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The choices that researchers make while conducting a statistical analysis usually have a notable impact on the results. This fact has become evident in the ongoing research of the association between the environment and the evolution of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in light of the hundreds of contradictory studies that have already been published on this issue in just a few months. In this paper, a COVID-19 dataset containing the number of daily cases registered in the regions of Catalonia (Spain) since the start of the pandemic to the end of August 2020 is analysed using statistical models of diverse levels of complexity. Specifically, the possible effect of several environmental variables (solar exposure, mean temperature, and wind speed) on the number of cases is assessed. Thus, the first objective of the paper is to show how the choice of a certain type of statistical model to conduct the analysis can have a severe impact on the associations that are inferred between the covariates and the response variable. Secondly, it is shown how the use of spatio-temporal models accounting for the nature of the data allows understanding the evolution of the pandemic in space and time. The results suggest that even though the models fitted to the data correctly capture the evolution of COVID-19 in space and time, determining whether there is an association between the spread of the pandemic and certain environmental conditions is complex, as it is severely affected by the choice of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of a smart city is still being developed despite the lack of a single universally accepted definition. It is implemented through different approaches in different cities around the world. The presented study concerns the improvement of this idea and the possibility of applying the solutions from Barcelona to the city of Kraków. This paper is based on the author's experience and observations during a trip to Catalonia and its capital - Barcelona - as well as a study of literature on the smart city. The author takes into account the specific topographical and environmental conditions of each city and the human-environment interactions that have shaped both cities over the centuries. The paper continues to focus on the challenges to smart cities following the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has demonstrated the need to modify ICT (Information and Telecommunications Technologies) applications related to the functioning of the city. Preliminary conclusions drawn from the pandemic also indicate that further development of smart cities should be based not only on ICT applications in public services and public spaces, but also on guaranteeing individual spaces for citizens to live in long-term isolation. In addition, attention was drawn to the need to improve both direct and electronic communication, especially by telephone with the authorities of Kraków, to enable "co-governance" in areas where the voice of the city's residents can be very valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine how schools in Catalonia (Spain) are responding to the needs of migrant students by challenging the limitations of the curriculum. The paper presents some of the findings of an ongoing project titled Migrant Children and Communities in a Transforming Europe (MiCREATE). It is based on 31 semi‐structured interviews and 6 focus groups conducted with 78 participants (teachers, school representatives, and community members such as child psychologists, social workers, and other collaborators) from six state primary and secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain). Analysis of the interviews showed that Spain still has a monolithic conception of the curriculum, with Eurocentrism and ethnocentrism at its core. Nonetheless, school staff are producing pedagogical practices that challenge this position in order to respond to the needs of migrant students. We argue that it is necessary to consider other frames of reference such as critical interculturality, decolonial perspectives, and critical cosmopolitanisms in order to create collective and multiple experiences of belonging that go beyond the dominant cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global increase in pharmaceutical consumption, driven by factors such as aging populations and chronic diseases, has raised concerns regarding the environmental impact of pharmaceutical contaminants. Europe, and more specifically Catalonia (Spain), exhibits high pharmaceutical consumption rates, potentially exacerbating environmental contamination. Pharmaceuticals enter rivers through various pathways, persisting after wastewater treatment plants and posing risks to aquatic organisms and human health. Llobregat and Besòs Rivers in Catalonia, crucial water sources, demonstrate detectable pharmaceutical levels, necessitating comprehensive analysis. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) proves effective in detecting pharmaceutical residues, facilitating their risk assessment. This paper reviews the occurrence, fate, and risks associated with 78 pharmaceuticals and metabolite in Llobregat and Besòs Rivers, using LC–MS/MS for analysis. Understanding pharmaceutical impacts on Catalonian River ecosystems is essential for developing mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers have been using promotion as a differentiation strategy that influences consumers' expenditures and their shopping basket budgetary allocation. This study assessed the effect of retail promotions on total shopping basket expenditure and determined whether promotions provoke a reallocation of the shopping budget. The analysis was performed on a chain of supermarkets in Catalonia, Spain using a consumer scanner data set from Kantar Worldpanel for 2017. The methodological approach had two steps: prediction of the effect of promotion on household expenditures using an expenditure regression model and estimation of the promotion own- and cross-effect using the censored Exact Affine Stone Index. Promotion had a positive own-effect and mostly a negative asymmetric cross-effect, implying a small but significant budget reallocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consequences of social trust are comparatively well studied, while its societal determinants are often subject to debate. This paper studies both in the context of Catalan attempts to secede from Spain: First, we test whether Catalonia enjoys higher levels of social capital that it is prevented from capitalizing on. Second, the paper examines whether secessionist movements create animosity and political divisions within society that undermine trust. Employing the nine available waves of the European Social Survey for Spain, we only find weak indications that social trust levels are higher in Catalonia than in the rest of the country. Interestingly, we further find testimony of a purely transient "exuberance effect" after secession became a real option, indicating that the long‐run evolution of social trust may best be thought of as a stable punctuated equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the normative view that Quadruple Helix collaborations (with government, academia, industry and civil society) such as living labs are prescribed to enhance regional innovation performance, there is scarce knowledge of the sustainability of such collaborations from the perspective of the stakeholders who are supposed to engage in such initiatives. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the implementation of the Quadruple Helix for innovation from a stakeholder perspective, by understanding the expectations as well as the perceived benefits and challenges of the collaboration. Through a qualitative research design, this paper presents an in-depth case study of a living lab in the region of Catalonia. Our results challenge the normative view of Quadruple Helix approaches and of living labs; we also offer suggestions to manage future collaborations and to inform further evidence-based policy. On the whole, partnership leadership and coordination are critical to bridge the expectation-implementation gap towards stakeholder satisfaction and collaboration sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Haidé: Estudis Maragallians is the property of Biblioteca de Catalunya and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study of dysfunctional personality traits and psychological mechanisms related to antisocial behavior is increasingly gaining importance. In this paper we focus on the so-called Dark Constellation of the personality, analyzing Machiavellian, narcissistic, sadistic and psychopathic traits, and their relationship with moral disengagement mechanisms and with emotional intelligence. We specifically focused on the psychopathic personality to examine which studied variables can explain this personality pattern. Participants were 63 prisoners (44 men and 19 women) from three different prisons in Catalonia, Spain. Overall, correlational results indicate that dark constellation personalities are positively associated with moral disengagement and inversely associated with emotional intelligence. Dehumanization is one of the mechanisms most closely related with dark personalities. The study variables explaining psychopathic personality are the sadistic personality pattern and conversely the socio-cognitive mechanism of diffusion of responsibility and the ability to perceive emotions. Finally, the variables that appear as discriminating in extreme cases of psychopathic personality are the sadistic personality trait, and the mechanisms of dehumanization and advantageous comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Complutense de Educación is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Investigaciones Geograficas is the property of Universidad de Alicante, Instituto Universitario de Geografia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aerobiological predictive model development is of increasing interest, despite the distribution and variability of data and the limitations of statistical methods making it highly challenging. The use of concentration thresholds and models, where a binary response allows one to establish the occurrence or non-occurrence of the threshold, have been proposed to reduce difficulties. In this paper, we use logistic regression (logit) and regression trees to predict the daily concentration thresholds (low, medium, high, and very high) of six airborne fungal spore taxa (Alternaria, Cladosporium, Agaricus, Ganoderma, Leptosphaeria, and Pleospora) in eight localities in Catalonia (NE Spain) using data from 1995 to 2014. The predictive potential of these models was analyzed through sensitivity and specificity. The models showed similar results regarding the relationship and influence of the meteorological parameters and fungal spores. Ascospores showed a strong relationship with precipitation and basidiospores with minimum temperature, while conidiospores did not indicate any preferences. Sensitivity (true-positive) and specificity (false-positive) presented highly satisfactory validation results for both models in all thresholds, with an average of 73%. However, seeing as logit offers greater precision when attempting to establish the exceedance of a concentration threshold and is easier to apply, it is proposed as the best predictive model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to find details about an excellent Spanish pianist from the beginning of the 20th century who starred when she was a little child: her name was Maria Vallès. Not many news are known about her brief biography since she had a short life and little could develop and become known as a pianist. Through a research work some press articles from the first decades of the 20th century were found, which highlight the excellence of her piano performances in Spain. The aim of this research is to analyze the pedagogical codes for the training of a musical talent in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the feminine cultural codes against a female prodigy artist, on the axis of Maria Vallès. This research was carried out according to the type of document analysis, which is one of the qualitative research types. Evidence documents regarding the prodigy phenomenon of the Spanish pianist were found. She played concerts basically in Catalonia, where she moved with her family when she was a little child. It should be also noted that she studied with one of the most prestigious pedagogues of the time, Molinari. He was her mentor and the one who introduced her to the Catalan cultural and musical life of the twenties, making her known among her peers who were also pedagogues and musicologists and the public attending her concerts. This research includes some codes for practitioners and pedagogues for the development of piano talent, in the example of Spanish pianist Maria Vallès, who was a prodigy child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problem of finding suitable sites for wind farms in a region of Catalonia (Spain). The evaluation criteria are structured into a hierarchy that identifies several intermediate sub-goals dealing with different points of view. Therefore, the recent ELECTRE-III-H hierarchical multi-criteria analysis method is proposed as a good solution to help decision-makers. This method establishes an order among the set of possible sites for the wind farms for each sub-goal. ELECTRE-III-H aggregates these orders into an overall order using different parameters. The procedure is based on the construction and exploitation of a pairwise outranking relation, following the principles of concordance (i.e. majority rule) and discordance (i.e. respect for the minority opinions). This paper makes two main contributions. First, it contributes to the ELECTRE-III-H method by studying its mathematical properties for the construction of outranking relations. Second, the case study is solved and its results show that we can effectively represent and manage the overall influence of the various criteria on the global result at different levels of the hierarchy. The paper compares different scenarios with strict, normal, and optimistic preference, indifference and veto thresholds. Results show that the best site differs for technical, economic, environmental, and social intermediate criteria. Therefore, the best overall solution changes depending on the preference and veto thresholds fixed at the intermediate level of the hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the location, origins, and early development of clusters and industrial districts in the agribusiness sector. It considers the case of the meat processing industry in the second half of the 19th century in Catalonia, a prosperous southern-European region in the period when this industry emerged. By constructing an index of potential locations at the municipal level, the paper discusses whether, and to what extent, deterministic factors explain the genesis of pigmeat processing clusters. The paper concludes that although these latter factors need primary consideration, contingency, particularly human agency, may also play a non-negligible role. As an illustration, this study pays particular attention to the cluster of Vic, which developed around this middle-sized town in central Catalonia. It became a leading meat cluster in early 20th-century Spain, even though it was not better suited to this industry than other Catalan localities where meat companies had also emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On October 1st, 2017 the Spanish government deployed the police in Catalonia to prevent people from voting in what the Spanish government considered an "illegal" referendum. The police actions resulted in 893 [1] reported unarmed citizens injured in an event described by some international media as a case of police brutality. This paper drags from Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) to analyze discourses of normalization embedded in journalist practices in El País, the most widely read paper in the Spanish language [2]. These discursive practices channel extreme positions such as beating and dissolving unarmed citizens who aim to express their opinions by voting into an agenda of acceptable socio-political norm; inevitable actions defined as a constitutional and democratic measure. In the months approaching the "referendum", El País constructed a case against Catalonia's independence discursively by (1) legitimizing views, ideologies and positions that consider the Catalan's proposal unacceptable, (2) excluding dialogue and (3) propagating anti-pluralist discourses favoring "us" above "them", which consequently (4) normalized police force as political intervention, justified with the application of the article 155 from the Spanish Constitution. [1] According to the Catalan government and the Catalan Health Department. Retrieve from [2] Retrieved from , and [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nature of intergovernmental relations (IGR) on immigrant integration in Spain, a relatively recent immigration country, with a focus on Catalonia. By means of qualitative document analysis and semi-structured interviews at both levels of government, the paper demonstrates that despite the formal existence of multilateral and institutionalized fora for intergovernmental relations, most intergovernmental relations on immigrant integration tend to be informal and bilateral. The paper also highlights that the conflictual nature of IGR on integration varies across sub-policy areas and over time. The paper contributes to strengthen existing hypotheses regarding institutional features (the distribution of competencies and the territorial organization of power) and party politics for explaining the patterns of IGR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses party competition during secession crises in advanced democracies. It focuses on Quebec, Scotland and Catalonia to show how a party or parties use secession as a competition issue, how other parties respond and what are the consequences for regional party systems. Using quantitative text analysis of parliamentary debates, this work finds that during secession crises, most parties are forced to talk about territorial integrity and that party systems polarize in the territorial dimension. However, parties can adopt different strategies to alter their salience and position on the issue. Most surprisingly, this paper shows that secessionists are not always the ones that emphasize secession most and that parties do not always position at the poles of the territorial dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anuario de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid is the property of Anuario de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Catalonian Journal of Ethnology / Revista d'Etnologia de Catalunya is the property of Direccio General de Cultura Popular, Associacionisme i Accio Culturals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Española de Sociología is the property of Federacion Espanola de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 spread is challenging due to asymptomatic infections, numerous variants, and population behavior changes from non-pharmaceutical interventions. We developed a Digital Twin model to simulate SARS-CoV-2 evolution in Catalonia. Continuous validation ensures our model's accuracy. Our system uses Catalonia Health Service data to quantify cases, hospitalizations, and healthcare impact. These data may be under-reported due to screening policy changes. To improve our model's reliability, we incorporate data from the Catalan Surveillance Network of SARS-CoV-2 in Sewage (SARSAIGUA). This paper shows how we use sewage data in the Digital Twin validation process to identify discrepancies between model predictions and real-time data. This continuous validation approach enables us to generate long-term forecasts, gain insights into SARS-CoV-2 spread, reassess assumptions, and enhance our understanding of the pandemic's behavior in Catalonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing numbers of Chinese students are pursuing graduate degrees in Catalonia. Although highly proficient in both Castilian and English when they arrive, they find themselves in a bilingual society where Catalan, not Castilian, predominates both at universities and in the broader social context. Acquiring Catalan is hence important for both academic and social purposes. Using a longitudinal ethnographic study, this paper explores the factors motivating 25 Chinese students pursuing MA or Ph.D. programmes at Catalan universities to learn Catalan. Their motivation is examined over time using the L2 Motivational Self System, categorising it in ought-to L2 self, ideal L2 self, and learning experience. The results reveal that Chinese graduate students in Catalonia are initially motivated to learn Catalan mainly by the ideal L2 self. The desire to integrate themselves into the Catalonia society is the most reported factor, followed by ought-to L2 self, such as academic needs and future career considerations. Once the learning process begins, learning experience becomes another important (de)motivation for the learners. Even when the initial future image has faded over time, personal satisfaction obtained from learning can still motivate learners to continue the investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish far-right Vox party ran for the first time as a candidate for the Catalan parliamentary elections in February 2021. This paper analyses the party's political discourse on Twitter during the Catalan parliamentary election campaign in order to assess whether the degree of dialectical confrontation of their messages can exceed the limits of democratic debate. The results reveal how this far-right party's inflammatory messages, which seek to insult its political opponents, ultimately foster an undemocratic environment that turns Vox's political rivals into its enemy, driving social polarisation and a discourse of hatred towards individuals defending other ideologies or parties. Ultimately, it is intended to add that political-ideological nuance for future research that surpasses traditional hate speech —such as those based on criteria such as race or sex— and the suitability of Twitter for the proliferation of the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To transition our energy system toward sustainable production and consumption, it is important to successfully engage consumers to become active participants in this process. One form this can take is manual demand response, where end users respond to fluctuations in energy production and help balance the grid through adjustment of their consumption. This paper presents a trial of such a system that took place with tenants in subsidized housing in Catalonia, Spain. The aim of the trial was to motivate the load shifting behavior of the participants by forecasting expected consumption curves and tailoring suggestions for optimized behavior. The forecasts and suggestions were based on the users' past consumption patterns and the hourly day-ahead electricity prices. This information was made available to the users on a web-based platform, and participants were actively informed with text messages sent to their mobile phones in case of attractive saving potentials for the following day. The trial was carried out in 2 phases from November 2019 to May 2020 (Phase 1) and from August to October 2020 (Phase 2). Data were collected on interaction with the platform, the perceived user experience of the platform and text messages, and the perceived energy saving success. Results: Our results showed that there is a general interest of the participants in the concept, but that there are also important barriers to integrating load shifting behavior into everyday life. The biggest barriers here are limitations in the flexibility potential of households and limited perceived benefits. Feedback from our participants also suggests high acceptance and relevance of more automated demand-side management (DSM) concepts. Conclusions: Based on this, we recommend paying special attention to the accommodation of varying flexibility potential in manual demand response (DR) programs, ensuring that communicated benefits are sufficiently attractive to motivate behavior change, and consideration of a phase of manual DR as an entry point to automated DSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dams are hydraulic infrastructure that have several purposes, such as irrigation, hydropower, water supply, flood control, recreation, fish breeding and navigation. However, their failure or malfunctioning can pose a threat to downstream communities, and thus, their safety is paramount to public protection and economic security. A variety of approaches to classify dams can be found in countries worldwide. Their classification allows to distinguish among those that are to be subject to safety regulation in each country. A common approach to classify them is according to their potential damage in case of failure. Roads are usually among the infrastructures that these approaches consider to be assessed in terms of the level of damage that can suffer. A new people-centred criterion is proposed in this paper to assess potential intangible damage (i.e. human lives) when roadways could be flooded due to a dam failure. This novel methodology is based on the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of roadways and sets a maximum and a minimum number of vehicles expected in the area receiving the flood. To evaluate its appropriateness, it is verified from the results obtained after being applied to three existing ponds located in Catalonia (Spain). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pasos: Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural is the property of Universidad de La Laguna, Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Social‐democratic parties face a dilemma between the universalist ethos of their socialist tradition and the nationalism that they share with the other political actors of the state where they act. In this paper, we examine comparatively the position of the Spanish party Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) and the Catalan party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) on three political debates that pertains to the link between welfare and identity in Spain. We show how these parties experience opposite tensions between nationalism and the universalism of their left‐wing ideology. Whereas ERC calls for a withdrawal from the Spanish system of social security, the PSOE advocates imposing on Catalonia a symmetric form of solidarity with the rest of Spain, despite recognising the region's different identity. Above all, both parties take identity for granted as a pre‐political factor that 'naturally' justifies differential treatment, according to ERC, or equalising federalism, in the case of the PSOE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Quality of Life (1018-0389) / Calitatea Vietii is the property of Romanian Academy Publishing House / Editura Academiei Romane and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines regional legislative initiatives in Spain, a mechanism of shared-rule regulated in article 87.2 of the Spanish Constitution. Through description and analysis of an original dataset covering all legislative terms from 1978 to 2021, it is shown how this specific mechanism has not accomplished its shared-rule objective. Moreover, the article identifies patterns that determine the strategic use, intensity and failure or success of the legislative initiatives. We find diverging trends across regions exemplified by Catalonia, the most active territory but with a very low approval rate. Overall, the analysis underlines how the state-wide scope initiatives seem to have a strategic rather than a legislative purpose while, on the other hand, regional scope initiatives are explained by minor self-rule objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of suburbanization patt erns and processes necessarily implies looking beyond towns and cities. Suburbanization is a blendscape because it occurs within the transition zone between urban and rural areas surrounding urban centres. Therefore, a tension emerges between the growth expectations of small- and medium-sized municipalities and the supra-local authorities (e.g. metropolitan, provincial or regional public bodies) that provide essential (mostly financial) support to those municipalities. Supra-local authorities hence perform the governance role of institutional blendscapes because they can mediate between those growth expectations and more efficient, area-wide land management. By using the Barcelona Province as a case study, this paper examines three inter-related issues in suburbanization processes: (i) the question of land transformation; (ii) the relation between municipal size and suburban patt erns; and (iii) the role of supra-local authorities in the management of suburban areas in the city outskirts. Findings show that, overall, while municipalities up to 9,999 inhabitants have a housing stock that is predominantly suburban in character (i.e. 76.5 per cent single-family dwellings), it is small-/mid-sized municipalities between 10,000 and 49,999 inhabitants that have the highest proportion (31.2 per cent) of suburban residential areas within the Barcelona province. These small- and mid-sized, often rural, municipalities tend to rely on financial and technical support from the supra-local authority of the Barcelona Diputación - a key governance actor in suburbanization processes. As an institutional blendscape, on the one hand, the Barcelona Diputación can steer a more efficient land allocation and management through environmental protection and assistance in developing (supra-)local spatial plans. On the other hand, by distributing essential financial help to provide basic public services in small- and mid-size suburban municipalities, it also partially mitigates the planning, construction, and maintenance of suburbanity in (very) small- and medium-size municipalities 'far from the city' and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a critical sociolinguistics approach to language maintenance in the diaspora, this paper investigates interplaying linguistic identities and ideologies towards home and host languages among four case-study Pakistanis living in Catalonia, a Catalan/Spanish-speaking European society. By drawing on fieldnotes, interviews, naturally-occurring conversations and visual materials gathered in a Barcelona call shop, it shows how informants invest in Spanish as the 'integration' language, despite being categorised as 'deficient' users of it. They present themselves as 'native' speakers of Urdu, which indexes modern 'Muslimness' and 'Pakistaniness', while Punjabi users, associated with the 'yokels', are silenced. English is ambivalently taken-up as an intra-group sign of educational status and political power and as an anti-Muslim 'coloniser' language. Overall, these stratifying sociolinguistic behaviours reveal how Pakistanis' home/host multilingual resources get re-ideologised through linguistic hierarchisations which foster the maintenance of majority languages only, dismissing minority language speakers, in unchartered transnational contexts where these are already 'delanguaged'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education dropout has been considered a major concern for several researchers in the field of education around the World. Although different studies were carried out to deal with the topic, they all faced common limitations. This paper explores the twofold research conducted to investigate higher education dropout in Education studies at two of the main Catalan public universities. First, a review of the different theoretical perspectives that tackled dropout was carried out to combine the direct and indirect dropout predictors. Second, some research was conducted in the faculties of Education in the selected two Catalan public universities to investigate the antecedents of higher education dropout. The utilized instrument discussed in this paper is the survey. In the first part, the predictors of higher education dropout were combined in a 5-layer model called the "Dimensions of Academic Dropout" wheel (Naaman, 2018). In the second part, the results of the survey analyzed quantitively revealed that dissatisfaction from the program and academic failure are the most important antecedents of higher education dropout in education studies in Catalonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has witnessed a significant rise in European secessionist movements leading to considerable political turmoil (e.g., protest, repression, imprisonment of political leaders). While scholars have identified a number of economic and political factors that influence the support for secessionist movements, fewer studies have focused on its psychological roots. Using evidence from Catalonia, this paper investigates the role of two fundamental individual traits, Need for Affect (NFA) and Need for Cognition (NFC), in influencing the support for Catalan independence. It analyzes a large representative sample of adult Catalans in 2013, during the peak of the secessionist movement, to examine the influence of NFA and NFC, and their interaction, on the intention to vote in favor of seceding from Spain. Results indicate that individuals who have high levels in NFA and those who have high levels of NFA and low levels of NFC are more likely to support independence. In other words, individuals who have low levels of both NFA and NFC have the lowest support for independence. In conclusion, these findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences in psychological motives in order to fully understand support for secessionist movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the origins of elite splits? Why do regional elites break away from central elites and develop regional parties? This paper contends that intra-elite differences are more likely to be politicized when an economic shock exacerbates pre-existing asymmetric economic preferences and disadvantaged elites can mobilize the electorate on the basis of identity. I employ constituency-level data from Catalonia spanning the late 19th and early 20th century to test which factors influenced regional elite decisions to form a regional elite political party. To understand elite divisions, I exploit a historical exogenous trade shock and its asymmetric impact within Catalonia, and the availability of identity-based mobilization agents. The results show that regional elite splits took place in areas more affected by the 1898 colonial trade shock and where elites had larger mobilization capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antibiotic resistance is an individual and public health problem; multidrug-resistant infections could cause an estimated 10 million deaths worldwide by 2050. Unnecessary use of antimicrobials is the most important cause of resistance generation in the community, and an estimated 80% of antimicrobials are prescribed in primary health care, frequently for urinary tract infections (UTIs). Objective: This paper presents the protocol for the first phase of the Urinary Tract Infections in Catalonia (Infeccions del tracte urinari a Catalunya) project. We aim to examine the epidemiology of the different types of UTIs in Catalonia (an autonomous community in Spain) and their diagnostic and therapeutic management by health professionals. Furthermore, we aim to evaluate the correlation between types and total consumption of antibiotics for recurrent UTIs in 2 cohorts of women with the presence and severity of infectious complications of urological origin, especially pyelonephritis and sepsis, and 2 potentially serious infections: pneumonia and COVID-19. Methods: The study is a population-based observational cohort study including adults with a diagnosis of UTI registered in the Information System for the Development of Research in Primary Care (in Catalan: Sistema d'informació per al desenvolupament de la investigació en atenció primària), the Minimum Basic Data Sets of Hospital Discharges and Emergency Departments (in Catalan: Conjunt mínim bàsic de dades a l'hospitalització d'aguts i d'atenció urgent), and data from the Hospital Dispensing Medicines Register (in Catalan: Medicació hospitalària de dispensació ambulatòria) of Catalonia from the period between 2012 and 2021. We will evaluate the variables obtained from the databases to analyze the proportion of different types of UTIs, the percentage of adequate antibiotic treatments prescribed or received for recurrent UTIs according to the national guidelines, and the proportion of UTIs with complications. Results: We expect to describe the epidemiology of UTIs in Catalonia from 2012 to 2021, as well as describe the diagnostic and therapeutic management of UTIs by health professionals. Conclusions: We expect to find a high percentage of UTI cases with inadequate management according to the national guidelines, considering that on many occasions UTIs are treated with second- or third-line antibiotic therapies with a preference for the longest regimens. Furthermore, the use of antibiotic suppressive therapies, or prophylaxis, in recurrent UTIs will likely be highly variable. Moreover, we aim to determine whether women with recurrent UTIs treated with antibiotic suppressive therapies have a higher incidence and severity of potentially serious future infections, with special attention to acute pyelonephritis, urosepsis, COVID-19, and pneumonia, compared to women who receive antibiotic treatment after they present with a UTI. This is an observational study of data from administrative databases that will not allow causality analysis. The limitations of the study will be handled according to the appropriate statistical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comunicação e Sociedade is the property of Universidade do Minho, Centro de Estudos de Comunicacao e Sociedade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Comprendre: Revista Catalana de Filosofía is the property of Herder Editorial S.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Jurídica de la Universidad Autonóma de Madrid is the property of Dykinson SL and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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Background: Many countries today are undergoing a paradigm shift in mental health policies towards a recovery-oriented and rights-based approach. From this perspective, self-determination and self-management are fundamental factors for recovery. Despite this shift, there is still a lack of evidence on the effectiveness of training programmes aimed at promoting self-determination and self-management in recovery processes implemented in southern European or Spanish-speaking countries. The aim of this paper is to present a study protocol that evaluates the effectiveness of a 12-session recovery workshop implemented in community mental health services in Catalonia (Spain). Methods/design: This is a 12-week follow-up multi-centre non-randomized controlled trial design. At least 160 users will be recruited from 13 Community Rehabilitation Services (CRS) in Catalonia. Eligible participants are adult (≥ 18 years old) users of a CRS, who sign a written consent to participate. The experimental group participates in a recovery workshop, in which people learn to develop and implement their own plan of personal recovery, which includes a Wellness Toolbox, a Maintenance Toolkit, a Personal Growth Plan, a Mirror of Relapses, a Crisis Plan, and a Learning Agenda. The control group participates in the usual activities of the CRS. Data is collected using a questionnaire of sociodemographic characteristics, personal recovery, empowerment, hope and perceived social support. The users' measurements are taken at the baseline and one week after the end of the workshop. The primary outcome measures include the Self-Identified Stage of Recovery and the Maryland Assessment of Recovery in Serious Mental Illness Scale (short version). The secondary outcome measures include the Netherlands Empowerment List, Dispositional Hope Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Descriptive statistics for characterizing the sample size will be performed. Multivariate analyses for repeated measures designs will be used to evaluate the primary and secondary outcomes. Between-group and within-subject comparisons will be conducted. Discussion: The results of the study will provide information on the usefulness of recovery workshops in a Mediterranean cultural context. Additionally, if this workshop is effective, it will be proposed for inclusion within the portfolio of community mental health services in Catalonia. Trial Registration: ISRCTN11695542 (Registration date: 5 July 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Digital Education Review is the property of University of Barcelona, Virtual Teaching & Learning Research Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista d'Estudis Autonòmics i Federals is the property of Revista d'Estudis Autonomics i Federals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista d'Estudis Autonòmics i Federals is the property of Revista d'Estudis Autonomics i Federals and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Various authors have challenged the traditional dichotomy of civic and ethnic nationalism. This paper presents the case study of Catalan nationalism in the Belle Époque. It argues for the usefulness of the lens of 'Inter-Nationalism' to highlight the fluctuating and labile character of nationalism and to move beyond the ascription of civic and ethnic types to certain regions by examining the exchanges between nationalist movements. It presents three areas in which Catalan nationalism in the Belle Époque moved between voluntarist-organic and inclusive-exclusive definitions and practices of nationalism: state organisation, gender and minority inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Advocatus is the property of Universidad Libre Seccional Barranquilla and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Spain, wind energy development has followed a centralized, extractivist model, with wind farms concentrated in peripheralized and impoverished rural territories. Wind developers benefit from these regions' low land value and lack of political power, thus reproducing patterns of geographical hierarchy and strengthening processes of uneven development. This paper examines these dynamics as they have unfolded in Southern Catalonia, a poor, rural area that concentrates a vast array of energy infrastructure. My ethnographic description focuses on what I call practices of devaluation: the variety of mechanisms through which wind energy companies erode both the economic value and the cultural worth of these regions, especially the land and the livelihoods it supports. Resistance to wind energy development in Southern Catalonia thus emerges as a reaction against these practices of devaluation, that is to say, as struggles to assert worth and preserve value. Overall, I argue that local experiences and cultural frameworks surrounding energy infrastructure reveal the inequities of existing processes of energy transition while foregrounding alternative logics to the dominant extractivist model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new method for decomposing temporal changes in water use intensity (i.e. quantity of water consumption divided by GDP) into various explanatory factors. Specifically, the changes are decomposed into three elements that clarify some of the hidden reasons behind changes in water use over time. The first one captures changes in water intensity due to sectoral uses, showing the effects of modifying water intensity in the various production sectors. The second shows the changes in sectoral output intensity, showing how altering the production structure affects water consumption. Finally, the third quantifies the effects of changes in residential water intensity, showing how changing the final water uses affects water intensity. The empirical application corresponds to the Spanish region of Catalonia. The results show a reduction in regional water intensity due to a negative contribution from the production structure and residential uses of water, which were greater than the increase in sectoral water intensity. This decomposition shows that the reduced importance of agricultural production had the greatest influence on the reduction in water intensity in this region. The directions and magnitudes of the components identified in this paper highlight the importance of using precise and detailed methods to study water issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]