Conquistando la confianza del consumidor : minimizando el Gap entre conciencia ambiental y consumo ambiental

A gestão ambiental tem se tornado um importante instrumento gerencial para a criação de condições de maior competitividade para as organizações. Uma parcela significativa da população tem considerado a questão ambiental em sua agenda de consumo. Contudo, apesar da relação proposta entre consciência ambiental e consumo, alguns estudos têm identificado um gap entre a consciência ambiental declarada e o comportamento de consumo. Uma das possíveis explicações para isso é a falta de confiança em relação à ética dos varejistas, havendo uma percepção de que as ofertas com apelo ambiental seriam apenas artifícios de marketing. Dessa forma, este artigo tem como objetivo analisar o efeito moderador da confiança na relação entre consciência ambiental e intenção de consumo ambiental. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma survey via internet junto a 696 consumidores de todo o território nacional. A amostra se caracterizou como não-probabilística. Para a mensuração das variáveis foram utilizadas escalas validadas e os dados foram analisados por meio de modelagem de equações estruturais. Os resultados demonstram que existe uma relação significativa entre consciência ambiental e intenção de consumo ambiental, mas o baixo poder explicativo do modelo aponta para o gap entre discurso e prática. Ao analisar a confiança dos consumidores como variável moderadora, percebe-se que o aumento da confiança dos consumidores torna o gap entre consciência e consumo menorEnvironmental management has become an important managerial tool for creating conditions for greater competitiveness of organizations. A significant portion of the population considers environmental issues while consuming. However, despite the proposed relationship between environmental concern and consumption, some studies have identified a gap between declared environmental concern and consumer behavior. One possible explanation for this gap is the lack of trust in the ethics of retailers and the perception that environmental appealing offers would be only artifices of marketing. Thus, this paper aims to analyze the moderating effect of trust in the relationship between Environmental concern and environmental purchase intention. To operationalize the study, an online survey was conducted among 696 Brazilian consumers. The sample was characterized as non-probabilistic. Validated scales were used to measure the variables and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that there is a significant relationship between environmental concern and environmental purchase intention, however, the low explanatory power of the model points to the gap between discourse and practice. By analyzing the trust of consumers as moderating variable, it is clear that, by increasing consumers’ trust, the gap between environmental concern and consumption is diminishedLa gestión ambiental se ha convertido en una importante herramienta de gestión para la creación de condiciones para una mayor competitividad para las organizaciones. Una parte significativa de la población ha considerado los problemas ambientales en su agenda de consumo. Sin embargo, a pesar de la relación propuesta entre conciencia ambiental y consumo, algunos estudios han identificado un gap entre la conciencia ambiental declarada y el comportamiento del consumidor. Una posible explicación de este gap es la falta de confianza en la ética de los minoristas, conduciendo a una percepción de que argumentos ambientales serían sólo estrategias de marketing. Esto puesto, este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar el efecto moderador de la confianza en la relación entre la conciencia ambiental y la intención de consumo ambiental. Para eso, se administró un survey online con 696 consumidores brasileños. La muestra se caracteriza por ser no probabilística. Para medir las variables se utilizaron escalas validadas y los datos se analizaron mediante modelaje de ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados muestran que hay una relación significativa entre la conciencia ambiental y la intención de consumo ambiental. Sin embargo, el bajo poder explicativo del modelo destaca el gap entre el discurso y la práctica. Mediante el análisis de la confianza de los consumidores como variable moderadora, queda evidente que el aumento de la confianza del consumidor reduce el gap entre la conciencia ambiental y el consum

N=2 Super-Born-Infeld from Partially Broken N=3 Supersymmetry in d=4

We employ the non-linear realization techniques to relate the N=1 chiral, and the N=2 vector multiplets to the Goldstone spin 1/2 superfield arising from partial supersymmetry breaking of N=2 and N=3 respectively. In both cases, we obtain a family of non-linear transformation laws realizing an extra supersymmetry. In the N=2 case, we find an invariant action which is the low energy limit of the supersymmetric Born-Infeld theory expected to describe a D3-brane in six dimensions.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, RevTeX4, new comments and references added, some equations corrected, discussion at end of sec. 3 change

Experimental study of fusion neutron and proton yields produced by petawatt-laser-irradiated D2-3He or CD4-3He clustering gases

We report on experiments in which the Texas Petawatt laser irradiated a mixture of deuterium or deuterated methane clusters and helium-3 gas, generating three types of nuclear fusion reactions: D(d, 3He)n, D(d, t)p and 3He(d, p)4He. We measured the yields of fusion neutrons and protons from these reactions and found them to agree with yields based on a simple cylindrical plasma model using known cross sections and measured plasma parameters. Within our measurement errors, the fusion products were isotropically distributed. Plasma temperatures, important for the cross sections, were determined by two independent methods: (1) deuterium ion time-of-flight, and (2) utilizing the ratio of neutron yield to proton yield from D(d, 3He)n and 3He(d, p)4He reactions, respectively. This experiment produced the highest ion temperature ever achieved with laser-irradiated deuterium clusters.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Sculpting the Extra Dimensions: Inflation from Codimension-2 Brane Back-reaction

We construct an inflationary model in 6D supergravity that is based on explicit time-dependent solutions to the full higher-dimensional field equations, back-reacting to the presence of a 4D inflaton rolling on a space-filling codimension-2 source brane. Fluxes in the bulk stabilize all moduli except the `breathing' modulus (that is generically present in higher-dimensional supergravities). Back-reaction to the inflaton roll causes the 4D Einstein-frame on-brane geometry to expand, a(t) ~ t^p, as well as exciting the breathing mode and causing the two off-brane dimensions to expand, r(t) ~ t^q. The model evades the general no-go theorems precluding 4D de Sitter solutions, since adjustments to the brane-localized inflaton potential allow the power p to be dialed to be arbitrarily large, with the 4D geometry becoming de Sitter in the limit p -> infinity (in which case q = 0). Slow-roll solutions give accelerated expansion with p large but finite, and q = 1/2. Because the extra dimensions expand during inflation, the present-day 6D gravity scale can be much smaller than it was when primordial fluctuations were generated - potentially allowing TeV gravity now to be consistent with the much higher gravity scale required at horizon-exit for observable primordial gravity waves. Because p >> q, the 4 on-brane dimensions expand more quickly than the 2 off-brane ones, providing a framework for understanding why the observed four dimensions are presently so much larger than the internal two. If uplifted to a 10D framework with 4 dimensions stabilized, the 6D evolution described here could describe how two of the six extra dimensions evolve to become much larger than the others, as a consequence of the enormous expansion of the 4 large dimensions we can see.Comment: 27 pages + appendices, 2 figure