Integrated studies for the evaluation of conservation treatments on buildings materials from archaeological sites: application to the case of Merida (Spain)

The application of conservation treatments, such as consolidation and protection ones, has been demonstrated ineffective in many cases, and even harmful. Evaluation studies should be a mandatory task, ideally before and after the intervention, but both tasks are complex and unusual in the case of archaeological heritage. This study is mainly focused on analyzing changes in petrophysical properties of stone material from archaeological sites of Merida (Spain), evaluating, both on site and in laboratory, effects derived from different conservation treatments applied in past interventions, throughout the integration of different non-destructive techniques (NDT) and portable devices of analysis available at the Institute of Geosciences (CSIC,UCM). These techniques allow, not only assessment of effectiveness and alteration processes, but also monitoring durability of treatments, focused mainly on 1996 intervention in the case of Roman Theater, as well as different punctual interventions from the 90?s until date in the House of Mitreo. Studies carried out on archaeological sites of Merida permit us to compare outcomes and also check limitations in the use of those equipments. In this paper we discuss about the use of some techniques, their integration and limits, for the assessment of conservation treatments, showing some examples of Merida?s case study.

Structure of Alluvial Valleys from 3-D Gravity Inversion: The Low Andarax Valley (Almería, Spain) Test Case

This paper presents a gravimetric study (based on 382 gravimetric stations in an area about 32 km2) of a nearly flat basin: the Low Andarax valley. This alluvial basin, close to its river mouth, is located in the extreme south of the province of Almería and coincides with one of the existing depressions in the Betic Cordillera. The paper presents new methodological work to adapt a published inversion approach (GROWTH method) to the case of an alluvial valley (sedimentary stratification, with density increase downward). The adjusted 3D density model reveals several features in the topography of the discontinuity layers between the calcareous basement (2,700 kg/m3) and two sedimentary layers (2,400 and 2,250 kg/m3). We interpret several low density alignments as corresponding to SE faults striking about N140?145°E. Some detected basement elevations (such as the one, previously known by boreholes, in Viator village) are apparently connected with the fault pattern. The outcomes of this work are: (1) new gravimetric data, (2) new methodological options, and (3) the resulting structural conclusions.

Integrated Studies for the Evaluation of Conservation Treatments on Stone Material from Archaeological Sites. Application to the Case of Merida (Spain)

The application of conservation treatments, such as consolidation and protection ones, has been demonstrated ineffective in many cases, and even harmful. Evaluation studies should be a mandatory task, ideally before and after the intervention, but both tasks are complex and unusual in the case of archaeological heritage. This study is mainly focused on analyzing changes in petrophysical properties of stone material from archaeological sites of Merida (Spain), evaluating, both on site and in laboratory, effects derived from different conservation treatments applied in past interventions, throughout the integration of different non-destructive techniques (NDT) and portable devices of analysis available at the Institute of Geosciences (CSIC,UCM). These techniques allow, not only assessment of effectiveness and alteration processes, but also monitoring durability of treatments, focused mainly on 1996 intervention in the case of Roman Theater, as well as different punctual interventions from the 90’s until date in the House of Mitreo. Studies carried out on archaeological sites of Merida permit us to compare outcomes and also check limitations in the use of those equipments. In this paper we discuss about the use of some techniques, their integration and limits, for the assessment of conservation treatments, showing some examples of Merida’s case study.

Fashion in Actions on Social Media – Spanish SME Fashion Brands Case Studies

Fashion is one of the most vibrant sectors in Europe and important contributors to the European Union (EU) economy. In particular, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a major part in European fashion industry (EU 2012). Just like fashion, where people¿s style has inherently meant to be shared as it is foremost a representation of one¿s self-image, social media allow the reflection of ones' personality and emotions. Although fashion practitioners have embraced social media in their marketing activities, it is still relatively few known at an academic level about the specificities of fashion industry when approaching social media marketing (SMM) strategies. This study sets out to explore fashion companies' SMM strategy and its activities. From an exploratory approach, we present case studies of two Spanish SME fashion companies, anonymously named hereafter as Company A and Company B, to deepen our understanding on how fashion brands implement their SMM strategy. Company A offers high-end fashion products while Company B produces medium fashion products. We analyzed the case studies using qualitative (interviews to companies' executives) and a mix of qualitative and quantitative (content analysis of companies' social media platform) methods. Public posts data of both companies' Facebook brand pages were used to perform the content analysis. Our findings through case studies of the two companies reveal that branding-oriented strategic objectives are the main drivers of their SMM implementations. There are significant differences between both companies. The main strategic action employed by Company A is engaging customers to participate into brand's offline social gathering events by inviting them through social media platform, while Company B focuses its effort on posting product promotion related contents and engaging influencers such as fashion bloggers. Our results are expected to serve as a basis of further investigations on how SMM strategy and strategic actions implemented by fashion brands may influence marketing outcomes.