Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) (I): Toxicity, population exposure and involved foods

Food is one of the main exogenous sources of genotoxic compounds. In heated food products, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a priority group of genotoxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic chemical pollutants with adverse long-term health effects. People can be exposed to these compounds through different environments and via various routes: inhalation, ingestion of foods and water and even percutaneously. The presence of these compounds in food may be due to environmental contamination, to industrial handling and processing of foods and to oil processing and refining. The highest levels of these compounds are found in smoked foods, in seafood which is found in polluted waters, in grilled meats and, to a lesser extent, in vegetable fats and oils. Lower levels of PAHs are found in vegetables and in cereals and its products.

Museums as a factor for the social integration of art in the community. The experience of cultural volunteering by members of the senior community

After considering museums as cultural institutions responsible for preserving cultural memory and its evolution over time, this article describes the cultural practices within our society that are aimed at disseminating art and at reproducing and transmitting culture, history and identity. Further, it considers the key role that older people are steadily assuming in Spain’s ageing society. New social-empowerment activities based on volunteering by the elderly are linked to generativity because the individual and social groups acquire new skills through those activities, thereby strengthening a society for all ages. Never in the history of social work have so many older people been prepared to participate actively at the community level, and never has a social movement with these features gone so unnoticed by so many social agents.

Places making: participatory construction of scientifi c culture cities

In the framework of the European project Platform of Local Authorities and Communicators Engaged in Science (PLACES), we analyse the articulations between scientifi c communication, public perception of science, processes of citizen participation and apropiation of space, based on a case study of the inhabitants of Teruel city, Autonomous Community of Aragon, Spain. On the interrelationships between these issues, there are a number of contradictions, such as the difference between a high interest for information about science and technology and a low level of recognition and interaction with local institutions involved in those activities, the complex conceptualization of scientifi c space in relation to the “public-private” pair, or an articulation of a claiming civic rethoric and an insuffi cient co-responsibility. We conclude that, in a local context, the dimension of territoriality and, in particular, the identifi cation with the town, is a central mediation for activating citizen participation as part of processes of appropriation of space for setting up cities of scientifi c culture.

Blogs as virtual environments for teaching and learning in Higher Education

The transformation of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into knowledge and learning technologies is increasingly becoming a matter of concern. Teaching settings associated with the use of blogs in Higher Education are presented in this paper, proceeding from an innovative learning experience of projects carried out by a group of professors between 2009 and 2013. Both, teachers and students who took part in the subjects that implemented the blog, considered it as helpful resource to create a virtual and learning-teaching environment due to the multiple potentialities it offers. Among some of these potentialities, some stand out: it makes easier the access to knowledge, promotes a more active and reflective learning, expands the social experience of learning, provides evidence about the students’ progress which helps to reorient the teaching-learning process, and encourages the critical judgment. Nevertheless, several problems related with the students’ participation and the teacher’s blog management have been identified.

The in-service teacher trainer: profile, career path and duties

This article is the result of a doctoral thesis that aims to understand the reality of teacher trainers at a given moment, when their professional role changes from being a managing training advisor to a role that is more centred on process counselling. Using in-depth interviews, we defined the personal and professional profile of training counsellors in the Balearic Islands, their career path, the process for their inclusion in Teacher Centres (CEP) and, finally, the duties and skills that they perform as teacher trainers. The data that has been collected shows the coexistence of different professional roles in the group of education advisors. Moreover, it also indicates a lack of definition of the profile needed to access an advisor's position. There are indeed some coincidences determining the access route to such a position when it comes to the teaching profession since their leadership qualities and group dynamics expertise are a common indicator in most cases. The research also shows that they are subjected not only to a wide range of roles and tasks but also to a vast array of competences required to tackle the education advisor's tasks.

La evolución de destinos turísticos litorales consolidados. Análisis comparado de Balneario Camnoriú (Brasil) y Benidorm (España)

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en estudiar la evolución de los destinos turísticos litorales consolidados a partir del análisis comparado entre Balneario Camboriú y Benidorm. Se trata de dos destinos localizados en contextos territoriales y turísticos diferentes, en los que se contrastan de manera empírica los indicadores de evolución de los destinos y se vinculan las dinámicas evolutivas con el modelo territorial-turístico resultante en cada destino. El análisis realizado permite contrastar los postulados de los modelos evolutivos clásicos (Butler, 1980) e incorporar los nuevos planteamientos de la geografía económica evolutiva. La investigación delimita cronológicamente los periodos de desarrollo de ambos destinos para identificar los factores con mayor incidencia en la evolución de los mismos. Una evolución marcada, fundamentalmente, por la ubicación geográfica, la planificación y gestión urbanoturística a diferentes escalas, la dependencia de determinados mercados emisores y la influencia de factores macroeconómicos. Un conjunto de factores interrelacionados que dibujan trayectorias dispares para los destinos analizados.

The discursive capacity of graphic design

The relationship between rhetoric and graphic design is presented in this article. The comparison between a classical orator and a graphic designer, between a discourse and a piece of design comes from the connections between with the communication and creativity. We will see how an application of the fundamentals of rhetoric can open new doors to the professional practice, the education of graphic design and the same theory of the rhetoric of the image.By the analysis of a design is exemplified the points of union that show how the arguments, operations, figures of discourse and rhetorical phases are present in the creative process of graphic design and how designers, perhaps unconsciously, use techniques that were traditional. In other words, graphic design is a rhetorical construction.There is then a transposition of a discourse model created by linguistic signs to a discourse model consists of visual and typographic signs, causing design is seen as a discursivediscipline that goes beyond the aesthetic component.

The use of cues for attention in ancient Greek art: aspects that influence concentration in the work of art and its elements

The goal of this study is to identify cues for the cognitive process of attention in ancient Greek art, aiming to find confirmation of its possible use by ancient Greek audiences and artists. Evidence of cues that trigger attention’s psychological dispositions was searched through content analysis of image reproductions of ancient Greek sculpture and fine vase painting from the archaic to the Hellenistic period - ca. 7th -1st cent. BC. Through this analysis, it was possible to observe the presence of cues that trigger orientation to the work of art (i.e. amplification, contrast, emotional salience, simplification, symmetry), of a cue that triggers a disseminate attention to the parts of the work (i.e. distribution of elements) and of cues that activate selective attention to specific elements in the work of art (i.e. contrast of elements, salient color, central positioning of elements, composition regarding the flow of elements and significant objects). Results support the universality of those dispositions, probably connected with basic competencies that are hard-wired in the nervous system and in the cognitive processes.

Joaquim Mir y la tienda de juguetes: microhistoria de un retrato

¿Puede un retrato pictórico suscitar un ejercicio de microhistoria? Nuestra investigación tratará de aportar una respuesta positiva a esta cuestión, analizando para ello uno de los pocos retratos del pintor postimpresionista Joaquim Mir Trinxet, fechado en 1926. El protagonista representado no es otro que el suegro del pintor, Antoni Estalella i Trinxet, un insigne personaje de Vilanova y la Geltrú (Barcelona) que vivió entre dos siglos. La obra está ambientada en la tienda de juguetes de la familia, convirtiéndose así en una de las escasas pinturas que han captado el interior de una juguetería en la España anterior a la Guerra Civil. Gracias a los trabajos de archivo realizados, este artículo reúne diversos documentos inéditos que permiten reconstruir no sólo la vida del retratado, que llegó a ser corresponsal de Francisco Pi y Margall, sino también el ambiente social, artístico y comercial de Vilanova, en un período que abarca desde la década de 1870 a la primera mitad del siglo XX, en plena “Edad de Oro” de la industria juguetera. Es esta una propuesta de metodología historiográfica cuyo recorrido comienza en el oficio arcaico de la tonelería para desembocar al fin en los albores del comercio moderno de juguetes.

El artista contemporáneo ante la transformación de su obra. El paso del tiempo y su efecto sobre la significación de la materia

El paso del tiempo tiene una repercusión inevitable sobre las obras de arte. En el caso del arte contemporáneo muchos de los valores estéticos, culturales o sociales presentes en las mismas, están vinculados a la apariencia y al uso premeditado de la materia. La transformación de la materia tiene una repercusión sobre la intención y el discurso estético, por ello, y ante la imposibilidad de impedir el cambio, se hace necesaria una profunda reflexión sobre el concepto de autenticidad de la obra de arte y sobre el concepto de ruina prematura. Por otro lado, gracias a la figura del artista contemporáneo es posible documentar la producción actual para determinar si la mutación de la materia afectará a lo esencial en las obras. En este sentido, el trabajo ha conseguido concretar, para el caso de varios artistas fundamentales del panorama español, qué aspectos deben, por ser esenciales, permanecer inmutables con el paso del tiempo.

La recuperación mutua en personas con trastornos psicológicos o diversidad funcional a través de la práctica creativa

En el presente artículo introducimos el concepto de “recuperación mutua” y proponemos las prácticas creativas como herramientas eficientesde recuperación de personas tanto con problemas de salud mental como con algún tipo de diversidad funcional. Frente al concepto clásico de “arte-terapia” nosotros proponemos el concepto de “práctica creativa” como más compatible con el modelo de “recuperación mutua”. Para ello, en primer lugar realizamos un breve repaso crítico a la relación del arte con la locura. Seguidamente, presentamos los conceptos hermanos de “recuperación” y “recuperación mutua” en el marco de lo que se ha venido a denominar las “health humanities”. Para finalizar, describimos dos prácticas creativas que en la actualidad están siendo evaluadas en España en el contexto de un proyecto de investigacióninternacional en recuperación mutua: Los seminarios creativos con personas con trastorno mental grave en el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla y el grupo de teatro con personas con diversidad funcional de la Asociación Síndrome de Down-Sevilla