'Thinking of Spain in a flat way:' visiting Spain and Spanish cultural heritage through contemporary Japanese anime

This article contextualizes the representation of Spain and Spanish culture among Japanese cultural producers, particularly through the production of Japanese commercial animation (commonly named anime). Toward that goal, it provides a historical background of Japan-Spain relations within the context of the tourism industry, as well as some examples of the diverse forms of representation within several creative industries. Subsequently, the article reviews the ways in which popular culture has been contributed to national branding. There is special attention to the Spanish case and the proliferation of such images sometimes resulting in the (mis)representation of Spain's tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Internationally-distributed anime productions will be examined as a reflection of Spanish national branding on Japanese audiences and this global industry. Three cases among contemporary anime productions have been selected due to the combination of fictional and misrepresented Spanish cultural features in their narratives

The Anime Boom in the United States. Lessons for Global Creative Industries by Michal Daliot-Bul and Nissim Otmazgin. Reviewed by Manuel Hernandez-Perez.

Hernández-Pérez, M. (2020). The Anime Boom in the United States. Lessons for Global Creative Industries by Michal Daliot-Bul and Nissim Otmazgin. Reviewed by Manuel Hernandez-Perez. International Journal of Communication, 14, 5001-5003. doi:1932–8036/2020BKR000

Japanese media cultures in Japan and abroad: Transnational consumption of manga, anime, and media-mixes

Reprinted Special issue of ARTS (2018

Fourier Transforms for Generalized Fredholm Equations

In this chapter we take the conventional Fredholm integral equations as a guideline to define a broad class of equations we name generalized Fredholm equations with a larger scope of applications. We show first that these new kind of equations are really vector-integral equations with the same properties but with redefined and also enlarged elements in its structure replacing the old traditional concepts like in the case of the source or inhomogeneous term with the generalized source useful for describing the electromagnetic wave propagation. Then we can apply a Fourier transform to the new equations in order to obtain matrix equations to both types, inhomogeneous and homogeneous generalized Fredholm equations. Meanwhile, we discover new properties of the field we can describe with this new technology, that is, mean; we recognize that the old concept of nuclear resonances is present in the new equations and reinterpreted as the brake of the confinement of the electromagnetic field. It is important to say that some segments involving mathematical details of our present work were published somewhere by us, as part of independent researches with different specific goals, and we recall them as a tool to give a sound support of the Fourier transforms

Effect of live weight pre and post-lambing on milk production of East Friesian sheep

The study was conducted to analyse the effect of sheep body weight (BW) at mating, mid-preg- nancy, lambing, early lactation, mid-lactation and late lactation on milk yield and patterns of milk production. Also, the effects of environmental factors such as number of lambing (NL) and type of lambing (TL) on BW and milk production were analysed. A total of 52 multiparous East Friesian ewes from an experimental flock were used. Ewes were assigned to three different groups accord- ing to their BW at each productive stage: low (LBW), moderate (MBW) and high BW (HBW). Lactations were fitted using the mechanistic model described by Pollott. Total milk yield (TMY), peak yield (PY) and time at peak yield (TPY) were also calculated. HBW ewes had consistently higher TMY (p<.001) and PY (p<.05) values, than LBW and MBW in most of productive stage measured. There was a positive linear relationship (p < .05) between TMY and BW in all-productive stage, except at mid-gestation where the relationship was quadratic. HBW ewes weighted at mid- pregnancy showed the highest values of maximum secretion parameter (p 1⁄4 .04) of Pollott model, which could partially explain the better milk yield of HBW ewes. A significant effect of NL on BW (p1⁄4.007) and TMY (p1⁄4.007) was observed. The BW ewe’s in pregnancy and early lactation is a useful indicator at farm level to improve the milk yield performance in dairy sheep.Mr. Angeles Hernandez thank the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT, Mexico) for the scholar- ship for their studies in the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Dr. Gonzalez Ronquillo was granted with a Beca Alianza del Pacifico 2014 fellowship

Organic Dairy Sheep Production Management

Organic production systems are based on natural processes, the use of local feed resources, and the maintenance of biodiversity in all senses. Several studies have noted the positive effects of organic sheep milk production systems on animal welfare, animal health, product quality, and environmental impact. On the other hand, it has been reported that dairy sheep organic farms show lower milk yields and increase the susceptibility to environmental impacts compared with conventional farms. The standards that regulate feeding management in organic systems are one of the most critical factors that influence milk production performance. Lower milk production is also associated with poor ability to adapt specialized dairy breeds to organic management, low genetic potential for milk production in native and local breeds, and elevated dependence on environmental conditions. However, the aim of organic dairy production is not to reach maximum dairy productivity but rather to integrate animal and crop production and to develop a symbiotic relationship between recyclable and renewable resources; furthermore, organic production positively affects the employment rate and quality of life in rural communities. Organic dairy sheep production is one means of improving the balance between society’s demand for food and the ecological impact of the agro-alimentary industry

A comprehensive framework from real‐time prognostics to maintenance decisions

Abstract: Studying the influence of imperfect prognostics information on maintenance decisions is an underexplored area. To bridge this gap, a new comprehensive maintenance support system is proposed. First, a survival theory‐based prognostics module employing the Weibull time‐to‐event recurrent neural network was deployed in which prognostics competence was enhanced by predicting the parameters of failure distribution. In conjunction with this, a new predictive maintenance (PdM) planning model was framed via a trade‐off between corrective maintenance and time lost due to PdM. This optimises maintenance time based on operational and maintenance cost parameters from the historical data. The performance of the proposed framework is demonstrated using an experimental case study on maintenance planning for cutting tools within a manufacturing facility. Systematic sensitivity analysis is provided, and the impact of imperfect prognostics information on maintenance decisions is discussed. Results show that uncertainty about prediction declines as time goes on, and as uncertainty declines, the maintenance timing becomes closer to the remaining useful life. This is expected, as the risk of making a wrong decision decreases over time

SALMANTICOR study. Rationale and design of a population-based study to identify structural heart disease abnormalities: a spatial and machine learning analysis

[EN]Introduction: This study aims to obtain data on the prevalence and incidence of structural heart disease in a population setting and, to analyse and present those data on the application of spatial and machine learning methods that, although known to geography and statistics, need to become used for healthcare research and for political commitment to obtain resources and support effective public health programme implementation. Methods and analysis: We will perform a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected residents of Salamanca (Spain). 2400 individuals stratified by age and sex and by place of residence (rural and urban) will be studied. The variables to analyse will be obtained from the clinical history, different surveys including social status, Mediterranean diet, functional capacity, ECG, echocardiogram, VASERA and biochemical as well as genetic analysis. Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the ethical committee of the healthcare community. All study participants will sign an informed consent for participation in the study. The results of this study will allow the understanding of the relationship between the different influencing factors and their relative importance weights in the development of structural heart disease