information to the neocortex, serving to establish cortical representation of sensory environment. Thalamocortical information transmission has been proposed to be strongly modulated by the dynamic interplay between the thalamic relay nuclei and the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). Neurons in the early stages of sensory pathways selectively respond to specific features of sensory stimuli. In the rodent vibrissa pathway, thalamocortical neurons in the ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPm) encode kinetic features of whisker movement, allowing stimuli to be encoded by distinctive, temporally precise firing patterns. Therefore, understanding feature selectivity is crucial to understanding sensory processing and perception. However, whether LC activation modulates this feature selectivity, and if it does, the mechanisms through which this modulation occurs, remained largely unknown. This work investigates LC modulation of thalamic feature selectivity through reverse correlation analysis of single-unit recordings from different stages of the rat vibrissa pathway. LC activation increased feature selectivity, drastically improving thalamic information transmission. This improvement was dependent on both local activation of α-adrenergic receptors and modulation of T-type calcium channels in the thalamus and was not due to LC modulation of trigeminothalamic feedforward or corticothalamic feedback inputs. LC activation reduced thalamic bursting, but this change in thalamic firing mode was not the primary cause of the improved information transmission as tonic spikes with LC stimulation carried three-times the information than tonic spikes without LC stimulation. Modelling confirmed NE regulation of intrathalamic circuit dynamics led to the improved information transmission as LC-NE modulation of either relay or reticular nucleus alone cannot account for the improvement. These results suggest a new sub-dimension within the tonic mode in which brain state can optimize thalamic sensory processing through modulation of intrathalamic circuit dynamics. Subsequent computational work was then performed to determine exactly how the encoding of sensory information by thalamic relay neurons was altered to allow for an increase in both information transmission efficiency and rate. The results show that LC-NE induced improvements in feature selectivity are not simply due to an increased signal-to-noise ratio, a shift from bursting to tonic firing, or improvements in reliability or precision. Rather, LC-NE-induced modulation of intrathalamic dynamics changed the temporal response structure thalamic neurons used to encode the same stimuli to a new structure that increased the information carried by both tonic and burst spikes. The shift in events times favors optimal encoding, as more events occur at ideal positions, i.e. when the stimulus most closely matches the neuron’s feature selectivity. Further, this work analyzed the ability to reconstruct the original stimulus using the evoked spike trains of multiple neurons and their recovered feature selectivity from an ideal observer point-of-view. The results showed that LC-activation improved the accuracy of this reconstruction, indicating it may improve the accuracy of perception of whisker stimuli. Finally, to make this work translatable, the use of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) was investigated as a potential method for minimally invasive enhancement of thalamic sensory processing. The vagus nerve, which runs through the side of the neck, has long been known to have profound effects on brain-state and VNS has been shown to evoke LC firing. This work elucidates the previously uninvestigated short-term effects of VNS on thalamic sensory processing. Similar to direct LC stimulation, VNS enhanced the feature selectivity of thalamic neurons, resulting in a significant increase in the efficiency and rate of stimulus-related information conveyed by thalamic spikes. VNS-induced improvement in thalamic sensory processing also coincided with a decrease in thalamic burst firing, suggesting the same underlying mechanism as the improvements induced with direct LC stimulation.

Every year 1.4 million people will suffer from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that there are over 5.3 million TBI survivors living in the United States, or about two percent of the population, living with long-term effects or in need of lifelong help. Estimations have been made that with both the direct and indirect costs of medical bills and productivity loss in the United States the total cost for TBI was 60 billion dollars in 2000. Sensory stimulation consists of visual, tactile, auditory, gustatory, and-olfactory stimuli that attempt to increase the levels of conscio-µsness in TBI patients by enhancing synaptic reinnervation in the brain. Sensory stimulation has been around since the 1980's and has been found to be beneficial for TBI patients, however, no guidelines have been created for nurses and other health care providers to perform this program. By making guidelines for nurses and other health care providers that outline the proper procedure of this treatment, the cost for care of TBI patients will decrease, therefore positively impacting the health care system.

The purpose of this review of literature is for nurses to understand and utilize sensory stimuli and the impact it has on infant cognition. Emphasis will be placed on the usage of visual, auditory and tactile stimulation on the cognitive development of infants between the ages of O and 6 months based on Piaget's theory of sensorimotor cognition. Introductory passages will focus on the developing brairi from birth until 6 months of age when the peak of myelation occurs. Initiating sensory stimulus during this period of time can ultimately create a positive impact on the growing brain by utilizing the myelation peak. This review will also present possible clinical application for nurses to implement in inpatient hospital settings along with parental education on the possible methods to utilize the findings and implications of this research. Further findings have found that infants respond most effectively to the combination of various stimuli than with one stimulus alone. Utilizing the findings found within the literature may hopefully help provide the evidence needed to support the clinical practice of these results. This research will be conducted through medical and nursing databases with conceptual primary sources that will further expand upon the selected studies on this topic.

No description available.

The incidence of autism has increased from an average of one in 88 to one in 110 (Center for Disease Control, 2010; ADDM Network, 2012). Autism spectrum disorders are an important health and educational problem affecting many areas of daily living, (CDC, 2012; Cermak, S., et al, 2010). Over 80 percent of children diagnosed with autism demonstrate sensory modulation symptoms and related behaviors such as sensory seeking, sensory avoiding, self-stimulation, etc, (Kintwell, et al, 2011; Ben-Sasson, et al, 2009; Tomchek & Dunn, 2006). There is some beginning evidence found in the literature that sensory processing of children on the autism spectrum interferes with their daily routines (Nadon, et al, 2011; Stein, et al, 2011/2012; Schaff, et al, 2011), and there is a paucity of research which addresses the impact sensory processing has on the daily routine of eating. This study will contribute to this expanding body of knowledge. Eating difficulties are a frequent problem for children on the autism spectrum (Nadon, et al, 2011; Schreck & Williams, 2006) which impacts their physical health (Lukens & Linscheid, 2008), their functioning in the family (Schaff, et al, 2001) and their functioning in educational settings (Koenig & Rudney, 2010). This study assesses the differences in sensory processing and eating problem behaviors between two groups of children, aged 5 -12 years, those identified on the autism spectrum (N=34) and those typically developing (N=34). Data was collected through parent and child questionnaires that assessed sensory processing and eating behaviors (BAMBI, Short Sensory Profile, Sensory Eating Checklist, and Touch Inventory for Elementary-Aged Children). Results of the t test, anovas and correlation analyses revealed statistically significant differences on all measures between both samples (p

<p> Preliminary experiments were conducted to evaluate a theoretical model for predicting temporal numerosity data. The model was based on a hypothetical central unit of duration. It described the gating of sequentially presented auditory pulses. Experiment 1 offered partial support for the prediction that events occurring within one unit 50 milliseconds in duration would be perceived as simultaneous. Results of Experiment 2 suggested that empty duration units occurring between sequential events would not affect number reported. The estimate of the unit was 60 milliseconds. Experiment 3, an attempt to improve methodology, suggested values of the unit of approximately 75 and 106 milliseconds.</p> <p> Inadequacies of the model were discussed. Control experiments were considered to eliminate such cues for discrimination as duration and intensity differences.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.