439 research outputs found

    The Degree In Tourism At University Of Extremadura: Are Its Specific Competencies Being Highly Valued By Firms And Professionals?

    Get PDF
    In 2008, the University of Extremadura adapted their degrees in tourism in order to offer from the academic year 20092010 a full education in this area within which students can receive the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) Degree in Tourism.The current framework for higher education, characterised by a more open offering, has, as its main aim, a greater rapprochement of the competencies and skills achieved by students and those that are demanded by the labor market and society in general. Because of this, the paper examines whether these new degrees will provide the expected results. The methodology used consists of a questionnaire distributed among the main institutions and professionals from Extremadura about specific competencies of Tourism studies

    Influencia de la porosidad en la resistencia a la corrosión de recubrimientos depositados mediante proyección termica

    Get PDF
    Los recubrimientos depositados por proyección térmica poseen poros y otros defectos estructurales propios de las condiciones a las que son aplicados; por lo tanto, es importante determinar si a pesar de estos defectos, los recubrimientos protegen al sustrato de los efectos nocivos de la corrosión. En este trabajo se depositaron recubrimientos de níquel, níquel-cobalto-tungsteno y carburo de silicio-níquel sobre sustratos de acero al carbono, mediante proyección térmica por combustión y se estudió su capacidad de proteger al sustrato contra efectos corrosivos mediante la técnica de espectroscopia de impedancia electroquímica, utilizando como electrolito Na2SO4 0,2M. Además se analizó su estructura mediante microscopía electrónica de barrido y se determinó su porosidad a través de análisis digital de imágenes. Los resultados obtenidos permiten establecer que los recubrimientos obtenidos proporcionan una buena capacidad protectora, ya que estos poros no se encuentran interconectados

    Visitor Profile Of Cuenca Religious Music Week

    Get PDF
    Religious Music Week in Cuenca is the fourth oldest music festival in Spain, involved in orchestras, choirs and performers of international stature and prestige that interpret various compositions of sacred music. Religious Music Week in Cuenca is declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest, since its inception in 1962, has always retained a strong personality as a result of high musical expertise; it is wonderful geographical location and the enormous wealth of heritage that surrounds it. This festival is writing a new chapter in the annals of religious music. Their long tradition has set the standard in Spain, which allows comparison with other festivals in Europe. In the present study is to characterize the profile of the visitor from the 48th through a questionnaire administered to attendees of the event, in the same show basic characteristics of visitors, taking a special interest in the economic impact is Cuenca city for the celebration of this event

    Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perceived Quality of Palliative Care in Nursing Homes

    Get PDF
    The Nursing Homes End-of-life Programme (NUHELP) was developed in 2017 and is based on quality standards of palliative care, but it was not implemented due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: To describe perceptions among staff at nursing homes and primary health care (PHC) centres regarding the relevance, feasibility, and degree of achievement of quality standards for palliative care in nursing homes and to determine the differences in these perceptions before and after the pandemic. Methodology: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Professionals at eight nursing homes and related PHC centres who participated in NUHELP development assessed 42 palliative care standards at two time points (2018 and 2022). The Mann–Whitney U test was applied to analyse differences in the scores between these two times and between perceptions at nursing homes and at PHC centres. Results: The study population consisted of 58 professionals in 2018 and 50 in 2022. The standard regarding communication with persons affected by the death of a family member was considered less relevant (p = 0.05), and that concerning the culturally sensitive and dignified treatment of the body was less fully achieved (p = 0.03) in 2022 than in 2018. Social support (p = 0.04), sharing information among the care team (p = 0.04), patient participation (p = 0.04) and information about the treatment provided (p = 0.03) were all more poorly achieved in 2022 than in 2018. The perceptions of nursing home and PHC workers differed in several respects. Conclusions: Professional intercommunication and social support should be reinforced, and residents should be more actively involved in decision-making.Consejeria de Salud y Familias, Junta de Andalucia (Fundacion Publica Andaluza Progreso y Salud) AP-0105-201

    Landslide Susceptibility Analysis on the Vicinity of Bogotá-Villavicencio Road (Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes)

    Get PDF
    first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Landslide Susceptibility Analysis on the Vicinity of Bogotá-Villavicencio Road (Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes) by María Camila Herrera-Coy 1ORCID,Laura Paola Calderón 2,Iván Leonardo Herrera-Pérez 1,3,Paul Esteban Bravo-López 1,4ORCID,Christian Conoscenti 2ORCID,Jorge Delgado 1ORCID,Mario Sánchez-Gómez 5,6ORCID andTomás Fernández 1,6,*ORCID 1 Department of Cartographic, Geodetic and Photogrammetric Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain 2 Department of Earth and Marine Sciences (DiSTeM), University of Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy 3 Department of Geographic and Environmental Engineering, University of Applied and Environmental Sciences (U.D.C.A.), Bogotá 111166, Colombia 4 Institute for Studies of Sectional Regime of Ecuador (IERSE), University of Azuay, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador 5 Department of Geology, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain 6 Natural Hazards Lab of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Earth Sciences, Energy and Environment (CEACTEMA), University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Remote Sens. 2023, 15(15), 3870; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15153870 Received: 11 June 2023 / Revised: 24 July 2023 / Accepted: 31 July 2023 / Published: 4 August 2023 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Techniques for Landslides Studies and Their Hazards Assessment) Download Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract Landslide occurrence in Colombia is very frequent due to its geographical location in the Andean mountain range, with a very pronounced orography, a significant geological complexity and an outstanding climatic variability. More specifically, the study area around the Bogotá-Villavicencio road in the central sector of the Eastern Cordillera is one of the regions with the highest concentration of phenomena, which makes its study a priority. An inventory and detailed analysis of 2506 landslides has been carried out, in which five basic typologies have been differentiated: avalanches, debris flows, slides, earth flows and creeping areas. Debris avalanches and debris flows occur mainly in metamorphic materials (phyllites, schists and quartz-sandstones), areas with sparse vegetation, steep slopes and lower sections of hillslopes; meanwhile, slides, earth flows and creep occur in Cretaceous lutites, crop/grass lands, medium and low slopes and lower-middle sections of the hillslopes. Based on this analysis, landslide susceptibility models have been made for the different typologies and with different methods (matrix, discriminant analysis, random forest and neural networks) and input factors. The results are generally quite good, with average AUC-ROC values above 0.7–0.8, and the machine learning methods are the most appropriate, especially random forest, with a selected number of factors (between 6 and 8). The degree of fit (DF) usually shows relative errors lower than 5% and success higher than 90%. Finally, an integrated landslide susceptibility map (LSM) has been made for shallower and deeper types of movements. All the LSM show a clear zonation as a consequence of the geological control of the susceptibility.Incluye referencias bibliográfica

    Neutrophil-Derived MMP-8 Drives AMPK-Dependent Matrix Destruction in Human Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

    Get PDF
    Pulmonary cavities, the hallmark of tuberculosis (TB), are characterized by high mycobacterial load and perpetuate the spread of M. tuberculosis. The mechanism of matrix destruction resulting in cavitation is not well defined. Neutrophils are emerging as key mediators of TB immunopathology and their influx are associated with poor outcomes. We investigated neutrophil-dependent mechanisms involved in TB-associated matrix destruction using a cellular model, a cohort of 108 patients, and in separate patient lung biopsies. Neutrophil-derived NF-kB-dependent matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8) secretion was up-regulated in TB and caused matrix destruction both in vitro and in respiratory samples of TB patients. Collagen destruction induced by TB infection was abolished by doxycycline, a licensed MMP inhibitor. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) contain MMP-8 and are increased in samples from TB patients. Neutrophils lined the circumference of human pulmonary TB cavities and sputum MMP-8 concentrations reflected TB radiological and clinical disease severity. AMPK, a central regulator of catabolism, drove neutrophil MMP-8 secretion and neutrophils from AMPK-deficient patients secrete lower MMP-8 concentrations. AMPK-expressing neutrophils are present in human TB lung biopsies with phospho-AMPK detected in nuclei. These data demonstrate that neutrophil-derived MMP-8 has a key role in the immunopathology of TB and is a potential target for host-directed therapy in this infectious disease

    Assessment of plasma chitotriosidase activity, CCL18/PARC concentration and NP-C suspicion index in the diagnosis of Niemann-Pick disease type C: A prospective observational study

    Get PDF
    Background: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a rare, autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease caused by mutations in either the NPC1 or NPC2 genes. The diagnosis of NP-C remains challenging due to the non-specific, heterogeneous nature of signs/symptoms. This study assessed the utility of plasma chitotriosidase (ChT) and Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 18 (CCL18)/pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokine (PARC) in conjunction with the NP-C suspicion index (NP-C SI) for guiding confirmatory laboratory testing in patients with suspected NP-C. Methods: In a prospective observational cohort study, incorporating a retrospective determination of NP-C SI scores, two different diagnostic approaches were applied in two separate groups of unrelated patients from 51 Spanish medical centers (n = 118 in both groups). From Jan 2010 to Apr 2012 (Period 1), patients with =2 clinical signs/symptoms of NP-C were considered ''suspected NP-C'' cases, and NPC1/NPC2 sequencing, plasma chitotriosidase (ChT), CCL18/PARC and sphingomyelinase levels were assessed. Based on findings in Period 1, plasma ChT and CCL18/PARC, and NP-C SI prediction scores were determined in a second group of patients between May 2012 and Apr 2014 (Period 2), and NPC1 and NPC2 were sequenced only in those with elevated ChT and/or elevated CCL18/PARC and/or NP-C SI =70. Filipin staining and 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) measurements were performed in all patients with NP-C gene mutations, where possible. Results: In total across Periods 1 and 2, 10/236 (4%) patients had a confirmed diagnosis o NP-C based on gene sequencing (5/118 4.2%] in each Period): all of these patients had two causal NPC1 mutations. Single mutant NPC1 alleles were detected in 8/236 (3%) patients, overall. Positive filipin staining results comprised three classical and five variant biochemical phenotypes. No NPC2 mutations were detected. All patients with NPC1 mutations had high ChT activity, high CCL18/PARC concentrations and/or NP-C SI scores =70. Plasma 7-KC was higher than control cut-off values in all patients with two NPC1 mutations, and in the majority of patients with single mutations. Family studies identified three further NP-C patients. Conclusion: This approach may be very useful for laboratories that do not have mass spectrometry facilities and therefore, they cannot use other NP-C biomarkers for diagnosis
    corecore