Diante da necessidade prática por uma sociedade ambientalmente sustentável e de mecanismos que guiem essa transição, observa-se que práticas de redução de poluição ou consumo utilizadas de forma isoladas não são mecanismos suficientes para o atingimento da sustentabilidade ambiental almejada. Dessa forma, esta dissertação tem como principal objetivo explorar a inovação e o consumo sustentáveis como drivers necessários para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Especificamente, primeiramente, buscou-se mapear as melhores práticas de inovação sustentável conduzidas por empresas multinacionais que operam no Brasil, haja vista que essas empresas contam com recursos e competências que impulsionam esse tipo de inovação. Os achados da análise de conteúdo de relatórios de sustentabilidade apontam que as principais inovações de produto das empresas multinacionais focam no desenvolvimento de produtos mais eficientes, enquanto as inovações de processo focam na economia de materiais. Inovações organizacionais, por sua vez, concentram-se na aprendizagem orientada à inovação, enquanto as inovações de marketing buscam desenvolver novos ou melhores processos de distribuição. Ainda, com base na análise executada e nos resultados, uma matriz que demonstra a transição entre os tipos de inovações conduzidas pelas multinacionais é apresentada. Em relação ao consumo sustentável, realizou-se uma revisão sistemática de literatura a fim de identificar atributos de produtos ambientalmente sustentáveis reportados na literatura. Nesse sentido, propõe-se um framework que aborda as três orientações dos atributos verdes de produtos identificados: orientação à produção, orientação ao uso, e orientação ao fim da vida do produto, as quais abarcam atributos individuais que podem ser inseridos em produtos de forma a torná-los sustentáveis, seja pela redução do impacto no meio ambiente seja pela geração de impacto positivo. / In light of the practical need for an environmentally sustainable society and for mechanisms that guide such transition, pollution reduction practices used in isolate, or together with consumption reduction are not sufficient mechanisms to attain the desired environmental sustainability. Thus, this dissertation’s main objective is to explore how environmentally sustainable innovation and consumption serve as drivers for the sustainable development. Specifically, initially, we mapped the best sustainable innovation practices developed by multinational companies that operate in Brazil, based on their access to resources and competences that boost the development of this kind of innovation. The findings from the content analysis of sustainability reports point that the main product innovations developed focus on the development of more efficient products, while process innovations target material savings. In turn, organizational innovations address innovation-oriented learning, while marketing innovations aim to develop new or improved distribution processes. Moreover, based on the analysis conducted and the results, we propose a matrix to demonstrate the transition between the types of innovation developed by the multinationals. Regarding sustainable consumption, we conducted a systematic literature review with the aim to identify environmentally sustainable product attributes from studies. We propose a framework that encompasses the three orientations of the green product attributes identified: production, use, and end-of-life orientations. These orientations encompass individual attributes that can be added to products with the aim to make them sustainable, either by the reduction of the environmental impact, or by exerting a positive impact on the environment.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estabelecer um procedimento metodológico e prático de estudo estratigráfico utilizando dados sísmicos, para bacias rifte, enfocando em análise tectônica e estratigráfica e sismofácies, especificadamente para bacias do tipo rifte. Para isso, foram utilizados os depósitos sedimentares do Grupo Lagoa Feia, Offshore da Bacia Campos, margem continental sudeste brasileira. O Grupo Lagoa Feia é caracterizado por sedimentos siliciclásticos, carbonáticos e evaporíticos depositados durante a fase rifte e pós-rifte. Linhas sísmica 2D, perfis litológico de poços exploratórios e testemunhos serviram como base de dados para suporte a este trabalho. Utilizando os conceitos fundamentais da sismoestratigrafia, padrão de refletores e dados litológico de poços, foram identificadas três sismofácies associados a meio-grabens da fase rifte: Sismofácies 1 (depósito de falha de borda) – tem sua ocorrência encaixada na falha de borda em uma zona ampla e bem definida; Sismofácies 2 (depósito de sedimentos finos) – amplamente identificada e grada lateralmente para a sismofácies 3; Sismofácies 3 (depósito de grainstones e rudstones) – têm ocorrência restrita e de ocorrência errática, tanto em zonas altas da margem flexural, quanto nas zonas profundas próximas do depocentro dos meiográbens analisados. Estas sismofácies identificadas nas linhas sísmica da Bacia de Campos foram transpostas para linhas selecionadas da Bacia de Santos, mostrandose operacional na definição de potenciais reservatórios. Uma quarta sismofácies distinta e de ocorrência pontual foi identificada. Esta sismofácies é caracterizada por forte descontinuidade nos refletores e efeitos de redução de amplitude, sendo identificada como vent hidrotermal. Auxiliado por exemplos da literatura, foram identificadas dez vents hidrotermais caracterizadas como do tipo dome e eye e identificados também, os dutos e corpos intrusivos associados a esta estrutura. Com os conceitos da estratigrafia de sequências adaptados para bacias do tipo rifte, foi proposto um arcabouço crono-estratigráfico que compreendeu unidades representativas de eventos distintos, com suas superfícies limítrofes (superfícies estratigráficas) e por vezes, superfícies funcionais (sem controle estratigráfico preciso). O arcabouço tectono-estratigráfico da sucessão rifte foi subdividido em uma fase prérifte, sin-rifte e pós-rifte. O intervalo sin-rifte foi subdividido com base nos padrões geométricos dos refletores, visto que as sismofácies analisadas não apresentavam padrões de empilhamento reconhecíveis, não permitindo assim definir variações específicas do nível de base relativo. Foram separados três tratos no intervalo sin-rifte da Bacia de Campos (i) Trato de Sistemas de Início de Rifte; (ii) Trato de Sistemas de Alta Atividade tectônica e (iii) Trato de Sistemas de Baixa Atividade Tectônica. Assim, o arcabouço estratigráfico aqui proposto apresenta um padrão evolutivo que compreende reservatórios jamais testados em diversos locais ainda não explorados da Bacia de Campos, facilitando assim campanhas exploratórias futuras. / This work aims to establish a methodological and practical procedure for the stratigraphic using study seismic data of rift basins, focusing on tectonic stratigraphic analysis and seismofacies, specifically for rift basins. For this, we used the sedimentary deposits of the Lagoa Feia Group, Offshore Campos Basin, southeast continental margin Brazilian. The Lagoa Feia Group is characterized by siliciclastic, carbonate and evaporite sediments deposited during the rift and post-rift phases. 2D seismic lines, exploration wells with core and lithological logs were the data employer. Using the fundamental concepts of sismoestratigraphy, reflector patterns and lithologic data from wells three seismofacies were identified associated with the halfgraben fill of the rift phase: Seismofacies 1 (fault-border deposits) occurrence restricted to the fault borders in a well-defined area; Seismofacies 2 (fine-grained deposits) are widespread and grade laterally to seismofacies 3; Seismofacies 3 (grainstone and rudstone deposits) have restricted and erratic occurrences in both areas of the flexural margin, as well as in the deep areas of the basin, near the depocenter of the analyzed half-grabens. These seismofacies identified on the seismic lines of the Campos Basin have been transposed into selected lines of the Santos Basin, proved to be operational in the definition of potential reservoirs. A fourth distinct seismofacies with a punctual occurrence has been identified. This seismofacies is characterized by strongly discontinuous reflectors and amplitude reduction effects, being identified as hydrothermal vents. Aided by examples from the literature, ten hydrothermal vents were identified, characterized as dome and eye types. Pipes and intrusive bodies associated with these structures were also identified. Sequences stratigraphy concepts were adapted to the rift basins, in order to propose a chrono-stratigraphic framework, which included representative units of different events, with their bordering surfaces (stratigraphic surfaces) and in some cases functional surfaces (no precise stratigraphic control). The tectonic-stratigraphic framework of the rift sequence was divided into a pre-rift, syn-rift and post-rift stage. The syn-rift range has been subdivided based on the geometric patterns of the reflectors. The seismofacies analyzed no showed stacking patterns recognizable and did not allow the definition specific variations of base level. Were separated into three tectonic systems tracts (i) Rift initiation systems tract; (ii) High tectonic activity systems tract and (iii) Low tectonic activity systems tract. Thus, the stratigraphic framework proposed here presents an evolutionary pattern which comprises untested reservoirs in unexplored areas of the Campos Basin, thus facilitating future exploration campaigns.

HIV-related stigma and discrimination is a complex concept that affects HIV reduction interventions. HIV-related stigma occurs among healthcare providers resulting in reduction of quality of care of people living with HIV. Social psychological research into stigma reduction has led to the development of many stigma reduction interventions, but has not resolved the underlying problem. This study was designed to identify predictors of stigmatizing behavior among healthcare workers in Ghana using the social cognitive theory (SCT) for use in developing an evidence-based intervention. The study used a cross-sectional research design incorporating a preexisting survey, Measuring HIV Stigma and Discrimination Among Health Staff: Comprehensive Questionnaire. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive, multiple regression analysis and Pearson's coefficient to estimate the relationship between the dependent variable, HIV related stigmatizing behavior, and independent variables, personal attributes and environmental factors. The key findings from the analysis were that the personal attributes of healthcare workers predicted their stigmatizing behavior (R2= 0.674, p < 0.05). There was, however, no significant relationship between environmental factors and stigmatizing behavior and between personal attributes and environmental factors. The social change implications may be to reduce stigma among healthcare workers toward people living with HIV and in turn increase the willingness of healthcare workers to engage with people living with HIV and provide quality service to them.

A number of technical approaches had to be employed within the planner, namely, 1) translating expected reward into a probability of goal satisfaction criterion, 2) monitoring belief states with a Rao-Blackwellized particle, and 3) employing Rao-Blackwellized particles in the McLUG probabilistic conformant planning graph heuristic. POND-Hindsight is an action selection mechanism that evaluates each possible action by generating a number of lookahead samples (up to a xed horizon) that greedily select actions based on their heuristic value and samples the actions' observation; the average goal satisfaction probability of the end horizon belief states is used as the value of each action.

[pt] Com a constante evolução do mercado, o posicionamento estratégico nas organizações é uma preocupação recorrente de seus gestores; uma abordagem relevante é a utilização do modelo Delta proposto por Hax & Wilde. O projeto Delta redefine a avaliação do mercado em três novas dimensões competitivas e justifica as forças econômicas mais complexas, integrando a estratégia à execução nos negócios. Foi construído um estudo de caso de acordo com a metodologia de Yin (2003), que utiliza dados coletados através de pesquisas documentais e análises qualitativas de entrevistas com a alta e média gerência assim como com os principais fornecedores e clientes do grupo RCH. Após a interpretação e análise dos dados, os resultados obtidos mostram os principais atributos valorizados pelos gestores, fornecedores e clientes da empresa, característicos do modelo Delta. O estudo identifica a importância da criação de valor e sua influência no reposicionamento estratégico do grupo RCH. Como resposta a essa proposição, foi construída uma figura denominada -Túnel do Tempo - que relaciona a linha do tempo com o modelo Delta e demonstra o deslocamento da dimensão estratégica do melhor produto para a dimensão estratégica de solução para o cliente desde a sua fundação até a data de hoje. / [en] Due to the ongoing market evolution, the strategic positioning in most organizations is a recurrent concern among the managerial board; the use of the Delta Model proposed by Hax & Wilde is a relevant approach. The Delta Project redefines the market evaluation in three new competitive dimensions and it accounts for more complex economic forces, linking business strategy to business execution. A case study has been built according to the Yin Methodology (2003), which uses collected data from documentary research and qualitative analysis of interviews done with RCH senior and middle management as well as with its main suppliers and customers. After data interpretation and analysis, results show the main attributes characteristic of the Delta Model of significant value to the Company`s management, suppliers and customers. The study identifies the importance of value creation and its influence in the strategic repositioning of the group RCH. As an answer to this proposition, a figure named - Time Tunnel - has been built. It relates the time line to the Delta Model and it shows the consequent change from strategic dimension of best product to strategic dimension of total customer solution since its foundation until present date.

Image captioning is a crucial field across computer vision and natural language processing. It could be widely applied to high-volume web images, such as conveying image content to visually impaired users. Many methods are adopted in this area such as attention-based methods, semantic-concept based models. These achieve excellent performance on general image datasets such as the MS COCO dataset. However, it is still left unexplored on single-object images.In this paper, we propose a new attribute-information-combined attention- based network (AIC-AB Net). At each time step, attribute information is added as a supplementary of visual information. For sequential word generation, spatial attention determines specific regions of images to pass the decoder. The sentinel gate decides whether to attend to the image or to the visual sentinel (what the decoder already knows, including the attribute information). Text attribute information is synchronously fed in to help image recognition and reduce uncertainty.We build a new fashion dataset consisting of fashion images to establish a benchmark for single-object images. This fashion dataset consists of 144,422 images from 24,649 fashion products, with one description sentence for each image. Our method is tested on the MS COCO dataset and the proposed Fashion dataset. The results show the superior performance of the proposed model on both multi-object images and single-object images. Our AIC-AB net outperforms the state-of-the-art network, Adaptive Attention Network by 0.017, 0.095, and 0.095 (CIDEr Score) on the COCO dataset, Fashion dataset (Bestsellers), and Fashion dataset (all vendors), respectively. The results also reveal the complement of attention architecture and attribute information. / Bildtextning är ett avgörande fält för datorsyn och behandling av naturligt språk. Det kan tillämpas i stor utsträckning på högvolyms webbbilder, som att överföra bildinnehåll till synskadade användare. Många metoder antas inom detta område såsom uppmärksamhetsbaserade metoder, semantiska konceptbaserade modeller. Dessa uppnår utmärkt prestanda på allmänna bilddatamängder som MS COCO-dataset. Det lämnas dock fortfarande outforskat på bilder med ett objekt.I denna uppsats föreslår vi ett nytt attribut-information-kombinerat uppmärksamhetsbaserat nätverk (AIC-AB Net). I varje tidsteg läggs attributinformation till som ett komplement till visuell information. För sekventiell ordgenerering bestämmer rumslig uppmärksamhet specifika regioner av bilder som ska passera avkodaren. Sentinelgrinden bestämmer om den ska ta hand om bilden eller den visuella vaktposten (vad avkodaren redan vet, inklusive attributinformation). Text attributinformation matas synkront för att hjälpa bildigenkänning och minska osäkerheten.Vi bygger en ny modedataset bestående av modebilder för att skapa ett riktmärke för bilder med en objekt. Denna modedataset består av 144 422 bilder från 24 649 modeprodukter, med en beskrivningsmening för varje bild. Vår metod testas på MS COCO dataset och den föreslagna Fashion dataset. Resultaten visar den överlägsna prestandan hos den föreslagna modellen på både bilder med flera objekt och enbildsbilder. Vårt AIC-AB-nät överträffar det senaste nätverket Adaptive Attention Network med 0,017, 0,095 och 0,095 (CIDEr Score) i COCO-datasetet, modedataset (bästsäljare) respektive modedatasetet (alla leverantörer). Resultaten avslöjar också komplementet till uppmärksamhetsarkitektur och attributinformation.

Literature has shown the importance of lifelong learning in the training of today's workforce and the crucial role of Higher Education in preparing graduates for lifelong learning. The aim of the current study is to establish the profile of Medical Radiation Science (MRS) practitioners as lifelong learners and to examine the implications of these findings for MRS undergraduate programs in Australia. The study builds on Candy et. al.'s 1994 report, Developing Lifelong Learners through Undergraduate Education, by drawing on the report's profile of lifelong learners and the features of the undergraduate program that promote lifelong learning. This present study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches, including collating the stakeholders' views on lifelong learning via surveys, one-to-one interviews and focus group discussion.Findings from this study indicate that all stakeholders (MRS practitioners, Heads of MRS Departments, students and teaching staff) viewed lifelong learning to be relevant to the profession and are important attributes for MRS practitioners to attain. However, attributes that were directly related to clinical competencies were more highly valued than attributes which were perceived to be associated with learning competencies. For each of the 25 attributes surveyed, the actual level of attainment fell below the nominated level of importance. Furthermore, the workplace culture was found to be non-supportive of lifelong learning. All MRS courses in Australia promote lifelong learning as one of their course objectives. There is a general trend towards adopting teaching approaches that promote lifelong learning, while assessment methods that promote and evaluate lifelong learning attributes were lagging behind.These findings have implications for both the MRS workplace and the MRS undergraduate courses in Australia. There needs to be greater ++ / dialogue and collaboration between the MRS employers and the universities to address the gap identified in the attributes. A conceptual model integrating lifelong learning in the context of MRS has been introduced to circumnavigate the predicament felt by most respondents that clinical competency must take precedence over all other attributes. Selection criteria by employers for graduates who are entering the workplace for the first time serve as the vital link between the workplace and the universities. By incorporating lifelong learning attributes as an essential part of the selection criteria, students would come to see the relevance of lifelong learning in their undergraduate training. A learning portfolio can be used as a means of demonstrating that the appropriate learning has taken place. There needs to be a closer link between teaching and assessment by aligning the teaching of lifelong learning objectives and activities with the assessment methods. To this end, it is important that teaching staff must be provided with the appropriate professional support to cultivate lifelong learning attributes and to equip them with the appropriate facilitation skills, before the lecturers can be expected to adopt lifelong learning approaches. This research provides a snapshot of lifelong learning in the MRS profession and should assist in the implementation of lifelong learning strategies that would direct the future of the profession.

Previous research has suggested that the country of origin cue is important to consumers during their purchase decision making process; the cue is utilised as an indicator of product quality and thus has an effect on purchase decisions. However, country of origin research has been heavily criticised in terms of methodology and has tended to focus on durable, manufactured products such as automobiles, electronics and apparel. This research investigates whether consumers do utilise the country of origin cue during actual wine purchase decisions and whether consumer perceptions of wine will vary based upon the country from which it originates. In addition, this study also seeks to identify all of the product attributes which are utilised by wine purchasers, and the degree to which these attributes are important to them during the purchase decision process. Finally, the research seeks to understand the influence that individual consumer characteristics (i.e. demographic variables, product knowledge and product involvement) and usage situations will have upon attribute utilisation and importance. In order to examine these broad research questions, a structured survey was developed and administered to respondents in four countries immediately following an actual wine purchase. Analysis of the collected survey data revealed that consumers typically utilised only a small number of attributes during their purchase decisions, and that the attributes which were most frequently utilised were not necessarily the most important to wine consumers. The country of origin cue was the eighth most frequently utilised attribute and the fourth in terms of importance. The majority of consumers could accurately identify the country of origin of the wine they had just purchased and their perceptions of wines were found to vary based upon the country of origin. Individual consumer characteristics were found to have varying effects upon attribute utilisation and importance ratings. Three-quarters of all wine purchases were made to resolve just four usage situations, and these situations were found to moderate the origin of the wine that the consumer selected during their purchase decision. From a theoretical standpoint, this study supports the idea that consumers utilise only a small number of attributes during their decision making process, and that this number will increase as product knowledge and product involvement levels increase. The most important attributes for consumers were found to be intrinsic in nature. Country of origin theory has also been advanced by this study; consumers were found to hold stereotyped perceptions of wine based upon its national origin, and both the nationality and education level of the consumer were found to moderate the utilisation of the country of origin cue. Whilst earlier researchers had suggested that any home country bias may be product specific, this study suggests that it may actually be a product dimension specific phenomenon. The high reliability of the product involvement and subjective knowledge scales should also be of value to future consumer behaviour researchers. Similarly, the idea that the usage situation influenced which product was purchased, but not how it was selected, expands current knowledge. Practical implications arising from this study include the identification of the importance of having previously tried a wine; marketers could increase sales through the provision of wine tasting opportunities for consumers. The significant correlation between involvement and the frequency of wine consumption also provides wine producers with an opportunity to increase sales through initiatives which will increase consumer involvement with wine. The results indicate that the wine industry should focus on the production and marketing of wines which are suitable for consumption in the identified four dominant usage situations and should seek to increase consumption in dining situations in the US. Finally, promotional strategies linking New Zealand wines with high quality appear to have been successful, but these messages will need to be repeated in order to reinforce the positive consumer perceptions.

<p>Background: Companies establishing a new brand on the Swedish market have to face competition from already established brands. This makes it interesting to investigate which branding strategies companies use in order to establish a new successful brand. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to investigate which branding strategies companies should use in order to establish a new successful brand on a competitive Swedish market. </p><p>Research method: The study was realized with the help of five qualitative interviews. These interviews were conducted at five diverse companies possessing recently established brands on a competitive Swedish market. </p><p>Results: Our investigation has lead to the formation of a model, which depicts the most important factors for the strategies that companies should use in order to establish a new successful brand on a competitive Swedish market. We have found that the starting point for these strategies should be the brand motto for product brands and the business concept for corporate brands, from which the core values and the positioning strategies should be derived. In order to communicate the brand to the market, the brand name is an important factor which should preferably be unique. The distribution is also an important factor for this communication, since the distributor is the ambassador who mediates the brand to the customer. The market communication in turn should in the first place consist of unconventional channels such as editorial text when possible. For companies possessing a large marketing budget, brand building commercial, for instance TV-commercial should also be invested in. The marketing communication serves as a means to gain good customer relationships. Finally, it is important to have a consistent branding strategy as well as an internal loyalty toward the brand.</p>

Background: Companies establishing a new brand on the Swedish market have to face competition from already established brands. This makes it interesting to investigate which branding strategies companies use in order to establish a new successful brand. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to investigate which branding strategies companies should use in order to establish a new successful brand on a competitive Swedish market. Research method: The study was realized with the help of five qualitative interviews. These interviews were conducted at five diverse companies possessing recently established brands on a competitive Swedish market. Results: Our investigation has lead to the formation of a model, which depicts the most important factors for the strategies that companies should use in order to establish a new successful brand on a competitive Swedish market. We have found that the starting point for these strategies should be the brand motto for product brands and the business concept for corporate brands, from which the core values and the positioning strategies should be derived. In order to communicate the brand to the market, the brand name is an important factor which should preferably be unique. The distribution is also an important factor for this communication, since the distributor is the ambassador who mediates the brand to the customer. The market communication in turn should in the first place consist of unconventional channels such as editorial text when possible. For companies possessing a large marketing budget, brand building commercial, for instance TV-commercial should also be invested in. The marketing communication serves as a means to gain good customer relationships. Finally, it is important to have a consistent branding strategy as well as an internal loyalty toward the brand.