Negative Word-of-Mouth on Social Media and Consumer Behavior: Study with Parents of Students of Private Schools in Belo Horizonte

Objetivo:  avaliar a influência da comunicação boca a boca negativa nas mídias sociais sobre o comportamento de consumo.   Método: Trata-se de uma pesquisa quantitativa, com abordagem descritiva. A amostra foi composta por pais de alunos de escolas particulares de Belo Horizonte. Os dados foram analisados por meio de modelagem de equações estruturais, método PLS.   Originalidade/Relevância: a relevância da pesquisa se baseia no fato de que existem muitos trabalhos abordando comunicação boca a boca, mas poucos especificamente sobre boca a boca negativo, contemplando também os efeitos moderadores dos custos de mudança.   Resultados: os resultados confirmam que o boca a boca negativo reduz a intenção de compra e a lealdade atitudinal e apenas os custos de mudança processuais são capazes de reduzir esse efeito.   Contribuições teóricas: apesar de parecerem lógicas, as relações precisam ser testadas empiricamente, especialmente devido à cadeia monológica proposta, que incluiu os efeitos moderadores dos custos de mudança, desenho pouco usual em pesquisas de marketing. Portanto, comprovar que o boca a boca negativo reduz tanto a intenção de compra quanto a lealdade atitudinal constitui uma contribuição teórica. Ademais, atestar que os custos de mudança não são capazes de reduzir os efeitos da boca a boca negativo também se traduz em uma contribuição teórica.    Contribuições para a gestão: ressalta-se a importância de as organizações acompanharem de perto os comentários nas mídias sociais feitos por seus clientes. Evitar que falhas aconteçam e, principalmente, que os clientes manifestem publicamente suas insatisfações, torna-se fundamental para as empresas atualmente.Objective: evaluate the influence of social media’s negative WOM communication on consumer behavior.  Method: This is a quantitative research with a descriptive approach. The sample consisted of parents of students from private schools in Belo Horizonte. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, PLS method.  Originality / Relevance: The relevance of the research is based on the fact that there are many papers addressing word-of-mouth communication, but few specifically addressing negative word-of-mouth, also addressing the moderating effects of switching costs.  Results: The results confirm that negative word-of-mouth reduces purchase intent and attitudinal loyalty and only procedural switching costs are able to reduce this effect.  Theoretical Contributions: Although they may seem logical, relationships need to be tested empirically, especially given the proposed monological chain, which included the moderating effects of switching costs, an unusual design in marketing research. Therefore, proving that negative word-of-mouth reduces both purchase intent and attitudinal loyalty is a theoretical contribution. Moreover, attesting that switching costs cannot reduce the effects of negative word-of-mouth also translates into a theoretical contribution.  Contributions to management: The importance of organizations closely following the comments on social media made by their clients is emphasized. Preventing failures from happening, and especially from customers publicly expressing their dissatisfaction, is critical to businesses today. &nbsp

Inserção no mercado de trabalho e a empregabilidade de bacharéis em Biblioteconomia

A atuação do bibliotecário está cada vez menos limitada às bibliotecas e esse trabalhador, atualmente conhecido como profissional da informação, enfrenta o desafio de inserir-se e manter-se atrativo no mercado de trabalho, que está cada vez mais exigente e competitivo. Para manter-se empregável, ele precisa, constantemente, aprimorar os seus conhecimentos e desenvolver suas habilidades técnicas e pessoais por meio da educação e treinamento, ambos em consonância com as necessidades do mercado. O objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar a inserção profissional e a empregabilidade dos bacharéis em Biblioteconomia, egressos da Escola de Ciência da Informação da UFMG no interstício 2005-2010, no mercado de trabalho de Belo Horizonte. Para isso, foi aplicado em 74 indivíduos, um questionário semiestruturado contendo perguntas fechadas e abertas. Os dados foram analisados por meio da análise de conteúdo, análise exploratória de dados, tabulação cruzada e análise fatorial exploratória. Os resultados indicaram que 91% dos entrevistados estão empregados e 97% conseguiram o emprego no primeiro ano após a conclusão do curso. Os fatores identificados como responsáveis pela inserção do profissional no mercado de trabalho foram: "habilidades e competências profissionais" e "valores e atitudes do bibliotecário"

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

The value of open-source clinical science in pandemic response: lessons from ISARIC

International audienc

Association of Country Income Level With the Characteristics and Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients Hospitalized With Acute Kidney Injury and COVID-19

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been identified as one of the most common and significant problems in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. However, studies examining the relationship between COVID-19 and AKI in low- and low-middle income countries (LLMIC) are lacking. Given that AKI is known to carry a higher mortality rate in these countries, it is important to understand differences in this population. Methods: This prospective, observational study examines the AKI incidence and characteristics of 32,210 patients with COVID-19 from 49 countries across all income levels who were admitted to an intensive care unit during their hospital stay. Results: Among patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit, AKI incidence was highest in patients in LLMIC, followed by patients in upper-middle income countries (UMIC) and high-income countries (HIC) (53%, 38%, and 30%, respectively), whereas dialysis rates were lowest among patients with AKI from LLMIC and highest among those from HIC (27% vs. 45%). Patients with AKI in LLMIC had the largest proportion of community-acquired AKI (CA-AKI) and highest rate of in-hospital death (79% vs. 54% in HIC and 66% in UMIC). The association between AKI, being from LLMIC and in-hospital death persisted even after adjusting for disease severity. Conclusions: AKI is a particularly devastating complication of COVID-19 among patients from poorer nations where the gaps in accessibility and quality of healthcare delivery have a major impact on patient outcomes

Characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital with and without respiratory symptoms

Background: COVID-19 is primarily known as a respiratory illness; however, many patients present to hospital without respiratory symptoms. The association between non-respiratory presentations of COVID-19 and outcomes remains unclear. We investigated risk factors and clinical outcomes in patients with no respiratory symptoms (NRS) and respiratory symptoms (RS) at hospital admission. Methods: This study describes clinical features, physiological parameters, and outcomes of hospitalised COVID-19 patients, stratified by the presence or absence of respiratory symptoms at hospital admission. RS patients had one or more of: cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose or wheezing; while NRS patients did not. Results: Of 178,640 patients in the study, 86.4 % presented with RS, while 13.6 % had NRS. NRS patients were older (median age: NRS: 74 vs RS: 65) and less likely to be admitted to the ICU (NRS: 36.7 % vs RS: 37.5 %). NRS patients had a higher crude in-hospital case-fatality ratio (NRS 41.1 % vs. RS 32.0 %), but a lower risk of death after adjusting for confounders (HR 0.88 [0.83-0.93]). Conclusion: Approximately one in seven COVID-19 patients presented at hospital admission without respiratory symptoms. These patients were older, had lower ICU admission rates, and had a lower risk of in-hospital mortality after adjusting for confounders

Liver injury in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: An International observational cohort study

Background: Using a large dataset, we evaluated prevalence and severity of alterations in liver enzymes in COVID-19 and association with patient-centred outcomes.MethodsWe included hospitalized patients with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection from the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) database. Key exposure was baseline liver enzymes (AST, ALT, bilirubin). Patients were assigned Liver Injury Classification score based on 3 components of enzymes at admission: Normal; Stage I) Liver injury: any component between 1-3x upper limit of normal (ULN); Stage II) Severe liver injury: any component & GE;3x ULN. Outcomes were hospital mortality, utilization of selected resources, complications, and durations of hospital and ICU stay. Analyses used logistic regression with associations expressed as adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsOf 17,531 included patients, 46.2% (8099) and 8.2% (1430) of patients had stage 1 and 2 liver injury respectively. Compared to normal, stages 1 and 2 were associated with higher odds of mortality (OR 1.53 [1.37-1.71]; OR 2.50 [2.10-2.96]), ICU admission (OR 1.63 [1.48-1.79]; OR 1.90 [1.62-2.23]), and invasive mechanical ventilation (OR 1.43 [1.27-1.70]; OR 1.95 (1.55-2.45). Stages 1 and 2 were also associated with higher odds of developing sepsis (OR 1.38 [1.27-1.50]; OR 1.46 [1.25-1.70]), acute kidney injury (OR 1.13 [1.00-1.27]; OR 1.59 [1.32-1.91]), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (OR 1.38 [1.22-1.55]; OR 1.80 [1.49-2.17]).ConclusionsLiver enzyme abnormalities are common among COVID-19 patients and associated with worse outcomes