Effects of personal, social and environmental factors on physical activity behavior among adults

Despite the guidelines and the well-recognized benefits of regular physical activity, there is evidence that a large number of people is still reported to be inactive. Therefore, the need for interventions that can promote a healthier behavior has increased. As an understanding of the determinants of physical activity behavior by health professionals is an important prerequisite to designing effective interventions, studies on the identification of the determinants of physical activity are warranted. The purpose of this work is to review and update the research on determinants underlying physical activity behaviour in adults and to provide an overview of physical activity patterns among adult populations. The findings highlight the need for an evaluation of the interactive effects of psychosocial, cultural, environmental and public policy influences on physical activity forging a trans-disciplinary paradigm

High tech meets high touch in upscale hotels

Purpose: This paper presents an analysis of the impact of current technologies on customer experiences in upscale hotels and assesses the potential of the latest technologies for enhancing customers’ stay. Design/methodology/approach: A two-step approach was applied in this study. The qualitative phase included an examination of upscale hotel websites, interviews with hotel managers and an internet search regarding the latest technological innovations in hotels. In the quantitative stage, a questionnaire was developed for hotel guests, generating a sample of 310 valid completed questionnaires. Findings: The results reveal that hotel guests value digital involvement in their hotel experience. Moreover, business travellers and younger generations give greater importance to latest technologies. Originality/value: This study analyses the most innovative technologies, providing guidance for hoteliers wishing to upgrade or implement new technologies. Based on the findings, hoteliers can achieve greater differentiation by offering the most important and latest technology to guests, enhancing their experience and attracting new customers, which can potentially lead to increased revenues. The study’s results are also important because they include the perceptions of both managers and customers.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Private-label proneness: the case of yogurts

This study aims to point out the main consumer correlates of store brand proneness in a specific industry, the Portuguese yogurt market. This is a booming industry for store brands in Portugal, reaching nearly half of the total market share. Based on the results of a survey we can conclude that consumers base their decisions on adopting a product on three different types of variables: price related variables, quality related variables and involvement with the product category related variables. The price related and the quality related variables have the most influence on consumers when selecting store brands of yogurts.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Determinantes psicográficos da adoção da marca do distribuidor: um estudo no mercado português de iogurtes

This study seeks to point out the main psychographic determinants of private-label brand proneness in a specific industry: the Portuguese yogurt market. This is a booming industry for store brands in Portugal, which account for nearly half of the total market share. An in-depth interview was held with a sales and marketing expert of the leading yogurt company in Portugal. Next, we conducted a survey targeting consumers of yogurt. Based on the results of a Tobit regression, we conclude that consumers base their decisions about private label versus national brands on three different types of variables: price-related variables, quality-related variables and variables related to involvement with the product category. Managerial implications are also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A systematic literature review on hospitality analytics

With the growth of data generated by all systems involved in a hotel, terms like big data and business analytics (BA) gain strength within the hotel industry. Business analytics can be used in hospitality management to increase business knowledge and to improve the decision-making process. This study's main questions are: RQ1 – Which are the main research attributes studied in the past two decades related to analytics in the hospitality sector? RQ2 – What are the main differences between business intelligence and business analytics? RQ3 – What are the main trends in business analytics? RQ4 – Which are the main business intelligence perceptions and beliefs? To answer these research questions, this article provides a literature review to systematize the research made in business analytics information systems in the hospitality industry. The results can help identify different research attributes and the most relevant theories developed in the past two decades related to business analytics tools.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing brand personality associations of top of mind wine brands

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine brand knowledge of wines produced in a selected Portuguese viticulture area. More specifically, we intend to understand how consumers organise brands that have the highest awareness in their memory in terms of perceived personality traits. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was developed to assess brand awareness of Portuguese green wine brands and brand personality using Aaker’s brand personality framework. Multiple correspondence analysis was used in this study to present the relative positioning of the top-of-mind green wine brands. Findings – Despite the large number of green wine brands available on the market, six brands dominate in terms of brand awareness. Top-of-mind green wine brands are marked with clear and distinctive brand personality, and a small subset of brand personality attributes serve as significant criteria for brand positioning. Practical implications – The results of the present study could be beneficial for academics and practitioners, as it reveals that the top-of-mind brands within a specific viticulture area could exhibit a clear positioning based on personality traits. Therefore, brand personality traits might provide a mechanism for wine managers to distinguish or differentiate their wines. Originality/value – This work contributes to the findings of previous studies held to study brand personality perceptions. From a theoretical point of view, this paper reflects the usage of one the most popular instruments for brand personality measurement in a wine market context.info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersio

Extensions of firefly algorithm for nonsmooth nonconvex constrained optimization problems

Publicado em: "Computational science and its applications – ICCSA 2016: 16th International Conference, Beijing, China, July 4-7, 2016, Proceedings, Part I". ISBN 978-3-319-42084-4Firefly Algorithm (FA) is a stochastic population-based algorithm based on the flashing patterns and behavior of fireflies. Original FA was created and successfully applied to solve bound constrained optimization problems. In this paper we present extensions of FA for solving nonsmooth nonconvex constrained global optimization problems. To handle the constraints of the problem, feasibility and dominance rules and a fitness function based on the global competitive ranking, are proposed. To enhance the speed of convergence, the proposed extensions of FA invoke a stochastic local search procedure. Numerical experiments to validate the proposed approaches using a set of well know test problems are presented. The results show that the proposed extensions of FA compares favorably with other stochastic population-based methods.COMPETE: POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007043FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and UID/MAT/00013/201

Astigmatism management in cataract surgery with Precizon(®) toric intraocular lens: a prospective study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the visual and refractive outcomes and rotational stability of the new aspheric Precizon(®) toric intraocular lens (IOL) for the correction of corneal astigmatism in cataract surgery. SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Geral de Santo António - Centro Hospitalar do Porto, EPE and Hospital de Pedro Hispano, Matosinhos, Portugal. DESIGN: This was a prospective clinical study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 40 eyes of 27 patients with corneal astigmatism greater than 1.0 diopter (D) underwent cataract surgery with implantation of Precizon(®) toric IOL. IOL power calculation was performed using optical coherence biometry (IOLMaster(®)). Outcomes of uncorrected (UDVA) and best-spectacle corrected distance visual acuities (BCDVA), refraction, and IOL rotation were analyzed at the 1st week, 1st, 3rd, and 6th month's evaluations. RESULTS: The median postoperative UDVA was better than preoperative best-spectacle corrected distance visual acuity (0.02 [0.06] logMAR vs 0.19 [0.20] logMAR, P<0.001). At 6 months, postoperative UDVA was 0.1 logMAR or better in 95% of the eyes. At last follow-up, the mean spherical equivalent was reduced from -3.35±3.10 D to -0.02±0.30 D (P<0.001) with 97.5% of the eyes within ±0.50 D of emmetropia. The mean preoperative keratometric cylinder was 2.34±0.95 D and the mean postoperative refractive cylinder was 0.24±0.27 D (P<0.001). The mean IOL rotation was 2.43°±1.55°. None of the IOLs required realignment. CONCLUSION: Precizon(®) toric IOL revealed very good rotational stability and performance regarding predictability, efficacy, and safety in the correction of preexisting regular corneal astigmatism associated with cataract surgery.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A firefly dynamic penalty approach for solving engineering design problems

Firefly Algorithm is a recent swarm intelligence method, inspired by the social behavior of fireflies, based on their flashing and attraction characteristics [1, 2]. In this paper, we analyze the implementation of a dynamic penalty approach combined with the Firefly algorithm for solving constrained global optimization problems. In order to assess the applicability and performance of the proposed method, some benchmark problems from engineering design optimization are considered.The authors would like to thank the financial support from FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal) in the scope of the projects: PEst-OE/MAT/UI0013/2014 and PEst-OE/EEI/UI0319/2014

Extension of the firefly algorithm and preference rules for solving MINLP problems

An extension of the firefly algorithm (FA) for solving mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems is presented. Although penalty functions are nowadays frequently used to handle integrality conditions and inequality and equality constraints, this paper proposes the implementation within the FA of a simple rounded-based heuristic and four preference rules to find and converge to MINLP feasible solutions. Preliminary numerical experiments are carried out to validate the proposed methodology.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - Fundac¸ao para a Ci ˜ encia e Tecnologia, ˆ within the projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and UID/MAT/00013/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio