The impact of brand gender on consumer-brand engagement and consumer-based brand equity on Facebook

In this research, we investigate how two distinct and universal dimensions of brand personality - brand masculinity and brand femininity - which constitute the two dimensions of brand gender (Grohmann 2009) influence consumer-brand engagement on Facebook. Another critical aim is to investigate the relationship between brand masculinity and brand femininity perceptions and consumer-based brand equity, on Facebook

Solidarity and responsibility as a framework for the COVID-19 response in the European Union – the European Green Deal is a path?

Recognised as an ambitious step, the European Green Deal guides the application of European Union policies not only in the environmental field, but also in other areas that may directly or indirectly interfere with human health and environmental sustainability, with the aim of transforming climate challenges and environmental issues in applicable opportunities. With the COVID-19 crisis, major challenges have emerged and aggravated extant problems in the most varied societies. In the European Union’s context, the impact of the new pandemic stood out, especially at the beginning, showing different responses by the Member States, in a disorderly and isolated way between one border and another, which highlighted when it would be placed in practice. Member States´ solidarity and responsibility to work together towards an economic and social recovery plan is critical in order to keep European project alive. Therefore, in an attempt to reinforce the link between solidarity and responsibility among Member States, the European Union uses the Green Deal to respond to the crisis through a recovery that has common objectives around the sustainability and well-being of its citizens

Brand mergers: How attitudes influence consumer identity preferences

In the context of a merger, management of corporate brand names and logos assumes a critical role. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the corporate brand redeployment decision. This study analyses how consumers’ attitudes towards the corporate brands influence their preferences regarding the different branding strategies. Results suggest that the preference for a monolithic alternative is only clearly supported when one of the partners in the merger is a weak partner. When the merger involves two familiar brands, there is a tendency among consumers to combine elements of both brands’ identity. Finally, it is concluded that the affective and behavioural dimension of attitude towards the brand have a significant influence on consumers’ preferences

The impact of naturalness on affective response to logo design: A cross-national study

Literature concerned with logo strategy suggests that the aesthetic appeal of brand logos significantly influences consumer responses. Yet, despite the fact that companies invest significant amounts of time and money promoting, updating and changing their logos, empirical studies of logo design issues are rare. In particular, there is little systematic research on the effect of logo design across different cultures. The main purpose of this research is to address the communalities and asymmetries between consumer responses to logo design across cultures. In particular, we focus on the influences of different types of natural designs on consumers’ affective responses in three different countries, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands. Findings should provide relevant contributions for multinational companies since logos are critical brand identity sings and they tend to be used in an unaltered form in new markets

Do Inflation-linked Bonds Contain Information about Future Inflation?

There is a widespread belief that inflation-linked bonds are a direct source of information about inflation expectations. In this paper we address this issue by analyzing the relationship between break-even inflation (the difference between nominal and real yields) and future inflation. The dataset is extracted from Brazilian Treasury bonds covering the period from April 2005 to July 2010. We find that break-even inflation is an unbiased forecast only of the 3-month and 6-month ahead inflation. For medium horizons (12 and 18 months) break-even inflation has weak explanatory power of future inflation. Over long horizons (24 and 30 months), we report a significant, but counterintuitive, negative relationship between the break-even and realized inflations.

Técnicas de previsão: aplicação a redes celulares

Due to the growing competitiveness and aggressiveness of the market, the network operators’ strategy is increasingly based on improving infrastructures and optimizing existing resources, in a way that provides the best experience to the user. To do this, the operator analyzes the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and uses forecasting methods to predict and plan the modifications needed in the network. With this as basis, this work focuses on the study and analysis of different forecasting methods and their implementation in Python, so that the operator can obtain automate real-time predictions of the future behavior of his network.Devido ao aumento da competitividade e agressividade do mercado, cada vez mais a estratégia dos operadores de redes móveis passa pelo melhoramento das infraestruturas e otimização dos recursos já existentes, de modo a proporcionar a melhor experiência aos seus utilizadores. Para isto, recorrem à análise de indicadores chave de desempenho (KPIs) e ao uso de métodos de previsão para prever e planear alterações a realizar na sua rede. Tendo isto como base, esta dissertação foca-se no estudo e análise de diferentes métodos de previsão e sua implementação em Python, de maneira a obter previsões do futuro comportamento da rede em tempo real e de forma automatizada.Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicaçõe

RISK FACTORS AND CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT OF LOW BACK PAIN

Low back pain is common and causes more burden in terms of years lived with disability than any other health condition globally. In most cases, the patho-anatomical cause of low back pain cannot be determined. Less commonly, specific spinal pathologies can be identified as the cause of low back pain, including conditions involving neurologic compromise, such as sciatica and lumbar spinal stenosis. Despite extensive research over the past decades, questions remain in terms of the underlying mechanisms, risk factors, and current treatment options for these conditions. The broad aim of this thesis, therefore, is to contribute to a better understanding of factors associated with low back pain onset and the safety and efficacy of contemporary management strategies. Risk factors associated with the onset of a new episode of low back pain can be divided into those involving long-term exposure (e.g., smoking) and those involving transient or brief exposure to the risk factor (e.g., a fall). A recent case-crossover study identified that commonly endorsed physical and psychosocial triggers (e.g., awkward postures, distracted during an activity) increase substantially the risk of sudden onset low back pain, with odds ratios ranging from 2.7 to 25.0. This study focussed on triggers for an acute episode of low back pain and did not consider the triggers that increased the risk of an episode of longer duration. This is an important issue as most of the costs of low back pain are associated with persistent cases. The study presented in Chapter Two includes the 12-month follow-up of this case-crossover study and examined the association between the previously identified triggers and the risk of a low back pain episode that persisted for greater than six weeks. This study was based on data from 782 patients presenting to primary care clinics for a new episode of low back pain, who were successfully followed-up. Conditional logistic regression models suggested that previously identified psychosocial and physical triggers, such as being fatigued or tired during an activity or manual tasks involving awkward postures, increased the risk of persistent episodes of low back pain, with odds ratios (OR) ranging from 2.9 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3–6.4) to 11.7 (95% CI: 5.4–25.3). The results were similar to those for acute episodes of low back pain, suggesting that controlling exposures to these triggers may prevent not only the cases of low back that resolve within six weeks, but also the cases that persist, which are believed to cause the greatest burden of this condition. While a great proportion of patients with low back pain experience recovery within six weeks, recurrence of low back pain is common. However, estimates of recurrence within one year range from 26% to 84%. Part of this variability can be attributed to different definitions of episodes of low back pain used across studies. Moreover, only a few studies have used appropriate methodology to investigate predictors of recurrence. The study presented in Chapter Three determined the 1-year incidence of recurrence in participants who had recently recovered from an acute episode of low back pain, and identified predictors of future recurrences. This was an inception cohort study with 12 months follow-up. Recurrence was defined based on a 12-month recall of a new episode of pain or a new episode of care seeking with data from 469 participants. The 1-year incidence of recurrence of low back pain was 33%, and the recurrence rate for a new episode of care seeking for low back pain was 18%. Multivariable regression analysis revealed that having more than two previous episodes of low back pain increased the odds of a future recurrence by 3.2 (95% CI: 2.1–4.8). This factor was also associated with recurrent episodes of care seeking (OR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.7–4.8). No other factors were associated with recurrence. This study contributes to the lack of research on recurrence of low back pain. Patients with low back pain seeking primary health care are often recommended paracetamol as the first line analgesic medication. This medicine is also widely used to treat osteoarthritis. However, a randomised trial published in 2014 concluded that paracetamol was ineffective for acute low back pain, and there was also conflicting evidence for its use in osteoarthritis. The systematic review with meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials presented in Chapter Four investigated the safety and efficacy of paracetamol in patients with low back pain, as well as neck pain, or osteoarthritis. Searching eight databases revealed 13 trials that met the inclusion criteria. Pain and disability scores were converted to a 0 to 100 scale, and a 9-point threshold was used to define smallest worthwhile effect. Pooling showed no effects of paracetamol on pain (mean difference [MD]: –0.5, 95% CI: –2.9 to 1.9) or disability (MD: 0.4, 95% CI: –0.9 to 1.7) for acute low back pain. No trials investigated the effects of paracetamol for patients with neck pain. Paracetamol had small and not clinically important effects for osteoarthritis in pain relief (MD: –3.7, 95% CI: –5.5 to –1.9) or disability reduction (MD: –2.9, 95% CI: –4.9 to –0.9). Patients taking paracetamol were 3.8 times (95% CI: 1.9– 7.4) more likely to have abnormal test results of liver function compared with placebo. The results of this systematic review support the reconsideration of recommendations to use paracetamol for these conditions. The study was published with an editorial and has received various prizes, including the BMJ 1st prize for the most accesses in 2015. The impact of withdrawing recommendations for paracetamol from clinical guidelines of low back pain is that the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), second line analgesic, is set to increase. A comprehensive review and appraisal of the literature on the efficacy and safety of NSAIDs was therefore paramount. Moreover, the effects of NSAIDs for some forms of spinal pain, such as acute low back pain and neck pain, remain uncertain. Chapter Five, therefore, presents a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials that aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of NSAIDs for low back pain, as well as neck pain, with or without radicular pain. Systematic searches were conducted in five large databases and 35 randomised trials were included in the review. Pain and disability outcomes were converted to a 0 to 100 scale, and a between-group difference of 10 points was used as the smallest worthwhile effect. Numbers needed to treat were also calculated providing the number of participants treated with NSAIDs who would achieve a clinically important pain reduction compared with placebo. Pooling revealed that for every six participants (95% CI: 4 to 10) treated with NSAIDs, only one would benefit from it, considering a between-group difference of 10 points (i.e., compared with placebo) for clinical importance in the short-term. Moreover, only in three of the 14 analyses looking at different types of spinal pain, outcomes, or time points were the pooled treatment effects marginally above our threshold for clinical importance. Additionally, taking NSAIDs increased the risk of developing gastrointestinal adverse events by 2.5 times (95% CI: 1.2–5.2). The initial management of low back pain usually focuses on conservative treatments, including analgesic medications. When conservative treatments are unsuccessful, surgery may be considered. Sciatica is a common indication for spine surgery, but at present the clinical course of this condition following surgery remains largely unknown. Therefore, the systematic review with meta-analysis of cohort studies presented in Chapter Six investigated the clinical course of pain and disability in patients who had surgery for sciatica. The searches were conducted in three large databases and 40 publications (39 cohort studies) were included. Pain and disability scores were converted to a common 0 to 100 scale and modelled as a function of time. Generalised estimating equations revealed that the pooled mean leg pain intensity before surgery was 75.2 (95% CI: 68.1 to 82.4) and the mean disability was 55.1 (95% CI: 52.3 to 58.0). Pooled mean leg pain (15.3, 95% CI: 8.5 to 22.1) and disability (15.5, 95% CI: 13.3 to 17.6) reduced substantially after three months. At five years, patients still reported moderate levels of leg pain (21.0, 95% CI: 12.5 to 29.5) and disability (13.1, 95% CI: 10.6 to 15.5). These findings suggest that patients with sciatica experience rapid improvements in the first three months after surgery, but are not likely to experience full recovery (i.e., absence of pain or disability) in the long-term. Lumbar spinal stenosis is the fastest-growing indication for spine surgery among older people. However, surgeons usually rely on their own preferences to decide on the best surgical technique for their patient. The systematic review and meta-analysis presented in Chapter Seven investigated the efficacy of surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis, and the effectiveness of various surgical options for this condition. The searches conducted on seven databases revealed limited evidence, as no surgical placebo-controlled trials were found. The 24 randomised trials included in the review compared various surgical options for lumbar spinal stenosis. Pain and disability scores were converted to a 0 to 100 scale. Pooling suggested that fusion offered no additional benefits over decompression surgery alone on pain (MD: –0.3, 95% CI: –7.3 to 6.7) or disability (MD: 3.3, 95% CI: –6.1 to 12.6). The interspinous process spacers alone were not more effective than conventional decompression in pain relief (MD: –0.6, 95% CI: –8.1 to 7.0) or disability reduction (MD: 1.3, 95% CI: –4.5 to 7.0), but showed small effects when compared with decompression plus fusion on disability (MD: 5.7, 95% CI: 1.3 to 10.0). This review was originally published in PLoS ONE in 2015, but has since then been updated and published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, presented in this thesis as an appendix. The updated results provide current evidence on the surgical options for lumbar spinal stenosis, and could be used to guide clinical decision-making in this contentious area. Even though the effects of surgical procedures for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis remain unclear, the rates of fusion procedures have increased in the United States in recent times. It is unknown, however, whether these trends are happening elsewhere. Moreover, further information on complications could better inform surgeons, referring physicians, and patients about risks of surgical procedures. The population-based health record linkage study presented in Chapter Eight determined the trends in hospital admission and surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis in Australia, and investigated associated complications and health care use. The Centre for Health Record Linkage was used to link data of admissions, discharges, and transfers records from all public and private hospitals in New South Wales between 2003 and 2013. In one decade, the age-standardised rate of hospital admissions for lumbar spinal stenosis increased from 34.8 to 39.3 per 100,000 people. In 2013, the total costs for lumbar spinal stenosis were AU $46.1 million. Decompression rates increased from 19.0 to 22.1 per 100,000 people during 2003–2013, while the rates of simple fusion doubled, from 1.3 to 2.8 per 100,000 people. The most significant increase, however, occurred for complex fusion, from 0.6 to 2.4 per 100,000 people – a 4-fold increase in the same 10-year period. Mean hospital costs with decompression surgery were AU$12,168, while simple and complex fusion cost AU $30,811 and AU$32,350, respectively. Complex fusion procedures increased the odds of major complications by 4.1 (95% CI: 1.7–10.1) compared with decompression alone. This study confirms that in Australia the number of complex fusion procedures is increasing at a much faster rate than any other surgical procedure for lumbar spinal stenosis, though it is associated with increased risk of major complications and resource use. Overall, the studies presented in this thesis provide a substantial contribution to the understanding of the mechanisms and risk factors of low back pain. The identification of transient risk factors for persistent low back pain could help develop better preventive strategies. Although a great proportion of patients experience recovery within six weeks, it is now clear that a third is expected to have a recurrence, with multiple previous episodes being the only significant predictor of future recurrences. This thesis also contributes to a better understanding of current management strategies for low back pain. Paracetamol is ineffective for acute low back pain, but NSAIDs provide small effects in pain relief and disability reduction. Recommendations in clinical practice guidelines on pharmacological interventions should be reviewed. Although patients refractory to conservative treatments are frequently referred to surgery, the postoperative clinical course of sciatica is not as favourable as previously thought. Furthermore, despite the lack of evidence on surgical options for lumbar spinal stenosis, fusion surgery is increasing at an alarming rate in Australia

Design, personality traits and consumer responses to brand logos

Despite the relevance of logos as communication cues, empirical studies of logo design issues in marketing journals are still scarce (Peterson et al., 2015). This study seeks to address this research gap by examining consumers’ responses to logo design, and specifically to the different types of natural designs, at a behavioral and psychological level. Additionally, we explore whether socio-demographic variables and consumer personality traits are sources of differences in such reactions

How to stand out in the market: communication plan for a non-profit organization, APCA

With the Portuguese current economic crisis, more than ever, non-profit organizations are facing problems raising enough donations to stay active. APCA is a non-profit organization of animal’s protection that at the moment is facing this kind of challenge, needing to communicate with its target, to get the acknowledgement of their activities, not just as a non-profit organization but as a group of people that have a passion for animals and want to find families that will respect and love them. The communication plan for a non-profit organization should pay attention to budget limitations, as well as the efficient reach of the desired target, being essential let the customers know what kind of values and benefits they will gain by helping APCA. Online tools, social media as well sponsorships/partnerships are the well positioned tools for a non-profit organization communication plan.Com a atual crise económica em Portugal, mais do que nunca as organizações não lucrativas estão a enfrentar problemas em conseguir angariar donativos suficientes para se conseguirem manter estáveis no mercado. APCA é uma organização não lucrativa de proteção aos cães abandonados que está a enfrentar atualmente estes problemas precisando de comunicar com o seu público-alvo de modo a motivá-los e incentivá-los a ajudarem a APCA bem como para se apresentar e dar a conhecer a organização, não apenas como uma organização não lucrativa, mas sim como um conjunto de pessoas que são apaixonadas pelos animais e querem que estes encontrem uma família que os respeite e os ame. Sendo uma organização não lucrativa, o planeamento da comunicação deve ter em atenção as limitações de orçamento e a necessidade de eficácia e alcance ao público-alvo desejado, sendo essencial transmitir para a audiência-alvo, que benefícios e valores, APCA lhes podem oferecer. As ferramentas chave para o plano de comunicação neste tipo de organização, são: as ferramentas online, redes sociais bem como uma forte aposta em mecenatos/patrocínios das empresas lucrativas