A model of air transport passenger incidents and rights

This paper describes a representation of the legal framework in the air transport passenger's rights domain and the foremost incidents that trigger the top of consumer complaints ranking in the EU. It comprises the development of a small network of three ontologies, formalisation of scenarios, specification of properties and identification of relations. The approach is illustrated by means of a case study based in the context of a real life cancelled flight incident. This is part of an intended support-system that aims to provide both consumers and companies with relevant legal information to enhance the decision-making process.

Ontology-driven legal support-system in air transport passenger domain

This paper aims to present a preliminary version of asupport-system in the air transport passenger domain. This system relies upon an underlying on-tological structure representing a normative framework to facilitatethe provision of contextualized relevant legal information.This information includes the pas-senger's rights and itenhances self-litigation and the decision-making process of passengers.Our contribution is based in the attempt of rendering a user-centric-legal informationgroundedon case-scenarios of the most pronounced incidents related to the consumer complaints in the EU.A number ofadvantages with re-spect to the current state-of-the-art services are discussed and a case study illu-strates a possible technological application.

Early dysfunction of functional connectivity in healthy elderly with subjective memory complaints

It is still an open question whether subjective memory complaints (SMC) can actually be considered to be clinically relevant predictors for the development of an objective memory impairment and even dementia. There is growing evidence that suggests that SMC are associated with an increased risk of dementia and with the presence of biological correlates of early Alzheimer's disease. In this paper, in order to shed some light on this issue, we try to discern whether subjects with SMC showed a different profile of functional connectivity compared with subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy elderly subjects. In the present study, we compare the degree of synchronization of brain signals recorded with magnetoencephalography between three groups of subjects (56 in total): 19 with MCI, 12 with SMC and 25 healthy controls during a memory task. Synchronization likelihood, an index based on the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems, was used to measure functional connectivity. Briefly, results show that subjects with SMC have a very similar pattern of connectivity to control group, but on average, they present a lower synchronization value. These results could indicate that SMC are representing an initial stage with a hypo-synchronization (in comparison with the control group) where the brain system is still not compensating for the failing memory networks, but behaving as controls when compared with the MCI subjects.

A water footprint assessment of a pair of jeans: the influence of agricultural policies on the sustainability of consumer products.

This study reports the results of a water footprint (WF) assessment of five types of textiles commonly used for the production of jeans, including two different fibres (cotton and Lyocell fibre) and five corresponding production methods for spinning, dyeing and weaving. The results show that the fibre production is the stage with the highest water consumption, being cotton production particularly relevant. Therefore, the study pays particular attention to the water footprint of cotton production and analyses the effects of external factors influencing the water footprint of a product, in this case, the incentives provided by the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the relevance of agricultural practices to the water footprint of a product is emphasised. An extensification of the crop production led to higher WF per unit, but a lower overall pressure on the basins water resources. This study performs a sustainability assessment of the estimated cotton WFs with the water scarcity index, as proposed by Hoekstra et al. (2011), and shows their variations in different years as a result of different water consumption by crops in the rest of the river basin. In our case, we applied the assessment to the Guadalquivir, Guadalete and Barbate river basins, three semi-arid rivers in South Spain. Because they are found to be relevant, the available water stored in dams and the outflow are also incorporated as reference points for the sustainability assessment. The study concludes that, in the case of Spanish cotton production, the situation of the basin and the policy impact are more relevant for the status of the basin s water resources than the actual WF of cotton production. Therefore, strategies aimed at reducing the impact of the water footprint of a product need to analyse both the WF along the value chain and within the local context.

Impact of introducing longer and heavier vehicles on regional consumer price index and Spanish road freight transport system

This paper applies an integrated modeling approach to the case of Spain; the approach is based on a random utility-based multiregional input-output model and a road transport network model for assessing the effect of introducing longer and heavier vehicles (LHVs) on the regional consumer price index (CPI) and on the transportation system. The approach strongly supports the concept that changes in transport costs derived from the LHV allowance as well as the economic structure of regions have direct and indirect effects on the economy and on the transportation system. Results show that the introduction of LHVs might reduce prices paid by consumers for a representative basket of goods and services in the regions of Spain and would also lead to a reduction in the regional CPI. In addition, the magnitude and extent of changes in the transportation system are estimated by using the commodity-based structure of the approach to identify the effect of traffic changes on traffic flows and on pollutant emissions over the whole network.

Analysing the Impact of Consumer Tendency in HORECA Distribution Models

With increasing complexity of today's consumer requirements, food industry decision makers should be able to respond to consumer needs much faster than ever before. The preliminary studies showed that for improving the performance and selecting suitable distribution models, decision makers in food industries should classify different types of consumers and based on the classification prepare different distributions flows. By studying the HORECA distribution channel, this paper suggest that, logistics decision makers should investigate the relationship between consumers' characteristics and urban freight distribution strategy in order to respond to the exact needs and in the follow to reduce the logistics cost.

Instrumental Colour Evaluation and Visual Consumer Study of Commercial Beverages Made with Fruit Juice and Milk

Análisis del color de bebidas formuladas con leche y frutas mediante análisis de imagen y estudio de la aceptación del color por los consumidores

Sensory characterization and consumer acceptance of La Mancha Trujillo melons fertilized with different dosages of pomace compost

Caracterización sensorial y aceptación del consumidor de melones de la Mancha de la variedad Trujillo fertilizados con compost de orujo a diferentes dosis