Investigation on the Consumption Values of Hong Kong People on Tie Products

This study aims at investigating the consumption values of Hong Kong people on necktie. Based on the Sheth-Newman-Gross Model of consumption values on consumers’ choice decision as conceptual framework, results from the focus group interview, a questionnaire was designed and adopted for conducting the survey. Data collected from 245 respondents were analysed using the Factor Analysis to review the important elements of consumers’ decision of purchasing tie products. Implications on the results on the Functional value were reviewed and discussed in details. Interesting elements such as fabric hand-feel were also identified as influential associated in Hong Kong consumers’ selection of necktie. Since, both fibre content and fabric handle were also found as major selection criteria for fabric materials, the study was focused on the analysis of functional value of the product and further extended to study the handle preference for Hong Kong customers, in which a subjective handle assessment of a wide range of tie fabrics being newly developed and introduced in the market was conducted and objective fabric physical and mechanical properties were measured. Important fabric handle attributes that influence the consumers’ preference on tie fabrics were identified and their objective translation by fabric physical and mechanical properties were also obtained. The investigation provides decision support to necktie manufacturers and retailers through scientific and quantitative recommendations for product development of tie products and material selection.

Hand-feel soil texture observations to evaluate the accuracy of digital soil maps for local prediction of soil particle size distribution:A case study in Central France

Digital maps of soil properties are now widely available.End-users now can access several digital soil mapping(DSM)products of soil properties,produced using different models,calibration/training data,and covariates at various spatial scales from global to local.Therefore,there is an urgent need to provide easy-to-understand tools to communicate map uncertainty and help end-users assess the reliability of DSM products for use at local scales.In this study,we used a large amount of hand-feel soil texture(HFST)data to assess the performance of various published DSM products on the prediction of soil particle size distribution in Central France.We tested four DSM products for soil texture prediction developed at various scales(global,continental,national,and regional)by comparing their predictions with approximately 3200 HFST observations realized on a 1:50000 soil survey conducted after release of these DSM products.We used both visual comparisons and quantitative indicators to match the DSM predictions and HFST observations.The comparison between the low-cost HFST observations and DSM predictions clearly showed the applicability of various DSM products,with the prediction accuracy increasing from global to regional predictions.This simple evaluation can determine which products can be used at the local scale and if more accurate DSM products are required.