The impact of attention on wines' purchase intention: the moderating role of awards and consumption situations

On every supermarket shelf, wines compete for consumers’ attention, which is decisive in consumers’ final choice. This investigation aims at clarifying the impact that wines’ labels have on individuals’ attention and how that can determine purchase intention. Simultaneously, it is evaluated the impact and the role that quality perceptions and desire have on inducting purchase behaviors. Besides, it is investigated the role of wine awards and the consumption situation as moderators of such relationships. Thirty-nine individuals participated in an experiment based on a 2 x 2 design (awarded/not awarded x self-consumption/social-consumption). For each scenario individuals’ attention, perceptions of quality, desire and purchase intentions were recorded. Data from eye-tracking shows that, the amount of attention given to a bottle is determinant of individuals’ purchase intentions, a relationship that increases in significance for bottles with awards and for when consumers are buying wine for a consumption situation involving a social environment. Also, both quality perceptions and desire were confirmed to positively influence wines’ purchase intentions. It was verified that attention moderates the relationship between quality perception and purchase intention in the case of awarded wines. Nevertheless, for self-consumption situations, desire is more determinant for purchase intentions, while for social consumption situations quality perception is more significant, due to the increased weight that individuals give to quality when buying for those situations. By using an eye monitoring method, this thesis brings fresh and new insights to the wine industry by highlighting the impact that wines’ labels and different consumption situations have on individuals’ attention and purchase intention.Em qualquer prateleira de supermercado, diferentes garrafas de vinho competem pela atenção dos consumidores, a qual é decisiva na escolha final dos mesmos. Esta investigação visa esclarecer o impacto que os rótulos dos vinhos têm na atenção dos indivíduos e como esta, a perceção de qualidade e o desejo podem determinar a intenção de compra. Simultaneamente, é avaliado o papel que os prémios e as situações de consumo têm como moderadores de tais relações. Trinta e nove indivíduos participaram numa experiência, baseada num desenho 2 x 2 (premiado/não premiado x consumo-próprio/consumo social). Para cada cenário, a atenção, perceção de qualidade, desejo e intenção de compra foram registados. Os dados recolhidos através de eye-tracking evidenciam que a atenção dada a uma garrafa é determinante na intenção de compra do indivíduo, a qual aumenta no caso de garrafas com prémios e quando os consumidores compram para uma situação de consumo social. Verificou-se ainda que a perceção de qualidade e o desejo influenciam a intenção de compra de vinho e que a relação entre esta e a perceção de qualidade é moderada pela no caso de vinhos premiados. Para situações de consumo próprio, o desejo é mais provável de determinar a intenção de compra, enquanto que para situações de consumo sociais a perceção de qualidade é mais importante. Através do uso de um método de monitoramento ocular, esta dissertação traz novos conhecimentos à indústria do vinho, colocando em evidência o impacto que a presença de prémios e as diferentes situações de consumo têm na atenção e intenção de compra dos indivíduos

Influence of tow duration and tooth length on the number of damaged razor clams Ensis siliqua

The incidence of shell damage due to dredging was studied in the bivalve Ensis siliqua off Lagos, on the south coast of Portugal. Three tow durations (1, 3 and 5 min) and 2 tooth lengths (30 and 40 cm) were investigated. Both factors affected the proportion of damaged individuals. The increase of tooth length results in lower proportions of damaged razor clams. An increase in tow duration increased total numbers caught but also increased the proportion of damaged clams. It is suggested that dredges with 40 cm teeth and tows of 1 min duration should be used in this fishery, although experiments should be undertaken in order to evaluate the environmental and ecological impact of dredges

Riscos ocupacionais derivados de poluição ambiental (ruído) na atividade de seixeira e a qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores

A exposição a níveis elevados de ruído pode causar perdas auditivas irreversíveis, além de outras complicações fisiológicas que podem ser detectadas a longo prazo. Assim, este trabalho objetiva avaliar os riscos ocupacionais derivados do agente físico ruído oriundo de atividades de uma seixeira em Capitão Poço-PA e a qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores envolvidos nesse contexto. Para tal, foram aplicados questionários semiestruturados a 26 trabalhadores, em setembro de 2020, sendo investigados quatro domínios: físico, psicológico, ambiental e social. O instrumento Whoqol-bref foi estruturado com 26 questões, cujo objetivo era aferir a qualidade de vida do entrevistado. O perfil socioeconômico dos trabalhadores mostrou uma média de idade entre 34 e 39 anos, baixo nível de escolaridade, sendo a maioria do sexo masculino. Constatou-se que os trabalhadores estavam expostos a ruídos acima do limite de tolerância previsto em lei e, apesar do uso de protetores auriculares, as taxas de decibéis detectadas no local ainda não são ideais diante do que a literatura científica sugere como adequadas para a preservação da saúde. Quanto à qualidade de vida, os menores escores foram observados para o domínio ambiental, com destaque para questões relativas à remuneração e à disponibilidade para o lazer. O domínio físico foi o que melhor contribuiu para a qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores. Assim, compreende-se que existem riscos físicos ligados ao barulho no local de estudo, evidenciando, portanto, a necessidade de desenvolver estudos mais aprofundados, além dos efeitos causados por agentes físicos (ruído), como forma de validar os achados desta pesquisa

Citologia nasal na abordagem da rinite alérgica e não alérgica

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2018Este trabalho foi realizado para estabelecer um ponto de situação em relação ao papel da Citologia Nasal na abordagem aos doentes com patologia rinológica, dando particular ênfase à abordagem dos casos de Rinite Alérgica e não Alérgica. A citologia nasal é um procedimento simples e seguro e um método válido no diagnóstico diferencial de patologia nasal alérgica e não alérgica. Avalia a mucosa nasal pela identificação e contagem de tipos celulares e respectiva morfologia, permitindo deste modo distinguir entre aspectos normais e patológicos da mucosa. A sua importância crescente tem sido reconhecida, apesar de certas limitações – ausência de critérios/método uniforme, viscosidade do muco a impedir uma fácil obtenção da amostra ou a heterogeneidade de secreções observadas, por exemplo. Foram abordados os aspectos fisiológicos observados, isto é, os padrões observados em indivíduos saudáveis. Nestes indivíduos, devem estar presentes apenas quatro tipos de células: ciliadas, mucinosas, basais e estriadas, com ocasional presença de neutrófilos, e sendo as células ciliadas o citotipo mais comum. A presença de qualquer outro tipo de células (como eosinófilos, mastócitos ou bactérias) indica claramente a existência de patologia. Nos casos de Rinite Alérgica, a Citologia Nasal é a técnica de confirmação diagnóstica se detectar presença de eosinófilos nas amostras de doentes com testes de provocação cutâneos positivos. Outro dos aspectos abordados relaciona-se com a definição de critérios entre o fisiológico e patológico, nomeadamente no que à eosinofilia diz respeito, pois a variedade de definições utilizadas em diferentes estudos vem dificultar o objectivo de estabelecer a Citologia Nasal como exame com valor diagnóstico. Apesar deste dado, já foi demonstrado que o número de eosinófilos se correlaciona fortemente com o fluxo nasal e inversamente com os resultados espirométricos, verificando-se também uma forte associação com a hiperreactividade brônquica, o número de células inflamatórias, e com o número de citocinas detectadas. A Citologia Nasal permite dividir os tipos de Rinite em Alérgica e não Alérgica. A Rinite não alérgica subdivide-se em não Inflamatória e Inflamatória, identificando-se nesta última quatro fenótipos celulares diferentes. São eles os Síndromes NARES, NARMA, NARNE e NARESMA, com predomínio de eosinófilos, mastócitos, neutrófilos e eosinófilos e mastócitos em conjunto, respectivamente. De realçar também a possibilidade de existência de formas sobrepostas destas diferentes patologias, dando ainda maior importância à técnica de Citologia Nasal. Foi também investigada a importância na abordagem terapêutica, chegando-se à conclusão que quanto mais sintomática a apresentação clínica e o estado pré-terapêutica, menos sintomas apresentaria após quatro semanas de corticoterapia tópica. O fenótipo mais sintomático de Rinite Alérgica foi o que melhor respondeu à terapêutica, com maior melhoria de resultados de testes funcionais e estado geral após a terapêutica. Apesar de todas as vantagens e utilidades anteriormente descritas, foram constatadas algumas limitações da técnica durantea a investigação, nomeadamente a ausência de diferenças significativas nos resultados de patologias ou conjuntos de sintomas francamente diferenciados, a ausência de critérios de classificação, diagnóstico ou cutoffs nos resultados obtidos, ou a indefinição da posição da técnica na “cascata diagnóstica” da patologia do foro rinológico. Em suma, as presentes utilidades da Citologia Nasal são numerosas mas representam pouca diferença na abordagem diagnóstica ou terapêutica dos doentes. Existe uma grande necessidade de investigação futura sobre este tema, tal como de standardização da técnica pois, apesar de ter recolhido pouca adesão nas décadas desde que foi desenvolvida, apresenta um potencial enorme nomeadamente quando aliada à técnica de endoscopia de contacto ou eventuais marcadores moleculares como acontece com a utilização de técnicas de citologia noutras áres da clínica.This paper aimed to establish the current situation concerning the role of Nasal Cytology on the approach to patients with nose pathology, giving particular emphasis to cases of allergic and non allergic rhinitis. Nasal cytology is a simple and safe procedure and a valid method in the differential diagnosis of allergic and non allergic nasal pathology. It evaluates nasal mucosa through the identification and counting of celular types and their respective morphology, allowing to distinguish between physiologic and pathologic findings. Its importance has been recognized, in spite of having several limitations – there are no uniform methods or criteria defined and some samples are hard to collect, for instance. In healthy individuals, four cellular types have been identified – cilliated, mucinous, basal and striated cells, with the rare presence of neutrophils. The cilliated cells are the most common type. The presence of any other type of cells (eosinophils, mast cells, bacteria, ...) is a clear proof that we are dealing with pathologic findings. In the cases of allergic rhinitis, the nasal cytology confirms the diagnosis if it detects eosinophils in patients with positive skin prick tests. NasaL cytology allows us to divide rhinitis’ types between allergic and non allergic. Non allergic rhinitis subdivides, with the help of the nasal cytology findings, in inflamatory and non inflamatory, and the first subgrop further subdivides in NARES, NARMA, NARNE and NARESMA. We must emphasize that these different pathologic fenotypes can coexist, raising the importance of this technique. The technique’s importance in the treatment of these diseases was also investigated, and we concluded that the more symptomatic the oresentation is, the less symptoms are presente after a few weeks of corticotherapy. In conclusion, present utilities of nasal cytology have a wide range but represent little or no difference in the treatment choice for the patients. There is a great need for standardization of this method, as there is also need for future investigation on this area because it comes with a big potential when performed with the contact endoscopy technique or with the use of molecular markers like what happened with the cytology use in other medical areas

Hybrid multisite silicon neural probe with integrated flexible connector for interchangeable packaging

Multisite neural probes are a fundamental tool to study brain function. Hybrid silicon/polymer neural probes combine rigid silicon and flexible polymer parts into one single device and allow, for example, the precise integration of complex probe geometries, such as multishank designs, with flexible biocompatible cabling. Despite these advantages and benefiting from highly reproducible fabrication methods on both silicon and polymer substrates, they have not been widely available. This paper presents the development, fabrication, characterization, and in vivo electrophysiological assessment of a hybrid multisite multishank silicon probe with a monolithically integrated polyimide flexible interconnect cable. The fabrication process was optimized at wafer level, and several neural probes with 64 gold electrode sites equally distributed along 8 shanks with an integrated 8 µm thick highly flexible polyimide interconnect cable were produced. The monolithic integration of the polyimide cable in the same fabrication process removed the necessity of the postfabrication bonding of the cable to the probe. This is the highest electrode site density and thinnest flexible cable ever reported for a hybrid silicon/polymer probe. Additionally, to avoid the time-consuming bonding of the probe to definitive packaging, the flexible cable was designed to terminate in a connector pad that can mate with commercial zero-insertion force (ZIF) connectors for electronics interfacing. This allows great experimental flexibility because interchangeable packaging can be used according to experimental demands. High-density distributed in vivo electrophysiological recordings were obtained from the hybrid neural probes with low intrinsic noise and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).This work has been funded by: national funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)—projects UIDB/50026/2020 and UIDP/50026/2020; the projects NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000013 (“PersonalizedNOS—New avenues for the development of personalized medical interventions for neurological, oncologic and surgical disorders”) and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023 (“FROnTHERA—Frontiers of technology for theranostics of cancer, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases”), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); ICVS Scientific Microscopy Platform, member of the national infrastructure PPBI— Portuguese Platform of Bioimaging (PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122); FCT project PTDC/MEDNEU/ 28073/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028073); and The Branco Weiss fellowship—Society in Science, (ETH Zurich)

Regional and temporal changes in bivalve diversity off the south coast of Portugal

12 pages, 8 figures.-- Printed version published Dec 10, 2008.From 2000 to 2006, a total of 75 bivalve species were identified, varying from 29 (spring 2001) to 54 species (spring 2005) per year. Seasonal tendencies in diversity varied according the year, thus the interpretation of long-term and regional scales is essential before drawing any conclusions in other studies. Richness and diversity consistently decreased with depth and increased with sediment grain size (from low in very coarse sand to high in coarse silt). Diversity decreased progressively from 3 to 16 m depth, thus the harsher shallower environments (due to waves and tidal air exposure) showed greater diversity than the most stable areas. Communities in finer sediments were more diverse than those in coarser sand. Evenness showed patterns opposite to diversity, overall.Diversity and evenness maps (produced with multivariate universal kriging), showed that most geographic areas with greater diversity were farer from river outflows and wastewater treatment plants. Two types of geographic pattern were observed: areas with persistently greater bivalve diversity through time and areas that changed locally from year to year. This spatial analysis can be used to establish priority conservation areas for management purposes, and to analyse the persistency of regional diversity patterns. The area with most habitat heterogeneity (Sotavento) corresponded to greatest diversity.There was a positive relationship between Spisula solida and Chamelea gallina landings and bivalve diversity 2 years and 1 year later, respectively. Possibly, local fisheries, by selectively withdrawing the commercial numerically dominant species from the ecosystem, increased diversity 1 to 2 years later, as the ecological niches of the dominants are quickly filled by several other species thereby creating a more even community. On regional scales, no significant impact was found on long-term bivalve diversity in local fisheries.This work was part of an MMR Post-doc program financed by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia BPD /14935/ 2004.Peer reviewe

An experimental study of gill net and trammel net 'ghost fishing' off the Algarve (southern Portugal)

Four 100 m lengths of both monofilament gill nets and trammel nets were deployed at depths between 15 and 18 m off the coast of the Algarve (south of Portugal) between April 1995 and June 1996. The nets were set on a natural rocky bottom with one end cut loose to simulate lost nets. Changes in net structure (net height, effective fishing area, movement, colonisation, wear and tear) and their catches (species, sizes, numbers, and biomass) were monitored by divers. Similar patterns were observed in all the nets, with a sharp decrease in net height and effective fishing area, and an increase in visibility within the first few weeks. Net movement was negligible except in the case of interference from other fishing gears. Catch rates were initially comparable to normally fished gill nets and trammel nets in this area, but decreased steadily over time. No sea birds, reptiles or mammals were caught in any of the 8 nets. Catches were dominated by fish (89 % by number, at least 27 species), in particular by sea breams (Sparidae) and wrasses (Labridae). Under the conditions experienced throughout the study the fishing Lifetime of a 'lost' net is between 15 and 20 wk. Based on an exponential model, we estimated that 100 m lengths of gill net and trammel net will catch 314 and 221 fish respectively over a 17 wk period. However, we consider this to be an underestimate due to high rates of predation and scavenging by octopuses, cuttlefish, moray eels, conger eels, and other fish such as the wrasse Coris julis. When the nets were surveyed in the following spring, 8 to 11 mo after being deployed, they were found to be completely destroyed or heavily colonised by algae and had become incorporated into the reef

Regional and temporal changes in bivalve diversity off the south coast of Portugal

12 pages, 8 figures.-- Printed version published Dec 10, 2008.From 2000 to 2006, a total of 75 bivalve species were identified, varying from 29 (spring 2001) to 54 species (spring 2005) per year. Seasonal tendencies in diversity varied according the year, thus the interpretation of long-term and regional scales is essential before drawing any conclusions in other studies. Richness and diversity consistently decreased with depth and increased with sediment grain size (from low in very coarse sand to high in coarse silt). Diversity decreased progressively from 3 to 16 m depth, thus the harsher shallower environments (due to waves and tidal air exposure) showed greater diversity than the most stable areas. Communities in finer sediments were more diverse than those in coarser sand. Evenness showed patterns opposite to diversity, overall.Diversity and evenness maps (produced with multivariate universal kriging), showed that most geographic areas with greater diversity were farer from river outflows and wastewater treatment plants. Two types of geographic pattern were observed: areas with persistently greater bivalve diversity through time and areas that changed locally from year to year. This spatial analysis can be used to establish priority conservation areas for management purposes, and to analyse the persistency of regional diversity patterns. The area with most habitat heterogeneity (Sotavento) corresponded to greatest diversity.There was a positive relationship between Spisula solida and Chamelea gallina landings and bivalve diversity 2 years and 1 year later, respectively. Possibly, local fisheries, by selectively withdrawing the commercial numerically dominant species from the ecosystem, increased diversity 1 to 2 years later, as the ecological niches of the dominants are quickly filled by several other species thereby creating a more even community. On regional scales, no significant impact was found on long-term bivalve diversity in local fisheries.This work was part of an MMR Post-doc program financed by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia BPD /14935/ 2004.Peer reviewe