Foreword

UID/HIS/04666/2013publishersversionpublishe

Somersby : a communication strategy to reach young consumers

The company selected to serve as a background for this marketing case study was Unicer. Following the case there is a teaching note that provides useful theory for a better understanding of the case, along with suggested questions to be discussed by students when analyzing it. Unicer is the largest Portuguese soft drinks company with a multi-brand, multi-market strategy with its main operations in the beer and bottled water businesses. Throughout the years, the firm had developed a huge portfolio of well-known brands. In 2011 the company was presented with the challenge of recruiting young adults customers. Somersby, a Carlsberg Group brand of cider was the product chosen to approach the defined target. The first couple of years had questionable results, although a high potential for the brand was identified too. In this way, in 2013, faced with the possibility of internalizing the production of this beverage, a strong communication strategy needed to be employed, as measurable results were required. Hence the brand had to choose between continuing to use event marketing or to switch for a mass media approach, namely to introduce advertisement in TV. The case presents the Portuguese market environment for Somersby, its target consumers, as well as its main competitors. Further it allows students to become familiar with market and competition analysis, and illustrates the above and below the line set of options. After this, they are challenged to identify the best strategic approach, both in qualitative and quantitative terms, given the costs and reach associated with each alternative.Unicer foi a empresa escolhida para servir de base ao desenvolvimento deste estudo de caso na área de marketing. O caso é seguido de uma nota pedagógica que disponibiliza alguma teoria relevante para uma melhor compreensão do caso, bem como questões sugeridas para serem alvo de discussão pelos alunos quando da análise do mesmo. A Unicer é a maior empresa portuguesa de bebidas, com uma estratégia multimarca e multimercado, cuja actividade assenta nos negócios de cervejas e de águas engarrafadas. Ao longo dos anos, esta firma desenvolveu um enorme portfolio de marcas reconhecidas. Em 2011, a empresa deparou-se com o desafio de angariar clientes jovens adultos. Somersby, uma marca de sidra do Grupo Carlsberg foi o produto escolhido para abordar o target definido. Os primeiros dois anos mostraram resultados incertos apesar de ter sido claro o elevado potencial da marca. Deste modo, em 2013, e perante a possibilidade de internalizar a produção, era necessário implementar uma forte estratégia de comunicação que permitisse resultados mensuráveis. Assim, a marca tinha de escolher entre continuar a apostar em marketing de eventos, ou mudar para uma abordagem que incluísse media, nomeadamente introduzir um anúncio em televisão. O caso apresenta o mercado português para a Somersby, o target da marca, bem como os principais concorrentes. Adicionalmente permite aos alunos familiarizarem-se com análises de mercado e concorrência e ilustra as opções de above e below the line. Após isto, serão desafiados a identificar em termos qualitativos e quantitativos a melhor opção estratégica, tendo em conta custos e a taxa de penetração associados a cada alternativa

Optimizing Water Treatment Systems Using Artificial Intelligence Based Tools

Predictive modelling is a process used in predictive analytics to create a statistical model of future behaviour. Predictive analytics is the area of data mining concerned with forecasting probabilities and trends. On the other hand, Artificial Intelligence (AI) concerns itself with intelligent behaviour, i.e. the things that make us seem intelligent. Following this process of thinking, in this work the main goal is the assessment of the impact of using AI based tools for the development of intelligent predictive models, in particular those that may be used to establish the conditions in which the levels of manganese and turbidity in water supply are high. Indeed, one of the main problems that the water treatment plant at Monte Novo (in Évora, Portugal) uncovers is the appearance of high levels of manganese and turbidity in treated water, which sometimes exceed the parametric values established in Portuguese Law, respectively 50 μg dm-3 and 4 NTU. In this study we tried to find answers to the above problem by building predictive models. The models we developed shall enable the prediction of manganese and turbidity levels in treated water, in order to ensure that the water supply does not affect public health in a negative way and obeys the current legislation. The software used in this study was the Clementine 11.1. The C5.0 Algorithm was also used as a means of introducing Decision Trees and the KMeans Algorithm was used to construct clustering models. The data in the database was collected from 2005 to 2006 and includes reservoir water quality data, treated water data and volumes of water stored in the reservoir

Production of co-amorphous materials with therapeutic activity

Poster presented at the 2nd International Congress of CiiEM: “Translational Research and Innovation in Human and Health Sciences”. Egas Moniz, Caparica, Portugal, 11-13 June 2017N/

Evaluation of the ability of powdered milk to produce mini-tablets to deliver paracetamol in pediatrics

Paper presented at the 7th International Granulation Workshop. 1-3 July 2015, University of Sheffield, UK"This work aims to evaluate the usefulness of powdered milk as a vehicle of drugs for direct compression into mini-tablets specifically designed for the pediatric population. A 23 full factorial design was carried out to identify the effect of selected variables and their interactions (paracetamol to milk ratio, fraction of disintegrant and compression force), on selected responses (weight variation, thickness and tensile strength of minitablets and dissolution time of paracetamol) of the mini-tablets. Tablets were manufactured according to a matrix design resulting in eight combinations of four different tableting formulations compacted at two distinct forces. Each batch of tablets was evaluated for thickness (n=6), uniformity of weight (n=20), diametric crushing strength and tensile strength (σ) (n=6) and dissolution testing (n=12). A stepwise multiple linear regression was used to identify and quantify the relationships between each response and the variables studied and their interactions. Results were analyzed by ANOVA to identify the significant variables and variable interactions responsible for the effects observed.The increase on milk fraction in the formulation improved the compressibility of paracetamol with a decrease on weight variation. Thinner and harder compacts with slower paracetamol releases were also obtained. These observations were not surprising if powdered milk composition is taken into consideration: milk proteins, lactose (widely used as diluent) and lipids (often used as binders, lubricants and taste masking agents), which individually or in combination contribute to easier the production of tablets. A marked decrease on the dissolution time was observed as sodium croscarmellose was added to the milk rich formulations, as anticipated. The increase of the compression force was reflected by the production of thinner compacts with slightly higher tensile strengths but little effect on the dissolution median time. At high forces it was often observed a higher crushing strength and an increase of the importance of particle deformation in disintegration time.The study has proved the viability of using powdered milk on the production of minitablets to the delivery of drugs. The experimental design and statistical analysis enabled the identification of the most significant variables and their interactions affecting the properties of the mini-tablets, particularly the milk/paracetamol ratio which proved to be critical for the proprieties of the final product."Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Effect of different excipients and processing conditions on casein micellar formulation for children

Poster presented at the AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists). October 25-29, 2015, Orlando (FL), USA"Purpose: Investigation of the potential of casein micellar formulations as drug vehicles in pediatrics."Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/DTP-FTO/1057/2012

Co-amorphization of olanzapine for solubility enhancement

Communication presented at the 3rd International Congress of CiiEM - Research and Innovation in Human and Health Sciences. Monte da Caparica, Portugal, 20-22 June 2018N/

Evaluation of the ability of powdered milk to produce minitablets containing paracetamol for the paediatric population

The work aims at evaluating the usefulness of powdered milk as a drug matrix for the production of minitablets specifically designed for children. Mixtures made of powdered milk, paracetamol, mannitol, sodium croscarmellose and magnesium stearate (evaluated for flow properties, cohesiveness and caking tendency) were compacted into beams (evaluated for deformation, elasticity and stiffness) and minitablets (evaluated for uniformity of mass, thickness, tensile strength and paracetamol mean dissolution time) and a 23 factorial design performed. The increase on milk fraction in the formulation improved the compressibility of paracetamol and hardness of compacts, reducing weight variation and paracetamol release. A marked decrease on the dissolution time was observed as sodium croscarmellose was added to the milk rich formulations. The increase of the compression force resulted in the production of thinner compacts but had little effect on dissolution time. The production of beams has shown that deformation, bending strength and stiffness increased with both milk and compaction pressure, and decreased with sodium croscarmellose, whereas elasticity decreased when all variables increased. Tensile strength and mean dissolution time described minitablets well, unlike compaction force. The study has proved that powdered milk is suitable for the production of minitablets by direct compression of poor compressible drugs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio