Snapy : a grispy bite on grocery retail

Under the guidance of its founder, Artur Catarino, Progelcone started its activity in 1983 as a pioneer producer of ice cream cones in Portugal. Limited by the high seasonality that characterized the ice cream industry, Progelcone broaden its scope and became the leader supplier of ice cream related products and plastic items for the food-service industry. In 2013, the company was already recovering from the European debt crisis, which had decreased its clients financial capacity and contributed to the excess capacity of the company. Despite having reached sales of €12,6 million in the HORECA channel in 2013, Progelcone was confronted with a major challenge in 2014. Adding to the strong impact of seasonality, Progelcone had just lost its biggest client, Olá, a local brand of Unilever’s ice cream business. The company believed that launching Snapy, a wafer cookie, in Jumbo supermarket, had the potential to increase revenues and contribute to the firm’s growth. However, a category dominated by private labels and competitors such as Mondelez, and the lack of knowledge of branding nuances may impose significant challanges. The strategies followed by Progelcone are an interesting subject of discussion. The Case Study can be used within strategic management and marketing courses, and includes topics of diversification, brand positioning, the empowerment of private labels and retailers’ bargaining power. This thesis includes a literature review, plus a teaching note that focused on the improvement of the company’s strategy.Sob a orientação do seu fundador, Artur Catarino, a Progelcone iniciou a sua atividade em 1983 como pioneira na produção de cones para gelado em Portugal. Limitada pela sazonalidade que caracterizava a indústria do gelado, a Progelcone alargou o seu escopo e tornou-se a principal fornecedora de produtos relacionados a gelados e embalagens de plástico para a indústria de food-service. Em 2013, a empresa já recuperava da crise económica, que diminuiu a capacidade financeira dos seus clientes e contribuiu para o excesso de capacidade produtiva da empresa. Apesar de atingir vendas de €12,6 milhões no canal Horeca em 2013, a Progelcone foi confrontada com um grande desafio em 2014. Além do forte impacto da sazonalidade, a Progelcone perdeu o seu maior cliente, a Olá, uma marca local do negócio dos gelados da Unilever. A empresa acreditava que o lançamento da Snapy, uma bolacha wafer, no supermercado Jumbo tinha o potencial de aumentar as receitas e contribuir para o crescimento da empresa. No entanto, uma categoria dominada por marcas de distribuição e concorrentes como a Mondelez, e a falta de conhecimento de gestão de marcas podem impor desafios significativos. As estratégias seguidas pela Progelcone são um tema interessante de discussão. O Caso de Estudo pode ser utilizado em cursos de estratégia e marketing, incluindo tópicos como diversificação, positionamento, o crescente poder das marcas próprias e o poder de negociação dos retalhistas. Esta Tese inclui uma revisão de literatura e uma nota de ensino focada na melhoria da estratégia da empresa

Fears of compassion in a depressed population: Implication for psychotherapy

Background: While psychological therapies for depression have advanced in the last 20 years, still many people respond only partially and remain vulnerable to relapse. Insight into the limitations of our psychological therapies might be obtained from recent research that has revealed, in nonclinical populations, that some people can be fearful of positive emotions especially affiliative and compassion-focused ones. Aims: This study explores the fears of compassion in a clinical population and their associations with selfcriticism, self-compassion and depression, anxiety and stress. Method: 53 depressed patients completed a series of self-report scales. Results: Fears of compassion, particularly for oneself and from others, were strongly linked to self-criticism, depression, anxiety and stress, and negatively associated with self-compassion and self-reassurance. Conclusions: Since compassion and the affiliative emotions associated with compassion play a fundamental role in emotion regulation, individuals who are blocked or fearful of accessing these emotions are likely to be struggle with emotional regulation and the psychotherapeutic process. Research on the fears of compassion and affiliative emotions suggests these are important therapeutic targets.N/

Fears of negative emotions in relation to fears of happiness, compassion, alexithymia and psychopathology in a depressed population: A preliminary study

Abstract Objectives: While fears of negative or aversive emotions are linked to experiential avoidance and psychopathology, recent studies have also focused on the relation between psychopathology and fear of positive emotions. This study explores 1. which negative emotions of anger, anxiety and sadness on most feared and avoided and 2. the links between fears and avoidance of negative emotions, with fears of positive and affiliative emotions, alexithymia, and self-reported depression anxiety and stress. Method: A new scale was developed to measure fears of three negative emotions anxiety anger and sadness. 52 participants suffering from moderate to severe depression completed this measure, along with fear of happiness, fears of compassion, alexithymia and psychopathology. Results: Interestingly fears of negative emotions were not correlated with each other; in other words one can be frightened of one negative emotion but not another. The correlation between the fear of an emotion and the avoidance of that emotion was different for the three negative emotions, with fear of anger being the most strongly linked to its avoidance. Fear of sadness was the only feared ‘negative’ emotion associated with depression. Fear of sadness and fear of anger, but not anxiety also linked to fears of positive emotions and alexithymia. Conclusions: Fears of (so called) negative emotions vary in terms of the degree to which people are fearful of them and avoid them. Importantly it was sadness, a neglected emotion in the studies of emotion avoidance, which accounted for the higher proportion of variance for depression and alexithymia.N/

The schwartz center rounds: supporting mental health workers with the emotional impact of their work.

In healthcare settings there is an emotional cost to caring which can result in compassion-fatigue, burnout, secondary trauma and compromised patient care. Innovative workplace interventions such as the Schwartz Rounds offer a group reflective practice forum for clinical and non-clinical professionals to reflect on the emotional aspects of working in healthcare. Whilst the Rounds are established in medical health practice, this study presents an evaluation of the Rounds offered to mental health services. The Rounds were piloted amongst 150 mental health professionals for 6 months and evaluated using a mixed-methods approach with standardised evaluation forms completed after each Round and a focus group (n=9) at one-month follow-up. This paper also offers a unique six-year follow-up of the evaluation of the Rounds. Rounds were rated as helpful, insightful, relevant and at six years follow-up Rounds were still rated as valuable and viewed as embedded. Focus groups indicated that Rounds were valued because of the opportunity to express emotions (in particular negative emotions towards patients that conflict with the professional care-role), share experiences, and feel validated and supported by colleagues. The findings indicate that Schwartz Rounds offer a positive application in mental healthcare settings. The study supports the use of interventions which provide an ongoing forum in which to discuss emotions, develop emotional literacy, provide peer-support and set an intention for becoming a more compassionate organisation in which to work.N/

Devices used for photobiomodulation of the brain-a comprehensive and systematic review

A systematic review was conducted to determine the trends in devices and parameters used for brain photobiomodulation (PBM). The revised studies included clinical and cadaveric approaches, in which light stimuli were applied to the head and/or neck. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases were used for the systematic search. A total of 2133 records were screened, from which 97 were included in this review. The parameters that were extracted and analysed in each article were the device design, actuation area, actuation site, wavelength, mode of operation, power density, energy density, power output, energy per session and treatment time. To organize device information, 11 categories of devices were defined, according to their characteristics. The most used category of devices was laser handpieces, which relate to 21% of all devices, while 28% of the devices were not described. Studies for cognitive function and physiological characterisation are the most well defined ones and with more tangible results. There is a lack of consistency when reporting PBM studies, with several articles under defining the stimulation protocol, and a wide variety of parameters used for the same health conditions (e.g., Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease) resulting in positive outcomes. Standardization for the report of these studies is warranted, as well as sham-controlled comparative studies to determine which parameters have the greatest effect on PBM treatments for different neurological conditions.This work was supported by the project PTDC/EME-EME/1681/2021—Brain-StimMap, with DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/PTDC/EME-EME/1681/2021, and by the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia), under the reference projects UIDB/04436/2020 and UIDP/04436/2020. Sofa Oliveira and Francisca Monteiro thank FCT for their grant UI/BD/150951/2021 and UI/BD/09735/2020, respectively. Susana Catarino thanks FCT for her contract funding provided through 2020.00215.CEECIND, with DOI: https://doi.org/10.54499/2020.00215.CEECIND/CP1600/CT000

Compassion motivations: Distinguishing submissive compassion from genuine compassion and its association with shame, submissive behavior, depression, anxiety and stress

Abstract Recent research has suggested that being compassionate and helpful to others is linked to well-being. However, people can pursue compassionate motives for different reasons, one of which may be to be liked or valued. Evolutionary theory suggests this form of helping may be related to submissive appeasing behavior and therefore could be negatively associated with well-being. To explore this possibility we developed a new scale called the submissive compassion scale and compared it to other established submissive and shame-based scales, along with measures of depression, anxiety and stress in a group of 192 students. As predicted, a submissive form of compassion (being caring in order to be liked) was associated with submissive behavior, shame-based caring, ego-goals and depression, anxiety, and stress. In contrast, compassionate goals and compassion for others were not. As research on compassion develops, new ways of understanding the complex and mixed motivations that can lie behind compassion are required. The desire to be helpful, kind, and compassionate, when it arises from fears of rejection and desires for acceptance, needs to be explored.N/

Influence of ultrasound stimulation on the viability, proliferation and protein expression of osteoblasts and periodontal ligament fibroblasts

Among the adjunctive procedures to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement (OTM), ultrasound (US) is a nonsurgical form of mechanical stimulus that has been explored as an alternative to the currently available treatments. This study aimed to clarify the role of US in OTM by exploring different stimulation parameters and their effects on the biological responses of cells involved in OTM. Human fetal osteoblasts and periodontal ligament fibroblasts cell lines were stimulated with US at 1.0 and 1.5 MHz central frequencies and power densities of 30 and 60 mW/cm2 in continuous mode for 5 and 10 min. Cellular proliferation, metabolic activity and protein expression were analyzed. The US parameters that significantly improved the metabolic activity were 1.0 MHz at 30 mW/cm2 for 5 min and 1.0 MHz at 60 mW/cm2 for 5 and 10 min for osteoblasts; and 1.0 MHz at 30 mW/cm2 for 5 min and 1.5 MHz at 60 mW/cm2 for 5 and 10 min for fibroblasts. By stimulating with these parameters, the expression of alkaline phosphatase was maintained, while osteoprotegerin synthesis was induced after three days of US stimulation. The US stimulation improved the biological activity of both osteoblasts and periodontal ligament fibroblasts, inducing their osteogenic differentiation.This in vitro study was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) in the scope of the grants UI/BD/150951/2021 and UI/BD/09375/2020, the funding contract 2020.00215.CEECIND (DOI: 10.54499/2020.00215.CEECIND/CP1600/CT0009) and through the projects UIDB/04436/2020, UIDP/04436/2020, FunFibRai—PTDC/EME-EME/4197/2021 (DOI: 10.54499/PTDC/EME-EME/4197/ 2021), BrainStimMap—PTDC/EME-EME/1681/2021 (DOI: 10.54499/PTDC/EME-EME/1681/2021), AlignAgen-GI2-CESPU-2022 and UID/CTM/00264/2021 project of 2C2T under the COMPETE and FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), co-financed by FEDER through the PT2020 program

Effect of adding a compassion-focused intervention on emotion, eating and weight outcomes in a commercial weight management programme

This study examined whether adding a compassion-focused light touch digital intervention into a commercial multicomponent weight management programme improved eating behaviour, self-evaluation and weight-related outcomes. The compassion intervention significantly reduced binge eating symptomatology and dropout, and improved psychological adjustment and self-evaluation, but did not affect weight outcomes. Compassion, self-reassurance and reductions in shame and self-criticism mediated the effect of the intervention on reductions of binge eating symptomatology. Negative self-evaluation, binge eating symptomatology, susceptibility to hunger and eating guilt were significant predictors of dropout. Findings suggest that compassion-based digital tools may help participants better manage binge eating symptomatology and self-evaluation in weight management interventions.Slimming Worl

A recuperação do Centro Comercial Solátia

Mestrado em MarketingEste trabalho é, um Plano de Marketing para a recuperação do Centro Comercial Solátia. Para tal, foi feita uma pesquisa para tentar encontrar soluções a alguns dos problemas existentes, e tentar perceber quais são os melhores procedimentos a adoptar para atingir aquele objectivo. Foram inquiridos 51 clientes. Desde o início da década de 2000 este centro comercial tem vindo a quebrar, de um modo geral as principais causas foram: o aparecimento de grandes centros comerciais nas proximidades, e as crises económicas da década de 2000. Estas situações têm contribuído para uma redução do volume de vendas das lojas existentes ou mesmo para o encerramento de outras lojas. A pesquisa foi de caracter exploratório. Trata-se de um estudo cujo método é misto, ou seja, quantitativo e qualitativo. As técnicas de recolha de dados utilizadas foram o questionário e entrevistas não estruturadas. As grandes conclusões da pesquisa são de que os clientes gostam deste centro comercial mas gostariam de ter uma maior oferta de lojas, de produtos e de um ou mais pontos de atracção. Muitos afirmaram que, caso estas situações ocorressem, frequentariam mais o centro comercial, uma vez que de um modo geral, residem ou trabalham nas proximidades, e por este motivo preferiam ter mais comércio perto de si. Pretende-se posicionar este centro comercial como um centro comercial local que oferece uma diversidade de produtos e serviços de qualidade e criar condições atractivas para os clientes. Este projecto permitiu perceber a importância do Marketing e da Comunicação neste centro comercial.This is a Marketing Plan for the recovery of Solátia Shopping Center (Centro Comercial Solátia). To be able to do so a research has been made search is to try for solutions to some real problems, of "Centro Comercial Solátia", and to try to understand what are the best ways to proceed to get to this objective. 51 clients have been inquired. Since the 2000 decade this shopping center has been decaying. Main causes were the construction of big shoppings nearby, and economics crisis of decade 2000. These situations have contributed to reduction of volume of sales of existent shops or the closing of others. The research is exploratory. Its a mixed study, because is quantitive and qualitative. The techniques used to collect data was a questionnaire (in paper) and unstructured interviews. The most relevant conclusions of the research are that customers like this shopping center but would like to have more variety of shops and products and one attraction point. Some customers state that if these situations would occur they would go there more times, because the majority of them lives or works nearby. The purpose is positioning this shopping center as local shopping center, that offers a variety of products and services of quality and to create attractive conditions for costumers. This project helps to understand the importance of Marketing and Communication in this shopping center.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio