Innovación en productos turísticos. Dark tourism: concepto, situación actual y casos de estudio

En este trabajo se conceptualiza la práctica del Dark Tourism (Turismo Oscuro), por el cual ha aumentado el interés en la literatura y por parte de los turistas en los últimos años. Se estudian los puntos clave, así como los principales motivos que tienen los viajeros para visitar determinados lugares, sus experiencias y las características principales de los visitantes para acudir a estos sitios. Se incluyen ejemplos a modo de casos de estudio de diversos países en los que se experimenta esta tipología turística y se describe la Ruta Europea de los Cementerios, una nueva ruta que comprende un gran número de cementerios de distintos lugares europeos. El trabajo contribuye a clarificar el concepto, a través de la revisión de la literatura realizada y con la muestra de casos reales.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Actividad del lupus eritematoso sistémico y marcadores sanguíneos asociados a aterosclerosis

Descripció del recurs: el 21-08-2008Consultable des del TDXTítol obtingut de la portada digitalitzadaRepresenta el primer estudio practicado en que se evalúan los niveles sanguíneos de distintos marcadores asociados a la aterosclerosis, en un mismo paciente con lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES), en dos momentos diferentes de actividad de la enfermedad. Por dicha razón, constituye un estudio innovador en cuanto a este aspecto. La naturaleza inflamatoria de la aterosclerosis es tema de actualidad en medicina, en lo concerniente a los mecanismos básicos, al uso de marcadores inflamatorios como factores de predicción pronóstica, y a la posibilidad de un tratamiento dirigido frente a la inflamación. Esta investigación en pacientes afectos de LES tiene gran interés, pues en ellos se ha evidenciado una mayor prevalencia y precocidad de aparición de aterosclerosis respecto a la población general. Los mecanismos implicados en dicho proceso se hallan hoy en día bajo intensa investigación. En el estudio, los pacientes se clasificaron en dos grupos de riesgo coronario, en función de las variables identificadas de forma consistente como diferenciales en la mayoría de publicaciones llevadas a cabo comparando pacientes afectos de LES, con y sin enfermedad coronaria. Ambos grupos mostraron un patrón de respuesta distinto, atendiendo a los cambios de los valores de los marcadores sanguíneos entre el brote y la remisión. Este hecho nos sugiere una evolución del proceso aterosclerótico subyacente diferente en función del riesgo vascular de los pacientes. Mientras que los pacientes de bajo riesgo (grupo A) mostraron cambios entre brote y remisión para triglicéridos (TAG), cociente colesterol total (CT)/colesterol unido a lipoproteínas de alta densidad (cHDL) y Proteína-C Reactiva (PCR) (disminuyeron en remisión, no así en el grupo B); aquéllos con elevado riesgo (grupo B) sólo mostraron cambios entre el brote y la remisión para el biomarcador molécula de adhesión vascular tipo 1 soluble (sVCAM-1) (aumentó en brote, no así en el grupo A). La evaluación del porcentaje de valores patológicos de los parámetros de perfil lipídico (CT, cHDL, colesterol unido a lipopoproteínas de baja densidad cholesterol {LDLc}, TAG, cociente CT/cHDL y cociente cLDL/cHDL) y de los biomarcadores (sVCAM-1, molécula de adhesión intercelular tipo 1 soluble {sICAM-1}, Mieloperoxidasa soluble {sMPO}, CD 40 ligando soluble {sCD40L}, interleucina 6 {IL-6}, PCR y antígeno del factor von Willebrand {FvW:Ag}) mostró de nuevo un comportamiento diferente en ambos grupos, excepto para sICAM-1 (molécula expresada por endotelio sano) que presentó siempre porcentajes patológicos similares a los esperados en controles sanos. Dicho comportamiento confirma la observación de que pacientes con diferentes riesgos, presentan respuestas distintas a los cambios de actividad de la enfermedad (sugiriendo diversos mecanismos subyacentes de enfermedad aterosclerótica). Durante el brote ambos grupos y en remisión sólo el grupo B, presentaron tanto perfil lipídico como biomarcadores con mayor porcentaje de valores patológicos que los esperados en controles sanos (exceptuando en el grupo B, porcentajes de TAG patológicos siempre normales y de cHDL normales en remisión). En remisión el grupo A presentó perfil lipídico en rango normal (excepto para cHDL), y mayores porcentajes de valores patológicos para todos los biomarcadores (exceptuando FvW:Ag e IL-6). La persistencia en remisión de porcentajes patológicos de biomarcadores en ambos grupos, pone de manifiesto el estado inflamatorio crónico del LES. Destaca el hallazgo de valores de CD 40 ligando soluble (sCD40L) menores en brote que durante la remisión. La proteína sCD40L es princeps en la fisiopatología del LES. Nuestros resultados se oponen a la literatura publicada hasta el momento. El estudio detallado de dicha variable sugiere que la actividad de la enfermedad confirió consumo de sCD40L; y que a elevado grado de actividad, existieron mecanismos en relación a las plaquetas e inhibidos por elevadas dosis de corticoides que conllevaron a un aumento de los niveles sanguíneos de sCD40L.This thesis is the first study ever made that evaluates blood levels of several biomarkers related to atherosclerosis, in the same patient suffering Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and in two different moments of the activity of the disease. For this reason, this study investigates a complete new field. The inflammatory nature of atherosclerosis is still a current issue in medicine, with regards to basic mechanisms, use of inflammatory markers as prognostic prediction factors, and the possibility of a treatment against inflammation. This investigation in patients with SLE is of great interest, because in this group of patients there has been an earlier and major prevalence of atherosclerosis than in the general population. The mechanisms involved in this process are nowdays under intensive investigation. In the study, patients were classified in two groups of coronary heart disease (CHD) risk, taking into account the variables identified consistently in the majority of publications describing patients with SLE, and comparing those with CHD and those without CHD. Both groups showed a different pattern response, taking into account the changes between flare and remission of the values of blood markers. This suggests a different evolution of the underlying atherosclerotic process with regards to the CHD risk. Meanwhile patients with low risk (group A) showed changes between flare and remission in the values of triglycerides (TG), ratio of total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (they decreased in remission, but not in group B); those patients with high risk only showed changes between flare and remission in the values of soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) (it increased in flare, but not in group A). When we evaluated the percentage of pathologic values of lipid profile (TC, HDLc, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol {LDLc}, TG, ratio TC/HDLc and ratio LDLc/HDLc) and analysed biomarkers (sVCAM-1, soluble intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 {sICAM-1}, soluble myeloperoxidase {sMPO}, soluble CD 40 ligand {sCD40L}, interleukin-6 {IL-6}, CRP and von Willebrand factor antigen {vWF:Ag}), we found again a different pattern response in both groups, except for sICAM-1 (that is expressed in healthy endothelium) which showed pathologic percentages similar to those expected in healthy controls. This behaviour confirms the observation that patients with different risks, show several responses to activity changes of the disease (suggesting various underlying mechanisms of atherosclerosis disease). During the flare, both groups and only group B in remission showed higher percentages of pathologic values of lipid profile and biomarkers than expected in healthy controls (except for group B in the percentage of pathologic TG that were always normal, and the percentage of HDLc in remission). During remission Group A presented lipid profile in normal range (except for HDLc), and higher percentage of pathologic values for all biomarkers (except for vWF:Ag and IL-6). The persistence during remission of pathologic percentages of biomarkers in both groups highlighted the chronic inflammatory state in SLE. It is worth stressing the important discovery of lower values of sCD40L during remission than during flare. The sCD40L protein is closely associated to B cell response, and consequently princeps in the physiopathology of SLE. Our results contradict the literature published to date. The detailed study of such variable suggests that the activity of the disease causes consumption of sCD40L; and at high grade of activity, there are mechanisms regarding platelets and inhibited by high doses of corticosteroids that entail an increase in the blood levels of sCD40L

Execution time distributions in embedded safety-critical systems using extreme value theory

Several techniques have been proposed to upper-bound the worst-case execution time behaviour of programs in the domain of critical real-time embedded systems. These computing systems have strong requirements regarding the guarantees that the longest execution time a program can take is bounded. Some of those techniques use extreme value theory (EVT) as their main prediction method. In this paper, EVT is used to estimate a high quantile for different types of execution time distributions observed for a set of representative programs for the analysis of automotive applications. A major challenge appears when the dataset seems to be heavy tailed, because this contradicts the previous assumption of embedded safety-critical systems. A methodology based on the coefficient of variation is introduced for a threshold selection algorithm to determine the point above which the distribution can be considered generalised Pareto distribution. This methodology also provides an estimation of the extreme value index and high quantile estimates. We have applied these methods to execution time observations collected from the execution of 16 representative automotive benchmarks to predict an upper-bound to the maximum execution time of this program. Several comparisons with alternative approaches are discussed.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under the PROXIMA Project (grant agreement 611085). This study was also partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under grants MTM2012-31118 (2013-2015) and TIN2015-65316-P. Jaume Abella is partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral fellowship number RYC-2013- 14717.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A polemical quest for authenticity: Plato and the history of dialectic (with special reference to the sophist)

The connecting thread of this thesis is the idea that philosophy is essentially dialectical or a matter of conversation. Plato's idea of philosophy plays a pivotal role insofar as one of his main preoccupations throughout his work is to define the essence of philosophy. For him philosophy and dialectic are interchangeable terms. Plato's idea of dialectic is that of a philosophical conversation. This is not a judgement that is accepted by many other philosophers; I consider objections that Aristotle, Descartes and Husserl address to this idea of the nature of philosophy. In the first main part I discuss the etymology and origins of the word dialectic and its possible literary antecedents in Greek epic, lyric and tragedy. I then offer, in the second part, a historical approach to the philosophical roots of dialectic with the aim of grasping its genesis and evolution. I deal with the different ancient ideas of dialectic as represented by the figures of Plato, Aristotle, Zeno (and some Sophists), and the Stoics, then moving on to the medieval understanding of dialectic. Finally I describe its modem versions through representative figures such as Kant, Hegel, Marx and Engels. Finally, in the third part, I turn to the Socratic-Platonic understanding of dialectic. In this part I discuss the nature of the Socratic-Platonic method and some different perspectives on Platonic dialectic. As a test case, and especially with the aim of showing how dialectic operates in Plato, and how he contrasts the figures of the Philosopher and the Sophist I focus on the Sophist

TRADABILITY AND MARKET EQUILIBRIUM FOR U.S.-MEXICO FRESH TOMATOES

Tomato trade between the U.S. and Mexico has grown significantly during the past decade. This increased trade, together with major structural changes in US produce marketing channels, has increased the complexity of conducting analysis of market integration and equilibrium. This study implements an Extended Parity Bounds Model (EPBM), following the work of Barrett and Li, to examine fresh tomato trade relationships between major shipping points and terminal markets for Mexican imported and Florida and California tomatoes. Findings suggest that, although markets seem relatively integrated and efficient, there exist some potential for claims of inefficient or overly competitive behavior. As is expected, the more complex the marketing channels between producer and wholesaler (distance or international boundaries), the more likely that markets operate suboptimally.International Relations/Trade,

An Empirical Analysis of Market Integration and Efficiency for U.S. Fresh Tomato Markets

Fresh tomato trade between the United States and Mexico grew significantly during the 1990s. Moreover, major structural changes in U.S. produce marketing channels increase the complexity of conducting analyses to delineate the impact of liberalized trade. Following the work of Barrett, Li, and Bailey, this study implements a mixed distribution to examine spatial-price relationships between major shipping points and terminal markets for Mexican imported, and Florida and California tomatoes. Although markets are often efficiently integrated, results suggest strategic pricing and product shipments may exist and vary among terminal markets in Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago.market integration, North American tomato trade, spatial analysis, tomato markets, Industrial Organization,

Mujer y democracia. Paridad de género en la política mexicana

se presentan un conjunto de reflexiones derivadas de un análisis documental, de tipo coyuntural, sobre los avances y tropiezos que tiene la instrumentación del principio de paridad de género, por ejemplo, en 2015 se dieron pasos significativos hacia delante con el incremento, en forma proporcional y en número, de las diputadas federales en el Congreso de la Unión, las diputadas locales en los congresos estatales y en la Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal (Ciudad de México), así como en los ayuntamientos, destacando el caso de Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México donde las regidoras y las síndicas son mayoría a partir del primero de enero del año 2016. Sin embargo, existe la dificultad de remontar el autoritarismo del régimen actual y la situación de crisis múltiples por las que atraviesa el país, tanto en los terrenos económico, político y de seguridad, como en factores socioculturales que requieren una mayor maduración en el cultivo de la democracia para facilitar el éxito de las reformas electorales del año 2014 y su total cumplimiento a partir del año 2015

Determinants of food selection by bivalve larvae

Selection of food particles for consumption by larvae impacts nutritional gain needed for growth, development, and metamorphosis. Past work has suggested that molluscan larvae are capable of collecting food within a narrow size range. Recent studies have found evidence of size-independent food selection in molluscan larvae, but relatively little is known about the characteristics of particles that larvae preferentially capture. Therefore, we conducted experiments with the larvae of two mussels, Mytilus trossulus and Mytilus edulis, to determine whether they are selective feeders, and if so, whether we could determine the characteristics of particles selected as food. We fed larvae microalgae and polystyrene microspheres of different sizes, nutritional content, surface charge, and hydrophobicity. We found that for both species, there was no effect of size on particle selection for particles 2–8 μm, but, surprisingly, these two congeners preferentially captured particles with different characteristics. Larvae of M. trossulus preferentially captured particles that were more hydrophilic and had a more negativesurface charge, but there was no effect of nutritional content. The larvae of M. edulis showed a different pattern; they preferentially captured particles with low surface charge and greater food value, but hydrophobicity did not affect selection. Larvae of these two congeners are indeed selective in which particles they collect but appear to be using different rules for selection. More work is needed to determine whether there are any general patterns that govern particle selection for larvae and mechanisms that could produce the observed patterns. Such work is needed to help us to determine whether individual species use different rules or whether there are general patterns in the types of particles larvae select