Mobile Applications Incidence in the Decision Making of Potential Tourists in Huelva City

El presente trabajo presenta un análisis sobre los hábitos de consumo y del proceso de compra/reservas de productos o servicios turísticos a través de aplicaciones móviles en Huelva capital. Entre los resultados más significativos se pudo encontrar que 52,04% de los potenciales turistas utilizan las aplicaciones móviles, siendo totalmente determinante en su decisión de compra los comentarios y opiniones de otros turistas en dichas plataformas, así como las fotografías del destino a escoger, aun entendiendo que dichas informaciones suelen ser falsas o manipuladas.This paper presents an analysis of spending habits and buying process of travel services through mobile applications in Huelva city. Among the most significant results can be found that 52.04% of potential tourists use mobile applications, being fully decisive in their decision to purchase the comments and opinions of other tourists on these platforms, as well as photographs of the destination you choose, while they are understanding that such information often false or manipulated

La estimación de un indicador de brecha del producto a partir de encuestas y datos reales

Una estimación adecuada de la brecha del producto es un requisito indispensable para la conducción de la política monetaria bajo el régimen de inflación objetivo. Por esta razón, en la literatura y al interior del Banco de la República, se trabaja con una gran variedad de mediciones a partir de técnicas alternativas. Desafortunadamente, como la brecha del producto es una variable no observable, siempre hay gran incertidumbre sobre cualquier estimación. Para sobreponerse a este problema, en el Departamento de Inflación se siguen regularmente una amplia gama de indicadores, en especial encuestas de opinión empresarial y datos de actividad, para mejorar la comprensión de la situación de la economía en el ciclo y para identificar posibles presiones de demanda. Aunque en principio parece razonable y adecuado contar con gran cantidad de medidas y monitorear diversas fuentes de información complementarias, en la práctica resulta problemático poder resumir de manera eficiente la información disponible en una sola medida que pueda ser utilizada para producir pronósticos de inflación y recomendaciones de política. Hasta hace poco, la reducción de la información se hacía a partir del juicio de los expertos sobre los pesos relativos que se asignaban para cada medición y para la información proveniente de encuestas. Lo cual potencialmente podía conducir a un problema de variables omitidas y a sesgar cualquier estimación. Para resolver este problema en este trabajo se estima un indicador de brecha del producto como el factor no observado entre los datos disponibles. Dicho factor se estima utilizando componentes principales estáticos, el cual debe resumir la información contenida en los datos mientras que excluye cualquier error presente en las medidas originales. La calidad del indicador se evalúa posteriormente a partir de su capacidad predictiva de la inflación básica de bienes no transables en Colombia, mediante una Curva de Phillips híbrida. Los resultados sugieren, como se esperaba, que el indicador de brecha del producto es superior a cualquiera de las medidas individuales para señalar presiones de demanda, puesto que combina de manera eficiente la información de varias fuentes. Adicionalmente se encuentra, que los pronósticos fuera de muestra se pueden mejorar si se excluyen para la estimación del indicador aquellas medidas que provienen de filtros estadísticos. Lo cual reafirma la importancia de seguir fuentes alternativas de información, en especial de encuestas de opinión industrial, a pesar de que la industria tan sólo pesa un 15% del PIB en Colombia.Brecha del producto, componentes principales, Curva de Phillips, Colombia.

Porous Titanium Cylinders Obtained by the Freeze-Casting Technique: Influence of Process Parameters on Porosity and Mechanical Behavior

 The discrepancy between the stiffness of commercially pure titanium and cortical bone  tissue compromises its success as a biomaterial. The use of porous titanium has been widely studied,  however, it is still challenging to obtain materials able to replicate the porous structure of the bones  (content, size, morphology and distribution). In this work, the freeze‐casting technique is used to  manufacture cylinders with elongated porosity, using a home‐made and economical device. The  relationship between the processing parameters (diameter and material of the mold, temperature  gradient), microstructural features and mechanical properties is established and discussed, in terms  of ensuring biomechanical and biofunctional balance. The cylinders have a gradient porosity  suitable for use in dentistry, presenting higher Young’s modulus at the bottom, near the cold spot  and, therefore better mechanical resistance (it would be in contact with a prosthetic crown), while  the opposite side, the hot spot, has bigger, elongated pores and walls.  Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain  grant  MAT2015‐71284‐P  FEDER‐Junta de Andalucía Research  Project (Modeling and implementation of the freeze casting technique: gradients of porosity with a tribomechanical equilibrium and electro‐stimulated cellular behavior).

Balancing porosity and mechanical properties of titanium samples to favor cellular growth against bacteria

Two main problems limit the success of titanium implants: bacterial infection, which restricts their osseointegration capacity; and the stiffness mismatch between the implant and the host cortical bone, which promotes bone resorption and risk of fracture. Porosity incorporation may reduce this difference in stiffness but compromise biomechanical behavior. In this work, the relationship between the microstructure (content, size, and shape of pores) and the antibacterial and cellular behavior of samples fabricated by the space-holder technique (50 vol % NH4HCO3 and three ranges of particle sizes) is established. Results are discussed in terms of the best biomechanical properties and biofunctional activity balance (cell biocompatibility and antibacterial behavior). All substrates achieved suitable cell biocompatibility of premioblast and osteoblast in adhesion and proliferation processes. It is worth to highlighting that samples fabricated with the 100–200 μm space-holder present better mechanical behavior—in terms of stiffness, microhardness, and yield strength—which make them a very suitable material to replace cortical bone tissues. Those results exposed the relationship between the surface properties and the race of bacteria and mammalian cells for the surface with the aim to promote cellular growth over bacteria.University of Seville (Spain) VI Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia—US 2018, I.3A

Tribo-mechanical and cellular behavior of superficially modified porous titanium samples using femtosecond laser

Abstract: In this work, the surface of porous titanium samples obtained by the space-holder technique was treated with a femtosecond laser to improve their osseointegration. Instrumented micro-indentation and scratch test were implemented to evaluate the tribo-mechanical behavior of the surface of the modified samples. A detailed study of micro-hardness, stiffness, scratch resistance and elastic recovery was performed. Also, in vitro analysis was carried out to evaluate the cellular behavior. Modified samples showed less ALP activity, which could indicate a greater differentiation of the cells. The cell culture was similar in all cases although more differentiated morphology, good cell adherence and biological response were observed on treated samples. Finally, the discs with a pore size between 100–200 μm present being potential candidates for the replacement of small portions of damaged cortical bone tissues.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; PID2019-109371GB-I00 Junta de Andalucía; US-125977

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus E protein transports calcium ions and activates the NLRP3 inflammasome

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) envelope (E) protein is a viroporin involved in virulence. E protein ion channel (IC) activity is specifically correlated with enhanced pulmonary damage, edema accumulation and death. IL-1β driven proinflammation is associated with those pathological signatures, however its link to IC activity remains unknown. In this report, we demonstrate that SARS-CoV E protein forms protein–lipid channels in ERGIC/Golgi membranes that are permeable to calcium ions, a highly relevant feature never reported before. Calcium ions together with pH modulated E protein pore charge and selectivity. Interestingly, E protein IC activity boosted the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to IL-1β overproduction. Calcium transport through the E protein IC was the main trigger of this process. These findings strikingly link SARS-CoV E protein IC induced ionic disturbances at the cell level to immunopathological consequences and disease worsening in the infected organism

Accessibility and Activity-Centered Design for ICT Users: ACCESIBILITIC Ontology

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are involved in daily human activities. Accessibility guarantees that individuals with different abilities can interact with ICTs. User pro le models are an explicit representation of the characteristics of an individual and are used to reason about what users need. They are implemented through ontologies. After identifying common and different aspects among important ontologies in the domain of accessibility and e-inclusion, we designed and implemented the ACCESIBILITIC ontology applying the NeOn methodology, speci cally by reusing and reengineering these ontologies. The strengths of our model include the user's ability to develop a high variety of activities despite his/her disabilities, support for inference processes, and providing answers to several competency questions. ACCESIBILITIC allows the representation of suitable technical support based on the user's capabilities when interacting with ICTs. To this end, we use an activity-centered design (ACD), which allows us to identify daily activities and to match these activities with a suitable technology to perform them.This research work is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness - Agencia Estatal de Investigación - with European Regional Development Funds (AEI/FEDER, UE) through the project ref. TIN2016-79484-R