Preferences for pre-exposure prophylaxis among U.S. military men who have sex with men:results of an adaptive choice based conjoint analysis study

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis(PrEP) prevents human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) infection, but its use remains low among U.S. military men who have sex with men(MSM), likely due to mis-matching with personal preferences. We conducted a study to characterize preferences to PrEP measures within this population.Methods: HIV-negative military MSM were recruited through a closed, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered(LGBT) military social media group. The survey was anonymous, and consisted of five experimentally varied attributes in service delivery: dosing method, provider type, visit location, lab work evaluation location, and dispensing venue.Relative importance and part-worth utility scores were generated using hierarchical bayes(HB) estimation, and the randomized first choice model was used to examine participation interest across eight possible PrEP program scenarios.Results: A total of 429 participants completed the survey. Among the eight scenarios with varying attributes, the most preferred scenario featured a daily tablet, PrEP injection or implant, along with a military provider, smartphone/telehealth visit, and on-base locations for lab evaluation and medication pick-up. The results also emphasized the importance for providers to be familiar with PrEP prescription knowledge, and to provide interactions sensitive to sexual identity and mental health.Conclusions: A PrEP program consisting of daily tablet is preferred in military healthcare settings is preferred. Longacting implants and injections are also desired.

Model of Simulation for Optimizing Marketing Mix Through Conjoint Analysis Case Study： Launching a Product on a New Market

This paper applies conjoint analysis approach to simulate and determine the optimal marketing mix for a Romanian company that struggles to face the market higher competition. The company intends to launch its product into a new market and surveys the likelihood of getting international. The survey helps the company to gather information from clients regarding product characteristics, price, method of distribution, and promotion, according to customer preferences. Having these data, it is made a marketing simulation using conjoint analysis in order to get the optimal marketing mix in launching the product on a new market. The optimal marketing mix is given by the highest mix of utility for the clients, but sometimes the marketing manager would choose a little bit lower utility mix, forced by the company restrictions.

Preference and Willingness of Consumers to Pay for Value-added Poultry Products in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

There has been a steady growth in demand for convenience and ready-cooked food has influenced the interest of poultry processors in developing value-added chicken products that meet consumers＇ demand/choice. A conjoint analysis was done in this study on the survey of 975 chicken consumers in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria, between March and September, 2014 to valuate consumers, preferences and willingness to pay （WTP） for various chicken attributed parts, production method, processing method, storage method, the presence of flavor and cooking method. The estimates of consumers, WTP premium prices for various mixtures of value-added characteristics were ascertained. The consumers preferred chicken products refrigerated, from chicken produced under free-range management, chicken breast, chicken product that was addictive and flavor free, which could be oven-heated or pan heated. One half of the entire respondents were willing to pay about 25% more for value-added chicken product over the price for conventional products. On the whole, a premium for value-added chicken products was more likely to be paid for by young consumers, consumers who patronized farmers＇ markets and preferred free-range or organic chicken products. WTP by consumers was negatively affected by price of products. The poultry industry could utilize combined knowledge of consumers＇ WTP for value-added chicken product price as a guide of develop innovative value-added chicken products.

Transparency in Meat Production： Consumer Perceptions at the Point of Sale

As a result of a large number of food scandals, societal interest in transparency in the food sector has grown considerably. Hence, the creation of transparency in the production process has been the focus of recent legislation. In addition to tracking and tracing, one finds in the public discussion an increasing number of demands for further information on such issues as food safety, animal and environmental protection and the sustainability of food production processes. However, it has not yet been sufficiently clarified which information about the production process--and thus which level of transparency--is actually desired or can actually be processed by consumers at the point of sale. In order to analyze this topic from the viewpoint of consumers, a large-scale empirical study has been conducted. This research uses an adaptive conjoint analysis to determine what transparency expectations consumers have with regards to information on packaged pork. Initial results show a very heterogeneous demand for information. Furthermore, consumers＇ demand for more information sometimes does not match their actual benefit profiles. The results provide insight into consumers＇ information needs and their willingness to pay for greater transparency; they also have interesting implications for meat processors＇ product development strategies.

Measuring Visitors＇ Preferences for Establishing Sustainable Tourism Products： An Empirical Research

The management of coastal zones in terms of tourism exploitation remains a crucial issue in achieving sustainable development and customer satisfaction. The interrelation between the coastal zone and the preference structure of visitors form a desired tourism setting and a hospitable destination in which environmentally friendly practices dominate the tourism aspects. Conjoint analysis was used with a purpose of eliciting respondents＇ preferences and answering questions concerning the features that compose a sustainable tourism product. In the survey, 16 proposed combinations of tourism characteristics were rated by 1,433 respondents. The three most preferred factors of the proposed tourism product were the accommodation factor, the sea activities factor and the fishery tourism factor with averaged importance scores 27,351,22,900 and 2 1, 13 1, respectively.

Weak Signals and Mind-Sets of Consumers： The Case of Milk

We present results from one of a set of studies run in the early 2000＇s, which looked at weak signals in terms of what consumers wanted. That study, on milk, revealed four distinct mind-sets, groups of respondents who thought alike. These are： S1 Traditional ＋ Health, S2 Traditional ＋ Healthful Ingredients, $3 Traditional ＋ Indulgent, S4 Listens to Authority, respectively. At that time the focus on foods as the source of health and wellness was just beginning. We show how to discover hitherto new, unexpected mind-sets of respondents, using experimental design of messaging, coupled with deconstruction of these messages by regression, and followed by clustering. We suggest that this approach to messaging consumers using experimental design provides a powerful method to uncover emerging mind-sets in the consumer population.

Location Attractiveness as a Major Factor in Museum Visitors＇Choice and Satisfaction

This paper is intended to give a contribution to the debate on the functional relationship between the museum and the local territory; more specifically, the aim of this study is to understand the role of a museum location in attracting visitors and influencing their processes of choice and satisfaction. The study follows, in particular, a previous study conducted by Mariani and Mussini （2013） based on Fondazione di Venezia data, with a view to better contextualization level. Previous studies have examined the role of museums in enhancing the image of a destination and in attracting and conveying additional tourists＇ fluxes, arguing that although not all museums are a destination of choice for visitors, a great museum or a strong exhibition program still does represent a national and international attraction. This paper overturns this argument investigating whereas an appealing location （such as a tourist destination） can influence prospective visitors about the level of attractiveness of a pay cultural event taking place therein. A questionnaire was developed and data were collected at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, Italy, in 2007, during the art exhibition ＂Venezia e l＇Islam 829-1797＂, via 501 face-to-face visitors interviews. The research model analyzes data through the conjoint analysis and the descriptive statistics. Results show that the exhibition location has been a relevant factor in influencing the visitors＇ decision process linked to the attendance of the event. Data show that, for the majority of visitors, the exhibition had been located elsewhere, they would not have visited it. Thus, an appealing location or a structured tourist destination may function as an attractive platform that may contribute to enforce the overall visitor＇s satisfaction with regard to his or her attendance to a cultural event. Furthermore, such a fact depends on specific objective variables （e.g., level of education, age）, although no significant differences were reported between segments based on other socio-demographic characteristics such as sex. To conclude, arts and cultural managers should market and position cultural events in locations that can function as attractive, thus as emotionally driven experience consumption sites. Furthermore, they should consider both the cognitive and the emotional aspects of visitor＇s experience when designing and planning their events, as well as when assessing visitor＇s satisfaction. Cognitive and emotional aspects should be considered simultaneously when measuring visitors＇ satisfaction. In shaping visitors＇ satisfaction, emotions, such as the pleasure to be in a particular location, are more significant than cognitive aspects, such as the theme of the exhibition.

OPTIMAL HIERARCHY STRUCTURES FOR MULTI-ATTRIBUTE-CRITERIA DECISIONS

A problem of a hierarchy structure optimization is considered.Hierarchical structures arewidely used in the Analytic Hierarchy Process,conjoint analysis,and various other methods of multiplecriteria decision making.The problem consists in finding a structure that needs a minimum number ofpair comparisons for a given total number of the alternatives.For an optimal hierarchy,the minimumefforts are needed for eliciting data and synthesizing the local preferences across the hierarchy to getthe global priorities or utilities.Special estimation techniques are developed and numerical simulationsperformed.Analytical and numerical results suggest optimal ways of priority evaluations for practicalmanagerial decisions in a complex environment.