Attention to health cues on product packages

The objectives of the study were (a) to examine which information and design elements on dairy product packages operate as cues in consumer evaluations of product healthfulness, and (b) to measure the degree to which consumers voluntarily attend to these elements during product choice. Visual attention was measured by means of eye-tracking. Task (free viewing, product healthfulness evaluation, and purchase likelihood evaluation) and product (five different yoghurt products) were varied in a mixed within-between subjects design. The free viewing condition served as a baseline against which increases or decreases in attention during product healthfulness evaluation and purchase likelihood evaluation were assessed. The analysis revealed that the only element operating as a health cue during product healthfulness evaluation was the nutrition label. The information cues used during purchase likelihood evaluation were the name of the product category and the nutrition label. Taken together, the results suggest that the only information element that consumers consistently utilize as a health cue is the nutrition label and that only a limited amount of attention is devoted to read nutrition labels during purchase likelihood evaluations. The study also revealed that the probability that a consumer will read the nutrition label during the purchase decision process is associated with gender, body mass index and health motivation.

ARX, model thinking: taxonomy and operativity of an architectural process

The purpose of this work was to establish a taxonomy of hand made model construction as a platform for an approach to project an operative method in architecture. It was therefore studied and catalogued in a systematic approach a broad model production in the work of ARX. A wide range of families and sub-families of models were found, with different purposes according to each phase of development, from searching steps for a new possible configuration to detailed refined decisions. This working method revealed as most relevant characteristics, the grounds for a potential personal reflection and open discussion on project method, its flexibility on space modeling, an accuracy on the representation of real construction situations and its constant and stimulating opening to new suggestions. This research helped on a meta-reflection about this method, having been useful on creating a consciousness of processes that pretend to become an autonomous language, knowledge that might become useful to those who pretend to implement a haptic modus operandi in the work of an architectural project.

Collaborative business networks evaluation of technological tools for decision support making

Nowadays, companies are living great difficulties on managing their business due to constant and unpredictable economic market fluctuations. Recent changes in market trends (such as the constant demand for new products and services, mass customization and the drastic reduction of delivery time) lead companies to adopt strategies of creating partnerships with other companies as a way to respond effectively to such difficult economical times. Collaborative Networks’ concept born by the consequence of companies could no longer consider their internal business processes’ management as sufficient and tend to seek for a collaborative approach with other partners for their critical processes. Information technologies (ICT) assumed a major role acting as “enablers” of these kinds of networks, enhancing information sharing and business process integration. Several new trends concerning ICT architectures have been created to support collaborative networks requirements, but still doesn’t exist a common platform to reduce the needed integration effort on virtual organizations. This study aims to investigate the current technological solutions available in the market which enhances the management of companies’ business processes (specially, Collaborative Planning). Finally, the research work ends with the presentation of a conceptual model to answer to the constraints evaluated.