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Developing innovative products that satisfy various groups of consumers helps a company maintain a leading market share. The hedonic scale and just-about-right (JAR) scale are 2 popular methods for hedonic assessment and product diagnostics. In this paper, we chose to study flavored liquid milk because it is one of the most necessary nutrient sources in China. The hedonic scale and JAR scale methods were combined to provide directional information for flavored liquid milk optimization. Two methods of analysis (penalty analysis and partial least squares regression on dummy variables) were used and the results were compared. This paper had 2 aims: (1) to investigate consumer preferences of basic flavor attributes of milk from various cities in China; and (2) to determine the improvement direction for specific products and the ideal overall liking for consumers in various cities. The results showed that consumers in China have local-specific requirements for characteristics of flavored liquid milk. Furthermore, we provide a consumer-oriented product design method to improve sensory quality according to the preference of particular consumers.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed behaviors, at least temporarily, and possibly more permanently, with implications for both work and leisure activities. Some of those behavioral changes, such as dining in restaurants, have significant ripple effects on businesses and employment. We investigate the response to health risks in China with a study of decisions about eating out during the pandemic. We find that compared to a traditional measure of financial risk attitude, dining out behavior better captures individuals’ attitude toward the health risk posed by the pandemic and is more significant in predicting their expected total consumption during the recovery phase of the pandemic. In addition, we find that the effect of domestic in-migration is positive with respect to dining out, a signifier of confidence in the government response to the safety of internal flows. In contrast, international migration and port city of entry status are strongly negative with respect to dining out. The risk from the virus is perceived to be much stronger in such contexts. From a policy perspective establishing border controls was critical in re-creating a robust economy. Additional city and household level characteristics that affect dining-out behavior are also identified.

BACKGROUNDHow parents' age at the birth of their children (age at parity) affects their investments in the children has not been explored previously. OBJECTIVEWe examine the effect of parents' age at parity on the investments in their children by disentangling the overall effect into life-course effect and cohort effect. METHODSUsing the 2017 wave of the Chinese Household Finance Survey, we conduct a crosssectional regression analysis to separately estimate the life-course effect and the cohort effect. RESULTSWe find a positive relationship between parents' age at parity and investments in their children and a negative relationship between parents' current age and investments. We also find a negative relationship between investments and parents' age interacted with their age at parity. CONCLUSIONParents who gave birth at an older age and those from a younger cohort on average invest more in their children, both financially and in time. Older parents spending more on their children suggests that financial constraints may be another channel, in addition to a biological one, through which having a child at a later age limits total fertility.

A framework of establishing standard reference scale (texture) is proposed by multivariate statistical analysis according to instrumental measurement and sensory evaluation. Multivariate statistical analysis is conducted to rapidly select typical reference samples with characteristics of universality, representativeness, stability, substitutability, and traceability. The reasonableness of the framework method is verified by establishing standard reference scale of texture attribute (hardness) with Chinese well-known food. More than 100 food products in 16 categories were tested using instrumental measurement (TPA test), and the result was analyzed with clustering analysis, principal component analysis, relative standard deviation, and analysis of variance. As a result, nine kinds of foods were determined to construct the hardness standard reference scale. The results indicate that the regression coefficient between the estimated sensory value and the instrumentally measured value is significant (R(2) = 0.9765), which fits well with Stevens's theory. The research provides reliable a theoretical basis and practical guide for quantitative standard reference scale establishment on food texture characteristics.

Purpose: To examine how the effect of adverse weather on participation in leisure-time physical activities (LTPA) varies with income. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: 14,394 individuals from 56 Canadian cities, surveyed in 1992, 1998, and 2005. Measures: The adverseness level of daily weather is measured by the number of hours with precipitation or strong winds (wind speeds in excess of 38 km/hour) between 6 am and 11 pm. Analysis: Probit and multinomial logit models are used to examine the variation in weather-LTPA correlations across income levels. Results: At the mean income level, when the weather quality deteriorated from all-day nice weather to all-day adverse weather, the probability of participating in LTPA decreased by 24.54% (from 0.2424 to 0.1829, P < 0.01). As income increased by $10,000, the same deterioration in weather quality led to a 17.06% decrease in LTPA (from 0.2508 to 0.2080, P < 0.01). The smaller decrease is mainly because the $10,000 increase in income is associated with a 14.49% increase in indoor LTPA, which partly offsets the decrease in outdoor LTPA. Conclusion: Interventions and policies that increase indoor physical activity options, such as providing easier access to indoor facilities and offering subsidies for purchasing or renting home exercise equipment, are promising for effectively promoting LTPA, especially for individuals in lower-income groups or from regions that frequently experience adverse weather.