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Failure of individuals to voluntarily observe regulations and recommendations around mitigating COVID-19 (e.g. social distancing; frequent handwashing) is often cited as a reason why some countries struggled to curtail the spread of the virus. Understanding the factors that are associated with people's willingness to comply with COVID-19 regulations and recommendations is an important step in helping policy makers and health officials reduce the impact of this (and future) pandemics. In the current study we examined this question in one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic: Spain. A large, representative survey (N = 2100) revealed that several factors were positively associated with willingness to comply to COVID-19 regulations and recommendations. In decreasing order of predictive value, these were: (i) perceptions of whether friends and family were complying (i.e. norms), (ii) trust in science as a basis for lawmaking, (iii) perceived effectiveness of regulations and (iv) perception of risk of infection. These results point to the importance of influencing social norms as the primary way to improve adherence to the health regulations of COVID-19; more important than intrapsychic considerations such as efficacy and risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an up-to-date overview of how students in Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) in Spanish public schools, aged between 11 and 16, approach the media, how they inform themselves, the degree of journalistic discrimination they have, and how they deal with the news in times of an infodemic and disinformation. In addition, it explores the opinion of teachers on the media deficits they perceive in their students. The main research technique used in this study was a descriptive, cross-sectional survey of 1,651 ESO students from all over Spain with a confidence level of <95% and a ±3% sampling error. In order to delve deeper into some of the main aspects pointed out by students, 77 in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers from all over Spain. The main results highlight that high school students are mainly informed through social networks, television, and their family or friendship groups; that they have difficulties in discriminating between information and opinion; and that, although they consider themselves capable of differentiating between news and hoaxes, more than half are unable to distinguish between fake and real news. According to the teachers in some of these schools, media consumption among students is non-critical, fuelled by the compulsive consumption of audiovisual and digital media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we examined the explanatory factors of gully geometry in the Campiña landscape in southern Spain using a geographic information system (GIS) focal approach with regional topographic products (1.5 m LiDAR [light detecton and ranging] digital elevation model [DEM] for elevation data and 0.5 m orthophotography for gully limit delineation). We evaluated the performance of a focal approach (based on neighbourhood calculations) using topographic factors for characterizing the gully linear extent and cross‐section (XS) morphology (i.e., depth, D, width, W, mean slope, S and width‐to‐depth ratio, WDR). As for the longitudinal analysis, focal variables (e.g., using the 11 × 11 mean thalweg slope and 75‐m downstream mean slope) outperformed the pixel‐based approach, with accurate spatial predictions for gully headcuts and mouth locations. The threshold between gullied and non‐gullied areas in a slope‐area diagram took the form of a break‐line rather than a straight limit. For estimating the main XS dimensions (D and W), the Half‐width method was applied by selecting the closest point to the thalweg at the gully limits. The tendency to underestimate XS depths was corrected by applying the equations derived from an assessment of the sampling errors in DEMs datasets. The 50 m adjacent slope to the gully was the best explanatory descriptor of both XS dimensions (due to energetic and geometric reasons) along with the channel density, drainage area and total gully length. The XS mean slope and WDR were controlled by the resistance of the materials (investigated through geotechnical and vane‐test surveys) where incision processes were dominant (V‐shaped XSs in upstream and middle reaches). As sedimentation started to become significant, both morphological parameters changed abruptly and XSs tended to show a trapezoid shape. An adaptative focal strategy with varying window sizes produced better results than the pixel‐based approach, requiring larger calculation scopes in areas of greater DEM uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study aims to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on media habits and consumption in Spain, one of the most severely affected countries. Methodology: A representative online survey of the Spanish population (N = 1,500 participants) was conducted from March 13 to 30, 2020, coinciding with the first weeks of home confinement. The sample was studied according to two variables, gender (Women N = 750; Men N = 750) and age (18-39 years individuals, N = 720; over 40 years individuals N = 780) to detect the most relevant specificities of each group. The sampling error is ± 4.38% to 95% confidence. Results: Results highlight that television is the most used media when it comes to finding out about the virus, before digital media. It should be noted that infoshow-type television programs manage to accumulate more audience than the traditional news programs. The least used media to get information about the evolution of the Covid-19 are Internet, social networks, radio, information by relatives or acquaintances, and traditional press. Although radio consumption seems not to be significant to stay informed, this medium is the most credible, in addition to television. Finally, the consumption of over-the-top (OTT) platforms has grown considerably during this period. Discussion: Television recovers the audience of the youngest targets that it seemed to have lost in in favor of digital media. Conclusions: An increasingly complex and competitive media landscape is consolidating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talent management (TM) can crucially help optimize organizational learning (OL) processes. The aim of this article is to study whether certain TM practices related to teamwork design and dynamics stimulate and develop learning (i.e. knowledge creation) processes within the organization and across the different ontological levels (individual, group and organizational–institutional). A model linking team-based TM and OL is tested in a sample of large Spanish companies. Our empirical results emphasize the distinction between individual–group and institutional levels of learning as the two pillars of OL. The results also highlight the role of team autonomy and creativity as crucial factors for successful OL through team-based TM, especially for interlinking individual and group learning levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Generalised variance function (GVF) models are data analysis techniques often used in large-scale sample surveys to approximate the design variance of point estimators for population means and proportions. Some potential advantages of the GVF approach include operational simplicity, more stable sampling errors estimates and providing a convenient method of summarising results when a high number of survey variables is considered. In this paper, several parametric and nonparametric methods for GVF estimation with binary variables are proposed and compared. The behavior of these estimators is analysed under heteroscedasticity and in the presence of outliers and influential observations. An empirical study based on the annual survey of living conditions in Galicia (a region in the northwest of Spain) illustrates the behaviour of the proposed estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of convection-permitting ensemble prediction systems capable of producing accurate forecasts of disruptive events is an extraordinarily challenging effort. The difficulties associated with the detection of extreme events found at these scales motivates the research of methodologies that efficiently sample relevant uncertainties. This study investigates the potential of multiple techniques to account for model uncertainty. The performance of various stochastic schemes is assessed for an exceptional heavy precipitation episode which occurred in eastern Spain. In particular, the stochastic strategies are compared to a multiphysics approach in terms of both spread and skill. The analyzed techniques include stochastic parameterization perturbation tendency and perturbations to influential parameters within the microphysics scheme. The introduction of stochastic perturbations to the microphysics processes results in a larger ensemble spread throughout the entire simulation. Conversely, modifications to microphysics parameters generate small-scale perturbations that rapidly grow over areas with high convective instability, in contrast to the other methods, which produce more widespread perturbations. A conclusion of specific interest for the western Mediterranean, where deep moist convection and local orography play an important role, is that stochastic methods are shown to outperform a multiphysics-based ensemble for this case, indicating the potential positive impact of stochastic parameterizations for the forecast of extreme events in the region. • In this paper, we have contributed in the field of heavy precipitation forecasting in the western Mediterranean region by analyzing the performance of multiple ensemble generation strategies based on model error sampling, mainly stochastic parameterizations for a specific episode occurred in eastern Spain. In particular, our most outstanding findings are: • Stochastic perturbations to specific parameters within the microphysics scheme result in larger ensemble spread. • Perturbations to microphysics display low initial spatial correlation, but intensely grow over areas with high convective instability. • Stochastic methods improve the skill of multiphysics, especially when deep moist convection and local orography play an influential role. • The regional increase in spread is translated to local scales. Maximum hourly precipitation intensities over small-to-medium size basins are generally captured with the proposed ensemble generation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]