Environmentally conscious consumption patterns in Hungarian households

This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature on the theoretical aspects of sustainable consumption. The conditions for consumers’ social responsibility and the formation of environmentally conscious behavior patterns will also be discussed, along with possible methods for motivating behavioral changes. The authors have completed a primary research study with the purpose of surveying environmentally conscious consumption patterns in Hungary. They also examined how the provision of appropriate information and the raising of awareness might encourage sustainable consumption. According to their findings, the respondents’ knowledge on environmentally conscious behavior was rather limited, and reinforcement was needed in identifying appropriate activity alternatives. This paper provides a summary of the qualitative research phase which employed in-depth interviews, logging and focus groups. The consecutive application of these methods enabled the authors to keep track of the process and the consequences of raising awareness.

Mobile Phones and Sustainable Consumption in China: an Empirical Study among Young Chinese Citizens

This millennium the number of mobile phones has exponentially grown in Western nations, however China is now the biggest mobile phone market. The present study contains questions about the sustainability aspects of purchasing mobile phones: both of the mobile phones purchase itself, and how mobile phones are used to gather environmental and health information for consumption. The results of the present study suggest, that mobile phones became an important source of information about environmental protection issues, but the specific applications do not play an important role as a source of information about environmental conscious consumption yet.

Sendo um consumidor consciente: discursos, projetos e subjetividades

Esta tese analisa construções discursivas sobre o consumidor consciente, o qual visa se diferenciar de um suposto consumo regular e/ou consumista. Toma por base inicial as atribuições propostas em guias e manuais pró consumo consciente, em específico aqueles produzidos pela Akatu e pelo Idec, os quais buscam conceitualizar, debater e promover este tipo de consumidor. Compreende este grupo inicial enquanto uma dimensão prescritiva do discurso os quais elaboram indicações de ação e embasamentos do conceito. O desdobramento do trabalho realiza uma análise qualitativa do discurso dos indivíduos de camadas médias cariocas que se identificam enquanto este tipo de consumidor. Observa-se as semelhanças, diferenças e o desenrolar destes conceitos nas falas de indivíduos em relação àquelas prescritas nos manuais. Assim, pautado em entendimentos sobre consumo enquanto construtor simbólico, noções de projetos de vida e construção de si, produções de sentido e significado, relações de sociabilidade e novas modalidades de participação política, a tese se desenvolve nos seguintes aspectos: análise das bases de origem as quais formulam possibilidades de inserção na temática se ser e fundamentos possíveis; elementos constituintes fundamentais na formação do perfil dos entrevistados e seus conceitos de consciência, os aspectos emotivos sentimentais responsáveis pela valorização ou desvalorização da experiência, e expectativas e perspectivas a respeito dos relacionamentos com terceiros, abordando o tema principalmente através das categorias: chatos e radicais. Com isso, aprofundando-se nas bases definidoras dos sujeitos, suas concepções de consciência, seus medos, anseios, prazer e felicidades; procurando compreender como a subjetividade destes sujeitos está sendo produzida e como dialogam seus projetos com o espaço urbano de uma grande cidade.

As bibliotecas escolares e a literacia da informação : um projeto numa turma de 2º ciclo

Trabalho de projeto de mestrado, Educação (Especialidade em Educação e Tecnologias Digitais), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2014

Luxo e consumo consciente: eles são realmente paradoxais? Um estudo sobre o comportamento de consumo de consumidoras de luxo brasileiras e portuguesas

Consumir luxo é geralmente uma atividade individualista, baseada em propósitos hedonistas e de diferenciação. O consumo consciente, por outro lado, é estimulado por preocupações sociais e ambientais a respeito tanto do bem estar da sociedade atual como também das gerações futuras. Considerando apenas essas duas declarações, seria possível concluir que luxo e consumo conscientes são, então, paradoxais. No entanto, as motivações dos consumidores de luxo mostram um retrato diferente dessa realidade na qual é possível integrar luxo e consumo consciente. Esta pesquisa exploratória descreve o comportamento de consumo de consumidoras de luxo brasileiras e portuguesas e suas atitudes em relação ao consumo consciente. Foram realizadas 11 entrevistas com jovens brasileiras e 8 com jovens portuguesas para entender a sua preocupação social e ambiental ao consumir produtos de luxo e as semelhanças e diferenças entre consumidoras de ambos os países. Essa análise intercultural mostrou que as consumidoras brasileiras se preocupam mais com o status ao consumir produtos de luxo, enquanto as portuguesas tendem a ser mais discretas. Além disso, embora ambas comprem produtos de luxo em quantidades pequenas e os usem por vários anos, o que pode ser considerada como uma ação consciente, quando se trata de traduzir crenças sociais e ambientais nas escolhas de consumo, as portuguesas aparentam fazê-lo mais frequentemente, principalmente boicotando produtos por razões éticas. Este estudo fornece um importante avanço empírico em relação a trabalhos anteriores sobre consumo consciente e comportamento de consumo de luxo, conectando ambos os conceitos a fim de entender o consumo em um período de crescente conscientização a respeito da sustentabilidade.

A influência da responsabilidade social empresarial na satisfação e fidelidade do cliente : um estudo com compradores de automóveis

This study presents an investigation of the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in customer s satisfaction and loyalty through a study with car s buyers, besides that, it aims to contribute to conceptual models of satisfaction and loyalty analysis by applying the model of Johnson et al. (2001), adapted for the introduction of variables of CSR and conscious consumption, in a car dealership in Natal / RN. The methodology has a descriptive quantitative approach and for the analysis results were applied statistical methods of simple and multiple linear regression analysis, descriptive analysis and exploratory analysis. The field research provided 90 valid forms. The results show that CSR affects the image of the company studied and is also one of the elements of the compound of satisfaction and loyalty. This study concludes that CSR should be considered in the strategic and marketing actions of firms

Cultura digital e educação para a mídia: análise do programa Mídias na educação

Pós-graduação em Comunicação - FAAC

Boas práticas no consumo de energia em restaurantes da cidade de Botucatu

The objective of this work was to verify the rational use of energy in restaurants of the city Botucatu, that apply the Good Manufacturing of Production (GMP). Ten restaurants were appraised regarding the number of meals and energy consumption. A check list of the sanitary surveillance was also applied, regarding just the related items to electric installation, ventilation, and equipment maintenance, that are related to the energy consumption. It was asked and observed if there were some program or orientation for conscious consumption or reduction of the energy consumption. The energy consumption of the restaurants was positively related to the number of served meals and operation time of the establishment. In none of the visited establishments it was observed the control measures of the energy consumption, neither cooling equipments of low energy consumption.

Projeto – sustentabilidade e matemática

A disciplina matemática e o tema sustentabilidade podem ser muito bem trabalhados pelos docentes da área de exatas. Pois, saber quantificar, calcular e associar o consumo e o impacto ambiental através de dados numéricos é uma possibilidade que pode ser desenvolvida em sala de aula. Saber interpretar e construir gráficos de colunas são outras competências e habilidades presentes na ciência da matemática. Compreender conceitos, estratégias e situações matemáticas numéricas para aplicá-los a situações diversas no contexto das ciências, da tecnologia e da atividade cotidiana se faz necessário. E também, reconhecer, pela leitura de textos apropriados, a importância da Matemática na elaboração de proposta de intervenção solidária na realidade. Dessa forma, conhecer o ambiente em que vivemos, verificar a influência do homem na Natureza e quais ações deverão ser tomadas pensando nas futuras gerações é um despertar para o consumo consciente. O que acarreta como possibilidade o retorno à natureza de recursos utilizados de maneira correta. Conhecer uma conta de luz detalhada, aprender a calcular o consumo mensal de Kwh e diminuir o consumo de energia elétrica através da mudança de hábitos são exemplos cotidianos em que a matemática se faz presente. Relacionar a matemática ao estudo do meio ambiente proporciona através dos números mensurar os prejuízos e projetar soluções, torna a aprendizagem construtiva, podendo se constituir num comportamento cotidiano ou numa ação educativa para formar uma consciência ecológica dentro de indicadores reais. A aprendizagem se torna significativa quando relacionada ao cotidiano do aluno no sentido de mostrar o meio ambiente a que estão inseridos para que possam ser agentes transformadores, através da mudança de hábitos e principalmente desenvolvendo suas habilidades matemáticas. Sendo assim, o processo de ensino aprendizagem matemática-meio ambiente é realizado no sentido de oportunizar o conhecimento do mundo e domínio da natureza, com base nas linguagens matemáticas, criando-se condições de melhorar a capacidade de agir na sociedade, assumindo ações permanentes concentradas em um desenvolvimento sustentável para a continuidade da vida na Terra. Nesse diapasão, é possível desenvolver trabalhos pedagógicos “na trilha da matemática: do raciocínio ao meio-ambiente”. A resolução de situações problemas e assuntos referentes ao meio ambiente fazem com que os alunos tomem os cuidados necessários para com o meio ambiente, aos recursos por ele oferecidos e as consequências das ações errôneas causadas pelo homem.

An Energy-conscious Transport Protocol for Multi-hop Wireless Networks

We present a transport protocol whose goal is to reduce power consumption without compromising delivery requirements of applications. To meet its goal of energy efficiency, our transport protocol (1) contains mechanisms to balance end-to-end vs. local retransmissions; (2) minimizes acknowledgment traffic using receiver regulated rate-based flow control combined with selected acknowledgements and in-network caching of packets; and (3) aggressively seeks to avoid any congestion-based packet loss. Within a recently developed ultra low-power multi-hop wireless network system, extensive simulations and experimental results demonstrate that our transport protocol meets its goal of preserving the energy efficiency of the underlying network.

JTP: An Energy-conscious Transport Protocol for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Within a recently developed low-power ad hoc network system, we present a transport protocol (JTP) whose goal is to reduce power consumption without trading off delivery requirements of applications. JTP has the following features: it is lightweight whereby end-nodes control in-network actions by encoding delivery requirements in packet headers; JTP enables applications to specify a range of reliability requirements, thus allocating the right energy budget to packets; JTP minimizes feedback control traffic from the destination by varying its frequency based on delivery requirements and stability of the network; JTP minimizes energy consumption by implementing in-network caching and increasing the chances that data retransmission requests from destinations "hit" these caches, thus avoiding costly source retransmissions; and JTP fairly allocates bandwidth among flows by backing off the sending rate of a source to account for in-network retransmissions on its behalf. Analysis and extensive simulations demonstrate the energy gains of JTP over one-size-fits-all transport protocols.

Anticipated Guilt and Ethical Consumption: The Moderating Role of Consumers’ Socially Responsible Consumption Behaviour

Recent research in the marketing literature has indicated that, while consumers’ interests in ethical products are growing, demand for such products still remains weak. Previous research has indicated that anticipated guilt can have a positive effect on ethical consumption. Thus, the objective of the current study is to investigate the moderating role of consumers’ socially responsible consumption behaviour (SRCB) on the relationship between anticipated guilt and ethical consumption. Specifically, the current study hypothesizes that, when viewing a guilt ad, high (vs. low) SRCB individuals will generate higher, ethical purchase intentions, willingness to pay an ethical premium, and attitudes toward an ethical brand. The findings from the two experimental studies indicate that, when viewing a guilt ad for an ethical product, high SRCB individuals are willing to pay a higher ethical premium and generate more favourable brand attitudes than low SRCB individuals. However, when viewing a non-guilt ad, high SRCB individuals did not differ from low SRCB individuals in their willingness to pay an ethical premium or brand attitudes. Further, consumers’ socially conscious self-identity was explored as a mediator of these effects. By understanding the moderating role that SRCB plays in the relationship between anticipated guilt and ethical consumption, this paper intends to assist marketers in understanding for which consumers a guilt appeal is an appropriate strategy in marketing ethical products.

The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on cerebral perfusion in healthy older adults during conscious resting state: a placebo controlled, crossover, acute trial

Rationale: There has recently been increasing interest in the potential of flavanols, plant derived compounds found in foods such as fruit and vegetables, to ameliorate age-related cognitive decline. Research suggests that cocoa flavanols improve memory and learning, possibly as a result of their anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. These effects may be mediated by increased cerebral blood flow (CBF), thus stimulating neuronal function. Objectives: The present study employed arterial spin labelling (ASL) functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) to explore the effect of a single acute dose of cocoa flavanols on regional CBF. Methods: CBF was measured pre and post consumption of low (23mg) or high (494mg) 330ml equicaloric flavanol drinks matched for caffeine, theobromine, taste and appearance according to a randomised counterbalanced crossover double-blind design in eight males and ten females, aged 50-65 years. Changes in perfusion from pre to post consumption were calculated as a function of each drink. Results: Significant increases in regional perfusion across the brain were observed following consumption of the high flavanol drink relative to the low flavanol drink, particularly in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the central opercular cortex of the parietal lobe. Conclusions: Consumption of cocoa flavanol improves regional cerebral perfusion in older adults. This provides evidence for a possible acute mechanism by which cocoa flavanols are associated with benefits for cognitive performance.

Ethanol Consumption Alters the Expression and Reactivity of Adrenomedullin in the Rat Mesenteric Arterial Bed

Aims: Adrenomedullin (AM) is a peptide that displays cardiovascular protective activity. We investigated the effects of chronic ethanol consumption on arterial blood pressure, vascular reactivity to AM and the expression of AM system components in the rat mesenteric arterial bed (MAB). Methods: Male Wistar rats were treated with ethanol (20% vol/vol) for 6 weeks. Systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure were monitored in conscious rats. Vascular reactivity experiments were performed on isolated rat MAB. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) levels were determined by gelatin zymography. Nitrite and nitrate generation were measured by chemiluminescence. Protein and mRNA levels of pre-pro-AM, CRLR (calcitonin receptor-like receptor) and RAMP1, 2 and 3 (receptor activity-modifying proteins) were assessed by western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Results: Ethanol consumption induced hypertension and decreased the relaxation induced by AM and acetylcholine in endothelium-intact rat MAB. Phenylephrine-induced contraction was increased in endothelium-intact MAB from ethanol-treated rats. Ethanol consumption did not alter basal levels of nitrate and nitrite, nor did it affect the expression of MMP-2 or the net MMP activity in the rat MAB. Ethanol consumption increased mRNA levels of pre-pro-AM and protein levels of AM in the rat MAB. Finally, no differences in protein levels or mRNA of CRLR and RAMP1, 2 and 3 were observed after treatment with ethanol. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that ethanol consumption increases blood pressure and the expression of AM in the vasculature and reduces the relaxation induced by this peptide in the rat MAB.

A critical review: Why isn't "cold pasteurization" being used widespread as a method to prevent food-related illnesses as a result of the consumption of ready-to-eat, fresh fruits, and vegetables

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. The American public is becoming more health conscious and there has been an increase in the dietary intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. Affluence and demand for convenience has allowed consumers to opt for pre-processed packaged fresh fruits and vegetables. These pre-processed foods are considered Ready-to-Eat. They have many of the advantages of fresh produce without the inconvenience of processing at home. After seeing a decline in food-related illnesses between 1996 and 2004, due to an improvement in meat and poultry safety, tainted produce has tilted the numbers back. This has resulted in none of the Healthy People 2010 targets for food-related illness reduction being reached. Irradiation has been shown to be effective in eliminating many of the foodborne pathogens. The application of irradiation as a food safety treatment has been widely endorsed by many of the major associations involved with food safety and public health. Despite these endorsements there has been very little use of this technology to date for reducing the disease burden associated with the consumption of these products. A review of the available literature since the passage of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act was conducted on the barriers to implementing irradiation as a food safety process for fresh fruits and vegetables. The impediments to adopting widespread utilization of irradiation food processing as a food safety measure involve a complex array of legislative, regulatory, industry, and consumer issues. The FDA’s approval process limits the expansion of the list of foods approved for the application of irradiation as a food safety process. There is also a lack of capacity within the industry to meet the needs of a geographically dispersed industry.^