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This paper reports on the basis of an analysis of the systems developed in our laboratory the conceptual and technological evolution of automatic control of learning behaviour in rats. Basically, there are two main conceptual frames in our approach: finite deterministic automaton and some over‐simplified high‐level programming strategies. Nevertheless, the physical implementation offers different levels according to the technological evolution of integrated electronics: S.S.I., M.S.I. and L.S.I.‐microprocessors. Part I presents a formalized methodology of learning experiments and a first system developed for operant and classical conditioning. Its implementation is based on the direct automata approach. Part II refers to the second approach: definition of a behavioural language for the description of the experiments, and the related design of a system for its interpretation in operational experimental terms, with multiprocessing on a program‐shared principle.

The XTRA access system is aimed at making the interaction with expert systems much easier for inexperienced users. It communicates with the user in a natural language (German) extracting data relevant to the expert system from the natural language input. It answers users' queries concerning the terminology used and provides what the developers describe as “User‐accommodated natural‐language verbalisations of results and explanations provided by the expert system”. This development is described by J. Allgayer, K. Harbusch, A. Kobsa, C. Reddig, N. Reithinger and D. Schmauks in the International Journal of Man‐Machine Studies, Vol. 31, Part 2, August 1989, pp. 161–95. The developers of this system have introduced a number of novel artificial intelligence techniques. These have included the combination of natural language user input and user gestures on the terminal screen. Four different knowledge sources aid referent identification and simultaneous communication of the access system with the user and the expert system have been incorporated.

The significance of the McCulloch‐Pitts formal neural net theory is still nowadays frequently misunderstood at present, and their basic units are wrongly considered as factual models for neurons. As a consequence, the whole original theory and its later addenda are unreasonably criticized for their simplicity. But, as it was proved then and since, the theory is after the modular neurophysiological counterpart of logical machines, so that it actually provides biologically plausible models for automata, Turing Machines etc and not viceversa. In its true context, no theory has surpassed its proposals. In McCulloch and Pitts Memoriam and for the sake of future theoretical research, we stress this important historical point, including also some recent results on the neurophysiological counterparts of modular arbitrary probabilistic automata.

Using annual mortality rates at the provincial level for men and women, we construct a Gini index to estimate changes in regional health inequalities since 1860 in Spain. We find a long steady decline in health inequality across provinces from 1860 until today, interrupted by World War I and the Spanish Civil War. Over the 40 years of Franco's rule, health inequality stopped its downward trend and rose. Today, regional differences across provinces are at their lowest historical levels.

The perception of costs and benefits allows residents to carry out an assessment that determines their attitude towards tourism. This study seeks to determine the effect of the perceived benefits and costs (economic, sociocultural and environmental) on the support to the arrival of more tourists, both directly and mediated by overall attitude towards tourism, in the case of Punta del Este. Punta del Este forms part of the Department of Maldonado and is the main sun and beach tourism destination in the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. The questionnaire contained items with five-point Likert scales and sociodemographic questions. The data used (obtained between March and August 2016) are made up of a sample of 420 residents from Maldonado and Punta del Este. The analysis of the data has been carried out through partial least squares (PLS) regression, specifically SmartPLS. Among the results, it should be noted that benefits and costs perceived have no direct effect on the support to the arrival of more tourists; only economic benefits (positive) and sociocultural costs (negative) have a significant effect on the overall attitude towards tourism; the support to the arrival of more tourists depends exclusively on the overall attitude.

In Spain, food distribution has been revolutionised over the past 15 years. Traditional food stores are in the process of slowly disappearing, while hypermarkets and supermarkets are increasing their presence, and more importantly, their market share. To understand better the causes behind this revolution, examines the existent literature on distribution trends, generally, in Spain. The Spanish distribution industry is marked by governmental deintermediation, consumers’ orientation toward value and competitors’ quest for efficiency through centralisation, as well as the development of new services and micro marketing actions, with the objective of increasing customer loyalty. Focuses on Spanish food product distribution, marked by the progressive drop in the number of traditional stores, the appearance of discounters specialising in the sale of own‐brands and having aggressive prices, the notable growth of hypermarkets because of their diversified offering and near‐cost prices, and the success of supermarkets, rooted in their ability to open multiple points of sale, positioning themselves between hypermarkets and discounters.

The growing importance of the brand in the life of the company and in consumer perceptions has led many authors to base their analysis on brand value rather than the traditional approach in which its definition, its functions and its characteristics were amply developed. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the brand generates value for the company: brand value is the value of the marginal cash flows generated by a product due to the fact that it is identified with a brand. Brand value is generated by a series of multidimensional assets which interact in a complex way: loyalty; awareness; perceived quality; and identity. One of the main problems for a company wishing to develop a brand strategy is how to quantify this value. Studies the different methodologies available for this evaluation and distinguishes between financial and marketing methods. Concludes that marketing methods are worth greater consideration, since they give a wider vision of brand value by considering the consumer’s perspective and not only objective issues.

This work aims to introduce the usefulness of the concept of value for tourism research both conceptually and empirically. Destination and tourism services can be better understood if analysed through the multidimensionality of value, as the tourist can simultaneously experience several factors: affective and cognitive, social and personal, active and reactive.

From literature review, Holbrook's conceptual framework (definition and typology) is chosen to investigate the dimensionality of consumer value in a travel‐related context (students' tourism behaviour). An empirical investigation on one of his conceptual axes – the relativistic character of consumer value – is presented.

Several research questions are proposed regarding the relativity of value, using the t‐test contrast of hypothesis: dimensions of value (efficiency, quality, play, aesthetics and social value) and a measure of overall perceived value are tested as being personal (they vary across people), comparative (with differences among objects) and situational (specific to the context).

The results presented can fully confirm the relativistic character of value dimensions; hence, the value concept is useful for analysing tourism experiences. Nevertheless, the analysis is made interpersonally. Real intrapersonal measurements on these variations with longitudinal studies are recommended for further research. The scope of this work could be broadened by testing additional axes of Holbrook's typology.

Tourism managers should regard the helpfulness of perceived value as a segmentation tool. Because of its multidimensionality, different facets of services value can be enhanced for different consumers, reinforcing in this way the strategic usefulness of value.

Although Holbrook's types of value have been the subject of several conceptual debates there are very few empirical works on it. Any multidimensional approach to value shows the richness and complexity of the value concept, but Holbrook's dimensionality is particularly interesting because it encompasses and interrelates all relevant facets of the tourism experience.

The purpose of this research is to analyse the upstream information distortion among the various members of the agro-food supply chain, regarding the consumers’ quality perceptions.

The study focused on the beef chain, which is one of the most active in quality management terms. The study involved different actors in the chain: consumers (402), retailers (98), agro-industrials (40) and cattle farmers (84).

The results demonstrated that the more the upstream agents move away from consumers, the more the information becomes distorted. The research also highlighted that the greater the number of links in the chain, the more the consumer’s upstream information tends to be distorted.

The information flow is one of the important aspects on which the supply chain management focuses. This paper contributes to information flow research between different actors in the supply chain regarding product quality from the consumer perspective. Therefore, for the members of the supply chain, this research represents the potential to direct management’s value-added activities towards what consumers value the most.