Case Of Catalonia Research Articles

Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Knowledge and Attitudes of Household Contacts of COVID-19 Cases in Northern Spain.

This study aims to describe the long-term changes in the knowledge of, and attitudes towards, COVID-19 and its preventive measures in northern Spain. A telephonic survey was performed among household contacts of COVID-19 cases in Catalonia and Navarre between May 2022 and December 2023. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed through 12 questions using a Likert scale, and responses were grouped as correct or incorrect. The change from baseline to the 6-month follow-up was evaluated with the absolute difference (AD) using the proportion of correct answers. At baseline, 299 subjects were contacted, of whom 63.2% (189) completed the 6-month follow-up. Correct knowledge of transmission (>85%) and the use of preventive measures (>92%) were observed at baseline and maintained over time. The attitudes towards face mask use remained adequate over the course of six months (>79%). However, attitudes regarding the use of face masks indoors (AD = -16.4%; p < 0.001) and those who thought that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their lives (AD = -16.5%; p < 0.001) decreased after 6 months. In the post-acute phase of the pandemic, household contacts maintained the correct level of knowledge towards COVID-19, while some attitudes decreased. These results should serve as a guide for health policy makers in decision-making in case of a new increase in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2.

The Linguistic Construction of Political Identity: the Case of Catalonia

In the last decades much research has been carried out on discourse as a form of social practice from the Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. The Vienna school of CDA led by Wodak and her associates has developed a discourse-historical approach to discourse which investigates the linguistic construction of national identities through a method of description and analysis which posits three categories –topics, strategies and linguistic devices– employed in the construction, perpetuation, transformation and dismantling of nations and national identities. Following this approach, the present paper aims to analyse the linguistic construction of Catalonia’s present and political future in a corpus of public discourse fragments produced by Catalan pro-independence leaders and activists during the so-called Catalan crisis. The analysis reveals that the linguistic construction of the Catalan present and political future relies on constructive, justification and dismantling strategies that seek to support self-determination and construe Catalonia as an independent Republic.

Youth and insecurity from an intersectional perspective: the case of Catalonia

ABSTRACT This article contributes to debates on new social risks by examining the relationship young Catalan people have with various forms of insecurity. Using a mixed-methods approach in an intersectional analytical framework, the study uses data from the 2017 Catalan Youth Survey in combination with 15 life history interviews to investigate the lived experiences of vulnerable youth in Catalonia. By introducing a novel multidimensional measure of insecurity and providing robust new findings on individual-level experiences of various types of insecurity among Catalan youth, the study makes an important empirical contribution to the literature while providing new theoretical insights on intersectional approaches to the analysis and conceptualization of insecurity.

Media education in Spain: Awareness, implementation, and challenges. The case of Catalonia

Media education in Spain: Awareness, implementation, and challenges. The case of Catalonia

Medicolegal assessment of human trafficking victims. Descriptive study of a series of forensic cases in Catalonia (Spain)

Background and objectiveHuman trafficking or contemporary slavery is the recruitment and transfer of people by force or deception for sexual, labour or other types of exploitation. Although the violence, abuse and deprivation that trafficking entails are a threat to the health of its victims, in Spain the clinical or forensic data available in this regard is scarce. At the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Catalonia (IMLCFC), a unit specialized in the forensic assessment of these victims was created. The objective of this work was to describe a series of forensic cases of trafficking victims. Materials and methodRetrospective study of victims in judicial cases opened for an alleged crime of human trafficking registered in the IMLCFC until 06/30/2023. Results57 different victims were registered. The majority were women (71.9%). The average age was 30.5 years (s.d. 10.31). All the victims were foreigners, mostly from Latin America (45.5%). The exploitation was mainly sexual (61.4%). There were some sociodemographic differences and in the conditions and consequences of trafficking between victims of sexual exploitation and the rest. Mental health problems were very common in all victims at the time of the assessment (87.5%). ConclusionsThe consequences of trafficking on health, especially mental health, are notable and the forensic assessment of victims is valuable in judicial proceedings. It is necessary to deepen our knowledge of the phenomenon in our environment.

Cultural diplomacy as a nation-building tool for stateless nationalisms: the search for recognition of Catalonia in Germany, 1901–1939

This article addresses the role that cultural diplomacy has played as a tool of nation-building for sub-state public entities led by movements representing stateless nations. It exemplifies this with the case of Catalonia's search for recognition in Germany, 1901–1939. The analysis highlights the ambivalence that characterized the actions of the Catalan sub-state public entities, between resigning themselves to their status as regional actors and aspirations for a different political constitution. We argue that this ambivalence was a strategy to maximize the effectiveness of their cultural diplomacy policies considering state and international contexts reluctant to recognize sub-state entities as political actors.

Digital educational platforms in primary education: the case of Catalonia

ABSTRACT The use of digital educational platforms has increased in schools, especially during Covid-19, accelerating digital transformation and the expansion of data collection. However, the platformisation phenomenon in this context is still largely unexplored. The present study aims to identify the presence and uses of digital platforms in the educational context of Catalonia and significant changes post-Covid-19 through a validated questionnaire. Results from 491 primary school teachers show that almost 90% of the digital tools used are proprietary platforms belonging to the major technology companies. Many relationships between frequencies and types of tools have been identified as well as a significant evolution of their use in the wake of Covid-19. Some recommendations at different levels are drawn up.

The perspective and mainstreaming of gender in the analysis of sports regulation: the case of Catalonia

ABSTRACT Historically, women have suffered from the effects of inequality in most social, economic, political and cultural spheres. In this paper, discrimination against women in sport is analysed on the basis of a set of empirical data on the inequal participation of men and women in sport. In particular, three Catalan sports regulations are analysed. To this end, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is taken as our frame of reference; more specifically, two instruments that are proposed therein to reduce women’s inequality: the gender perspective and gender mainstreaming.

Revealing the management of municipal textile waste and citizen practices: The case of Catalonia

Although the number of studies assessing the textile sector is increasing, only a few focus on its waste management. This study aims to shed light on current textile waste disposal practices and account for their environmental impact. To do so, a combination of citizen surveying and environmental quantitative tools, such as material flow analysis and life cycle assessment, are used to assess municipal textile waste in Catalonia in 2020. The results show that only approximately 10 % of municipal textile waste is separately collected, while 90 % is landfilled/incinerated. Of the 10 % of textiles collected separately, almost 40 % are prepared for reuse and recycled in Catalonia and Spain, approximately 40 % are exported for reuse and recycling in Asia, Africa and the rest of Europe, and the remaining 20 % are incinerated or landfilled, stocked or treated as improper waste. The carbon footprint generated by 1 t of textile waste managed by unseparated collection is 353 kg CO2 eq, which almost double that of 1 t of textile waste collected separately: 207 kg CO2 eq. The results also show that the emissions of textiles collected separately could be considerably reduced by minimizing their exports. The conclusions indicate that a proper course of action includes raising awareness about textile waste management and secondhand buying habits among citizens while investing in better sorting and local recycling technologies to reduce exports. Identifying the existing limitations to creating a local reuse and recycling textile sector is crucial to reduce its carbon footprint.

Place and local identity in the Europe of nations: Catalonia and its cities in Restoration Spain (1875–1923)

AbstractThis article suggests that local places and civic identities were historically relevant in the period when national politics and cultures emerged in Europe but have largely not received due attention in the historiography. It argues that the production of the local is a significant factor for understanding the configuration of the nation and that it was tied to how communities—and the agents that constituted them—constructed their own subjectivity and negotiated their place in the social world. It first provides a review of recent historical studies on collective territorial identities to underscore the relative lack of attention given to the local dimension and identify approaches that can be applied to the study of local cultures. It then focuses on the case of Catalonia in Restoration Spain, showing how region‐building dynamics and nationalisation processes coexisted and interacted with strongly assertive civic identities.

Voluntary association, not state consent: why the EU’s stance on secession rests on the wrong concept of legitimacy

ABSTRACT The EU’s Prodi doctrine stipulates that a new state formed through secession from an EU member state will be treated as a third party vis-à-vis the Union. This article engages with debates on secessionism, self-determination, and democracy in the EU to discuss what the doctrine entails for the democratic legitimacy of the EU. We argue that the doctrine is only compatible with one source of political legitimacy that the EU partly depends on, the state consent model. However, it is not compatible with the voluntary association model which is a moral basis that is increasingly relevant for a supranational union of democratic states. The prevalent practice of organizing referendums on EU accession shows that securing popular support is today an important feature of the politics of legitimacy in the EU. We illustrate our argument with the case of Catalonia and contrast it with cases from the history of European integration.

Political parties’ influence on the transparency and participation of Spanish municipal websites: the case of Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, the Community of Valencia, and the Region of Murcia

In modern democratic states, citizen participation is promoted through representative channels. In recent years, at the different institutional and political levels in Spain, some classic parameters of democracy have been called into question, such as citizen representation, deliberation, and the responsibility of the rulers towards the citizens. This crisis coincides with a decline in bipartisanship in Spain and the appearance of new parties. Some of this parties championed the regeneration of democracy, committing themselves to encouraging transparency and citizen participation in public management. As local entities are the institutions closest to citizens, both transparency and participation become key elements to comply with these parameters, providing the technologies of information and communication (ICT) with new tools such as websites and portals, which can contribute to strengthening them. This research aims to analyze the use of these channels to promote transparency and citizen participation, by the municipalities of 4 autonomous communities (Catalonia, the Community of Madrid, the Valencian Community, and the Region of Murcia), placing special emphasis on how the left-right axes and old-new parties could influence, along with the population size of the municipalities. The method used consists of a categorical content analysis, based on the Infoparticipa Map indicators and two linear regression models using ordinary least squares. The results and conclusions of the study show that the size of the population and the autonomous community are determining factors in the transparency indices. In addition, the political formations aligned to the left of the ideological spectrum, together with some of the new parties, influence the greater transparency and participation of the websites of the municipalities governed by them.

A bootstrap method based on linear regression to estimate COVID-19 Ecological Risk in Catalonia

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is a new type of coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It is affecting the entire planet. Despite the widespread use of ecologic analysis in epidemiologic research and health planning, health scientists and practitioners have given little attention to the methodological aspects of this approach. The study of risk factors linked to the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most current and exciting topics for epidemiologists. These risks in many cases are unknown. This research covers the study of risk factors in the case of COVID-19 and proposes the use of an ecologic method known to epidemiologists in the case of aggregated data. The present study aims to compute a model that allows to easily calculate the risk of infection in different types of populations, using aggregated data to approximate the individual risk of COVID-19 transmission by a person. Methods: The case of Catalonia, in Spain, is presented as an example, as it is one of the areas where the incidence of the virus among the population is being higher. The proposed method is known as an ecological study and is based on the statistical regression model between the incidence (or variable that represents it) and the risk factors but using aggregated data and obtaining a risk ratio (RR). Results: The results obtained have made it possible to find the risk of contracting COVID-19 concerning risk factors for high family income (RR=1.157491), more mobility (RR=1.065475), and high density of population (1.00002). Conclusions: This method could be used to design an app that predicts how the risk will evolve and calculate the risk of contagion in one area or another to take the proper action. The calculated RR can help us to understand how the variables become risks or protective factors at an ecological level (understanding aggregate data).

COVID-19 temporal dynamic as a hospital management method: Case study of the Martorell Hospital

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a better preparation of primary care, hospitalization, and emergency health services. The current investigation of COVID-19 dynamics was carried at the Hospital Fundació Sant Joan de Deu de Martorell (FHSJDM). This research aims to analyse the COVID-19 time series in FHSJDM. Methods: The time series of COVID-19 were analized for 2020-2021. To measure seasonality, the Dicky-Fuller test was obtained. The analysis of the results was performed in R-Studio software. Results: Three peaks of cases are observed for January, April, and July 2021. These peaks of hospital cases are correlated with the new cases in the municipality and also with the new cases in Catalonia. The result of the seasonality test has a p-value &gt;0.05, and thus it is accepted that the series is not seasonal for the registry of hospital cases. Discussion: The study of COVID-19 dynamics is relevant to preparing health services. Each peak observed in the 2021 period affected the health services in the hospital FHSJDM, having an increase for new cases, hospitalized patients and total cases for COVID-19.

Early Detection of the Start of the Influenza Epidemic Using Surveillance Systems in Catalonia (PREVIGrip Study).

Sentinel physician networks are the method of influenza surveillance recommended by the World Health Organization. Weekly clinical diagnoses based on clinical history are a surveillance method that provides more immediate information. The objective of this study is to evaluate which influenza surveillance system is capable of the earliest detection of the start of the annual influenza epidemic. We carried out an ecological time-series study based on influenza data from the population of Catalonia from the 2010-2011 to the 2018-2019 seasons. Rates of clinical diagnoses and of confirmed cases in Catalonia were used to study the changes in trends in the different surveillance systems, the differences in area and time lag between the curves of the different surveillance systems using Joinpoint regression, Simpson's 1/3 method and cross-correlation, respectively. In general, changes in the trend of the curves were detected before the beginning of the epidemic in most seasons, using the rates for the complete seasons and the pre-epidemic rates. No time lag was observed between clinical diagnoses and the total confirmed cases. Therefore, clinical diagnoses in Primary Care could be a useful tool for early detection of the start of influenza epidemics in Catalonia.

‘Our home, your home?’ The precarious housing pathways of asylum seekers in Catalonia

This paper investigates the multi-layered barriers asylum seekers face in accessing secure and adequate housing in a host society through the case of Catalonia (Spain). While the existing literature mainly focuses on the effects of micro-level factors, we argue that these need to be analysed in combination with meso-level actors and macro-structural phenomena. Drawing on an exploratory survey of 300 international protection applicants and 60 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and asylum seekers, we analyse their exposure to different dimensions of housing precariousness. Our research finds that, although certain individual characteristics such as age, sex and origin remain relevant in explaining housing pathways, these factors are strongly mediated by the role of NGOs and support networks, and by the structural features of the asylum system and housing market. We conclude that the complex interactions of these factors result in deeply unstable and fragmented housing trajectories that contribute to high levels of disorientation, precariousness, and exclusion among those seeking accommodation.

Secessionist conflict and affective polarization: Evidence from Catalonia

Can secessionism be a basis for affective or social polarization? Despite much research on independence movements, their relationship to polarization, a key mechanism theorized as increasing the risk of violent conflict, remains less understood. We argue that the issue of secession can affectively polarize along both policy and ethnic group lines even in the case of nonviolent disputes, and posit a number of expectations regarding such secessionist-based polarization. We test our argument with the case of Catalonia, a substate territory that has experienced a deep secessionist crisis since 2017, using new data from a panel survey and embedded experiments fielded across two key time periods. We find that individuals’ secessionist preferences condition high levels of affective polarization, in that pro- and anti-independence advocates have strong negative views of one another. In addition, there is spillover in terms of stereotypes of associated language groups (i.e. Catalan, Spanish). Importantly, we find a group of moderates in between the two policy poles that exhibit far less polarization. Finally, we document the persistence of these overall patterns. Our results contribute to understanding the underexplored polarization dynamics of secessionist movements, particularly in contexts where high intensity violence (e.g. terrorism, civil war) has not occurred.

Surveillance of influenza B severe hospitalized cases during 10 seasons in Catalonia: Does the lineage make a difference?

Influenza B viruses circulate in two lineages (B/Victoria and B/Yamagata). Although classically affecting children, recently it has shown a high rate of infection and increased hospitalization in the elderly. To describe and analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of severe hospitalized laboratory-confirmed influenza B virus (SHLCI-B) cases in Catalonia associated with mismatch from Influenza B virus strain included in the trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV). SHLCI-B was registered by the influenza sentinel surveillance system of Catalonia (PIDIRAC) during ten surveillance seasons from 2010 to 2020. Variables age, comorbidities, and vaccination status were recorded. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated as (1-OR) for intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Statistical significance was established at p < 0.05. A total of 1159 SHLCI-B were registered, of these 68.2% (791) corresponded to the 2017-2018 season; 21.8% (253) were admitted to ICU and 13.8% (160) were exitus; 62.5% (725) cases occurred in those aged >64 years; most frequent risk factor was cardiovascular disease (35.1%, 407) followed by chronic pulmonary obstructive disease-COPD (24.6%, 285) and diabetes (24.1%, 279). In four seasons, the predominant circulating lineage was B/Victoria, in two seasons the B/Yamagata lineage and four seasons had no IBV activity. Four seasons presented discordance with the strain included within the TIV. Vaccine effectiveness (VE) to prevent ICU admission was 31% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4%-51%; p = 0.03); being 29% (95% CI: -3% to 51%) in discordant and 43% (95% CI:-43% to 77%) in concordant seasons. Significant differences were observed in the number of affected aged > 64 years (odds ratio [OR] = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.9-3.4; p < 0.001) and in patients with heart disease (OR = 2.40 95% CI: 1.7-3.4; p < 0.001), COPD (OR = 1.6 95% CI: 1.1-2.3; p = 0.01), and diabetes (OR = 1.5 95% CI: 1.1-2.1; p = 0.04) between discordant and concordant seasons. The increase in hospitalization rate in people> 64 years of age and those presenting comorbidities in seasons with circulating influenza B virus belonging to a lineage discordant with the strain included in the TIV and the decrease of VE to prevent ICU admissions evidence the vital need to administer the quadrivalent influenza vaccine regardless of the findings of predominant circulation in the previous season.

Can the Correlation between Radar and Cloud-to-Ground Daily Fields Help to Identify the Different Rainfall Regimes? The Case of Catalonia

The rainfall regime is changing in the Catalan territory, likely in most areas in the Mediterranean Basin. This variability, spatial and temporal, means that there may be periods of severe drought combined with periods of heavy rainfall and floods. In this way, the management of water resources is complicated and can produce a high impact on different social aspects. The high convective activity leads to investigating the relationship between the electric discharges and radar parameters (reflectivity, echo top, vertically integrated liquid, and accumulated rainfall). The correlation allows identifying some elements that may be significant in terms of changes in rainfall regimes. Besides, using several radar parameters apart from precipitation accumulation reveals interesting explicit patterns of the previously known. These patterns can help better understand the precipitation behavior and the changes associated with it.

Self-consumption possibilities by rooftop PV and building retrofit requirements for a regional building stock: The case of Catalonia

European Union policies are encouraging the implementation of renewable energies to reduce fossil fuels dependency. This is further motivated by the effects of global warming and the relevant temperature rise in large cities. Thus, it is increasingly important to analyze the large-scale potential of solar energy, making use of the roof availability for renewable energy generation in cities. Furthermore, it is important to couple this analysis with the energy demand of the buildings analyzing the self-consumption possibilities and help in the decision-making process in regional investments. The proposed methodology estimates and matches the roof potential for electricity generation by PV and the building's energy demand, including the building characteristics as a novelty. As a result, we calculate the self-consumption possibilities and the retrofit requirements of a selected housing stock. Our methodology starts with the quantification and classification of the residential stock. This includes the characterization of the types of dwellings in the regional residential stock, taking into account the size of the municipalities. Then the energy demand of the dwellings, depending on the characteristics of the buildings and the roof generation potential, is compared. Catalonia region (Spain), including the city of Barcelona is studied to show the contributions of this methodology to the energy transition. Results indicate that between 8 and 30% of the residential electricity demand of the municipalities can be covered by rooftop PV. Important energy retrofits (reductions of 80% of the energy demand) are required to approach the feasibility of self-consumption. Nevertheless, there is a limited potential impact in larger cities due to the reduced available roof area per habitant.