Analysis of member retention in fitness through satisfaction, attributes perception, expectations and well-being

The objective of this study was to understand how attributes perception, expectations, well-being and satisfaction influence membership retention in fitness clubs. To what extent do the perception of the service attributes by the members; the expectations, what is expected from a certain service; the well-being, pleasant feeling of body and mind; and the satisfaction, contentment of needs and desires, influence retention in fitness clubs. Data from a sample of 2,250 fitness club members were collected from a Fitness Network; statistical analysis included descriptive and inferential analysis. The inferential study was based on factor analysis involving extraction of principal components with Varimax. Path analysis was subsequently performed, through multiple linear regressions and analytical model representation. It was observed that well-being in the club is the variable with the largest causal effect on membership retention, followed by the facilities and equipment, expectations and, less relevantly, human resources, and finally innovation and services. The results indicate that fitness clubs should focus on club maintenance, offer suitable and modern facilities and equipment, and strive to cultivate strong customer relationships, in order to provide a pleasant experience to club members and increase the duration of their training sessions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The role of university-firm relations to foster regional development: evidence from Brazilian Amazon

The role of universities for the innovation process of countries or regions had been widely explored. In lagged regions becomes a reference not only for qualification and research but concentrates brains and fixes qualified people. This paper analyses innovation and especially the interaction of firms with universities and research institutes, as strategy to face the low internal investment capacity in innovation. Our focus is the ultra-peripheral region of Brazilian Amazon and it is part of a larger research project which investigates these interactions internationally. The interest in studying these interactions in Brazil are based on findings that the investments in R&D by the private sector are low, and the national (and thus regional) innovation systems are immature (Albuquerque, 1998). Data was collected based on a questionnaire applied to firms, adapted by Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil from the Carnegie Mellon (Cohen, 2002) and Yale Surveys (Klevorick, 1995) on firms' interaction. The sample was taken from a database of university-based research groups registered in CNPq (national agency of research funding), that declared some kind of innovative relationship with firms. Although, the interaction between universities and firms has been considered crucial for the development of innovation, we found very few interactions resulting in a low complementary role or even substitute R&D efforts of these firms. Results show that the continuous interactions between firms and university are restricted to agronomy, energy, electrical and mining engineering. And that the role of university in leading the process is not sufficient to suppress the peripheral condition of the Amazon region

Estudo de caracterização de adultos idosos dependentes de substâncias

Mestrado em Psicologia - Psicologia Clínica e da SaúdeO principal objetivo da presente dissertação é caracterizar os utentes ativos do CRIA, com 50 anos ou mais, sociodemográficamente; relativamente aos consumos e do ponto de vista clínico, comparando-os consoante o programa de tratamento de manutenção opióide em que se inserem. O crescente envelhecimento da população traz novos desafios, como o envelhecimento da população com perturbações pelo uso de substâncias (EMCDA, 2010). Este grupo tem estado a aumentar e espera-se que continue até pelo menos 2020 (Han, Gfroerer, Colliver, & Penne, 2009). Apesar disso, o desconhecimento do fenómeno é grande e são necessários mais estudos, especialmente devido às vulnerabilidades específicas desta faixa etária. Dos 102 utentes ativos, desta faixa etária, 71 reúnem as condições necessárias para participar no estudo e 42 realizaram a avaliação psicológica. A bateria de avaliação consistiu nos seguintes instrumentos: BSI, MOCA, IAFAI, GDS e WHOQOL-Bref e a análise de dados foi realizada através do SPSS – Versão 20. Foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os dois programas de tratamento no MOCA, no WHOQOL-Bref (domínio 2 e 4) e no IAFAI (IE). Em todos esses casos o programa de manutenção com metadona obteve piores resultados clínicos que o programa de manutenção com buprenorfina. A amostra global diferiu significativamente da população normal no WHOQOL-Bref (domínio geral), obtendo piores resultados de qualidade de vida; e em alguns domínios do BSI, obtendo melhores resultados de sintomatologia psicológica. Apesar das diferenças encontradas, a amostra encontra-se melhor do que seria de esperar face ao contexto de vida em que se insere.The main goal of this dissertation is to characterize the active patients of the CRIA, with 50 or more years, social and demographically; in respect to their consumption and clinically, comparing them according to the program of opioid maintenance treatment received by them. The growing aging of the general population brings new challenges such as the increase of the age population with substance use disorders (EMCDA, 2010). This group has been increasing and is expected to continue until at least 2020 (Han, Gfroerer, Colliver, & Penne, 2009). Nevertheless, the ignorance of this phenomenon is huge and more studies are largely necessary, especially due to the specific vulnerabilities of this age group. Of the 102 active patients in this age group, 71 meet the necessary conditions for participating in the study and 42 underwent psychological evaluation. The assessment battery consisted of the following instruments: BSI, MOCA, IAFAI, GDS and WHOQOL-Bref and data analysis was performed using SPSS - Version 20. Significant differences between the two treatment programs were found at MOCA, WHOQOL-Bref (domain 2 and 4) and IAFAI (IE). In all these cases the methadone maintenance program got worse clinical outcomes than the buprenorphine maintenance program. The global sample differed significantly from the normal population in the WHOQOL-Bref (general domain), showing worst results of quality of life; and in some domains of the BSI, obtaining better results of psychological symptomatology. Despite those differences the sample is better than expected due the life context in which they are embedded

Multiresponsive supramolecular systems for information processing at the molecular level

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Química SustentávelInformation processing at the molecular level requires systems able to move between several states under control of specific inputs. Flavylium salts (2-phenyl-1-benzopyrylium salts)analogues of naturally occurring anthocyanin dyes, are a versatile family of molecules that illustrates the multistate/multiresponsive concept. On the basis of the pH and light dependent network of chemical reactions of the flavylium network, different forms can be obtained by external stimuli exhibiting different properties. The research work developed in the framework of this PhD thesis aimed the synthesis and study of multiresponsive covalently linked supramolecular systems, based on a flavylium unit coupled redox-active and/or metal-complexing moieties. It is intended to increase the number of stimuli in the complex network of flavylium, including electrons and metal ions besides protons and photons (flavylium). In an initial study, two new benzopyrylium salts with directly attached metalcomplexing groups were synthesized and characterized (Chapter 2). The electrical stimulus was introduced with a viologen (Chapter 3) and finally redox- and photoactive units such as Ru(II)polypyridyl complexes (Chapter 4) are discussed. Regarding their possible applications as model compounds to optical memories, it is expected to achieve with these new systems a larger number of states, which allow increased functionality and versatility

Fitness industry: the influence of service attributes in membership renewal

Nowadays there are several scientific researches about factors that encourage intention to renew and consequently promote retention. Alexandris, Zahariadis, Tsorbatzoudis & Grouios (2004) consider expectations and the influence of satisfaction in retention with Murray and Howat (2002). Green (2005) focuses on motivation for the participation and commitment in physical activity. Bodet (2006) mentions that the quality is related to the member perception of results. Although the service attributes don´t have the same value and consequently don’t have the same influence in satisfaction (Bodet, 2006), it is necessary to understand the more significant attributes

A new model for explaining long-range correlations in human time interval production

Time series displaying long-range correlations have been observed in numerous fields, such as biology, psychology, hydrology, and economics, among others. For rhythmic movements such as tapping tasks, the Wing–Kristofferson model offers a decomposition of the inter-response intervals based on a cognitive component and on a motor component. It has been suggested that the cognitive component should be modeled as a long- memory process and the motor component should be treated as a white noise process. Some probabilistic explanations for long-range dependences have been proposed, such as the aggregation of short-memory processes, the renewal-reward processes, and the error-duration processes. A new approach to the Wing–Kristofferson model which provides insights into the origin of long memory based on regime-switching processes is proposed. Under some assumptions, the autocorrelation function and the spectral density function of the model are obtained. Furthermore, an estimator of the parameters based on the maximization of the frequency-domain representation of the likelihood function is proposed. A simulation study evaluating the sample properties of this estimator is performed. Finally, an experimental study involving tapping tasks with two target frequencies is presented.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Parameterized estimation of long-range correlation and variance components in human serial interval production

Parameterized estimation of long-range correlation and variance components in human serial interval production Repetitive movements lead to isochronous serial interval production which exhibit inherent variability. The Wing-Kristofferson model offers a decomposition of the interresponse intervals in tapping tasks based on a cognitive component and on a motor component. We suggest a new theoretical and fully parametric approach to this model in which the cognitive component is modeled as a long-memory process and the motor component is treated as a white noise process, mutually independent. Under these assumptions, we obtained the autocorrelation function and the spectral density function. Furthermore, we propose an estimator based on the maximization of the frequency-domain representation of the likelihood function. Finally, we conducted a simulation study to assess the properties of this estimator and performed an experimental study involving tapping tasks with two target frequencies (1.250 Hz and 0.625 Hz) .info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lithics in a Mesolithic Shell Midden: New Data from Poças de São Bento (Portugal).

The development, since 2010, of a research project on the Mesolithic of the Sado valley has provided new insights into the study of the lithic technology of the last hunter-gatherer societies. The new excavations carried out at Poças de São Bento shell midden, one of the largest and richest sites identified in the Sado valley, include a protocol for the systematic recovery and recording of archaeological remains, including the water sieving of all the excavated sediments. Therefore, as the new lithic materials do not suffer from any excavation or previous selection bias, it is possible to characterize raw material resources, lithic reduction strategies, tool production and functional areas in a more reliable approach. Selecting a specific excavation area and two different stratigraphic units for analyses allowed us to evaluate site integrity and to test some conventional interpretations concerning tool production and discard. Besides the common lithic blanks (flakes and bladelets) and tools (geometric armatures) already known from previous archaeological works, the analysed sample showed an unsuspected amount of non-characteristic debris, which was underrepresented in the collections of the 1950s, 1960s and even the 1980s. This fact is not exclusively related to the applied recovery methods; it also relates to the existence of intra-site variability (different functional areas) as recent investigations at the shell midden seem to indicate.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio