Estudo exploratório sobre o comportamento das mulheres no mercado dos vinhos

Mestrado em MarketingEste estudo centra-se no comportamento das mulheres no mercado dos vinhos em Portugal, com o objetivo de identificar os atributos mais valorizados no momento de escolha de um vinho e compreender os hábitos de compra e de consumo das consumidoras femininas. A metodologia adotada foi qualitativa, com recurso a entrevistas em profundidade a uma amostra de 15 mulheres consumidoras de vinho, com idades compreendidas entre os 23 e os 35 anos. Os resultados do estudo indicam que os atributos mais valorizados no momento da compra são o preço, a região de origem e a recomendação de amigos e familiares. Relativamente aos hábitos de compra, as mulheres compram vinho nos supermercados devido ao preço, acessibilidade, variedade, descontos, promoções e conveniência. As mulheres utilizam como estratégias principais de redução do risco de compra a recomendação de amigos e familiares e o seu próprio conhecimento. Em relação ao consumo, verifica-se que as ocasiões mais propícias ao consumo de vinho são as refeições, nomeadamente em momentos de convívio com os amigos e com a família, sendo que o tipo de vinho preferido das mulheres é o vinho tinto. A identificação e a compreensão das preferências das mulheres é de extrema importância, uma vez que faculta indicações aos profissionais de vinho como devem ir ao encontro das expectativas das consumidoras de vinho.This study is based on women's behaviour in the wine market in Portugal, aiming to identify the most valued attributes when women choose wine and understand the purchasing and consumption habits of female consumers. The methodology adopted was qualitative, using in-depth interviews to a sample of fifteen women that consume wine, aged between 23 to 35 years old. The results of this study show that the most valued attributes at the time of purchase are the price, the region of origin and the recommendation of friends and relatives. As regards the purchase habits, women buy wine in supermarkets due to the price, accessibility, variety, discounts, promotions and convenience. Women use as main strategies to reduce the purchasing risks, the recommendation of friends and relatives and their own knowledge. Concerning the consumption, it turns out that the most suitable occasions to consume are meals, especially in moments of conviviality with friends and family, being the red wine the women's favourite. The identification of understanding of women's preferences is extremely important, since it provides indications to wine professionals how to meet the expectations of female consumers

Aumento de la concentración de elementos traza en tejidos de la almeja Ruditapes decussatus trasplantada a zonas influenciadas por actividades humanas (ría Formosa, Portugal)

To examine the extent to which human activities near the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon influence the accumulation of trace elements (TE) in Ruditapes decussatus, individuals were transplanted from a natural bank located in the lower lagoon to three sites located in clam growth grounds under the influence of a small city (Faro), a fish farming centre (Olhão) and a site near the lagoon inlet (Lavajo). Concentrations were determined in substrate of the clam grounds and in the digestive gland, gills, mantle plus siphons, and remaining tissues of clams in four periods of the year. These measurements were accomplished with the monthly survey of the gametogenic stages, condition index, proteins, glycogen, total lipids, pH and osmolarity of hemolymph. Arsenic, Cu, Mn, V, Cr and Pb were preferentially linked to the digestive gland, while Cd was linked to the gills. TE concentrations in the digestive gland and remaining tissues were higher in winter, most likely reflecting additional inputs associated with rain. The lack of disruptions in biological parameters and the prolonged period of spawning and gonad recovery in clams suggest that the current TE availability in the lagoon has a minor influence on the reproductive cycle and hence on clam production.Para examinar en qué medida las actividades humanas cercanas a la laguna costera ría Formosa influyen en la acumulación de elementos traza (ET) en Ruditapes decussatus, se trasplantaron individuos desde un banco natural situado en la parte baja de la laguna a tres sitios localizados en zonas de cultivo de almejas bajo la influencia de una ciudad pequeña (Faro), un centro piscícola (Olhão) y cerca de la entrada de una laguna (Lavajo). Se determinaron las concentraciones de ET en el substrato de locales y en la glándula digestiva, branquias, manto más sifones, y en los tejidos restantes de las almejas en cuatro períodos a lo largo de un año. Estas mediciones fueron realizadas con el estudio mensual de las etapas gametógenas, índice de condición, proteínas, glicóneo, lípidos totales, pH y osmolaridad de la hemolinfa. El As, Cu, Mn, V, Cr y Pb fueron relacionados preferencialmente a la glándula digestiva, mientras que el Cd fue a las branquias. La concentración de ET en la glándula digestiva y los tejidos restantes fue más elevada en invierno, probablemente reflejando los aportes adicionales asociados con la lluvia. La falta de alteraciones de los parámetros biológicos, el período prolongado de desove y la recuperación de las gónadas en las almejas sugieren que la disponibilidad actual de ET en la laguna tienen una influencia menor durante el ciclo reproductivo y, por lo tanto, en la producción de almejas

Posture Risk Assessment in an Automotive Assembly Line using Inertial Sensors

Publisher Copyright: AuthorMusculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are a highly prevalent work-related health problem. Biomechanical exposure to hazardous postures during work is a risk factor for the development of MSD. This study focused on developing an inertial sensor-based approach to evaluate posture in industrial contexts, particularly in automotive assembly lines. The analysis was divided into two stages: 1) a comparative study of joint angles calculated during movements of the upper body segments using the proposed motion tracking framework and the ones provided by a state-of-the-art inertial motion capture system and 2) a work-related posture risk evaluation of operators working in an automative assembly line. For the comparative study, we selected data collected in laboratory (N = 8 participants) and assembly line settings (N = 9 participants), while for the work-related posture risk evaluation, we only considered data acquired within the automotive assembly line. The results revealed that the proposed framework could be applied to track industrial tasks movements performed on the sagittal plane, and the posture evaluation uncovered posture risk differences among different operators that are not considered in traditional posture risk assessment instruments.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Is food insecurity related to health-care use, access and absenteeism?

© The Authors 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedObjective: Food insecurity (FI) is defined as uncertain access to healthy food in quantity and quality. We hypothesize that FI may be associated with greater health-care use and absenteeism because it may amplify the effect of diseases; also, FI may be associated with reduced health-care access because it reflects economic vulnerability. The present study estimates the association between FI and health-care use and access, and absenteeism. Design: Cross-sectional data collected in 2015-2016. Health-care use was measured as the number of consultations, taking any drug and having been hospitalized in the past year. Health-care access was measured by the suspension of medication and having fewer consultations due to financial constraints. Absenteeism was measured by the weeks of sickness leave. Binary variables were modelled as a function of FI using logistic regressions; continuous variables were modelled as a function of FI using negative binomial and zero-inflated negative binomial regressions. Covariates were included sequentially. Setting: Portugal. Participants: Non-institutionalized adults from the EpiDoc3 cohort (n 5648). Results: FI was significantly associated with health-care use before controlling for socio-economic conditions and quality of life. Moderate/severe FI was positively related to the suspension of medicines (adjusted OR = 4·68; 95 % CI 3·11, 6·82) and to having fewer consultations (adjusted OR = 3·98; 95 % CI 2·42, 6·37). FI and absenteeism were not significantly associated. Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that FI reflects precariousness, which hinders access to health care. The greater use of health care among food-insecure people is explained by their worse quality of life and lower socio-economic condition, so that the specific role of poor nutrition is unclear.This study was funded by a NOVASaude unrestricted research grant; and the Public Health Initiatives Programme (PT06), financed by EEA Grants Financial Mechanism 2009–2014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Validation of quantitative gait analysis systems for Parkinson’s disease for use in supervised and unsupervised environments

© The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Background: Gait impairments are among the most common and impactful symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Recent technological advances aim to quantify these impairments using low-cost wearable systems for use in either supervised clinical consultations or long-term unsupervised monitoring of gait in ecological environments. However, very few of these wearable systems have been validated comparatively to a criterion of established validity. Objective: We developed two movement analysis solutions (3D full-body kinematics based on inertial sensors, and a smartphone application) in which validity was assessed versus the optoelectronic criterion in a population of PD patients. Methods: Nineteen subjects with PD (7 female) participated in the study (age: 62 ± 12.27 years; disease duration: 6.39 ± 3.70 years; HY: 2 ± 0.23). Each participant underwent a gait analysis whilst barefoot, at a self-selected speed, for a distance of 3 times 10 m in a straight line, assessed simultaneously with all three systems. Results: Our results show excellent agreement between either solution and the optoelectronic criterion. Both systems differentiate between PD patients and healthy controls, and between PD patients in ON or OFF medication states (normal difference distributions pooled from published research in PD patients in ON and OFF states that included an age-matched healthy control group). Fair to high waveform similarity and mean absolute errors below the mean relative orientation accuracy of the equipment were found when comparing the angular kinematics between the full-body inertial sensor-based system and the optoelectronic criterion. Conclusions: We conclude that the presented solutions produce accurate results and can capture clinically relevant parameters using commodity wearable sensors or a simple smartphone. This validation will hopefully enable the adoption of these systems for supervised and unsupervised gait analysis in clinical practice and clinical trials.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhanced trace element concentrations in tissues of the clam <em>Ruditapes decussatus</em> transplanted to areas influenced by human activities (Ria Formosa, Portugal)

To examine the extent to which human activities near the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon influence the accumulation of trace elements (TE) in Ruditapes decussatus, individuals were transplanted from a natural bank located in the lower lagoon to three sites located in clam growth grounds under the influence of a small city (Faro), a fish farming centre (Olhão) and a site near the lagoon inlet (Lavajo). Concentrations were determined in substrate of the clam grounds and in the digestive gland, gills, mantle plus siphons, and remaining tissues of clams in four periods of the year. These measurements were accomplished with the monthly survey of the gametogenic stages, condition index, proteins, glycogen, total lipids, pH and osmolarity of hemolymph. Arsenic, Cu, Mn, V, Cr and Pb were preferentially linked to the digestive gland, while Cd was linked to the gills. TE concentrations in the digestive gland and remaining tissues were higher in winter, most likely reflecting additional inputs associated with rain. The lack of disruptions in biological parameters and the prolonged period of spawning and gonad recovery in clams suggest that the current TE availability in the lagoon has a minor influence on the reproductive cycle and hence on clam production

HERA - Environmental Risk Assessment of a contaminated estuarine environment: a case study

Sado River estuary is located in the west coast of Portugal. Previous environmental studies identified industrial contamination, non-point anthropogenic sources and contamination coming from the river, all promoting accumulation of polluted sediments with known impacts on the ecological system. Surrounding human populations have intense economic fishery activities. Together with agriculture, estuary fishing products are available to local residents. Food usage previously characterized through ethnographic studies suggests exposure to estuarine products, farming products, and water in daily activities, as potential routes of contamination. It is well established that long term exposure to heavy metals are associated with renal and neurological diseases, most heavy metals are classified as carcinogenic and teratogenic.Instituição Financiadora: FCT; Instituições participantes: IMAR -Instituto do Mar (coord.)e PRÓ-INSA, Associação para a Promoção da Investigação em Saúde, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorg