Exploring attitudes and behavioral intention of brazilian consumers towards fair trade and fair trade products

As vendas globais de produtos FT cresceram de forma consistente nos últimos anos. De acordo com a FLO, as vendas cresceram de menos de € 1 bilhão em 2004 para cerca de € 5,5 bilhões em 2013. Apesar do movimento ainda estar engatinhando no Brasil, alguns esforços visando a institucionalização da FT estão sendo tomados. Por exemplo, o Schneider (2012) mostrou que existe um mercado potencial para os produtos FT no Brasil. Entretanto, ele ainda não é bem desenvolvido. Portanto, há uma necessidade de compreender melhor as variáveis que afetam a intenção de compra destes produtos. Estudos anteriores identificaram fatores que são considerados previsores de intenção de comprar produtos FT. Considerando esses fatores, o presente estudo tem como objetivo determinar as variáveis que estão mais relacionadas com a intenção de compra e disposição para pagar por produtos FT no Brasil. Com base nas respostas de 124 entrevistados, os resultados mostram que a intenção de compra de produtos FT no Brasil está ligada a atitudes de consumo éticas dos consumidores, o interesse e qualidade dos produtos, baixo ceticismo e percepção de relevância acerca do conceito FT. Os resultados também mostraram dois grupos antagônicos de consumidores a respeito de suas atitudes. O grupo dos "ativistas" tem atitudes positivas, de alta intenção de compra e disposição a pagar mais. Por outro lado, os "incrédulos" têm atitudes negativas, baixa intenção de compra e não estão dispostos a pagar mais. Com base nos resultados deste estudo, organizações e indivíduos que visam fomentar o mercado FT no Brasil podem entender melhor o consumidor e tomar decisões de marketing mais assertivas, considerando a relevância dos fatores que afetam a intenção de comprar, como também as diferenças entre os consumidores.

The Culture of entrepreneurship: a study of the entrepreneurial motivation and attitudes towards business creation in the UAE in comparison to the US and Brazil

This study demonstrates the cultural dimension and the surrounding environment of different entrepreneurs selected from three countries, the United States of America, the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates. The general objective is to understand the difference in the entrepreneurial motives and spirit towards venture creation from the three different countries. After conducting field research and collecting the required data, a deep analysis was conducted to draw a comparison between the three cultures from an individual’s point of view, to help shape a set of proposed recommendations, which could be used to improve the current culture of entrepreneurship in the UAE.

The impact of content marketing on attitudes and purchase intentions of online shoppers : the case videos & tutorials and user-generated content

This thesis was written as part of a Double-Degree Masters program in Management, with focus in Marketing. Aligned with the nature of the degree, this study aims to be a useful tool for managers and marketers, which conduct business online. This thesis is a study of Content Marketing in the content of online commercial product pages. Its aim is to understand how to use content marketing to drive conversion, by understanding consumer attitudes and purchase intention towards content. A in-depth study of existing theories and exploratory primary research was developed in other to attain these objectives. Business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C e-commerce) has provided consumers and online retailers with a more effective medium to perform online transactions through commercial websites. Although consumers have realized that the benefits of online shopping; such as time saving, minimizing effort, convenience, broader selection, and wider access to information, they are still greatly unwilling to shop online. Consumers shop essentially for two motives, to meet experiential (fun) or goal-oriented (efficiency) needs (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001). The information provided by content marketing seeks to focus on consumers need for information and entertainment, instead of focusing on the brand. Thus, it is expected that the type of content format will have different effects on the attitudes and purchase intention on the online shopper, depending on the online shopping purpose. Concretely, a goal-oriented shopper should find user generated content (UGC) to be more valuable content formats, since they decrease the amount of search effort. While on the other hand, videos & tutorials (VT) might be perceived as more valuable for a consumer looking to spend time and being entertained through online shopping. The exploratory research was characterized by a survey experiment with online consumers. Participants were exposed to stimuli of content marketing tested according to their attitudes and purchase intention. The focus was to understand the impact of two different content marketing tactics—User-generated content and Videos & Tutorials—on attitudes and purchase intentions and how they interact with content complexity. The results indicate that content marketing in commercial product pages is relevant in driving consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. Consumers are not motivated by a specific content marketing tactic, unless that content has a certain level of complexity. In that case, Ur-Generated Content becomes a relevant tactic in product pages, however VT is not.

Detection of Leptospira spp. in the semen and urine of bulls serologically reactive to Leptospira interrogans serovar hardjo

O presente trabalho avaliou a PCR na detecção de leptospiras em sêmen e urina de dez touros sorologicamente reagentes, comparando seus resultados com aqueles obtidos por outras técnicas de diagnóstico. Foram realizadas duas colheitas de materiais em dias alternados. As amostras de sêmen e de urina foram separadas em alíquotas para visualização direta em microscopia de campo escuro, inoculação em hamsters (apenas para o sêmen), isolamento em meio de cultura e PCR. Nenhum hamster apresentou positividade na prova de soroaglutinação microscópica (SAM); fragmentos de rins e fígado desses animais foram utilizados para a tentativa de isolamento em meio de cultura, sendo positivo o cultivo a partir do rim de hamster inoculado com semen de um touro, e do fígado de hamsters inoculados com o semen de três touros. O isolamento em meio de cultura foi negativo para todas as amostras de sêmen, mas foi positivo para cinco amostras de urina. Na PCR não houve resultado positivo para as amostras de sêmen, e apenas uma amostra de urina apresentou resultado positivo, sendo coincidente com uma das culturas positivas. Não foi possível visualizar leptospiras em nenhuma das amostras por exame direto em microscopia de campo escuro.

Extração do corante reactive blue 19 utilizando tensoativo não iônico

The generation of effluent from the finishing process in textile industry is a serious environmental problem and turned into an object of study in several scientific papers. Contamination with dyes and the presences of substances that are toxic to the environment characterize this difficult treatment effluent. Several processes have already been evaluated to remove and even degrade such pollutants are examples: coagulation-flocculation, biological treatment and advanced oxidative processes, but not yet sufficient to enable the recovery of dye or at least of the recovery agent. An alternative to this problem is the cloud point extraction that involves the application of nonionic surfactants at temperatures above the cloud point, making the water a weak solvent to the surfactant, providing the agglomeration of those molecules around the dyes molecules by affinity with the organic phase. After that, the formation of two phases occurred: the diluted one, poor in dye and surfactant, and the other one, coacervate, with higher concentrations of dye and surfactants than the other one. The later use of the coacervate as a dye and surfactant recycle shows the technical and economic viability of this process. In this paper, the cloud point extraction is used to remove the dye Reactive Blue from the water, using nonionic surfactant nonyl phenol with 9,5 etoxilations. The aim is to solubilize the dye molecules in surfactant, varying the concentration and temperature to study its effects. Evaluating the dye concentration in dilute phase after extraction, it is possible to analyze thermodynamic variables, build Langmuir isotherms, determine the behavior of the coacervate volume for a surfactant concentration and temperature, the distribution coefficient and the dye removal efficiency. The concentration of surfactant proved itself to be crucial to the success of the treatment. The results of removal efficiency reached values of 91,38%, 90,69%, 89,58%, 87,22% and 84,18% to temperatures of 65,0, 67,5, 70,0, 72,5 and 75,0°C, respectively, showing that the cloud point extraction is an efficient alternative for the treatment of wastewater containing Reactive Blue

Effect of therapeutic plasma concentrations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the production of reactive oxygen species by activated rat neutrophils

The release of reactive oxygen specie (ROS) by activated neutrophil is involved in both the antimicrobial and deleterious effects in chronic inflammation. The objective of the present investigation was to determine the effect of therapeutic plasma concentrations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the production of ROS by stimulated rat neutrophils. Diclofenac (3.6 µM), indomethacin (12 µM), naproxen (160 µM), piroxicam (13 µM), and tenoxicam (30 µM) were incubated at 37ºC in PBS (10 mM), pH 7.4, for 30 min with rat neutrophils (1 x 10(6) cells/ml) stimulated by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (100 nM). The ROS production was measured by luminol and lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence. Except for naproxen, NSAIDs reduced ROS production: 58 ± 2% diclofenac, 90 ± 2% indomethacin, 33 ± 3% piroxicam, and 45 ± 6% tenoxicam (N = 6). For the lucigenin assay, naproxen, piroxicam and tenoxicam were ineffective. For indomethacin the inhibition was 52 ± 5% and diclofenac showed amplification in the light emission of 181 ± 60% (N = 6). Using the myeloperoxidase (MPO)/H2O2/luminol system, the effects of NSAIDs on MPO activity were also screened. We found that NSAIDs inhibited both the peroxidation and chlorinating activity of MPO as follows: diclofenac (36 ± 10, 45 ± 3%), indomethacin (97 ± 2, 100 ± 1%), naproxen (56 ± 8, 76 ± 3%), piroxicam (77 ± 5, 99 ± 1%), and tenoxicam (90 ± 2, 100 ± 1%), respectively (N = 3). These results show that therapeutic levels of NSAIDs are able to suppress the oxygen-dependent antimicrobial or oxidative functions of neutrophils by inhibiting the generation of hypochlorous acid.

Inhibition of peroxidase activity and scavenging of reactive oxygen species by astilbin isolated from Dimorphandra mollis (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Intermediate reactive oxygen and nitrogen from macrophages induced by Brazilian lichens

The activity of ten compounds isolated from Brazilian lichen over the release of hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide was evaluated in the culture of peritoneal macrophage cells from mice. Salazinic, secalonic A and fumarprotocetraric acids were the compounds that induced the greatest release of H2O2, whereas 12R-usnic and diffractaic acids induced the release of NO. These results indicate that lichen products have potential immunological modulating activities. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Yersinia enterocolitica O : 3 isolated from patients with or without reactive arthritis induces polyclonal activation of B cells and autoantibody production in vivo

The mechanisms by which arthritis-provoking pathogens such as Yersinia enterocolitica interact with the human immune system to produce inflammatory synovitis are not well known. One of the immunomodulating mechanisms used against these pathogens is the polyclonal activation of lymphocytes. In this study, we investigated the extent of the B-lymphocyte activation induced in mice by a strain of Y. enterocolitica O:3 (FCF 526) isolated from a patient with arthritis, and compared it with two other strains, a virulent one (FCF 397[+]) isolated from a patient without arthritis and its plasmidless isogenic pair (FCF397[-]). Also we investigated the production of autoantibodies in mice infected with these different strains. SPF Swiss mice were infected intravenously with a suspension of Y. enterocolitica . Spleen cells were taken on days 7, 14, 21 and 28 after infection and the number of cells secreting nonspecific and specific antibodies of IgG 1 , IgG 2a , IgG 2b , IgG 3 , IgM and IgA isotypes were determined by the ELISPOT technique. The presence of autoantibodies in mouse serum was investigated by the dot-blot assay. The pattern of infection of the three bacterial strains were almost the same. We observed a general increase in the number of nonspecific Ig-secreting cells with all three strains, and the greatest increases observed were in the IgG 2a and IgG 3 isotypes. Only a small fraction of the immunoglobulins detected were antibacterial, suggesting that the rest resulted from polyclonal B cell activation. The strain isolated from the patient with arthritis (FCF526) induced the greatest production of autoantibodies, coinciding with the period in which the greatest activation of nonspecific B lymphocytes was seen. There were no signs of arthritis or inflammation in the joints of the infected animals. Based on our results, we were unable to determine whether there is an association between the arthritogenic capability of Y. enterocolitica and polyclonal activation of B cells.

Columnar microstructure of nanocrystalline Ga1-xMnxN films deposited by reactive sputtering

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

The optical absorption edge of nanocrystalline Ga(1-x)Mn(x)N films deposited by reactive sputtering

We have focused on the optical absorption edge of nanocrystalline Ga(1-x)Mn(x)N (0.00 <= x <= 0.18) films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering. The films obtained are nanocrystalline with grain sizes of about 25 nm, having wurtzite structure and strong orientation texture in the c-axis direction. The optical characterizations of the absorption edges were obtained in the 190-2600 nm spectral range. The increase of the Mn content causes an increase of the absorption coefficient which can be clearly noticed at low energies, and a quasi-linear decrease of the optical gap. Broad absorption bands observed around similar to 1.3 and similar to 2.2 eV were associated with transitions between the Mn acceptor level and the valence and conduction bands, respectively. The observed changes in the optical properties due to the Mn incorporation observed in these nanocrystalline films are similar to those reported for ferromagnetic GaMnN single-crystal films.