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Strain engineering, as a powerful strategy to tune the optical and electrical properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials by deforming their crystal lattice, has attracted significant interest in recent years. 2D materials can sustain ultra-high strains, even up to 10%, due to the lack of dangling bonds on their surface, making them ideal brittle solids. This remarkable mechanical resilience, together with a strong strain-tunable band structure, endows 2D materials with a broad optical and electrical response upon strain. However, strain engineering based on 2D materials is restricted by their nanoscale and strain quantification troubles. In this study, we have modified a homebuilt three-points bending apparatus to transform it into a four-points bending apparatus that allows for the application of both compressive and tensile strains on 2D materials. This approach allows for the efficient and reproducible construction of a strain system and minimizes the buckling effect caused by the van der Waals interaction by adamantane encapsulation strategy. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of introducing compressive strain on 2D materials and the potential for tuning their optical and physical properties through this approach.

Invasive alien species are the second cause of biodiversity loss worldwide and imply huge economic costs related to their impact on ecosystems, production systems, and human health. Quantifying these losses is a complex task, but it becomes essen- tial to evaluate the problem and support measures to prevent and control biological invasions. In the last 6 years, Rugulopteryx okamurae has invaded a large part of the rocky bottoms of the coasts of the Strait of Gibraltar. Moreover, it has meant significant losses for the economic activities that take place along the Andalusian coast. Using a mixed-method approach, this work estimated the costs associated with the pres- ence of Rugulopteryx okamurae in the municipality of Tarifa, Spain, in a minimum annual loss of more than three million euros, concentrated mainly in the fishing sector and public administration. These results buttress the relevance of prevention, early detection, and prompt action measures to soften the economic impact of future biological invasion processes in the marine-coastal environment.

Social innovation and social enterprise are two major factors in addressing the challenges of population ageing since both are aimed at solving social problems. One of these challenges involves providing quality care services for the elderly. However, few studies have analysed how social enterprises can promote or manage social innovations in this sector. This research therefore studies said relationship, paying particular attention to the for-profit and non-profit nature of social enterprises. Specifically, to test the hypotheses, we use data from a survey of nursing homes in southern Spain, where care services are expanding with the support of welfare state social policies. The results show that non-profit social enterprises tend to develop more social innovations in care services, and that the social mission and participative governance positively influence the implementation of social innovations in this activity sector. Consequently, implications for social policies are suggested to better meet the needs of the elderly.

Radiative cooling has proven to be a useful tool to address the problems of lack of comfort and excessive energy consumption in situations of high temperatures, overheating and heat waves. Likewise, incorporating courtyards in warm climate zones has been found to be highly beneficial in addressing similar challenges. Hence, there is interest in analyzing the combined effects of both: radiative cooling and courtyards. This paper presents an analysis of the impact of the application of radiative cooling on a courtyard using a comprehensive simulation approach that includes a CFD model for the thermodynamic airflow in the adjacent roofs and inside the courtyard, equations for the transient heat conduction through roofs, walls and courtyard slabs, and a hybrid raytracing-radiosity model for the evaluation of the solar radiation reaching the building surfaces and its reflections, both of specular and diffuse origin, and for the calculation of the thermal radiation exchange, especially with the sky. The results show that in the hot season, the courtyard with radiative cooling always provides lower temperatures than the initial courtyard does, with a temperature range of 18.33 °C to 33.78 °C, compared to a range of 19.32 °C to 38.00 °C in the initial courtyard, and producing a greater difference with outdoor temperatures that can reach 12 °C versus 8 °C for the reference case. In addition, it was found that the courtyard with radiative cooling is able to significantly reduce the observed nighttime overheating by providing lower temperatures than the outdoor temperatures in the 50% of the nights studied. It was also found that the thermal loads to achieve indoor thermal comfort in the spaces adjacent to the courtyard were reduced by 63.46% to 69.85%.

Achieving adequate integration and success at school in the post-compulsory stages involving situations where there is a risk of social exclusion is a real identity challenge for adolescents. In this research, we used a convenience sampling and selected two high schools located in Areas in Need of Social Transformation in Seville (southern Spain). We studied the learner identity of all their students in the first and second grade of secondary postcompulsory education (N=70). These students present a trajectory of resilience, as they remained in the education system despite facing many difculties. In this exploratory research, their identity as learners was analysed through an interview applied in a focus group format (N=12), where their supports, strengths and psycho-social obstacles that facilitate/hinder their stay in the education system in the post-compulsory stage were also identifed. Results show that adolescents have a good attitude towards academic training, based on the conviction that, in the future, they will be able to achieve a higher quality of life and a rapid insertion in skilled jobs. The image students have of themselves combines a negative perception of their lack of work habits, the difculty of self-regulation and the little effort made, with a more positive view of their agency in the process, highlighting their intellectual and academic capacity and their efort when they set out to do so. Family, teachers and peers play a role in the resilience and identity construction of the adolescents, through protecting them, developing positive perceptions and expectations, stimulating control and effort and attributing successes and failures to students. Programmes based on the participation of the target group are essential for the design and improvement of psychosocial intervention programmes in these contexts.

Disruptive innovations caused by FinTech (i.e., technology-assisted customized fnancial services) have brought digital peer-to-peer (P2P) payments to the fore. In this chal lenging environment and based on theories about customer behavior in response to technological innovations, this paper identifes the drivers of consumer adoption of mobile P2P payments and develops a machine learning model to predict the use of this thriving payment option. To do so, we use a unique data set with information from 701 participants (observations) who completed a questionnaire about the adop tion of Bizum, a leading mobile P2P platform worldwide. The respondent profle was the average Spanish citizen within the framework of European culture and lifestyle. We document (in this order of priority) the usefulness of mobile P2P payments, infu ence of peers and other social groups such as friends, family, and colleagues on indi vidual behavior (that is, subjective norms), perceived trust, and enjoyment of the user experience within the digital context and how those attributes better classify (poten tial) users of mobile P2P payments. We also fnd that nonparametric approaches based on machine learning algorithms outperform traditional parametric methods. Finally, our results show that feature selection based on random forest, such as the Boruta procedure, as a preprocessing technique substantially increases prediction perfor mance while reducing noise, redundancy of the resulting model, and computational costs. The main limitation of this research is that it only has a place within the socio cultural and institutional framework of the Spanish population. It is therefore desirable to replicate this study by surveying people from other countries to analyze the efects of the institutional environment on the adoption of mobile P2P payments

The bioeconomy includes the sectors that use renewable biological resources to produce value added products, such as food, feed, energy, and bio-based products. Its importance has been demonstrated by its inclusion as a priority in specifc and related policies such as the bioeconomy strategy, the Sustainable Development Goals, the European Green Deal, and the Next Generation recovery plan. Spain has not lagged behind and considers the bioeconomy as a priority in its policy strategies to achieve a more sustainable economy. Despite its importance, the analysis of the potential of the bioeconomy sectors in Spain is limited. To carry out policy-relevant impact assessment in support of bioeconomy development, specifc databases describing bio-based products are required. Hence, this work based on the Bio Social Accounting Matrix (BioSAM) for Spain for the year 2010 with a high disaggregation of bio products to perform a structural analysis based on two diferent and complementary methods: the traditional and the Hypothetical Extraction approach. The structural analysis results reveal promising products as key wealth generators and growth promoters and allow to identify the most suitable to be stimulated with policies to promote the development of the Spanish bioeconomy. Therefore, this paper provides some proposed avenues that should be considered by policymakers.

Science and technology parks (STPs) have proliferated in many countries as an innovation policy tool. Several studies have used patent counts to assess their impact on innovation performance rather than the quality of patents, leading to mixed results. The aim of this paper is to explore whether STPs contribute to increasing the quality of patents filed by tenants since patent counts alone do not capture the technological or economic value of the patented inventions. Using a novel database of Spanish patents generated on- and off-park together with firms’ characteristics, we compare the quality of patents filed by firms located inside and outside STPs and find that STPs have a positive effect on the quality of the tenants’ innovative performance. We apply a novel econometric technique to confirm that our results are robust to omitted variable bias and explore possible channels through which STPs produce an effect on patent quality, such as by facilitating collaboration, increasing collaboration with universities, and fostering the internationalisation of inventions.

The Metaverse is an immersive digital environment that enables users, through avatars, to create worlds, objects, and interact with each other for various purposes. Furthermore, its significance in Business and Management is increasingly evident. The objective of this research is to examine the evolution, trends, and research approaches related to the Metaverse in the field of Business and Management. This study presents a comprehensive contextualization and bibliometric analysis of the existing literature in this area. In the contextualization phase, publications per year, citations received per year, most cited publications, and languages used in publications were examined. These analyses provided an overview of the temporal evolution of research, influential publications, and language diversity in the field of Business and Management. Subsequently, a bibliometric analysis was conducted using Co-citation, Bibliographic coupling, and Co-occurrence of author keywords. These analyses helped identify relationships between scientific works, thematic connections, and collaborations among researchers in the studied field. The use of the Web of Science database ensured the quality and comprehensiveness of the collected data, while the Vosviewer tool facilitated efficient visualization and analysis of the results. The findings of this study provide a detailed understanding of the research landscape in Business and Management, revealing key areas of focus, significant contributions, and existing collaboration networks. These insights can be valuable for researchers, professionals, and regulators in the field of Business and Management

Community-based natural resource governance is increasingly valued by the leading international organizations that promote environmental conservation and sustainable development. At the same time, the ecosystems of the northeastern Andalusian mountains are intrinsically related to the long-standing presence of pastoralism and its different communal forms that have favored a very particular biocultural diversity and sustainable socio-ecological systems locally. Through a transdisciplinary anthropological and ecological study, we aimed to compare how different types of communal governance and pastoral mobilities impact pasturelands in the region. We focused on three contiguous mountain pastoral commons, those of Castril, Santiago de la Espada, and Pontones, which exhibit different forms of communal organization and two main transhumant types of mobility: long-distance and short-distance transhumance. We conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork with year-round participatory observations of social life, pastoral practices, and governance systems, and performed botanical and soil analyses. As a general result, we found that local pastoralism positively impacts the environment. There were differences between commons and mobility regimes, with a positive impact related mainly to closer forms of cooperation between herders and daily guiding of flocks, along with seasonal long-distance transhumance, especially when the latter is combined with stricter formal community rules. Within the current context highly determined by public subventions, particularly from the EU, primarily directed at pastureland management’s administrative and economic aspects, local governance increasingly favors these methods over the conservation of traditional, sustainable uses of pastures. This innovative research marks the first step towards a sounder intertwining of anthropological and ecological approaches towards a more holistic understanding of pastoral commons in general and in the Mediterr

[Purpose] To characterize the resistance mechanisms affecting the cefepime-taniborbactam combination in a collection of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) and carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas spp. (predominantly P. aeruginosa; CRPA) clinical isolates., [Methods] CPE (n = 247) and CRPA (n = 170) isolates were prospectively collected from patients admitted to 8 Spanish hospitals. Susceptibility to cefepime-taniborbactam and comparators was determined by broth microdilution. Cefepime-taniborbactam was the most active agent, inhibiting 97.6% of CPE and 67.1% of CRPA (MICs ≤ 8/4 mg/L). All isolates with cefepime-taniborbactam MIC > 8/4 mg/L (5 CPE and 52 CRPA) and a subset with MIC ≤ 8/4 mg/L (23 CPE and 24 CRPA) were characterized by whole genome sequencing., [Results] A reduced cefepime-taniborbactam activity was found in two KPC-ST307-Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates with altered porins [KPC-62-K. pneumoniae (OmpA, OmpR/EnvZ), KPC-150-K. pneumoniae (OmpK35, OmpK36)] and one each ST133-VIM-1-Enterobacter hormaechei with altered OmpD, OmpR, and OmpC; IMP-8-ST24-Enterobacter asburiae; and NDM-5-Escherichia coli with an YRIN-inserted PBP3 and a mutated PBP2. Among the P. aeruginosa (68/76), elevated cefepime-taniborbactam MICs were mostly associated with GES-5-ST235, OXA-2+VIM-2-ST235, and OXA-2+VIM-20-ST175 isolates also carrying mutations in PBP3, efflux pump (mexR, mexZ) and AmpC (mpl) regulators, and non-carbapenemase-ST175 isolates with AmpD-T139M and PBP3-R504C mutations. Overall, accumulation of these mutations was frequently detected among non-carbapenemase producers., [Conclusions] The reduced cefepime-taniborbactam activity among the minority of isolates with elevated cefepime-taniborbactam MICs is not only due to IMP carbapenemases but also to the accumulation of multiple resistance mechanisms, including PBP and porin mutations in CPE and chromosomal mutations leading to efflux pumps up-regulation, AmpC overexpression, and PBP modifications in P. aeruginosa.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a neurovascular disease produced by extravasation of blood to the subarachnoid space after rupture of the cerebral vessels. After bleeding, the immune response is activated. The role of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in this response is a current subject of research. We have analysed the changes in PBMCs of patients with aSAH and their interaction with the endothelium, focusing on their adhesion and the expression of adhesion molecules. Using an in vitro adhesion assay, we observed that the adhesion of PBMCs of patients with aSAH is increased. Flow cytometry analysis shows that monocytes increased significantly in patients, especially in those who developed vasospasm (VSP). In aSAH patients, the expression of CD162, CD49d, CD62L and CD11a in T lymphocytes and of CD62L in monocytes increased. However, the expression of CD162, CD43, and CD11a decreased in monocytes. Furthermore, monocytes from patients who developed arteriographic VSP had lower expression of CD62L. In conclusion, our results confirm that after aSAH, monocyte count and adhesion of PBMCs increase, especially in patients with VSP, and that the expression of several adhesion molecules is altered. These observations can help predict VSP and to improve the treatment of this pathology.

The specific kinetics and thermodynamics of protein-protein interactions underlie the molecular mechanisms of cellular functions; hence the characterization of these interaction parameters is central to the quantitative understanding of physiological and pathological processes. Many methods have been developed to study protein-protein interactions, which differ in various features including the interaction detection principle, the sensitivity, whether the method operates in vivo, in vitro, or in silico, the temperature control, the use of labels, immobilization, the amount of sample required, the number of measurements that can be accomplished simultaneously, or the cost. Bio-Layer Interferometry (BLI) is a label-free biophysical method to measure the kinetics of protein-protein interactions. Label-free interaction assays are a broad family of methods that do not require protein modifications (other than immobilization) or labels such as fusions with fluorescent proteins or transactivating domains or chemical modifications like biotinylation or reaction with radionuclides. Besides BLI, other label-free techniques that are widely used for determining protein-protein interactions include surface plasmon resonance (SPR), thermophoresis, and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), among others.

Knowledge of recruitment to a fishery is particularly important in short-lived species, like most cephalopods, in which there is a complete turnover of individual every 1 or 2 years. In this study, age, body length, statolith length and growth rates of loliginid paralarvae (Alloteuthis media, A. subulata and Loligo vulgaris) were determined to evaluate the form of the growth curve and differences between species and hatching seasons. A total of 222 paralarvae collected in zooplankton samples along the Galician coast (NW Spain) were used to determine relationships between dorsal mantle length (DML), statolith length (SL) and the number of increments (NI)) deposited in the statolith. The paralarvae of L. vulgaris were between 1 and 35 days old, while both Alloteuthis species ranged in age from 1 to 54 days. Generalised additive models (GAMs) revealed non-linear growth in DML, with L. vulgaris exhibiting higher DML-at-age than Alloteuthis species. The best parametric model fit for these data was obtained using exponential regressions. The SL–NI relationship also differed between species, with L. vulgaris having larger statolith length at age. The paralarvae of L. vulgaris and A. media had two well-differentiated hatching peaks, one in late spring-early summer (beginning of the upwelling season) and another peak in late autumn (end of the upwelling season). Alloteuthis subulata had an earlier hatching peak in spring than in the other two loliginid species—and the second peak in autumn was barely visible, possibly because this species occurs further north in areas not sampled in autumn

Supply chain (SC) adaptability (SC-Ad) implies that SC processes should change and adapt to anticipated structural and market changes. However, when these changes are related to shifts from exploitative to explorative focuses, companies face an inflexibility problem because of involved uncertainties, creating a barrier to obtaining SC-Ad. This research proposes to overcome this barrier by integrating new combinations of the product/market strategy and SC processes and securing their fit over time. To get it, this study proposes two SC-Ad drivers (related to the SC process (ASCOS) and new product development competences (PDC)), which secure the aforementioned fit by reducing its uncertainties and thus ensuring a SC-Ad that responds to emerging competitive changes. Measurement and structural models were assessed following PLSSEM. ASCOS and PDC’ relative importance was analyzed using the importance/performance/analysis procedure. PLS, PLS-predict, and CVPAT were used to analyze model’s in-sample and out-of-sample predictive capacity. ANOVA was used to compare SC-Ad, ASCOS and PDC in different plant groups. Results suggest that ASCOS and PDC are SC-Ad’s drivers, and that the plants with highest SC-Ad values are those with the higher ASCOS and PDC’ values. This expand knowledge about SC-Ad drivers, which represents an important literature gap. In an indirect way, some new light is also added to the topic of ambidextrous management. The adequate generalizability of these results is supported by a) a wide multi-country, multi-informant, and multi-sector sample of 268 plants, b) a good out-of-sample model predictive capacity c) no heterogeneity issues

Metapopulation models have been a popular tool for the study of epidemic spread over a network of highly populated nodes (cities, provinces, countries) and have been extensively used in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the present work, we revisit such a model, bearing a particular case example in mind, namely that of the region of Andalusia in Spain during the period of the summer-fall of 2020 (i.e., between the first and second pandemic waves). Our aim is to consider the possibility of incorporation of mobility across the province nodes focusing on mobile-phone time dependent data, but also discussing the comparison for our case example with a gravity model, as well as with the dynamics in the absence of mobility. Our main finding is that mobility is key towards a quantitative understanding of the emergence of the second wave of the pandemic and that the most accurate way to capture it involves dynamic (rather than static) inclusion of time-dependent mobility matrices based on cell-phone data. Alternatives bearing no mobility are unable to capture the trends revealed by the data in the context of the metapopulation model considered herein.

The discrete complex Ginzburg–Landau equation is a fundamental model for the dynamics of nonlinear lattices incorporating competitive dissipation and energy gain effects. Such mechanisms are of particular importance for the study of survival/destruction of localised structures in many physical situations. In this work, we prove that in the discrete complex Ginzburg–Landau equation dissipative solitonic waveforms persist for significant times by introducing a dynamical transitivity argument. This argument is based on a combination of the notions of “inviscid limits” and of the “continuous dependence of solutions on their initial data”, between the dissipative system and its Hamiltonian counterparts. Thereby, it establishes closeness of the solutions of the Ginzburg–Landau lattice to those of the conservative ideals described by the Discrete Nonlinear Schrödinger and Ablowitz–Ladik lattices. Such a closeness holds when the initial conditions of the systems are chosen to be sufficiently small in the suitable metrics and for small values of the dissipation or gain strengths. Our numerical findings are in excellent agreement with the analytical predictions for the dynamics of the dissipative bright, dark or even Peregrine-type solitonic waveforms.

We close the problem of the existence of crossing period annuli in planar piecewise linear differential systems with a straight line of nonsmoothness. In fact, a characterization for the existence of such objects is provided by means of a few basic operations on the parameters.

The Lorenz system presents a double-zero bifurcation (a double-zero eigenvalue with geometric multiplicity two). However, its study by means of standard techniques is not possible because it occurs for a non-isolated equilibrium. To circumvent this difficulty, we add in the third equation a new term, Dz². In this Lorenz-like system, the analysis of the double-zero bifurcation of the equilibrium at the origin guarantees, for certain values of the parameters, the existence of a heteroclinic cycle between the two equilibria located on the z-axis. The numerical continuation in parameter space of the locus of heteroclinic connections allows to detect various degeneracies of codimension two and three, some of which have not been previously studied in the literature. These bifurcations are organizing centers of the complicated dynamics exhibited by this system. Furthermore, studying how the bifurcation sets evolve when D tends to zero, we are able to explain, in the Lorenz system, the origin of several global connections which are related to T-point heteroclinic loops.

One of the main objectives of science and technology parks (STPs) is to contribute to regional development through the creation of skilled jobs in the territory where they are located. However, despite the expansion of these infrastructures over the last decades and the governmental support they receive, there is very little empirical evidence on how these infrastructures affect the employment growth of the firms located there. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the location in STPs has positive effects on employment growth at the firm level. We analysed a sample of 553 Portuguese firms located on STPs and a control group of the same size of comparable firms located outside STPs, applying a dynamic panel data model methodology. The empirical evidence does not allow to prove that location in STPs has positive effects on employment growth, which raises the need to rethink the policies supporting these parks

This paper analyses the impact of altruism on the individual country goverments’ incentives to reduce global polluting emissions. The game theory perspective provides insights into the strategic decision-making processes of the governments regarding the problem of climate change. We propose a model of strategic interactions among countries in which each government is concerned with its own beneft, as well as with the benefts of all the other countries.The model is a vector-valued non-cooperative game that permits the representation of situations in which the preferences of the governments are incomplete and there is imprecision about the degrees of altruism. The focus is on the identifcation of the potential equilibria that will eventually be reached when the governments show diferent attitudes towards other countries or groups of countries. As a result, we show that the incorporation of altruism into the model produces equilibria with a positive efect on the reduction of emissions.

This study investigates whether a projected family firm image can affect access to financial resources, which is key to providing broader strategic options and meeting short-term financial needs, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Building on the signaling literature, we consider the family SME leaders' perspective and conceptually and empirically examine whether they believe a projected family firm image acts as a credible signal to the lender. We also examine additional boundary conditions influencing the family SME's projected image-access to financial resources relationship, by specifically investigating whether firm age and size alter the degree of the signaling effect. Our unique data on 289 Spanish family SMEs reveal that projected family firm image can act as an attractive signal to lenders, leading to better access to financial resources for SMEs. Furthermore, firm size reinforces the role of the projected family firm image as a positive signal. These findings address an important practical issue in terms of family firm stakeholder perceptions, offering contributions to the corporate branding, family business, and financing literature.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic struck global society in 2020. The pandemic required the adoption of public policies to control spread of the virus, underlining the mobility restrictions. Several studies show that these measures have been effective. Within the topic of Coronavirus spread, this original paper analyses the effect of mobility on Coronavirus spread in a heterogeneous regional context. A multiple dynamic regression model is used to control sub-national disparities in the effect of mobility on the spread of the Coronavirus, as well as to measure it at the context of Spanish regions. The model includes other relevant explanatory factors, such as wind speed, sunshine hours, vaccinated population and social awareness. It also develops a new methodology to optimise the use of Google trends data. The results reveal heterogeneity among regions, which has important implications for current and future pandemic containment strategies

This paper analyses the impact of corporate social performance (CSP) on bank efficiency in a sample of 108 European listed banks across 21 countries over the period 2011–2019. Simar and Wilson’s two-stage approach (Simar and Wilson in J Econom 136:31–64, 2007) has been applied, specifically using data envelopment analysis (DEA) at the first stage to estimate efficiency scores and then truncated regression estimation with double-bootstrap to test the significance of the relationship between bank efficiency and CSP as well as its different dimensions. Our results suggest evidence of a U-shaped relationship between CSP and efficiency, indicating that banks with either high or low corporate social performance levels are the most efficient. Considering the isolated effect of environmental, social, and governance dimensions, the same conclusion can be drawn for the latter two, while the former does not appear to have any effect on a bank’s efficiency. Our work contributes to the existing literature by providing a holistic procedure for assessing CSP in terms of efficiency, allowing us to study the separate effect of each component on bank efficiency. Our results have strong implications for regulators, policymakers, bank managers and investors supporting the changes in the EU Regulatory Taxonomy that lead banks to align their activities and strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals

This paper analyzes the effect of certain factors on electricity consumption in Spain at a sectoral level. An electricity consumption function has been estimated by using panel data, depending on gross value added (GVA), temperatures, capitalization, and human capital. This function is obtained for total productive electricity consumption and for the agricultural, construction, industrial, service, and public administration sectors, referring to the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain for the 2000–2013 period. The obtained results show important sectoral differences in the effect that GVA has on electricity consumption, indicating a positive and increasing effect of temperatures above 22 °C in the total economy and in the tertiary sector, and a negative effect of temperatures below 18 °C in some sectors. These results may indicate that global warming may induce an electricity demand growth in Spain, especially related to cooling needs. The results also highlight the positive effects of capitalization in all sectors, and the negative effects of human capital, except for the public administration sector. In this context, it may be appropriate to carry out policies that mitigate this consumption growth, reinforcing energy efficiency measures, and human capital investments.

This research is based on the cognitive-affective-conative model applied to the online reviews posted by visitors of a tourist attraction titled “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” held in York (UK). The goals of the study specifically focus on the identification of the cognitive features triggered using the VR device and on the understanding of sentiments and emotions activated by the VR experience. To this end, Text mining and Sentiment analysis have been utilised. This work extends prior studies on VR based on surveys by providing a comprehensive hybrid view of how knowledge is derived from the posted online reviews. The findings offer practitioner insights into the cognitive and affective aspect of the VR experience, which requires special attention for its adaptation so that it continues meeting visitors’ expectations.

Background: After the emergence of the first vaccines against the COVID-19, public health authorities have promoted mass vaccination in order to achieve herd immunity and reduce the effects of the disease. Vaccination rates have differed between countries, depending on supply (availability of resources) and demand (altruism and resistance to vaccination) factors. Methods: This work considers the hypothesis that individuals’ health altruism has been an important factor to explain the different levels of vaccination between countries, using the number of transplants as a proxy for altruism. Taking European Union’s countries to remove, as far as possible, supply factors that might affect vaccination, we carry out cross-sectional regressions for the most favorable date of the vaccination process (maximum vaccination speed) and for each month during the vaccination campaign. Results: Our findings confirm that altruism has affected vaccination rates against the COVID-19. We find a direct relationship between transplants rates (proxy variable) and vaccination rates during periods in which the decision to be vaccinated depended on the individual’s choice, without supply restrictions. The results show that other demand factors have worked against vaccination: political polarization and belonging to the group of countries of the former Eastern bloc. Conclusions: Altruism is a useful tool to define future vaccination strategies, since it favors the individuals’ awareness for vaccination.

In this paper we present the containment relationship between the spaces of analytic functions with average radial integrability RM(p, q) and a family of mixed norm spaces.

As a consequence of advances in Information and Communication Technologies,teleworking is becoming more and more common in organizations. These new ways ofworking create new challenges for companies such as team cohesion despite working indifferent locations. This article aims to analyze the effect of the use of so-called“virtualworlds”on the group cohesion of employees in organizations. The focus group method-ology has made it possible to gather the beliefs and opinions of company employeesabout the use of these resources and tools. The results obtained show the positive effect ofthe use of virtual worlds on the cohesion of the teleworking team.

Performance-based research funding systems (PBRFSs) have been used in selectively distributing research funding, increasing public money accountability and efciency. Two recent such evaluations in England were called the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which took place in 2014 and 2021, and the research environment, outputs and impact of the research were evaluated. Even though various aspects of the REF were examined, there has been limited research on how the performance of the universities and disciplines changed between the two evaluation periods. This paper assesses whether there has been convergence or divergence in research quality across universities and subject areas between 2014 and 2021 and found that there was an absolute convergence between universities in all three research elements evaluated, and universities that performed relatively worse in REF in 2014 experienced higher growth in their performance between 2014 and 2021. There was also an absolute convergence in the research environment and impact across diferent subject areas, but there is no signifcant convergence in the quality of research outputs across disciplines. Our fndings also highlight that there has been an absolute convergence in research quality within the universities (between diferent disciplines in a given university) and within disciplines (between universities in a given subject).

We study 944 shareholder proposals submitted to 343 U.S. firms on climate change issues during 2009–2022. We use logistic and two-stage regression to estimate the propensity for a firm to be targeted or subjected to a vote at the annual general meeting and, for voted proposals, the determinants of that vote. We also examine whether climate-related proposals affect investor returns and how they relate to firms’ future environmental performance and greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to a matched sample, we first find that activists target larger, more carbon-intensive, and less R&D-active firms. Second, voting likelihood is higher for firms with repeated and operations-related proposals and lower pre-proposal environmental ratings. By contrast, disclosure-related proposals are likelier to be negotiated and withdrawn. Third, repeated and operations-related proposals receive higher votes in favor, whereas votes on carbon-intensive firms do not. Fourth, building on the theory that investors act as if they distinguish among the different shareholder proposals based on the expected cost to the firm, we find evidence to support this idea. We find that investors respond negatively to ex-ante costlier proposals, such as those that relate to emissions reduction and target carbon-intensive firms. Fifth, targets’ future environmental performance rating is almost twenty percent higher after a proposal than before compared to the matched sample, whereas emissions do not budge appreciably.

The bioeconomy includes the sectors that use renewable biological resources to produce value added products, such as food, feed, energy, and bio-based products. Its importance has been demonstrated by its inclusion as a priority in specifc and related policies such as the bioeconomy strategy, the Sustainable Development Goals, the European Green Deal, and the Next Generation recovery plan. Spain has not lagged behind and considers the bioeconomy as a priority in its policy strategies to achieve a more sustainable economy. Despite its importance, the analysis of the potential of the bioeconomy sectors in Spain is limited. To carry out policy-relevant impact assessment in support of bioeconomy development, specifc databases describing bio-based products are required. Hence, this work based on the Bio Social Accounting Matrix (BioSAM) for Spain for the year 2010 with a high disaggregation of bio products to perform a structural analysis based on two diferent and complementary methods: the traditional and the Hypothetical Extraction approach. The structural analysis results reveal promising products as key wealth generators and growth promoters and allow to identify the most suitable to be stimulated with policies to promote the development of the Spanish bioeconomy. Therefore, this paper provides some proposed avenues that should be considered by policymakers.

The present taxonomic status of Schenkia elegans, endemism recently described in the Iberian Peninsula, and its relationship with the sympatric and the nearest morphological species Schenkia spicata and Exaculum pusillum is revaluated. Different kinds of evidence based on plant morphology, ploidy estimation by flow cytometry, karyotype characterisation, and phylogenetic data have been analysed. Two maternally inherited plastid DNA regions (trnL intron and trnL-F spacer) and biparentally inherited nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence region (nrDNA ITS) have been used. Comparative multivariate analyses show an intermediate morphology of the S. elegans plants between the other two species studied. Flow cytometry and karyotype analyses in S. elegans point to an allopolyploid origin, with the latter constituted by a mixture of those of the diploids S. spicata and E. pusillum. Phylogenetic analyses based on plastid and nuclear DNA regions cluster S. elegans in two different clades, those of S. spicata and E. pusillum, suggesting a possible hybrid origin of S. elegans between both species, acting as maternal or paternal progenitors. In consequence, taking in consideration the taxonomic relationships among genera (Exaculum, Schenkia and the closely related genus Zeltnera found in America), a monotypic genus Valdesiana gen. nov. is proposed to accommodate the allopolyploid species, combined as V. elegans, for which immediate conservation measures must be evaluated.

Achieving adequate integration and success at school in the post-compulsory stages involving situations where there is a risk of social exclusion is a real identity challenge for adolescents. In this research, we used a convenience sampling and selected two high schools located in Areas in Need of Social Transformation in Seville (southern Spain). We studied the learner identity of all their students in the first and second grade of secondary postcompulsory education (N=70). These students present a trajectory of resilience, as they remained in the education system despite facing many difculties. In this exploratory research, their identity as learners was analysed through an interview applied in a focus group format (N=12), where their supports, strengths and psycho-social obstacles that facilitate/hinder their stay in the education system in the post-compulsory stage were also identifed. Results show that adolescents have a good attitude towards academic training, based on the conviction that, in the future, they will be able to achieve a higher quality of life and a rapid insertion in skilled jobs. The image students have of themselves combines a negative perception of their lack of work habits, the difculty of self-regulation and the little effort made, with a more positive view of their agency in the process, highlighting their intellectual and academic capacity and their efort when they set out to do so. Family, teachers and peers play a role in the resilience and identity construction of the adolescents, through protecting them, developing positive perceptions and expectations, stimulating control and effort and attributing successes and failures to students. Programmes based on the participation of the target group are essential for the design and improvement of psychosocial intervention programmes in these contexts.

The previous literature has extensively examined the effect of firm-level bribery on firm performance but not through on-the-job training. This paper investigates the impact of paying bribes on the firm’s investment decisions in on-the-job training and offers mediating implications of corruption on firm performance. We empirically examine the relationship between bribery and on-the-job training using firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys consisting of a sample of 94 developing countries with 20,601 firms. The findings show that bribery and on-the-job training intensity affects real annual sales growth rates negatively and positively, respectively. Furthermore, firms exposed to more bribery reduce their on-the-job training intensity. The results are robust to the different classifications of the firm’s size, different subsamples, and controls for the endogeneity of the on-the-job training and bribery.

Yeasts are feasible and efective bioreactors and, therefore, there is a great interest in their industrial employment for the production of a wide range of molecules. In this study, the production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae of bioactive compounds such as hydroxytyrosol (HT), tyrosol (TYR) and melatonin (MEL) vs. volatile compounds in fermented must was studied. The concentration of the bioactive compounds HT and MEL in fermented must employing diferent yeast strains revealed that the higher the concentrations, the lower the amount of volatile compounds determined. This inverse correlation was especially remarkable with respect to the production of higher alcohols, especially 2-phenylethanol (2-PE) and esters. Furthermore, the employment of a modifed Aro4pᴷ²²⁹ᴸ S. cerevisiae QA23 yeast strain which overproduces HT, gave rise to fermented must also higher in 2-PE and their corresponding esters but with an outstanding less presence of other important esters such as ethyl hexanoate and ethyl octanoate. Both premises could point out that S. cerevisiae might have diferent approaches to handling cell stress/toxicity due to their nitrogen metabolism. One detoxifying pathway could be through the production of higher alcohols and these in turn to esters and the other be more related to synthesizing antioxidant molecules such as MEL and HT.

Today’s society demands ethical and people-oriented management from companies. In this context, servant leadership represents a key element due to its influence on the organiza- tion’s well-being and proper functioning, both at the individual level (employees) and the global level (team). This research analyzes servant leadership’s influence on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and how it promotes its efficiency through its two dimensions (OCB towards the employees and OCB towards the organization). Thus, data has been col- lected from both managers and employees of 53 fitness centers belonging to four chains in Spain. The results reveal a significant direct influence of servant leadership on OCB and direct and indirect effects through employee’s self-efficacy and job satisfaction. A set of managerial implications and future research lines are suggested after discussing the results, while an endogeneity test is illustrated.

The change in life and professional conditions in 2020 has impacted the growth expectations of new firms. Based on a sample of more than 20,000 people coming from the Spanish Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for 2019 and 2020, we analyze the effect of entrepreneurs’ motivations and social role models on the growth expectations of new firms using a binomial logit model. The results show that, as a consequence of the institutional conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurs only take into consideration the economic projections of the new firm in order to take the risk of hiring employees in the early stage of the firm’s creation. However, experienced entrepreneurs involved in the consolidating stage of the entrepreneurial process have more ambitious motivations, and take advantage of their knowledge derived from peer role models in order to face the new opportunities arising during the pandemic. The effect of motivations and role models on firms’ growth also differ between men and women.

This paper analyses the impact of sustainability through ESG factors on the default risk. The sample consists of 990 non-financial firms in the Eurozone over the period 2004–2020. The results show that ESG factors influence default risk, although this relationship could be influenced by the economic cycle. Also, the results highlight a significant interaction effect between firm size and ESG which affects default risk. Considering firm size by terciles, the evidence obtained shows that smaller and medium-sized firms have a positive net effect of a high ESG score on their default risk, while the opposite effect was found among larger firms.

Previous research has related household financial fragility (FF) and the employment status of the household members by focusing only on the labour income channel. In contrast, the literature has scarcely addressed the study of this relationship from a psychological perspective that could be related to the theory of bounded rationality. This article aims to analyse how job expectations relate to the level of household FF. Using a sample of 8554 Spanish individuals in the period 2016–2017, we construct a multidimensional index of household FF. The results indicate that households with unemployed, self-employed, or part-time workers have higher levels of FF, but the job expectations of the household and the individual play an even more important role in the level of the FF. These findings suggest that the perception of labour market uncertainty may influence the level of household FF to a greater extent than the objective employment situations of the individuals

Climate change has caused signifcant changes in temperature with diferent consequences depending on the geographical location of the regions, afecting among other aspects, electricity consumption (EC). Spain being a country that encompasses so many diferent temperature zones, this work analyses EC per capita among the Autonomous Communities (AC) of Spain through a spatial-temporal decomposition analysis during the 2000–2016 period. The regional diferences are explained by four decomposition factors: intensity, temperature, structural and per capita income. The temporal decomposition results show that temperature changes in Spain between 2000 and 2016 have substantially afected the per capita EC. Likewise, it has been noted that in the 2000–2008 period, the temperature efect mainly acted as an inhibitor compared to the 2008–2016 period, in which an increase in the days of extreme temperature acted as a driver. The spatial decomposition reveals that the structural and energy intensity efects contribute to the AC moving away from average fgures, while the temperature and income efects contributes to reducing the diferences depending on the location of the AC. The results enable to determine the importance of establishing public policy measures aimed at improving energy efciency.

Berge’s notion of equilibrium represents a complementary alternative to the Nash equilibrium when modeling socioeconomic behavior and human interactions. While the notion of Nash equilibrium is based on self-interest, as players seek to maximize their own payofs given the action of the other players, the idea behind Berge equilibrium is mutual support, as given the action of one of the players, all others select their actions looking for her best interest. However, because of the demanding conditions involved, the existence of Berge equilibria is rarely guaranteed. In this paper, we propose vector-valued normal-form games as a unifed framework in which to study and extend the concept of Berge equilibrium. Based on the equilibria of the so-called altruistic game, we introduce new equilibrium concepts which constitute diferent relaxations of Berge’s notion, although they still retain the underlying idea of mutual support. We establish the links between these new equilibria, Nash equilibrium, Berge equilibrium, and other related concepts already existing in the literature. Our approach has the advantage that it permits the incorporation of preference information to identify the equilibria which are consistent with diferent altruistic attitudes of the players.

Among the many formulas that exist for financing a business project, two of the most widely used by entrepreneurs today are business angels (BA) and venture capital (VC). This chapter sheds light on the interaction between these sources of funding. Both financing options played an essential role for the growth of start-ups even before the financial crisis. In particular, the main goal of this chapter is to provide the reader with an accurate understanding of both sources of financing before making an investment decision. The chapter shows the concept, operations, and growth expectations of BA and VC and a subsequent comparison between the two methods. Overall, this chapter provides a more fine-grained understanding of the role that BA and VC investors can play in the process of creating new ventures. As the main takeaways of this chapter, it is expected that entrepreneurs will learn to successfully find the financing formula that best suits the characteristics and urgencies of their project and that, in this way, their company will develop or continue to grow.

This paper aims to test the pollution haven hypothesis within the European Union (EU), especially among newcomer countries, through the participation in global value chains (GVCs). The study used a combination of multiregional input–output method and multilevel mixed econometric analysis to investigate the relationship between global value chain trade flows, foreign direct investment flows, energy consumption, and carbon emissions across countries, sectors, and time. The study tested both the “pollution haven” and “pollution halo” hypotheses and found a non-linear relationship between foreign capital flows and carbon emissions, which became less relevant after the economic integration process. The results suggest the existence of a pollution haven in Europe. Although Eastern economies still exhibit problematic issues in relation to pollution control, they have made significant progress in reducing their emissions intensity. The conclusions include some policy recommendations based on the main findings of the research

[EN] The main uncertainty when studying the destruction horizon of an archaeological site or a heritage building is to know which trigger mechanism generated these deformations. This is the case of archaeoseismology, which needs to have a method to be able to discriminate whether the ruin of a given site was caused by simple abandonment or by an earthquake. The structural geology discipline studies, among other aspects, the deformations in rocks in relation to the intrinsic properties (fabric and mineralogy) and the tectonic parameters. This technique has demonstrated its utility to identify deformations of seismic origin by measuring the orientation and clustering the deformation to find spatial patterns of ground shaking and building response. The passage of the seismic waves from an earthquake depends on the seismic source and the epicentral location, and the so-called seismic ray arrives to the archaeological site with a trending which is measurable. The 2011 Lorca earthquake (Mw 5.2, SE of Spain) was a good example of the application of this novel methodology to determine the pattern of deformation affecting the buildings. During this earthquake, a lot of relevant and ancient buildings were affected by the seismic ray, giving a good opportunity for calibrating the spatial patterns of building deformation with the seismological parameters and geological features of the seismic source. Several Earthquake Archaeological Effects (EAEs) were mapped and compared with the orientation obtained from a seismic accelerometer of the Spanish National Seismic Monitoring Network, located in the city hall (in the historic downtown of Lorca). The ground-shaking movement, obtained from the application of this novel technique is NW-SE trending, and it agrees with the main orientation obtained from the seismic accelerometer.

Compared to other animal movements, prospecting by adult individuals for a future breeding site is commonly overlooked. Prospecting influences the decision of where to breed and has consequences on fitness and lifetime reproductive success. By analysing movements of 31 satellite- and GPS-tracked gull and tern populations belonging to 14 species in Europe and North America, we examined the occurrence and factors explaining prospecting by actively breeding birds. Prospecting in active breeders occurred in 85.7% of studied species, across 61.3% of sampled populations. Prospecting was more common in populations with frequent inter-annual changes of breeding sites and among females. These results contradict theoretical models which predict that prospecting is expected to evolve in relatively predictable and stable environments. More long-term tracking studies are needed to identify factors affecting patterns of prospecting in different environments and understand the consequences of prospecting on fitness at the individual and population level.

Underwater hydrothermal systems release nutrient-rich fluids that are favorable for microbial activity. This allows the growth of a plethora of microorganisms that can be found inhabiting hydrothermal plumes, metalliferous sediments, or forming dense microbial biofilms or mats on the surrounding of the vents. Most of the current knowledge on the microbiology associated with underwater volcanic activity comes from the study of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. However, much less is known about shallow underwater hydrothermal systems. The submarine volcanic eruption that took place near El Hierro (Canary Islands) in October 2011 and gave rise to the Tagoro volcano, located only 1.8 km from land and approximately 89 m below the sea surface, provided a rare occasion to study almost in real time the microbiology associated with an underwater eruptive process, from its birth to the current degassing state, allowing investigations of its effects on the surrounding pelagic and benthic communities. In this chapter, we summarize what is known 10 years after the formation of the Tagoro submarine volcano, and we discuss what questions should be pursued in order to foster our knowledge of the microbiology associated with this volcano and its surrounding waters

This research aims to determine the type of content ofered by non-proft digital media, determining whether this content is diferent and characteristic. For this purpose, a binomial logistic regression analysis was carried out on a sample of digital medias included in the Latin American SembraMedia directory (509 media: 70% for-proft and 30% non-proft). This data from SembraMedia’s digital media list showed that non-proft media is having a social impact. As such, it was relevant to address non-proft media as an organisational model compared to for-proft media. Variables such as journalistic genre, the techniques used the origin of the content, and the coverage or type of content were considered. The main conclusion is that non-proft digital media show signifcant diferences in their contents when compared to for-proft ones. These diferences are found in the content (environment) and in the journalistic techniques used (data journalism).

The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science highlights a need to improve the way in which scientific results effectively inform action and policies regarding the ocean. Our research contributes to achieving this goal by identifying practical actions, barriers, stakeholder contributions and resources required to increase the sustainability of activities carried out in the context of artisanal fisheries to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA) Global Action Plan (GAP) Pillar targets. We conducted a novel ‘social value chain analysis’ via a participatory workshop to elicit perspectives of value chain actors and fisheries stakeholders associated with two Spanish artisanal common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) fisheries (western Asturias—Marine Stewardship Council [MSC] certified, and Galicia—non-MSC certified) about their priorities regarding sustainable octopus production and commercialization