Redes sociales para mayores y/o mayores en las redes sociales

La consolidación de la Web 2.0 y los medios sociales en nuestra sociedad coincide en el tiempo con el paulatino afianzamiento de un mercado emergente, el de las personas mayores. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar, en el contexto de las redes sociales, cómo se gestiona la comunicación con el público maduro en España. Dos de los criterios que las empresas normalmente consideran cuando evalúan nuevos mercados son su peso económico y demográfico; en ambas áreas las personas mayores se han convertido en un grupo importante, convirtiéndose en uno de los mercados con mayor futuro del que además habría que destacar no sólo su tamaño y densidad, sino también su carácter heterogéneo, su variedad (Hudson, S., 2010; Westerhof et al., 2010; Imserso, 2009; Sudbury, L. y Simcock, P.,2009; Furlong, 2007; Kohlbacher y Herstatt, 2008: Thornhill y Martin, 2007). ¿Cumplen las redes sociales con las expectativas de los mayores, como público específico? Las redes sociales para mayores ¿son comunidades basadas en actitudes o conocimientos? (Matías Fernández, 2006) Los mayores, además de elegir redes y contenidos, ¿son internautas reales de redes sociales?, ¿son activos en la generación de contenidos hasta controlar la comunicación?... No existen precedentes y el trabajo persigue averiguar el papel de las personas mayores en las redes sociales específicas, así como el papel de las nuevas tecnologías en la comunicación de y con las personas mayores. Además, las conclusiones permitirán definir las hipótesis de estudios posteriores.

Manual de Matemàtiques II per al Grau de Química

L’edició d’aquest material s’ha fet dins el marc del conveni per a la promoció de l’ús social del valencià signat per la Universitat d’Alacant amb la Conselleria d’Educació de la Generalitat Valenciana.

Tesis doctorales

Resúmenes de tesis doctorales: MATAS PUJALTE, Ernesto Manuel, Marginación y trabajo en Callosa de Segura. De la emigración a la inmigración; PAYÁ LÓPEZ, Pedro, Ni paz, ni piedad, ni perdón. La guerra después de la guerra y la erradicación del enemigo en el partido judicial de Monóvar: la responsabilidad compartida, 1939-1945.

Validation of a Spanish Version of the Lille Apathy Rating Scale for Parkinson’s Disease

Introduction. To date, no rating scales for detecting apathy in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients have been validated in Spanish. For this reason, the aim of this study was to validate a Spanish version of Lille apathy rating scale (LARS) in a cohort of PD patients from Spain. Participants and Methods. 130 PD patients and 70 healthy controls were recruited to participate in the study. Apathy was measured using the Spanish version of LARS and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI). Reliability (internal consistency, test-retest, and interrater reliability) and validity (construct, content, and criterion validity) were measured. Results. Interrater reliability was 0.93. Cronbach’s α for LARS was 0.81. The test-retest correlation coefficient was 0.97. The correlation between LARS and NPI scores was 0.61. The optimal cutoff point under the ROC curve was , whereas the value derived from healthy controls was . The prevalence of apathy in our population tested by LARS was 42%. Conclusions. The Spanish version of LARS is a reliable and useful tool for diagnosing apathy in PD patients. Total LARS score is influenced by the presence of depression and cognitive impairment. However, both disorders are independent identities with respect to apathy. The satisfactory reliability and validity of the scale make it an appropriate instrument for screening and diagnosing apathy in clinical practice or for research purposes.

Coupled Biomechanical Response of the Cornea Assessed by Non-Contact Tonometry. A Simulation Study

The mechanical response of the cornea subjected to a non-contact air-jet tonometry diagnostic test represents an interplay between its geometry, the corneal material behavior and the loading. The objective is to study this interplay to better understand and interpret the results obtained with a non-contact tonometry test. A patient-specific finite element model of a healthy eye, accounting for the load free configuration, was used. The corneal tissue was modeled as an anisotropic hyperelastic material with two preferential directions. Three different sets of parameters within the human experimental range obtained from inflation tests were considered. The influence of the IOP was studied by considering four pressure levels (10–28 mmHg) whereas the influence of corneal thickness was studied by inducing a uniform variation (300–600 microns). A Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) air-jet simulation determined pressure loading exerted on the anterior corneal surface. The maximum apex displacement showed a linear variation with IOP for all materials examined. On the contrary, the maximum apex displacement followed a cubic relation with corneal thickness. In addition, a significant sensitivity of the apical displacement to the corneal stiffness was also obtained. Explanation to this behavior was found in the fact that the cornea experiences bending when subjected to an air-puff loading, causing the anterior surface to work in compression whereas the posterior surface works in tension. Hence, collagen fibers located at the anterior surface do not contribute to load bearing. Non-contact tonometry devices give useful information that could be misleading since the corneal deformation is the result of the interaction between the mechanical properties, IOP, and geometry. Therefore, a non-contact tonometry test is not sufficient to evaluate their individual contribution and a complete in-vivo characterization would require more than one test to independently determine the membrane and bending corneal behavior.

Interaction between diurnal variations of intraocular pressure, pachymetry, and corneal response to an air puff: Preliminary evidence

Diurnal changes in corneal geometry, pachymetry, and intraocular pressure (IOP) in a healthy eye were recorded. The deformation response to an air puff was simulated using 3 levels of corneal stiffness. The response was dependent on IOP and pachymetry and not only on the biomechanical properties of the cornea. Similarly, the maximum variability due to the diurnal changes in pachymetry and IOP in the corneal displacement generated by the air puff was found to reach 5%. Therefore, diurnal changes in IOP and corneal thickness were able to induce some variability in the air puff–based corneal deformation response. This potential variability should be considered when the biomechanical properties of the cornea are analyzed with air-puff devices.