Les divinités vénérées par les Aztèques dans le Mexique central étaient nombreuses et complexes. Afin de mieux comprendre ces entités, les chercheurs ont adopté différentes approches dans leurs études au cours des dernières décennies, mais la matérialité des parures divines est restée un sujet peu exploré. Malgré l’importance que l’on reconnaît aux attributs, aucune étude ne s’est intéressée de manière globale et systématique aux matériaux qui constituaient les dieux et à leurs significations. Pourtant, ces derniers étaient au fondement des divinités qui incarnaient notamment des manifestations naturelles et se matérialisaient dans le monde des hommes au moyen de formes physiques constituées de matériaux prélevés dans la nature. Elles pouvaient alors être représentées ou bien personnifiées par des statues ou des hommes revêtant les parures de ces entités. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une méthode d’analyse des divinités d’un point de vue emic, fondée sur le déchiffrement de leurs parures et donc sur l’étude systématique des éléments naturels utilisés ou symbolisés dans celles-ci. En décomposant les parures de Tlaloc et de Huitzilopochtli, ce travail met en évidence les significations des matériaux en rapport avec les formes qu’ils prenaient (c’est-à-dire les attributs portés) et les supports corporels des dieux, ceci afin de restituer ce que représentaient ces deux entités pour les Aztèques et comprendre les variations qui affectaient leurs parures d’un contexte à un autre. Apparaît une conception de ces dieux parfois différente de celle que l’on pouvait en avoir, héritée des religieux et des conquérants espagnols. / The deities honored by the Aztecs of Central Mexico were numerous and complex. In order to better understand these entities, Mesoamericanists have addressed this topic from different approaches over the past decades, but the materiality of the gods’ costumes has remained a little-explored subject. Despite the fact that the importance of the attributes is acknowledged by scholars, no study to this date has ever proposed a global and systematic analysis of the materials that composed the deities and of their meanings. However, they were a central part of the deities, given that most of them embodied natural phenomena and showed themselves in the world of men by means of physical forms made of materials taken from nature. In that case, they could be represented or personified by men who wore the costumes of these entities. The contribution of my dissertation is based on the development of a methodology to study the deities from an emic perspective and decipher the meaning of their costumes, which implies a systematic analysis of the natural elements they used or symbolized. By decomposing the costumes of Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli, this work emphasizes the meanings of the natural elements in relation to the forms they took (i.e. the attributes worn) and the gods’ bodies, in order to understand what these two entities represented for the Aztecs and why their costumes could vary depending on the context. What comes to light is a conception of Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli that can be different from the one we had, inherited from the Spanish missionaries and conquerors.

Objetivou-se determinar os efeitos de dietas contendo três fontes de lipídeos (semente de girassol, caroço de algodão e soja em grão \"in natura\") e duas de selênio (orgânico ou inorgânico) sobre o desempenho animal, características de carcaça e qualidade da carne de bovinos da raça Nelore (Bos taurus indicus). Foram utilizados 54 machos, castrados, com idade média de 30 meses e com peso vivo médio de 458 ± 39 kg no início do experimento. Os animais foram distribuídos em blocos, de acordo com o peso inicial, com delineamento em arranjo fatorial de tratamentos do tipo 3x2, cujos fatores de variação foram três fontes de lipídeos e duas fontes de selênio. Cada grupo de três animais foi alojado em uma baia por um período de 120 dias. As características de rendimento de carcaça, área de olho de lombo, espessura de gordura subcutânea, índice de marmorização, perdas totais ao cozimento e maciez objetiva não foram influenciadas pelo tipo de fontes de lipídeos ou de selênio na dieta. A inclusão de fonte orgânica de selênio resultou em maior concentração deste elemento no tecido muscular, quando comparada à fonte de selênio inorgânica. As fontes de lipídeos utilizadas na dieta influenciaram o atributo de suculência e sabor estranho da carne dos animais estudados enquanto a fonte de selênio influenciou apenas no atributo de sabor estranho. / This study was carried out to determine the effects of the inclusion of three sources of fat (sunflower seed, whole cottonseed and raw soybean ) and two sources of selenium (organic or inorganic) in the diets fed to Nellore cattle (Bos taurus indicus) on the animal performance and carcass and meat quality characteristics. Fifty-four bovine males, castrated, with an average age of 30 months and 458 ± 39 kg at the beginning of the experiment were distributed, according to initial weight, in blocks with a 3x2 factorial arrangement: three sources of lipids and two sources of selenium. The animals were housed in stalls, three per pen, during 120 days. Carcass characteristics (carcass yield, the rib eye area, fat thickness, marbling index and shear force) were not influenced by the fat or selenium sources in the diet. The inclusion of organic source of selenium resulted in higher concentration in the muscle, compared to the inorganic source. The fat source used in diet influenced the attribute of juiciness and strange flavor of the animals meat studied, however the selenium source influenced only the attribute of taste.

Interações ecológicas mutualísticas são aquelas que trazem benefícios para todos os organismos envolvidos. A visitação floral fornece alimento para os animais visitantes, enquanto possibilita a reprodução sexuada em plantas. Enquanto isso, a teoria da síndrome de dispersão supõe que existem certos atributos florais (incluindo recompensas) capazes de atrair certos polinizadores e afastar outros. O declínio de abelhas tem sido reportado em todo o mundo, e encontrar espécies ecologicamente equivalentes é crucial para a preservação da biodiversidade. Vespas possuem funções ecológicas semelhantes às abelhas apesar de não dependerem exclusivamente de pólen e néctar para sobreviver. O objetivo deste projeto de pesquisa foi avaliar as diferenças da visitação floral entre abelhas/plantas e vespas/plantas. O primeiro capítulo possui uma abordagem de redes de interação. O segundo capítulo apresenta uma abordagem multivariada onde avaliamos as diferenças entre as plantas de acordo com os himenópteros visitantes florais. Nós realizamos as coletas em unidades de conservação do município de Porto Alegre. Em cada área de estudo, foram definidas transecções em três ambientes distintos: campo, mata e borda entre estes. As amostragens em cada transecção ocorreram entre horários de 9h e 17h. Durante este período, foram observadas as plantas em floração, entre 20 cm a 4 m de altura, e seus himenópteros visitantes florais coletados com o auxílio de rede entomológica durante 10 minutos em cada planta. As métricas de rede foram calculadas do programa R com o pacote Bipartite. Vespas e abelhas são visitantes florais distintos quanto a seus padrões de redes de interação. Vespas seriam capazes de manter apenas a metade da diversidade vegetal através da polinização após eventos hipotéticos de extinção de abelhas. Através da abordagem multivariada, as plantas visitadas por vespas e por abelhas não formaram grupos distintos. Quanto maior a abertura da corola da flor, menor é a visitação floral de vespas. Concluímos que vespas podem ser polinizadores auxiliares para a manutenção da diversidade vegetal, apesar de serem capazes de manter menor diversidade vegetal em cenários de extinção de abelhas. Além disso, os atributos florais de vespas e abelhas não são diferentes entre si, apontando para o fato de que vespas podem ser polinizadores de um maior número de plantas do que o previsto. / Mutualistic ecological interactions are those that bring benefits to all involved organisms. Floral visitation provides food for visiting animals, while allowing sexual reproduction in plants. Meanwhile, the dispersion syndrome theory assumes that there are certain floral attributes (including rewards) that can attract certain pollinators and drive away others. The decline of bees has been reported worldwide and finding ecologically equivalent species is crucial to the preservation of biodiversity. Wasps have ecological functions like bees although they do not depend exclusively on pollen and nectar to survive. The objective of this research was to evaluate the differences in floral visitation between bees/plants and wasps/plants. The first chapter has an interaction network approach. The second chapter presents a multivariate approach where we evaluate differences between plants according to the floral visiting wasps and bees. We carried out sampling in conservation units of the municipality of Porto Alegre. In each study area, transects were defined in three distinct environments: grassland, forest and edges between them. Sampling at each transection occurred between 9 and 17 h. During this period, flowering plants from 20 cm to 4 m tall were observed, and their floral visiting Hymenoptera collected with the aid of an entomological net for 10 min on each plant. The network metrics were calculated with R software with the Bipartite package. Wasps and bees are distinctive floral visitors given their different patterns of interaction networks. Wasps maintain half of the plant diversity after the hypothetical events of bee extinction. Under a multivariate approach, plants visited by wasps and bees did not form distinct groups. The widder the corolla of the flower, the less is the floral visitation of wasps. We conclude that wasps can be secondary pollinators for the maintenance of plant diversity, although they are able to maintain lower plant diversity in bee’s extinction scenarios. In addition, the floral attributes of wasps and bees are not different from each other, pointing to the fact that wasps may be pollinators of a larger number of plants than predicted.

Technology innovation is one of the defining attributes of the 21st century. The banking sector amongst other key sectors has embraced the use of new technologies to offer electronic banking (e-banking) services. E-banking has been introduced in various economies of the world as a way of delivering effective and efficient banking services. Despite the several benefits of e-banking technologies, many individual bank customers in Nigeria have not adopted most of the available channels. ATM has remained the most patronized compared to other channels such as the point of sales (POS), online banking and the mobile banking. Promotional offers and various publicity for these platforms by commercial banks as well as the introduction of the cash policy which made the use of these platforms mandatory have not yielded substantial outcome. Therefore, the researcher set out to carry out two interrelated studies in a bid to explore the levels of e-banking adoption by individual bank customers in Nigeria. Firstly, a comparative analysis of the starting conditions of e-banking in Nigeria and the UK was carried out using secondary sources of data. The second part of the study examined the significance of an extended model of Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT) on e-banking adoption in Nigeria. This extended model entails the addition of "cost variables" to the mix of Rogers’s five attributes of innovation diffusion (i.e. Relative Advantage, Complexity, Compatibility, Trialability and Observability). Cost variables according to this study are the three types of switching costs, the available complementary assets and the usefulness of available services. Based on this DIT extended model, adoption levels of five e-banking platforms: ATM; POS; Online banking; Mobile banking and telephone banking services were investigated. Data for this study were obtained from both the service providers (the commercial banks) and the service users (individual customers). NVivo 10 was used to analyse the qualitative data while ordinal regression modelling was utilised to analyse the quantitative data obtained. According to the findings of this research, the security of the platforms, need for a strategic enlightenment campaign as well as infrastructural development (i.e. internet and electricity) are the three key factors that are fundamental to increase adoption of e-banking platforms in Nigeria. Findings also reveal the peculiarity of each of the e-banking platforms as different variables significantly predict uptake of individual platforms while Compatibility, Observability, Gender and Education emerged as significant predictors of ATM. Compatibility, Trialability Procedural Switching Cost and Gender predict POS patronage. For online banking, Compatibility, Procedural Switching Cost, Gender and Education emerged as significant predictors of this platform while Financial Switching Cost, Relational Switching Cost, Age and Education significantly predict the use of mobile banking. Telephone banking is not currently available to individual bank customers in Nigeria and as such further discussions on the quantitative output were discontinued. Following the expert witness feedback of these key findings, the researcher concludes that it is imperative to critically assess the availability of the enabling mechanisms/structure before introducing an innovation such as e-banking. The importance of this assessment is to evaluate and carefully direct the approach to that which fits such innovation. Underestimating or ignoring the impact of these fundamental structures usually have a negative impact on adoption as evident in the findings of this research which pointed that the current level of infrastructure of the country does not support the uptake of this innovation. This study also concludes that, the security of the platforms, the development of e-banking enlightenment campaign and infrastructural inadequacies should be addressed. Furthermore, attempts to unify or adopt a singular approach to increase e-banking patronage will not yield a significant result because each platform is unique. Thus, subsequent governmental policies and the CBN dictates on e-banking adoption should be formulated or modified based on the consideration of the enabling mechanism. Banks should adopt specific strategies towards increasing the patronage each platform.

In the course of this study, we find that for Calvin, God has one righteous will that is expressed as two, decidedly asymmetrical dispositions toward humanity. For Calvin, the only God that can be known, proclaimed, and trusted is God the Father, the God of creation, election and redemption who relates to his people according to his fatherly love; for reasons known only to him, God inexplicably creates some whom he does not rescue from their sinful state of rebellion against him. We first examine Calvin's teaching on the knowledge of God and discover that God has revealed his unchanging nature to those with faith. God's loving, righteous, wise, good, powerful, judging (of evil), and holy nature is exhibited in creation and providence, in Scripture, and most of all in Christ. We next explore Calvin's teaching on predestination and discover that God's one, secret, righteous will is expressed in two, decidedly asymmetrical wills toward humanity: (1) God's disclosed electing will that directly corresponds with God's nature and is extended to all but only effected in the elect; (2) God's veiled reprobating will toward the reprobate that, from the human perspective, only corresponds to God's nature in part. We continue by examining Calvin's teaching on the reconciling work of Christ, finding that, for Calvin, creation and redemption clearly exhibit God's disclosed disposition toward humanity while demonstrating God's veiled disposition only in very small part. We then provide constructive analysis in three related areas: (1) Calvin's teaching on the intra-trinitarian relations, (2) the locus of mystery in Calvin's, Arminius', and Barth's accounts of predestination, and (3) the reclaimed logic of Mosaic sacrifice in relation to Calvin's atonement teaching. In the context of a concluding summary, we consider three biblical accounts that depict God as possessing one rather than two dispositions toward humanity.

Concerns about global warming and climate change have triggered a growing demand for renewable energy. In this scenario, the interest in using sugarcane straw as raw material for energy production has increased. However, straw plays an important role in maintaining soil quality. In addition, uncertainties as to produced straw amount and the straw removal impact on the stalk yield have raised doubts as to the use this raw material. In this sense, the objective this study was evaluate the short-term (2-year) the sugarcane straw removal impacts on soil and yield modeling of sugarcane stalk and straw, using soil attributes of different layers. Two experiments were carried out in São Paulo state, Brazil: one at Capivari (sandy clay loam soil) and another at Valparaíso (sandy loam soil). We have tested five rates of straw removal (i.e., equivalent to 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 %). Soil samples were taken from 0-2.5, 2.5-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm layers to analyze pH, total C and N, P, K, Ca, Mg, bulk density and soil penetration resistance. Plant samples were collected to determine the straw and stalk yield. The impacts caused by straw removal differed between the areas, however, they concentrated on the more soil superficial layer. In sandy clay loam soil, straw removal led to organic carbon depletion and soil compaction, while in the sandy loam soil the chemical attributes (i.e. Ca and Mg contents) were the most impacted. In general, the results suggest that straw removal causes reduction more significant in soil quality for the sandy clay loam soil. The results indicate the possibility to remove about half-straw amount deposited on soil\'s surface (8.7 Mg ha-1 straw remaining) without causing severe implications on the quality of this soil. In contrast, although any amount of straw was sufficient to cause alterations the quality of the sandy loam soil, these impacts were less intense and are not magnified with the increase of straw removal. It was possible to model sugarcane straw and stalk yield using soil attributes. The 0-20 cm layer was the most important layer in the stalk yield definition, whereas the 0-5 cm layer, which the impacts caused by the straw removal were concentrated, was less important. Thus, we noticed that impacts caused to soil by straw removal have little influence on crop productivity. Straw prediction has proved more complex and possibly requires additional information (e.g crop and climate information) for good results to be obtained. Overall, the results suggest that the planned removal of straw for energy purposes can occur in a sustainable way, but should take into account site conditions, e.g soil properties. However, long-term research with different approaches is still necessary, both to follow up and confirm our results, and to develop ways to reduce damage caused by this activity. / Preocupações acerca do aquecimento global e mudanças climáticas tem provocado uma crescente demanda por energias renováveis. Nesse cenário, tem aumentado o interesse em utilizar a palha de cana-de-açúcar como matéria prima para produção de energia. Contudo, a palha desempenha importante papel na manutenção da qualidade do solo. Aliado a isso, incertezas quanto a quantidade de palha produzida e o impacto da remoção da palha na produção de colmos tem levantado duvidas quanto ao uso dessa matéria prima. Nesse sentido, o objetivo desse estudo foi avaliar a curto prazo (2 anos) os impactos da remoção da palha de cana-de-açucar no solo, e modelar a produção de palha e colmo de cana-de-açucar utilizando atributos do solo de diferentes camadas. Para tanto, foram conduzidos dois experimentos nos municípios de Capivari (solo de textura média) e Valparaíso (solo de textura arenosa), estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Foram testados cinco taxas de remoção de palha (i.e., equivalentes a 0, 25, 50, 75 e 100 %). Amostras de solo foram coletadas nas camadas 0-2,5, 2,5-5, 5-10, 10-20 e 20-30 cm de profundidade para determinação de C, N, pH, P, K, Ca, Mg, densidade do solo e resistência do solo a penetração. Amostras de planta foram coletadas para determinar a produção de colmo e palha. Os impactos causados pela remoção da palha diferiu entre as áreas, no entato, se concentraram na camada mais superficial do solo. No solo de textura média a remoção da palha levou a depleção do carbono orgânico e a compactação do solo, enquanto que, no solo de textura arenosa os atributos químicos (i.e teores de Ca e Mg) foram os mais impactados. Os resultados indicam a possibilidade de remover cerca de metade da quantidade de palha depositada sobre o solo (8.7 Mg ha-1 palha remanecente) sem causar graves implicações na qualidade deste solo. Em contraste, no solo de textura arenosa, qualquer quantidade de palha foi suficiente para causar alterações na qualidade do solo, contudo, essas alterações foram menos intensas e não aumentaram com as taxas de remoção da palha. Foi possível modelar a produção de colmo e palha de cana-de-açucar utilizando atributos do solo. A camada 0-20 cm foi a mais importante na definição da produção de colmos, ao passo que a camada 0-5 cm, camada em que se concentra os impactos causados pela remoção da palha, foi menos importante. Assim, notamos que os impactos causados ao solo pela remoção da palha tem pouca influencia na produtividade da cultura. A predição da palha se mostrou mais complexa e possivelmente requer informações adicionas (e.g informações da cultivar e de clima) para que bons resultados sejam obtidos. No geral, os resultados sugerem que a remoção planejada da palha para fins energéticos pode ocorre de maneira susutentável, porém deve levar em conta condições locais, e.g propriedades do solo. Contudo, pesquisas de longo prazo com diferentes abordagens ainda são necessárias, tanto para acompanhar e confirmar nossos resultados, como para desenvolver soluções que atenuem os danos causados por esta atividade.

Shoppings centers são empreendimentos planejados e gerenciados para atender às necessidades e aos anseios dos consumidores. Assim, quanto mais próximos das expectativas do público alvo estiverem os produtos, os serviços e as facilidades oferecidas no empreendimento, maior será o número de consumidores atraídos para comprar nas lojas do shopping center. No entanto, a escassez de pesquisas sobre os shoppings centers de mix temático confere ao setor um ambiente de grande incerteza, carente de informações de qualidade. Este trabalho pretende suprir parte dessa lacuna ao discutir a percepção dos consumidores quanto à importância de atributos da qualidade utilizados para estruturar o sistema de ancoragem dos shoppings centers de mix temático com ênfase em produtos de alta comparação. O método de pesquisa envolve estudos exploratórios e estudos de caso na região metropolitana de São Paulo. As análises dos dados primários, coletados nas entrevistas semi-estruturadas e nas enquetes, confirmam alguns aspectos identificados na revisão bibliográfica e permitem reconhecer a hierarquia dos consumidores entrevistados, para os atributos pesquisados. Espera-se que este trabalho oriente os envolvidos no planejamento e na administração dos empreendimentos e incentive a continuidade de pesquisas no setor de shopping center devido, entre outros fatores, à dinâmica do mercado e ao volume de recursos necessários para a implantação de empreendimentos dessa natureza. / Theme shopping centers are facilities conceived and managed to meet customer’s needs and expectations. Theoretically, the closer facilities, goods and services are to customer’s needs and expectations, the more appealing and profitable will be the theme shopping center. However, the scarcity of reliable data about theme shopping centers attributes has brought a great uncertainty to their planning and operation process. The current research addresses the above limitation as it analyses customer’s perception regarding theme shopping centers attributes. In this context, the research method comprises semi-structured interviews and exploratory case studies in theme shopping centers located at Sao Paulo metropolitan area. The primary data was collated through semi-structured interviews with facility managers and questionnaires applied to customers. The data analysis confirms some basic assumptions acknowledged in the technical literature, and allows identifying the attributes data hierarchy for theme shopping centers according to customers’ perception. As a result, it is expected that this study may provide guidance for investors, planners and decision-makers during theme shopping centers planning and operation stage. Moreover, it may encourage future developments in this particular research field due to fast-paced changes in the marketplace and to the large capital investments involved in the delivery of these schemes.

Árvore de componentes é uma representação completa de imagens que utiliza componentes conexos dos conjuntos de níveis de uma imagem e a relação de inclusão entre esses componentes. Essas informações possibilitam diversas aplicações em processamento de imagens e visão computacional, e.g. filtros conexos, segmentação, extração de características entre outras. Aplicações que utilizam árvore de componentes geralmente computam atributos que descrevem os componentes conexos representados pelos nós da árvore. Entre esses atributos estão a área, o perímetro e o número de Euler, que podem ser utilizados diretamente ou indiretamente (para o cálculo de outros atributos). Os \"bit-quads\" são padrões de tamanho 2x2 binários que são agrupados em determinados conjuntos e contados em imagens binárias. Embora o uso de \"bit-quads\" resulte em um método rápido para calcular atributos em imagens binárias, o mesmo não ocorre para o cálculo de atributos dos nós de uma árvore de componentes, porque os padrões contados em um nó podem se repetir nos conjuntos de níveis da imagem e serem contados mais de uma vez. A literatura recente propõe uma adaptação dos bit-quads para o cálculo incremental e eficiente do número de buracos na árvore de componentes. Essa adaptação utiliza o fato de cada nó da árvore de componentes representar um único componente conexo e uma das definições do número de Euler para o cálculo do número de buracos. Embora essa adaptação possa calcular o número de Euler, os outros atributos (área e perímetro) não podem ser computados. Neste trabalho é apresentada uma extensão dessa adaptação de bit-quads que permite a contagem de todos os agrupamentos de bit-quads de maneira incremental e eficiente na árvore de componentes. De forma que o método proposto possa calcular todos os atributos que podem ser obtidos pelos bit-quads (além do número de buracos) em imagens binárias na árvore de componentes de maneira incremental. / Component tree is a full image representation which uses the connected components of the level sets of the image and these connected components\' inclusion relationship. This information can be used in various image processing and computational vision applications, e.g. connected filters, segmentation, feature extraction, among others. In general, applications which use component trees compute attributes that describe the connected components represented by the tree nodes. Attributes such as area, perimeter and Euler number, can be used directly or indirectly (when they are used to compute other attributes) to describe the component tree nodes in various applications. The bit-quads are binary patterns of size 2x2 that are grouped in determined sets and counted in binary images to compute area, perimeter (also their continuous approximation) and Euler number. Even though the bit-quads usage can yield an efficient method to compute binary image attributes, they cannot be used efficiently to compute attributes for all component tree nodes, since some bit-quads can be counted more than once over the level sets. An adaptation of the bit-quads has been proposed to compute efficiently and incrementally the number of holes for all component tree nodes. This adaptation uses the fact that each component tree node represents a unique connected component and one of Euler number definitions to compute the number of holes. Even though this adaptation can compute Euler number, it cannot compute other attributes derived from the bit-quads (area and perimeter). In this work, an extension of this adaptation is proposed to efficiently and incrementally count all bit-quads sets in a component tree. Moreover, it yields a method to compute all attributes which can be computed by the bit-quads in binary images in the component tree using an incremental strategy.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:36:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 18 / Nenhuma / O presente trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de conhecer o comportamento de compra dos consumidores de erva-mate, com ênfase para os atributos considerados importantes, quanto à decisão de compra, preferências, e formação de hábitos frente às distintas opções de marcas. O trabalho também objetivou conhecer a percepção dos consumidores sobre as principais marcas de erva-mate disponíveis na cidade e, testar uma escala de lealdade dos consumidores. Para atingir o objetivo proposto foi realizada uma pesquisa em duas etapas. A primeira fase da pesquisa de cunho eminentemente exploratório, que envolveu a pesquisa e a utilização de dados secundários, propiciadores de informações relevantes ao tema. Esta fase, abrangeu também uma pesquisa qualitativa, através de entrevistas em profundidade, com consumidores em geral, proprietários de ervateiras e pesquisador da área, e objetivou proporcionar uma melhor visão e compreensão do contexto do problema e serviu de base para a elaboração do instrumento de coleta d / The present study was developed with the objective to understand the purchasing behavior of consumers of erva-mate, with emphasis in the attributes considered important concerning the purchasing decision, preferences and habit formation facing the different brand options. The study had also the objective to understand the perception of the consumers concerning the main brands available in town and test a loyalty scale of those consumers. A survey in two different phases was made to achieve the objective proposed. The first phase of the survey was eminently exploratory which involved the survey and the use of secondary data that provided relevant information on the topic. This phase also comprised a qualitative survey through profound interviews with general consumers, producers of erva-mate and a researcher of the area and aimed to provide a better view and understanding of the context of the problem and served as basis for the elaboration of an instrument to collect data in the qualitative phase. In the s

Este estudo tem por objetivo identificar quais são os atributos de produto mais importantes – e seu grau de importância relativa – na compra ou recomendação de interruptores a consumidores finais, eletricistas e arquitetos. O método foi dividido em fases, com abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. Inicialmente, foram conduzidas entrevistas em profundidade com consumidores e especialistas, com o objetivo de levantar o máximo de atributos salientes, bem como seus níveis. Em seguida, uma survey online, com 558 consumidores, identificou quais desses atributos são mais importantes no processo decisório de compra e uma validação com executivos da área foi conduzida. Os cinco atributos definidos como mais importantes foram: Marca, Acabamento, Garantia, Material Amarelar e Preço. Para identificar o grau de importância relativa de cada atributo, foi utilizado o método conjoint analysis. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida com 116 pessoas, sendo 60 consumidores finais, 28 arquitetos e 28 eletricistas, de cinco regiões do Brasil. Os resultados foram segmentados e analisados de forma agregada, por região, por atuação profissional e por clusters, grupos com preferências de atributo em comum. A análise conjunta revelou que Marca e Material Amarelar obtiveram a maior importância relativa para a amostra total. Pretende-se que este estudo contribua para que executivos da área possam aplicar estratégias de marketing em seus negócios, a fim de obter melhores resultados. / This study aims to identify what are the most important product attributes - and its degree of relative importance – in the purchase or recommendation of interrupters by end users, electricians and architects. The method was divided into phases of qualitative and quantitative approach. Initially, interviews in depth were conducted with consumers and experts in order to enumerate the maximum salient attributes and their levels. Then an online survey with 558 consumers identified which of those attributes are most important in the decision buying process and a validation with area executives was conducted. The five attributes defined as most important were: Brand, Finishing, Warranty, Material Yellowing and Price. To identify the degree of relative importance of each attribute, conjoint analysis method was used. The survey was conducted with 116 people, 60 end users, 28 architects and 28 electricians on five different regions of Brazil. The results were segmented and analyzed in aggregate way, by region, by professional role and by clusters, group with attribute preferences in common. The analysis revealed that the Brand and the Material Yellowing obtained the greater relative importance for the total sample. It is intended that this study will contribute to that area executives can apply marketing strategies in their business in order to get better results.