Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022-05-20"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Tell me who your friends are?! The mediating role of friends use in cannabis abusePublication . Dias, Paulo C.; Lopes, Sílvia; Castillo, José Antonio Garcia delObjectives: To evaluate the relationship between age at onset of cannabis use and cannabis abuse in a sample of Portuguese cannabis users, testing the mediating role of the number of friends using cannabis and comparing these relationships between male and female subsets. Method: A sample of 529 Portuguese cannabis users comprising 276 males and 244 females aged from 14 to 21 years completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST), and answered four questions related to cannabis use. Data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS version 26.0. Results: Age at onset of cannabis use was negatively related to the number of friends using cannabis, while the number of friends using cannabis had a positive relationship with cannabis abuse. As predicted, the number of friends using cannabis seems to have a mediating role in the relationship between cannabis onset age use and cannabis abuse, since the indirect effect was found to be significant. The pattern of the relationships among the variables observed was found to be similar for both male and female subsets of the sample. However, males reported higher cannabis abuse than females. Conclusion: The results highlight the mediating role of friends’ use of cannabis in the relationship between age at onset of cannabis use and users’ abuse. These results highlight the importance of early intervention in cannabis use. In particular, the pattern of the relationships observed among the studied variables emphasizes the need to monitor and conduct peer training interventions or interventions to promote of social skills.
- «Aquele que amas está doente» : a unção dos enfermos como encontro com Cristo, com o Espírito Santo e com os IrmãosPublication . Coelho, Humberto José; Canavarro, António Abel RodriguesNa atualidade, a celebração do sacramento da Unção dos Enfermos e Pastoral da Saúde, continuam a ser vítimas de uma espécie de ostracismo. A memória da “extrema” unção continua bem viva nas nossas comunidades, e isso dificulta não só a prática pastoral, como a própria receção do sacramento. A experiência de um encontro com Cristo e com os irmãos, perante uma situação de fragilidade ou doença, pode favorecer não só o estreitar das relações comunitárias, como criar uma cultura da corresponsabilidade pelo outro que se oponha à cultura do descarte que se estende perigosamente às relações humanas. Este trabalho pretende ser uma tentativa de despontar a reflexão eclesial e espiritual, neste campo de ação da Igreja Católica.
- O impacto das redes sociais nas organizações : caso Victoria’s Secret fashion showPublication . Guedes, Morgana Cássia; Pessôa, Clarisse Alves MonteiroAs marcas em geral, têm sido estudadas por diversas áreas, como é o caso do Marketing, da Comunicação e até mesmo da Sociologia e atualmente se encontram representadas através das redes sociais. Em virtude da complexidade dos novos tempos e impactos na sociedade contemporânea, a presente dissertação elege como objetivo identificar os impactos das redes sociais no marketing e na imagem da marca Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show e nos resultados da empresa, em vista da diversidade relacionada ao corpo feminino. Como objetivos secundários tem a finalidade de compreender como as redes sociais têm impactado nas grandes marcas. Como o consumidor face à comunicação digital da marca Victoria’s Secret, através das redes sociais. Nos últimos anos, o número de representatividade da imagem feminina vem aumentando no ambiente digital. A revolução feminina e a expansão da diversidade, fez com que as marcas de roupas femininas, começassem a adotar outras medidas e posicionamentos tanto nos meios digitais quanto no âmbito físico. Esse cenário suscita diversos questionamentos, para os quais se buscam respostas, visando confirmar, refutar ou elaborar hipóteses. Como procedimento metodológico adota a pesquisa exploratória qualitativa, em caráter dissertativo-descritivo, retrospectivo com relato de caso Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Utilizando como instrumento de coleta e análise de conteúdos das redes sociais e midias digitais, investigando as hashtags pertinentes ao caso em estudo. O resultado permitiu observar que determinada conduta e posicionamento das marcas, são consideradas inadequadas, essencialmente, em uma sociedade globalizada, onde os consumidores podem se expressar abertamente sobre suas opiniões, satisfações e críticas, quer sejam boas ou nocivas, repercutindo nas redes sociais em patamares potencializadores. Conclui-se que o caso em análise traz em evidenciar as possíveis lacunas e nocividades que uma marca pode enfrentar, resultantes de posturas inadequadas às quais podem abrir oportunidades para os concorrentes ou novos entrantes no mercado. Considerou-se que as empresas necessitam se manterem conectadas aos anseios da sociedade aos novoscenários de representatividade de diversidade e evitar o marketing negativo a exemplo do caso Victoria’s Secret, que culminou no cancelamento do desfile, lojas fechadas e perda da popularidade. A sociedade passou a utilizar a era da revolução tecnológica ao seu favor, observar a mutação social e vivenciá-la imprimindo seus anseios e reivindicando seus direitos.
- New added-value dairy products incorporating cheese surpluses : technical foundations, formulations and physicochemical characterizationPublication . Vilela, Tatiana Paula; Ferreira, João Paulo Medeiros; Gomes, Ana Maria PereiraThe dairy sector is of great economic importance worldwide, and it has always been extremely competitive in terms of product portfolio innovation. In order to respond to new consumer trends, such as products with particular nutritional profiles and products with added health benefits, this industry has had to adapt its portfolio accordingly. Also, the numbers concerning food waste are very high, with about 1/3 of the food destined to human consumption being lost worldwide; in Portugal, 17% of the annual food production is estimated to become food waste. In the cheese production sector, generated waste includes cheese surpluses or their off-standards items. These cheese by-products were valorised in this dissertation project by serving as basic ingredient for the development of a group of novel dairy products, with innovative taste features and nutritionally enhanced characteristics. That was achieved by the formulation of a melted cheese base (MCB) - a paste of melted cheese in gelatinized starch (or other hydrocolloids including xanthan gum and guar gum), having milk as the fluid vehicle. These MCBs were the distinctive ingredient for ulterior incorporation in the final products, where Emmental cheese was the cheese type selected for most of the research work, due to its properties. Besides cheese, the MCBs also included agents able to stabilize its dispersed state after cooling. In order to avoid the emulsifying salts common in processed cheeses, hydrocolloids were used instead. The main ones were native corn starch (CS) and waxy rice starch (WRS), that also worked as thickeners and stabilizers of the MCBs. It was shown that the starch suspension in milk should be heated past the gelatinization temperature (85 ºC for CS and 90 ºC for WRS) before cheese addition, so that the final MCB formulation could reveal ideal textural characteristics. A study on the interactions involved in holding the protein structure in cheese (Emmental) was also made using solutions of different dissociating agents at different concentrations and combinations. To quantify the solubilized protein, a modification of a spectrophotometric-based method that can be employed to quantify total protein in cheese was developed, with statistically similar results (p>0.05) to those obtained by the Kjeldahl method. The results showed that caseins in the Emmental cheese are held together by a set of hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonds, and electrostatic bonds, including ionic bonds, with hydrogen bonds having an important role, comparable to hydrophobic interactions, a conclusion not commonly reported for cheese structures. The last part of this project entailed the development of two novel dairy products, namely, yogucheeses corresponding to yogurts fortified with cheese, and novel ricotta-type fresh cheeses. For the yogucheeses, cheese (Emmental) and CS or WRS were used in the MCB formulations. These MCBs were mixed with further milk in different proportions, before addition of starter culture and fermentation, in order to create samples with different proportions of MCB to further analyse. The products were characterised in terms of macronutrient composition, physical and chemical properties. In the end, the incorporation of CS and WRS, combined with the incorporation of ripened cheese, created yogurt samples with a firmer gel structure, lower syneresis, and higher viscosity. All the yogurts were stable throughout a period of 14 days, with no alterations in their visual aspect and syneresis behaviour. For the ricotta-type fresh cheeses, MCBs were made using two cheese types (Emmental and Ewe’s cheeses) and using CS or WRS. Afterwards, the MCB wase diluted with milk and then renneted, so that the novel fresh cheeses could be obtained. These samples were characterised in terms of macronutrient composition, physical and chemical properties, as well as sensory properties. The fresh cheese developed had a balanced nutritional content, and a texture similar to many commercial fresh cheese types, or spreadable processed cheeses. Gel formation of the initial mixture was hindered above a certain incorporation of ripened cheese, but this was overcome by the addition of skim milk powder (SMP) to the preparation. Starch and SMP both reduced syneresis of the renneted gel. As for the sensory attributes of the products, according to a consumer panel, the preference was higher for a more solid texture and with the flavour of a traditional cow’s cheese. Both these products were manufactured using our MCB formulation. This alternative strategy for utilization of cheese can contribute to food surplus minimization, while bringing additional nutrients and specific flavours to these products. Since ingredients that are not compatible with clean label designation were not used, as well as sweeteners of any kind, these products are consistent with the consumer trends existing nowadays and are in alignment with the sustainable development goals. In conclusion, this thesis project presents research that led to a novel line of dairy products, economically and environmentally interesting, as well as rewarding, being also in line with the recent consumers’ trends and demands for more sustainable and health-promoting foods, all while contributing to the circular economy, since the product formulation uses cheese surpluses, which ultimately reduces food waste.