Search results

Introduces a method of food sensory evaluation employing artificial neural networks. The process of food sensory evaluation can be viewed as a multi‐input and multi‐output (MIMO) system in which food composition serves as the input and human food evaluation as the output. It has proved to be very difficult to establish a mathematical model of this system; however, a series of samples have been obtained through experiments, each of which comprises input and output data. On the basis of these sample data, applies the back‐propagation algorithm (BP algorithm) to “train” a three‐layer feed‐forward network. The result is a neural network that can successfully imitate the food sensory evaluation of the evaluation panel. This method can also be applied in other fields such as food composition optimizing, new product development and market evaluation and investigation.

This study aims to propose and demonstrate a practical application of a new three-part holistic sensory evaluation (HSE) method for textiles and apparel based on the senses of sight, touch, hearing and smell. HSE method development was carefully documented, described and successfully applied to evaluate sensory characteristics and consumer perceptions and acceptance of bacterial cellulose (BC), a novel sustainable material for apparel.

In Part One of the HSE method, research participants described the material in their own words based on the senses of sight, touch, hearing and smell. In Part Two, they rated the intensities and their linking for 25 predetermined attributes describing BC. Part Three measured participants’ overall liking of BC and its perceived suitability for apparel and accessories.

Application of the HSE method resulted in an in-depth understanding of BC material. Areas for material improvements and positive characteristics were identified, providing direction for further development. Consumers found BC suitable for accessories and outer-layer garments but not for apparel.

Sensory evaluation of textiles and apparel has traditionally focused on the senses of touch and sight. The new HSE method allows evaluating the full range of sensory characteristics of materials/products and holistically assessing consumer perceptions. The method is especially useful for novel materials and wearable technology. BC has gained increased interests as a novel sustainable material, yet consumer studies have been lacking. This study reports a comprehensive evaluation of BC material from consumer perspective.

This study aims to investigate how sensory cue order, wine knowledge and visual–olfactory (V–O) congruence affect consumer’s taste perceptions of wine and their subsequent behavior.

An experiment was performed to identify the effects of sensory cue congruence and sensory cue order on wine consumers’ perceptions of wine, affective evaluations, cognitive evaluations and purchase intentions.

Wine experts exhibited positive emotional responses to congruent sensory cues in the V–O order. Experts’ enjoyment of wine’s aroma, their emotional responses, their cognitive evaluations and their purchase intentions were lower in the incongruent condition. Consumers’ negative emotions elicited by the V–O sequence were also less intense than those triggered by the olfactory–visual (O–V) sequence. Wine experts demonstrated more positive emotional responses in the V–O sensory congruent condition.

This study highlights how visual and olfactory sensory cue order, wine knowledge and sensory cue congruence interact to clarify wine-related behavioral intention. Findings reveal the roles of these factors in shaping sensory perceptions, cognitive evaluations, affective evaluations and behavior related to wine consumption.

This study holds implications for various stakeholders, including winemakers, wine businesses, restaurants and the broader hospitality industry. Wine businesses can enhance advertising effectiveness by tailoring their marketing efforts to customers’ knowledge levels and emphasizing the inherent attributes that align with individuals’ preferences. Winemakers can improve consumers’ sensory experiences by enhancing the natural color of wines. Restaurants can strive to ignite diners’ positive emotions and experiences by providing congruent information. Furthermore, sensory-driven strategies can be used in the hospitality sector to elevate customers’ positive emotions.

This study fills gaps in wine research by delineating how wine knowledge and related sensory cues can influence consumers’ sensory perceptions, cognitive evaluations, affective evaluations and behavior. These aspects have been largely overlooked in previous work.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate subjectivity issue, particularly sensitivity variance and fatigue effect, in human sensory evaluation, as well as review the feasibility of human-independent quality system, using E-tongue and E-nose.

The sensitivity level is evaluated by measuring the threshold of Acesulfame-K, while the fatigue effect is evaluated by measuring the accuracy level of evaluation through the time. The experiment was administered to six trained sensory panelists.

The experiment result shows that each panelist has a different level of sensitivity and tendency in evaluating samples containing Acesulfame-K. Furthermore, by simulating the panelists’ daily inspection, the fatigue effect is also found in one out of six panelists. The use of E-nose and E-tongue, may eliminate the subjectivity issue, supporting the development of human error-free quality system.

The research findings indicate the needs of human substitution-built into the quality system to avoid both of subjectivity and error judgment while defining the products quality. However, the small numbers of panelists as well as the unvalidated substitute instruments application in the target workcenter were the main limitation of this study. Human-independent quality system could be applied only when the instruments have been calibrated to human response in perceiving taste and odor.

The research finding supports the theory of human panels’ tradeoffs in a sensory analysis in terms of sensitivity level variance and fatigue. It has provided additional contributions to the existing theories as well as developed effective strategies for the development of the human-independent quality system.

There has been an increased interest in marketing literature in understanding the role of sensory experience. However, few researchers have addressed multisensory interaction of visual and tactile evaluation for products salient in single sensory modality. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap and investigate how multisensory evaluation influences overall attitude and purchase intentions. Further, the role of individual personality variable in influencing the interrelationship between sensory evaluation and behavioral outcomes are examined.

The data for this study were collected from 126 students who responded to attitude towards the product and purchase intentions after evaluating three experimental tasks. Repeated measures analysis of variance was carried out to test the multisensory interaction hypotheses.

The multisensory interaction of tactile and visual information was found to significantly increase the consumer attitudes for products dominant on single sensory modality of touch. Further, the multisensory evaluation led to greater purchase intentions than visual or tactile evaluation.

The paper is perhaps first to investigate multisensory interaction of tactile and visual sensory information in evaluation of products that are salient in touch properties. The current study further examines the role of individual personality variables in influencing interrelationship between sensory evaluation and purchase intentions.

The aim of this paper is to determine the sensory quality of food in restaurants by professional food evaluators and to research the impact of education, age and number of employees on the quality of food.

In the first phase five trained food tasters evaluated the sensory quality of food. In the second phase, the analysis of the structure of employees was done by establishing their level of education, age and number of employees. In the third phase the regression and correlation analysis was done with the aim to establish the impact of the level of education, age and number of employees on the sensory quality of food.

The sensory evaluation has shown that the evaluated food is of moderate quality. Correlation matrix has shown that the education level of employees has a high impact on the sensory quality of food. There is a correlation between the number of employees, their age and their education.

Obtained results are the indicators of the quality of food in restaurants in the region and they can serve for the improvement of quality. They have shown that education and staff training can contribute to a better quality of food. Established methodology can also contribute to the practical evaluation of quality.

This paper is reflected on the specific application of methodology of the sensory analysis of food in restaurants. The paper pointed to the impact of employees on the sensory quality of food by statistical methods. Statistical results which point to the great impact of the level of education of employees on the sensory quality of food in restaurants are particularly valuable.

The aim of presented investigation was to test developed testing device Griff tester, created for the objective evaluation of textile hand and to compare the obtained data with sensory evaluation results of textiles, subjected to different final treatments.

The effect of two finishing products, i.e. the crease‐resistant finishing Knittex^® “K” and the softener macro silicone Ultratex^® “Ul” upon 100 per cent cotton plain weave fabric was studied by two methods – objective evaluation and sensory analysis. Objective evaluation was done using Griff tester device where disc shaped specimen was extracted through a rounded hole of the stand. Sensory analysis was performed by the panel of 11 trained persons.

Investigations have shown that both treatments changed the hand of the fabric in the expected direction. Meantime, two experimental methods (objective and sensory approach) have shown their effectiveness to evaluate the textile touch, respectively.

The obtained results proved that criterion Q can be used for sensitive and vivid detection of differences between fabrics, affected by different final treatment operations. The effects of finishing products' concentrations were found to be in accordance with the manufacturer's technical specifications and with the finishing industrialist's expectations.

Investigation results obtained by Griff tester revealed the possibility of fabric hand evaluation on the basis of one relative criterion Q. These results can be linked with some attribute issued of the sensory analysis applied to the characterisation of the tactile feeling.

In order to study the static and dynamic comfort of tight sportswear in winter, the subjective comfort was aimed to be evaluated by collecting sensory data such as humidity feeling, cold feeling and other perceptions. In this paper, the experiment was divided into standing, squatting, jumping, jogging, walking and so on.

Through particle swarm optimization-cuckoo search model, the sensory factors that affect the overall comfort were optimized, and it was found that there were great differences in the overall comfort factors under different motions. Then, analytic hierarchy process was used to sort the optimized sensory indicators in each experimental stage, and the influence degree of sensory indicators was studied. Finally, by the long short-term memory (LSTM) model, taking comfort senses of standing, squatting, jumping and jogging as input parameters, and regarding comfort senses of walking, lifting legs and resting as output parameters, the prediction model was founded.

The results showed that there were certain differences between the prediction value and the real subjective evaluation value, but most of the predicted values were consistent with the real values on the sensory level, and the overall prediction level was good, which meant that the LSTM model had more accurate prediction ability for subjective evaluation and could be extended to other sports.

The research results could provide scientific methods for the design of tight-fitting sportswear in winter.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a dress design knowledge base (DDKB), which is expected to be further applied to a personalized dress recommendation system.

Dress design knowledge can be expressed as the relationship between designer's fashion perceptions of different dress elements. In order to extract dress design knowledge, a dress shape ontology (DSO) is firstly developed, which can be further used to form a dress element matrix (DEM). A perceptual descriptive space of the dress (DPDS) is developed for the description of the designer's fashion perception of dress. Through a standard sensory evaluation procedure performed by experienced experts (designers), the expected relationship can be obtained. This relationship is then mathematically simulated by fuzzy logic tools for the expected DDKB.

In this paper, a DDKB has been developed. The established knowledge base has been validated, and it can be further applied to dress recommendation system for a specific consumer.

This study introduces the concept of knowledge base to the area of dress individualized design. The knowledge-based design process based on sensory evaluation and fuzzy logic can efficiently solve the individualization of dress design in traditional design processes, which can provide a novel way to dress design individualization.

Workshops are commonly used to up-skill staff and their usefulness can be determined by measuring whether or not learning needs have been met and, in particular, whether attitudes have changed. In the field of mental health, sensory modulation workshops have been introduced to educate staff about preventative measures that reduce the use of seclusion and restraint for service users with challenging behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of such a workshop.

A one-day workshop was developed based on a review of the literature and feedback from previous workshops, and with input from an industry-based reference group. An evaluation tool was designed to measure the learning outcomes, i.e., the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the 23 participants. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS v20) was used to analyse the data. Multi-variate analysis of variance was used to determine the relationship between variables.

A significant increase in the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of mental health staff was identified after the one-day workshop (F=106.346, df=1, p<0.000). When considering which participants showed most benefits, it was shown that the demographics had no effect, i.e., education level, practice discipline, years of work experience in mental health, and previous sensory modulation training.

Measuring learning outcomes provides essential information about whether or not the learning objectives have been met. This allows future workshops to be tailored to ensure that the learning opportunity is at the correct level for the learners. More traditional evaluations that elicit the views of the content covered and teaching methods should additionally be used to supplement this information.

Workshops are often evaluated on the basis of the participants’ subjective response to a quick questionnaire. Developing a tool to measure outcomes is a more effective way to determine what has been learned and to ensure that positive outcomes for individuals and their organisations can be reached.