Since the start of tourism as rewarding and massive activity in the mid-nineteenth century, the traditional urban systems of the Spanish coast have been transformed to satisfy an increasingly changeable and demanding typology of tourist. Among the different models of urban development that have taken place so far, this study examines the phenomenon of New Holiday Towns: New Towns planned for mass tourism, with an own identity and certain degree of economic and/or political autonomy. These ex-novo settlements are built over tabula rasa and based on a large scale, master plan with an independent urban structure, thanks to strong business investment and the support and commitment from local government. The keys to success: leisure as a consumer product and an efficient marketing. The objective of this paper is to reflect on this model of tourist development that is spreading internationally. For this, firstly the economic, social and political reality that facilitates its emergence and subsequent development was studied. A few cases of New Holiday Towns were studied chronologically, noting the notable difference between the first appeared and the current ones. And finally, a sociological study was carried out in a specific case: Marina d'Or, in the municipality of Oropesa del Mar, Castellón. I wanted to know the intensity of use that neighbors make of public space, ways of inhabiting urban space in daily life, what kind of user frequent these towns, why, for how long, what are their customs, satisfaction level, valuation of urban space… To do this I used a quantitative methodology, the survey, and ethnography as a qualitative method of analysis through participant observation. This study questions this model of tourist development, arguing that its urban management and exclusive reliance on the tourist activity turn New Holiday Towns into Non-places. Is being a Non-place a symptom for the future stagnation of these New Towns? In that Case, what would be the panacea for them?
Situated in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, Mecca is considered the spiritual capital of one and a half billion worldwide Muslims. The city is visited by millions of pilgrims every year. It has undergone significant changes in land cover (LC) since the government first embarked on a series of ambitious development projects 20 years ago to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims and citizens. The main objective of our study is to detect, identify, analyze and measure the evolving land cover and urban morphology composition from multi-temporal satellite images. To characterize the morphological change during a period of twenty years, four satellite images, acquired in 1998 by Landsat TM and in 2003, 2008 and 2013 by Landsat ETM+, were classified into five main categories: Urban, Street, Soil and Vegetation . In addition, DEM has been extracted and included as Mountain . Change detection (CD) analysis is applied using post-classification comparison and GIS. As part of the study, morphological index, such as, Entropy is included for better understanding of urban structures behaviour. Mecca and its surroundings show a noticeable increase in urban and vegetation cover. Urban cover (UC) changes were divided into five radial directions: Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, East , and Northwest . These changes are influenced by mountain ranges surrounding the city and the highways. These revelations can play a significant role towards future planning and development activities, which may further promote urban growth.
The article analyzes film discourse, both informative and fiction, in the United States during the First World War. The article places "the division of films" in the framework of the complex campaign of institutional communication started by W. Wilson's government after the war declaration by analyzing "publicity" and "propaganda" strategies deployed by the Committee on Public Information, which was created ad hoc for the military campaign. On the one hand, the paper explores the film stories, both documentary and fiction, distribution apparatus in both the United States and the international markets, the administration policies and the involved agencies, especially in the international distribution. On the other hand, it examines the model of production concerning the contracts signing with film companies and the organization adopted by the Committee on Public Information to create its own productions and participate in joint projects with film companies. The paper places emphasis on the "theory" developed by the Committee on Public Information about script-writing and film staging, particulary on the case of documentary stories, which were based in a model, hybridized with fiction stories, in order to stimulate demand for "educational", "propaganda" film-making, to which the exhibitors initially showed signs of resistence. The paper also highlights, in overall terms, how iconical representation was categorized and, in particular, the assessment on the role silent cinema can play in the Committee's development of communicative strategies. In spite of the Comittee's avoidance of the "propaganda" category, as its own name shows, iconical representation was given "highest propaganda value" and was granted a place of privilege, particularly, in the international campaign's call to spread "the gospel of americanism" around the globe ; El artículo analiza el discurso cinematográfico norteamericano, informativo y de ficción, del periodo de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Inscribe el trabajo de "the division of films" en el marco de la compleja campaña de comunicación institucional desplegada por el gobierno de W. Wilson tras la declaración de guerra, analizando las estrategias "publicitarias" y "de propaganda" del Committee on Public Information, creado ad hoc para la campaña bélica. Se estudia, por una parte, el aparato de distribución de los relatos cinematográficos documentales y de ficción tanto en el mercado norteamericano como en el mercado internacional, las medidas administrativas y los organismos implicados, especialmente en la distribución internacional. Por otra, se estudia el modelo de producción tanto en lo relativo a los contratos firmados con las principales productoras norteamericanas como en lo relativo a la organización de la que se dotó el Committee on Public Information para realizar sus propias producciones y participar en proyectos de coproducción con las empresas cinematográficas. Se prestará especial atención a la "teoría" desarrollada por el Committee on Public Information, en lo relativo a la escritura del guión y en lo relativo a la puesta en escena de los films, sobre todo en el caso de los relatos documentales, para los que se habilitó un modelo, basado en su hibridación con los relatos de ficción, que perseguía estimular la demanda de un cine "educativo", de "propaganda", frente al que los exhibidores mostraron en un principio no pocas resistencias. El estudio prestará especial atención a la categorización de que es objeto la representación icónica, en términos generales, y, en particular, la valoración que se hace del papel que puede desempeñar el silent cinema en el desarrollo de las estragegias comunicativas del Committe on Public Information. A pesar de la prevención con que el Comité utiliza la categoría de "propaganda", como lo atestigua su propia denominación, a la representación icónica se le reconocerá el "máximo valor propagandístico", concediéndole lugar de privilegio, en especial, en la campaña internacional llamada a difundir por todo el planeta "the gospel of americanism".
Situated in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, Mecca is considered the spiritual capital of one and a half billion worldwide Muslims. The city is visited by millions of pilgrims every year. It has undergone significant changes in land cover (LC) since the government first embarked on a series of ambitious development projects 20 years ago to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims and citizens. The main objective of our study is to detect, identify, analyze and measure the evolving land cover and urban morphology composition from multi-temporal satellite images. To characterize the morphological change during a period of twenty years, four satellite images, acquired in 1998 by Landsat TM and in 2003, 2008 and 2013 by Landsat ETM+, were classified into five main categories: Urban, Street, Soil and Vegetation. In addition, DEM has been extracted and included as Mountain. Change detection (CD) analysis is applied using post-classification comparison and GIS. As part of the study, morphological index, such as, Entropy is included for better understanding of urban structures behaviour. Mecca and its surroundings show a noticeable increase in urban and vegetation cover. Urban cover (UC) changes were divided into five radial directions: Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, East, and Northwest. These changes are influenced by mountain ranges surrounding the city and the highways. These revelations can play a significant role towards future planning and development activities, which may further promote urban growth.
This article exposes the potential of reading and literary education in multicultural and multilingual contexts, as well as, recommend its importance not only on the acquisition and development in stable reading habits, but as an essential foundation for the construction of much more equal and democratic societies. Directly opposed to a great numbers of pessimistic voices that alert about the dangers in the increasing migratory movements, and their consequences as migrating students in all the different levels at Spanish schools in the country. Researchers stand for the possibilities of literature and reading didactics in the development and consolidation of reading, literary and intercultural competences, and therefore, in this sense, reveal the magnitude of the literary text from an educative and inclusive perspective that allows the construction of the citizenship. ; Los autores exponen el potencial de la educación lectora y literaria en cuanto a su función en contextos multiculturales y plurilingües se refiere y preconizan su importancia no sólo en la adquisición y desarrollo de hábitos de lectura estables, sino como un pilar esencial en el compromiso de la construcción de sociedades más igualitarias y democráticas. En oposición directa al gran número de agoreras voces que alertan sobre los peligros del aumento de las migraciones y sus consecuencias en forma de alumnado inmigrante en las aulas de los diferentes niveles educativos del Estado español, los investigadores abogan por las posibilidades de la didáctica de la literatura y de la lectura en el descubrimiento y la consolidación de las competencias lectora, literaria e intercultural y, por tanto, en este sentido, revelan la magnitud del texto literario desde una perspectiva educativa e inclusiva en la construcción de la ciudadanía. ; Les auteurs présentent le potentiel de la lecture et de l'éducation littéraire et son rôle dans des contextes multiculturels et multilingues, en plaidant son importance non seulement dans l'acquisition et le développement des habitudes de lecture stables, mais aussi comme un pilier essentiel de l'engagement pour la construction de sociétés plus démocratiques et égalitaires. S'opposant directement au grand nombre de voix menaçantes qui avertissent des dangers de l'augmentation de la migration et de ses conséquences sous la forme d'élèves immigrants dans les salles de classe des diverses niveaux d'enseignement de l'État espagnol, les chercheurs préconisent les possibilités de l'enseignement de la littérature et de la lecture dans la découverte et la consolidation des compétences de lecture, littéraires et inter culturelles. Par conséquent, dans ce sens, ils révèlent l'amplitude du texte littéraire dès une perspective éducative et inclusive dans la construction de la citoyenneté.
Rising levels of racism and xenophobia in European societies, and the fact that Moroccans constitute the immigrant community that is least accepted by Spaniards, has motivated the book club to propose two books by transcultural authors for teenagers as part of their literary and intercultural education. We propose an evaluation of the impact of these books using a pre-test and post-test questionnaire that employs a quasi-experimental design. The objective is give secondary school students the opportunity to: (1) increase their knowledge of Arab culture, (2) reflect on the development of a double sense of cultural belonging by immigrants, (3) empathise with the situations experienced by the characters portrayed and (4) develop their own ideas before adopting cultural practices or values. Taking advantage of the potential offered by literature for fostering democratic ideas and intercultural awareness, we aim to encourage a rigorous, critical and empathetic attitude to otherness – and so overcome various forms of discrimination against immigrants. ; El aumento del racismo y la xenofobia en las sociedades europeas y el hecho de que los marroquíes, en particular, constituyan el colectivo inmigrante más rechazado por los españoles motiva la propuesta de club de lectura a partir de dos obras de LIJ (literatura infantil y juvenil) de autoras transculturales, en el marco de la educación literaria e intercultural, que presentamos en este artículo y que proponemos evaluar a través de un cuestionario pretest-postest, empleando un diseño de investigación cuasi-experimental. Con esta perseguimos que el alumnado de Secundaria al que se dirige tenga ocasión de: (1) incrementar sus conocimientos sobre la cultura árabe, (2) reflexionar sobre el desarrollo del doble sentimiento de pertenencia cultural de los inmigrantes, (3) empatizar con las situaciones vividas por las protagonistas y (4) desarrollar un pensamiento propio ante la adopción de prácticas o valores culturales. Se aprovechan las potencialidades brindadas por la literatura para la construcción de una ciudadanía democrática y el desarrollo de la competencia intercultural, para una aproximación rigurosa, crítica y empática a la alteridad y para la superación de formas diversas de discriminación hacia los inmigrantes. ; La montée du racisme et de la xénophobie dans les sociétés européennes et le fait que les marocains, en particulier, soient la communauté immigrée la plus rejetée par les espagnols, est à la base de la proposition du club de lecture à partir de deux oeuvres de littérature pour enfants et jeunesaux auteurs transculturelles, dans le cadre de l'éducation littéraire et interculturelle, que nous présentons dans cet article et que nous proposons d'évaluer à travers un questionnaire prétest-posttest, en appliquant un type de recherche quasi-expérimentale. Nous poursuivons ainsi que les élèves du secondaire, qui en sont les destinataires, puissent : (1) améliorer leur connaissance de la culture arabe ; (2) réfléchir au développement du double sentiment d'appartenance culturelle des immigrés ; (3) empathiser avec les situations vécues par les personnages ; et (4) élaborer leur propre réflexion concernant l'adoption de pratiques ou de valeurs culturelles. Profiter, en définitive, du potentiel qu'offre la littérature dans la construction d'une citoyenneté démocratique et le développement de la compétence interculturelle, pour une approche rigoureuse, critique et empathique de l'altérité et pour surmonter les diverses formes de discrimination envers les immigrés.
The European political discourse has denounced the increase in land consumption in Spain, resulting from contemporary processes of urban development. The occupation of land deriving from demographic dynamics generates different patterns of urban growth, defining spatial structures with different degrees of fragmentation of urbanised areas. This study analyses the spatial relation of urban growth in Spain over the period 1956-2006 in three dimensions; land occupation, population density and the fragmentation of artificialised urban areas. The methodology consists of the construction of a number of specific indicators of land occupation (%), population density (net and administrative), and fragmentation (Shannon's evenness), in order to apply a relational statistical analysis (change over time and change between variables), as well as examine the likely future performance of these three indicators The results indicate that in general in the areas studied the decrease in the net density and the rates of expansion of artificialised land have been greater than the rate of population growth. However the spatial fragmentation has reduced over the period under review. Finally it needs to be highlighted that the descriptive analysis identified landscapes of special performance (outside the overall tendency), which cannot be detected under the integrated 'relational' focus. Although the results do not indicate the value of one method with respect to the other, it can be confirmed that that the integrated focus is more complete in its conception and its capacity to explain complex phenomenon, than the partial vision offered by the indicators.
Information and telecommunication technologies are called to play a major role in the changes that healthcare systems have to face to cope with chronic disease. This paper reports a telemedicine experience for the home care of chronic patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and an integrated system designed to carry out this experience. To determine the impact on health, the chronic care telemedicine system was used during one year (2002) with 157 COPD patients in a clinical experiment; endpoints were readmissions and mortality. Patients in the intervention group were followed up at their homes and could contact the care team at any time through the call center. The care team shared a unique electronic chronic patient record (ECPR) accessible through the web-based patient management module or the home visit units. Results suggest that integrated home telemedicine services can support health professionals caring for patients with chronic disease, and improve their health.We have found that simple telemedicine services (ubiquitous access to ECPR, ECPR shared by care team, accessibility to case manager, problem reporting integrated in ECPR) can increase the number of patients that were not readmitted (51% intervention, 33% control), are acceptable to professionals, and involve low installation and exploitation costs. Further research is needed to determine the role of telemonitoring and televisit services for this kind of patients. ; This work was supported in part by the European Union under Research Grant CHRONIC (Information Society Technologies, Vth framework programme) and in part by the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs under Research Grant "Red de Telemedicina."
Chronic diseases are diseases of long duration and slow progression. Major NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, rheumatologic diseases and mental health) represent the predominant health problem of the Century. The prevention and control of NCDs are the priority of the World Health Organization 2008 Action Plan, the United Nations 2010 Resolution and the European Union 2010 Council. The novel trend for the management of NCDs is evolving towards integrative, holistic approaches. NCDs are intertwined with ageing. The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) has prioritised NCDs. To tackle them in their totality in order to reduce their burden and societal impact, it is proposed that NCDs should be considered as a single expression of disease with different risk factors and entities. An innovative integrated health system built around systems medicine and strategic partnerships is proposed to combat NCDs. It includes (i) understanding the social, economic, environmental, genetic determinants, as well as the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying NCDs; (ii) primary care and practice-based interprofessional collaboration; (iii) carefully phenotyped patients; (iv) development of unbiased and accurate biomarkers for comorbidities, severity and follow up of patients; (v) socio-economic science; (vi) development of guidelines; (vii) training; and (viii) policy decisions. The results could be applicable to all countries and adapted to local needs, economy and health systems. This paper reviews the complexity of NCDs intertwined with ageing. It gives an overview of the problem and proposes two practical examples of systems medicine (MeDALL) applied to allergy and to NCD co-morbidities (MACVIA-LR, Reference Site of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing).
