Decontamination and deodorization of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole on cork

The presence of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (2,4,6-TCA) in cork was identified as a problem for the cork industry in the early 80’s and also considered as a potent compound towards the origin of organoleptic defects in wines. These defects are easily detected by the consumers and it only takes as little as about 5 ng/L to be detected. However, there is a certain difficulty when trying to detect such low concentration levels with mass spectrometry. Heavily contaminating the cork substrates with TCA could be a solution for this detection limitation. By artificially contaminating the samples and by using quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS) coupled with temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), we verified the presence of a TCA desorption peak in a cork substrate. We also verified that heating above a temperature of 160ºC in a high vacuum atmosphere allows the removal of this contaminant from cork substrates. A TCA quantification method that was developed with this work confirmed that the majority of the TCA was removed with the TPD experiment when heating above the TPD peak. The main outcome of this experiment is the proposed process to remove TCA from cork stoppers by heating at temperatures close or above the TPD peak. Such process would have the goal of making cork and its derivative products free of TCA, or at least below the human detection threshold. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to understand how the TCA adsorption occurs, and that will be the objective and the contribution of this thesis work - to confirm the nature of the TCA adsorption and, most importantly, an attempt to determine which group of its molecule is effectively adsorbing onto the cork substrates. For this purpose, other substrates and compounds were chosen to be experimented due to their similarities with the constitution of cork constitution and the chemical structure of TCA, respectively. This experiment showed that cellulose does not have a relevant role in the adsorption process

An empirical study of the determinants of Internet Banking adoption among Brazilians non-users

Este estudo investiga os fatores determinantes da adoção de Internet Banking entre não usuários brasileiros. Para tanto propõe-se um modelo que reúne os constructos dos modelos mais conhecidos de adoção de novas tecnologias da literatura de marketing. O modelo foi testado com amostra de 292 pessoas e os resultados revelam que os efeitos de oito variáveis sobre a intenção de usar o Internet Banking são significativos. São elas compatibilidade com estilo de vida, normas subjetivas, auto-eficácia, imagem, vantagem relativa de segurança e privacidade, vantagem relativa de controle, testagem e suporte tecnológico. Por outro lado, os efeitos das características individuais incluídas no modelo não se mostram significativos. A maior contribuição do estudo é a proposta de um modelo abrangente, simples e facilmente implementável. O estudo conclui apontando algumas implicações gerenciais, limitações e sugestões para estudos futuros.This study investigates the determinants of Internet Banking adoption among Brazilians non-users. To accomplish this objective, the study proposes a model built with constructs gathered from the most known models of new technology adoption found in the marketing literature. The model was tested among a sample of 292 people and the results show that the effects of eight variables were significant in determining the intention to adopt Internet Banking. They are compatibility with lifestyle, subjective norm, self-efficacy, image, relative advantage of security and privacy, relative advantage of control, trialability, and technological support. By the other side, none of the individual characteristics included in the model were significant. The major contribution of the study is the proposal of a comprehensive, simple, and easily implementable model. The study concludes by pointing some managerial implications, limitations, and suggestions for future studies

Organic Livestock Production- A Bibliometric Review

Due to the increasing interest in organic farming, an overview of this research area is provided through a bibliometric analysis conducted between April and May 2019. A total of 320 documents were published up until 2018 on organic livestock farming, with an annual growth rate of 9.33% and a clear increase since 2005; 268 documents have been published in 111 journals. Germany is the country with the largest number of published papers (56 documents). Authors\u2019 top keywords (excluding keywords used for running the search) included: animal welfare (29 times), animal health (22 times), cattle (15 times), grazing (10 times), and sheep (10 times). This could indicate that more research has been done on cattle because of the importance of this species in Germany. Moreover, the prevalence of the terms \u2018animal welfare\u2019 and \u2018animal health\u2019 may indicate that the research on organic livestock production has been focused on these two areas. The bibliometric analysis indicates that: i) countries focused the organic livestock production research on their main production, and ii) more research in species other than cattle and sheep is needed

Comparing transformational and instrumental leadership The influence of different leadership styles on individual employee and financial performance in Brazilian startups

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of transformational and instrumental leadership on the individual performance of the employee and the financial performance in Brazilian startups. Design/methodology/approach – The adopted methodological construction strategy was structural equation modeling, with the purpose of applying the model to primary data collected from a sample of leaders of Brazilian startups (n = 126). Findings – Results suggest that when leadership types are analyzed separately, both directly influence employee performance. Originality/value – This study has four main contributions: to test the influence of the two leadership styles on employee performance and thus to help advance the theoretical understanding of leadership; to perform this test in the context of Brazilian startups; to equip professionals with more information about the effects of crucial leadership types on individual type of employee performance; and to expand knowledge for recruitment and managerial training in initial-stage companie

Development-based Trust: Proposing and Validating a New Trust Measurement Model for Buyer-Seller Relationships

This study proposes and validates a trust measurement model for buyer-seller relationships. Baptized as development-based trust, the model encompasses three dimensions of trust: calculus-based, knowledge-based and identification-based. In addition to recognizing that trust is a multidimensional construct, the model also assumes that trust can evolve to take on a different character depending on the stage of the relationship. In order to test the proposed model and compare it to the characteristic-based trust measurement model, the measure most frequently used in the buyer-seller relationship literature, data were collected from 238 clients of an IT product wholesaler. The results show that the scales are valid and reliable and the proposed development-based trust measurement model is superior to the characteristic-based trust measurement model in terms of its ability to explain certain variables of interest in buyer-seller relationships (long-term relationship orientation, information sharing, behavioral loyalty and future intentions). Implications for practice, limitations and suggestions for future studies are discussed

Novas experiências do consumidor em loja : plano de marketing para a área de Gaming da Worten

Mestrado em MarketingO panorama do retalho tem vindo a alterar-se como consequência do desenvolvimento dos canais online e do aparecimento de players mais competitivos. Assim, surgiu a necessidade de os retalhistas conhecerem melhor os seus consumidores, de forma a corresponderem às suas necessidades, sobretudo em loja. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho final de mestrado tem como objetivo a elaboração de um plano de marketing para a área de gaming da Worten, com a finalidade de criar experiências em loja para o consumidor final. Quanto à metodologia utilizada, optou-se por selecionar o método misto. Na análise qualitativa, as técnicas de recolha de dados foram a recolha de dados secundários e a realização de duas entrevistas semiestruturadas em profundidade. Na análise quantitativa, elaborou-se um inquérito por questionário online a uma amostra não probabilística self-selection de 119 indivíduos. A estratégia adotada foi a action research, sendo que o objeto de estudo selecionado foi a Worten, líder de mercado nas áreas onde opera. O plano permitiu concluir que existem fatores que potenciam a visita à loja como uma atividade de lazer, como é o caso da organização da loja, da opinião de terceiros, da exposição, mas sobretudo da possibilidade de experimentação dos produtos, da especialização dos colaboradores e, por último, da existência de ofertas customizadas e de produtos exclusivos. Em suma, as ações propostas pretenderam comprovar que a criação de experiências diferenciadoras leva a um crescimento nas vendas, potencia uma maior quota de mercado, mas sobretudo promove a satisfação do consumidor e potencia a sua lealdade.The retail landscape has been changing as a consequence of the development of online channels and the emergence of more competitive players. This has led to the need for retailers to get to know their consumers better, in order to meet their needs, especially in the store. In this sense, the present master's thesis aims to elaborate a marketing plan for the Worten's gaming area, with the purpose of creating store experiences for the final consumer. As for the methodology used, it was decided to select the mixed method. In the qualitative analysis, the data collection techniques were the collection of secondary data and the elaboration of two semi-structured in-depth interviews. In the quantitative analysis, an online questionnaire survey was performed on a non-probabilistic self-selection sample of 119 subjects. The strategy adopted was action research, and the case study selected was Worten, a market leader in the areas where operates. The plan also allowed to conclude that there are several factors that enhance the visit to the store as a leisure activity, such as the store's organization, the opinion of family or friends, the exhibition, but above all the possibility to experiment products, the employees' specialization and, finally, the existence of customized offers and exclusive products. To sum up, the actions proposed based on the defined marketing objectives sought to prove that the creation of differentiating experiences leads to a growth in sales, potentiates a greater market share, but above all it promotes consumer satisfaction and strengthens its loyalty.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Factores de risco associados á transmissão de diarreia em crianças dos 6 meses aos 7 anos no bairro do Xipamanine

As diarreias continuam a ser em Moçambique e em muitos paises em desenvolvimento um dos problemas de Saúde pública mais importantes. São doenças transmissiveis não preveniveis por vacina eque ocorrem com frequencia de forma isolada ou associada à malnutrição e malaria causando elevadas taxas de mortalidade nos países em desenvolvimento. Para cada caso foi escolhido um controle constituido por indivíduos do mesmo sexo e idade que o casos, e residentes na mesma area, sem historia de dejecções liquidas nos ultimos 60 dias anteriores á data de recolha de dados. A área de estudo foi o Bairro do Xipamanine. Motivou a escolha desta zona o facto de este bairro ter durante anos consecutivos registado o maior número de casos das diarreias ocorridas na Cidade de Maputo. De acordo com dados da Direcção de Saude da Cidade do Maputo, em 1996, por exemplo, registaram-se 34.095 casos de diarrea nesta zona, dos quais 25.406 (75%) em crianças do 0-14 anos

A Conceptual Representation of Documents and Queries for Information Retrieval Systems by Using Light Ontologies

International audienceThis article presents a vector space model approach to representing documents and queries, based on concepts instead of terms and using WordNet as a light ontology. Such representation reduces information overlap with respect to classic semantic expansion techniques. Experiments carried out on the MuchMore benchmark and on the TREC-7 and TREC-8 Ad-hoc collections demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Unveiling the Neuromorphological Space

This article proposes the concept of neuromorphological space as the multidimensional space defined by a set of measurements of the morphology of a representative set of almost 6000 biological neurons available from the NeuroMorpho database. For the first time, we analyze such a large database in order to find the general distribution of the geometrical features. We resort to McGhee's biological shape space concept in order to formalize our analysis, allowing for comparison between the geometrically possible tree-like shapes, obtained by using a simple reference model, and real neuronal shapes. Two optimal types of projections, namely, principal component analysis and canonical analysis, are used in order to visualize the originally 20-D neuron distribution into 2-D morphological spaces. These projections allow the most important features to be identified. A data density analysis is also performed in the original 20-D feature space in order to corroborate the clustering structure. Several interesting results are reported, including the fact that real neurons occupy only a small region within the geometrically possible space and that two principal variables are enough to account for about half of the overall data variability. Most of the measurements have been found to be important in representing the morphological variability of the real neurons