Vanilla, a quintessential flavoring agent, experiences burgeoning demand globally, particularly for natural variants. In response, Taiwan has ventured into vanilla cultivation, aiming to reduce the energy consumption associated with international transportation by fostering domestic production. This study investigates the sensory attributes of Taiwan and Madagascar vanilla beans amid increasing global demand for natural vanilla. We extended our sensory evaluations to vanilla ice cream products to assess their quality. Employing sensory evaluation questionnaires and experimental techniques, we utilized purposive and snowball sampling methodologies for participant recruitment. Our primary aim is to discern the edible disparities between Taiwan and Madagascar vanilla beans by scrutinizing variations in consumer sensory preferences. Our findings reveal statistically significant disparities between Taiwan and Madagascar vanilla beans concerning product texture and overall aroma in sensory evaluations, while other attributes do not exhibit notable differences. This suggests that the sensory experience of vanilla ice cream products derived from Taiwan and Madagascar vanilla beans primarily diverges in terms of product texture and overall aroma, with negligible disparities elsewhere. Remarkably, Taiwan vanilla beans consistently outperform Madagascar vanilla beans across many evaluation criteria, underscoring the superior quality and competitive edge of Taiwan’s vanilla beans. This empirical evidence highlights the exceptional quality and value proposition of Taiwan vanilla beans, offering insights for the expansion and deepening of sensory evaluations pertaining to vanilla beans. Furthermore, our study contributes to environmental sustainability by promoting local production and presents new avenues for Taiwan’s vanilla processing industry.

Smart home technologies are increasingly integrated into residential environments jointly inhabited by older adults and young children. However, existing research remains largely ageing-centered and insufficiently addresses the governance challenges arising from generational asymmetries in vulnerability, spatial agency, and authority within shared domestic space. Rather than merely complicating design, these asymmetries fundamentally reshape how safety, autonomy, access, and surveillance are structured in everyday residential practice. This study reconceptualizes senior–child intergenerational co-living as a governance-oriented socio-technical system in which generational asymmetry functions as a structuring principle of design prioritization. An expert-based decision framework integrating interdisciplinary focus groups and the Analytic Hierarchy Process was developed to evaluate five design dimensions and thirty indicators. The findings reveal a differentiated priority structure in which intelligent safety, accessibility, and risk governance together with spatial integration and technological accessibility constitute the foundational architecture of inclusive intergenerational housing, while interaction-oriented functions receive comparatively lower weights. By embedding generational asymmetry within a formal hierarchical evaluation model, this study extends smart housing scholarship beyond ageing-centered optimization and provides a structured decision-support logic for inclusive multi-generational residential design aligned with the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those promoting inclusive communities and health equity.

Evaluating functional foods intended for children involves nutritional and health-related value, safety, sensory qualities, and suitability for family use. This study examined the relative priorities assigned to these attributes by adult stakeholders. An online Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) questionnaire was administered in Taiwan to parents and four professional stakeholder groups using a framework comprising six dimensions and 18 criteria. Of 39 completed questionnaires, 35 met the predefined consistency requirement and were retained. Mean weights were calculated using aggregation of individual priorities (AIP), with standard deviations, bootstrap confidence intervals, and leave-one-out analyses used to assess variability and sensitivity. Safety and ingredient trust received the highest mean weight (0.247), followed by nutritional and functional value (0.217) and sensory appeal (0.179), together accounting for 64.3% of the total weight. Food safety ranked first among the criteria (0.113), followed by taste and flavor (0.085), functional health benefits (0.085), and ingredient quality and naturalness (0.084), with rankings based on unrounded weights. The five stakeholder profiles showed relatively high rank concordance (W = 0.739, χ²(5) = 18.486, p = 0.002). Sensory appeal ranked first among industry and product development practitioners, whereas parental and family considerations ranked second among parents. These descriptive findings provide a preliminary framework for prioritizing attributes during early-stage product evaluation. They represent adult judgments rather than children’s directly measured food acceptance and warrant product-specific assessment alongside children’s sensory responses and family purchasing and consumption behavior.