Os efeitos das reclamações online na lealdade dos consumidores: um estudo experimental

In an environment of constant change, technological developments, market competition and more informed consumers, the search for a lasting relationship through the conquest of loyalty has become the objective of companies. However, several authors suggest that this loyalty can be affected by negative comments available on the internet. Therefore, this dissertation has as objective to examine if the complaints are available on the internet impact the loyalty to a brand of mobile phone. The research used as the basis the Expanded NCSB model suggest by Johnson et al. (2001), studying five prominent drives of loyalty: image/brand reputation, affective commitment, calculative commitment, perceived value and trust, beyond the satisfaction construct as moderator variable. The research method adopted was the experimental design which included 285 undergraduate students, with the trial which included 285 undergraduate students, with the field study of the mobile industry, specifically, the brands of cell phones. The research approach was quantitative and methods were descriptive statistics, factor analysis, cluster analysis, linear regression and non-parametric test of Wilcoxon for data analysis. Of the 16 hypothesis stemmed from the research model proposed, 12 were confirmed. The results showed that the complaint available on the internet, here represented by the available on the site Reclame Aqui, may impact consumer perceptions about brand loyalty, as well as its antecedents, being that these complaints can affect all the consumers, regardless of historical satisfaction with the brand. It also noted the positive relationship between the independent variables trust, image/brand reputation, perceived value, affective commitment and calculative commitment and the dependent variable - loyalty, even when considering the data obtained after exposure to the complaint. However, no unanimous conclusion that the relationship between these variables was strongest in the group with satisfactory experience. At the first moment of the research, the trust was the most important variable for the formation of loyalty. However, after exposure to treatment, the image/brand reputation, was more relevant. Contributions of the study, limitations and recommendations for future researches are approached in the present investigation

Estudo das interações polifenol-proteína e das reações de escurecimento não-enzimático para o processamento de cajuína

The cashew, a fruit from Brazilian Northeast is used to produce juice due to its flavor and vitamin C richness. However, its acceptance is limited due to its astringency. Cajuína is a derivate product appreciated by its characteristic flavor, freshness and lack of astringency, due to tannin removal. Cajuína is a light yellow beverage made from clarified cashew juice and sterilized after bottling. It differs from the integral and concentrated juice by the clarification and thermal treatment steps. Many problems such as haze and excessive browning could appear if these steps are not controlled. The objective of this work was divided into two stages with the aim to supply process information in order to obtain a good quality product with uniform characteristics (sensory and nutritional). Polyphenol-protein interaction was studied at the clarification step, which is an empirical process, to provide values on the amount of clarifying solution (gelatin) that must be added to achieve a complete juice clarification. Clarification essays were performed with juice dilutions of 1:2 and 1:10 and the effect of metabissulfite and tannic acid addition was evaluated. It was not possible to establish a clarification point. Metabissulfite did not influenced the clarification process however tannic acid addition displaced the clarification point, showing the difficulty visual monitoring of the process. Thermal treatment of clarified juice was studied at 88, 100, 111 e 121 °C. To evaluate the non-enzymatic browning, vitamin C, 5-hidroximetilfurfural (5-HMF) and sugar variation were correlated with color parameters (reflectance spectra, color difference and CIELAB). Kinetic models were obtained for reflectance spectra, ascorbic acid and 5-HMF. It was observed that 5-HMF introduction followed a first order kinetic rate at the beginning of the thermal treatment and a zero order kinetic at later process stages. An inverse correlation was observed between absorbance at 420 nm and ascorbic acid degradation, which indicates that ascorbic acid might be the principal factor on cajuína non-enzymatic browning. Constant sugar concentration showed that this parameter did not contribute directly to the nonenzymatic browning. Optimization techniques showed showed that to obtain a high vitamin C and a low 5-HMF content, the process must be done at 120 ºC. With the water-bath thermal treatment, the 90 °C temperature promoted a lower ascorbic acid degradation at the expense of a higher 5-HMF level

Criação da matéria em cosmologias com velocidade da luz variável e eletrônico não-linear

In this work we obtain the cosmological solutions and investigate the thermodynamics of matter creation in two diferent contexts. In the first we propose a cosmological model with a time varying speed of light c. We consider two diferent time dependence of c for a at Friedmann-Robertson- Walker (FRW) universe. We write the energy conservation law arising from Einstein equations and study how particles are created as c decreases with cosmic epoch. The variation of c is coupled to a cosmological Λ term and both singular and non-singular solutions are possible. We calculate the "adiabatic" particle creation rate and the total number of particles as a function of time and find the constrains imposed by the second law of thermodynamics upon the models. In the second scenario, we study the nonlinearity of the electrodynamics as a source of matter creation in the cosmological models with at FRW geometry. We write the energy conservation law arising from Einstein field equations with cosmological term Λ, solve the field equations and study how particles are created as the magnetic field B changes with cosmic epoch. We obtain solutions for the adiabatic particle creation rate, the total number of particles and the scale factor as a function of time in three cases: Λ = 0, Λ = constant and Λ α H2 (cosmological term proportional to the Hubble parameter). In all cases, the second law of thermodynamics demands that the universe is not contracting (H ≥ 0). The first two solutions are non-singular and exhibit in ationary periods. The third case studied allows an always in ationary universe for a suficiently large cosmological term

Recuperação e purificação do antígeno 503 de Leishmania i. chagasi expresso em E. coli e remoção de endotoxina utilizando adsorção em leito expandido

The growing interest and applications of biotechnology products have increased the development of new processes for recovery and purification of proteins. The expanded bed adsorption (EBA) has emerged as a promising technique for this purpose. It combines into one operation the steps of clarification, concentration and purification of the target molecule. Hence, the method reduces the time and the cost of operation. In this context, this thesis aim was to evaluate the recovery and purification of 503 antigen of Leishmania i. chagasi expressed in E. coli M15 and endotoxin removal by EBA. In the first step of this study, batch experiments were carried out using two experimental designs to define the optimal adsorption and elution conditions of 503 antigen onto Streamline chelating resin. For adsorption assays, using expanded bed, it was used a column of 2.6 cm in diameter by 30.0 cm in height coupled to a peristaltic pump. In the second step of study, the removal of endotoxin during antigen recovery process was evaluated employing the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114 in the washing step ALE. In the third step, we sought developing a mathematical model able to predict the 503 antigen breakthrough curves in expanded mode. The experimental design results to adsorption showed the pH 8.0 and the NaCl concentration of 2.4 M as the optimum adsorption condition. In the second design, the only significant factor for elution was the concentration of imidazole, which was taken at 600 mM. The adsorption isotherm of the 503 antigen showed a good fit to the Langmuir model (R = 0.98) and values for qmax (maximum adsorption capacity) and Kd (equilibrium constant) estimated were 1.95 mg/g and 0.34 mg/mL, respectively. Purification tests directly from unclarified feedstock showed a recovery of 59.2% of the target protein and a purification factor of 6.0. The addition of the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114 to the washing step of EBA led to high levels (> 99%) of LPS removal initially present in the samples for all conditions tested. The mathematical model obtained to describe the 503 antigen breakthrough curves in Streamline Chelanting resin in expanded mode showed a good fit for both parameter estimation and validation steps. The validated model was used to optimize the efficiencies, achieving maximum values of the process and of the column efficiencies of 89.2% and 75.9%, respectively. Therefore, EBA is an efficient alternative for the recovery of the target protein and removal of endotoxin from an E. coli unclarified feedstock in just one step.

Os efeitos das reclamações online na lealdade dos consumidores: um estudo experimental

In an environment of constant change, technological developments, market competition and more informed consumers, the search for a lasting relationship through the conquest of loyalty has become the objective of companies. However, several authors suggest that this loyalty can be affected by negative comments available on the internet. Therefore, this dissertation has as objective to examine if the complaints are available on the internet impact the loyalty to a brand of mobile phone. The research used as the basis the Expanded NCSB model suggest by Johnson et al. (2001), studying five prominent drives of loyalty: image/brand reputation, affective commitment, calculative commitment, perceived value and trust, beyond the satisfaction construct as moderator variable. The research method adopted was the experimental design which included 285 undergraduate students, with the trial which included 285 undergraduate students, with the field study of the mobile industry, specifically, the brands of cell phones. The research approach was quantitative and methods were descriptive statistics, factor analysis, cluster analysis, linear regression and non-parametric test of Wilcoxon for data analysis. Of the 16 hypothesis stemmed from the research model proposed, 12 were confirmed. The results showed that the complaint available on the internet, here represented by the available on the site Reclame Aqui, may impact consumer perceptions about brand loyalty, as well as its antecedents, being that these complaints can affect all the consumers, regardless of historical satisfaction with the brand. It also noted the positive relationship between the independent variables trust, image/brand reputation, perceived value, affective commitment and calculative commitment and the dependent variable - loyalty, even when considering the data obtained after exposure to the complaint. However, no unanimous conclusion that the relationship between these variables was strongest in the group with satisfactory experience. At the first moment of the research, the trust was the most important variable for the formation of loyalty. However, after exposure to treatment, the image/brand reputation, was more relevant. Contributions of the study, limitations and recommendations for future researches are approached in the present investigation