Catalonia Region In Spain Research Articles

Linked Data Generation Methodology and the Geospatial Cross-Sectional Buildings Energy Benchmarking Use Case

Cross-sectional energy benchmarking in the building domain has become crucial for policymakers, energy managers and property owners as they can compare an immovable property performance against its closest peers. For this, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are formulated, often relying on multiple and heterogeneous data sources which, combined, can be used to set benchmarks following normalization criteria. Geographically delimited parameters are important among these criteria because they enclose entities sharing key common characteristics the geometrical boundaries represent. Linking georeferenced heterogeneous data is not trivial, for it requires geographical aggregation, which is often taken for granted or hidden within a pre-processing activity in most energy benchmarking studies. In this article, a novel approach for Linked Data (LD) generation is presented as a methodological solution for data integration together with its application in the energy benchmarking use case. The methodology consists of eight phases that follow the best principles and recommend standards including the well-known GeoSPARQL Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for leveraging the geographical aggregation. Its feasibility is demonstrated by the integrated exploitation of INSPIRE-formatted cadastral data and the Buildings Performance Certifications (BPCs) available for the Catalonia region in Spain. The outcomes of this research support the adoption of the proposed methodology and provide the means for generating cross-sectional building energy benchmarking histograms from any-scale geographical aggregations on the fly.

Institutional environments for circular start-ups: Insights from an entrepreneurial European region

Circular start-ups (CSUs) are gaining popularity to radically rethink the linear resource flows of global production systems and adopt ambitious approaches towards a circular economy from inception. For CSUs, the institutional environment is particularly relevant; this is because the complex nature of sustainability challenges requires a deep engagement with institutions to drive transitions from linear to circular practices. This article analyses how and why institutional factors influence CSUs in the highly entrepreneurial region of Catalonia in Spain. Based on a multiple case study, our findings demonstrate that CSUs are affected by informal institutions through founder motivations, their ability to create opportunities and social values. Formal institutions influence CSUs regarding the previous experience of founders, accessible ecosystem actors and supportive laws and regulations. These findings are important for effective policymaking to develop adequate support mechanisms and understand the particular challenges and opportunities CSUs face compared to traditional start-ups.

A Process Model for Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Highly Entrepreneurial European Region

Sustainable entrepreneurship creates social and environmental wealth and offers solutions to pressing sustainability issues. However, there remain major gaps in knowledge on how sustainable entrepreneurship actually unfolds. As a response, this study proposed a unique theoretical process model for sustainable entrepreneurship by conducting a multiple case study with evidence from the highly entrepreneurial region of Catalonia in Spain. Theoretical propositions suggest that the entrepreneurial process for sustainable entrepreneurship unfolds in the three phases of opportunity recognition, development, and persistence. The results of this study give evidence that sustainable entrepreneurs recognise opportunities in social or ecological problems, that they intend to achieve a hybrid nature of social/environmental and economic goals in the development phase, and that they manage to persist in the long-term through a participatory governance model and strong social networks. This study lays an important foundation for future theory building by specifying how the sustainable entrepreneurial process differs from the one of traditional entrepreneurship. For efficient policymaking, sustainability education, encouraging future entrepreneurs in their opportunity creation is needed, just as facilitated access to financing and support through adequate networking infrastructures.

Modelling influenza and SARS-CoV-2 interaction: Analysis for Catalonia region

The aim is to analyse that, during the current pandemic situation, the reduction in the number of cases of influenza suggests that the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) applied to contain the expansion of SARS-CoV-2 also affect the influenza expansion. We analyse the interaction of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 spread based on an extended SEIRD model for the Catalonia region in Spain. We show that the dynamic evolution of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza generates a small interference. This interference causes a small reduction in the number of cases of seasonal influenza, reducing its expansion over the population. Other elements like the face mask mandates, social distancing and hand cleaning boost the reduction in both expansions. Influenza expansion will present a small reduction in the number of cases due to the interaction with SARS-CoV-2 expansion but mainly because the NPIs applied to the population.

The Moral and Ethical Baseline of Marine Socio-Ecological Values: the Case of Recreational and Artisanal Fishing in NW Mediterranean Coastal Waters (Catalonia, Spain)

Scant attention has been paid to values not expressed in monetary terms, due in part to the difficulty of assessing them. Moreover, the notion and understanding of “value” differs depending on the discipline and academic approaches. This ethnographic study focused on three marine spaces from the Catalonia region in Spain (Natural Park of Cap de Creus, Medes Islands protected area, and Natura 2000 Network area) addresses the competing values of maritime activities, small-scale fishing and recreational fishing, that make value judgements based on moral and ethical standards with which to legitimize activities and use of marine resources. The results highlight the co-existing market and non-market values involved in carrying out these activities, and the need to identify values as drivers of socioecological systems in order to evaluate sustainability. Through the lens of social theory mainly stemming from social anthropology, the study discusses on the moral and ethical issues at play.

Efficiency of stroke networks for referral of mechanical thrombectomy: The more the better?

Endovascular therapy (EVT) has revolutionized stroke care with the publication of several landmark stroke trials since 2015.1 At the same time, EVT imposes major changes on systems of stroke care. While EVT is highly efficacious, its use is restricted to stroke patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) and these form a minority of stroke patients only.

Temporal and Geographical Variability of Prevalence and Incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnoses in Children in Catalonia, Spain.

This study aims to estimate the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in 2017 and the ASD diagnosis incidence between 2009 and 2017 in children living in Catalonia region in Spain, and their temporal and geographical variability. We used administrative data for all children aged 2–17 years who were insured in the public Catalan Health System between 2009 and 2017. We identified all ASD cases diagnosed between 2009 and 2017 (ICD‐9 codes 299.0, 299.1, 299.8, and 299.9). We estimated the ASD prevalence in 2017 and the overall annual incidence between 2009 and 2017, then stratified by sex, age group, and healthcare area. We used Poisson regression models to assess temporal trends in the incidence and mixed‐effects Poisson regression models to assess geographical variability. We observed an ASD prevalence of 1.23% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21–1.25) in 2017, with 1.95% (95% CI 1.92–1.99) for boys and 0.46% (95% CI 0.44–0.48) for girls, the highest prevalence being in 11‐ to 17‐year‐olds (1.80%, 95% CI 1.76–1.83). The ASD diagnosis incidence increased from 0.07% (95% CI 0.06–0.09) in 2009 to 0.23% (95% CI 0.21–0.24) in 2017, with a higher increase in girls, and in children aged 2–5 years at the time of diagnosis. We only observed geographical differences in prevalence in the 2017 data. We also detected a threefold increase in the diagnosis incidence overall, which was even more pronounced in girls and at early ages. In conclusion, the ASD prevalence observed in this study was 1.23% in 2017, with a sex ratio of 4.5 in favor of boys, which is consistent with previous studies. Autism Res 2019. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lay SummaryAutism spectrum disorders (ASD) are currently well known in our society as one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders during childhood. The results of our study showed that, in 2017 in Catalonia, slightly more than one in a 100 children had an ASD diagnosis, it was more common in boys than in girls, and also in older children. In addition, between 2009 and 2017, we observed an increase in the number of new cases diagnosed each year. The data presented in this study will assist in planning and evaluating the needs of health services in this geographical region.

The emergence of regional industrial ecosystem niches: A conceptual framework and a case study

The objective of this paper is to understand how industrial symbiosis initiatives can contribute to the emergence of regional industrial ecosystems for sustainability transitions of local industrial production systems. We offer a conceptual framework that integrates industrial ecology literature and strategic niche management perspective from the sustainability transitions research field. The framework provides a conceptual foundation for analysing the individual industrial symbiosis initiatives and their aggregated contribution to the emergence of regional industrial ecosystems. Analytically, we conceptualise two different heuristic levels – the local industrial symbiosis experiments level and the regional industrial ecosystems niche level – which are interlinked through three niche processes. We represent the merits of our conceptualisation through a case study in an empirical setting where we selected a highly industrialised and rarely explored region; namely, the Autonomous Region of Catalonia in Spain. We identify and analyse eight industrial symbiosis initiatives that evolved during 18 years in the region. In the light of our conceptual framework, the results show that interlinked initiatives from the region have been gradually adding up to emerging regional industrial ecosystems. However, the region is still missing a broad regional network with articulated expectations and visions and shared cognitive, formal and normative rules. If emerging regional network provides support and protection for new initiatives, a regional culture change can be realised to achieve sustainability transition of local industrial production systems employing closed industrial production loops. The theoretical contribution of this paper is that we combine two different research streams that have not often learned from each other and we also develop a novel conceptual approach for ex-post evaluation of regional industrial ecosystem development. Moreover, our conceptual framework can be extended as a prescriptive management tool for planning and implementation of industrial symbiosis initiatives in Catalonia as well as in other regions.

Strategic and tactical planning to improve suppression efforts against large forest fires in the Catalonia region of Spain

The study explores use of the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) System to standardize the process of allocating Management Areas for Fire Suppression Support (MASSs) in Catalonia, Spain. MASSs are defined as those areas in the landscape that change fire behavior, reducing the magnitude of the wildfire, and improve significantly fire suppression effectiveness/capacity. Considerations for allocating MASSs include high likelihood of large fires in the vicinity, potential for spread, proximity of the location to valuable resources at risk, proximity to adequate water supply, accessibility by mechanized means, and fuel management opportunities. The combination of accessibility, water supply and fuel management opportunities, when allocating MAASs, provide the minimum requirements to allow fire suppression actions, while improving effectiveness and safety levels. For these purposes, we combine the newest data available, outputs from fire simulators and expert knowledge to define a problem that could be solved using EMDS within a participatory planning framework. To support the fire suppression mission of the firefighting service in Catalonia, this study uses a combination of strategic and tactical solutions, in which the strategic solution identifies high priority locations within the landscape for fire suppression activities, and tactical solutions identify high priority management activities within specific locations.

Communicating Catalan culture in a global society

This case study describes the communication objectives of the Catalan! Arts organization based in the autonomous region of Catalonia in Spain. Best practices in public relations, particularly in digital and social media, are described. The authors highlight the use of sound and bold visuals in public relations programming, and address the importance of interactive tactics. Program evaluation includes digital analytics plus an analysis of cultural industry export data and employment statistics in the creative industries. The case is an example of identity-based communication in international public relations. It also adds to the literature on public relations in government and arts organizations.

Analysis of the transition process among family caregivers in a hospital in the region of Catalonia in Spain

PurposeThe aim of this study is to explore and understand the experience of the adaptation process among family caregivers in hospitals, who have an active presence in hospital and are essential in ensuring proper patient care. MethodsA qualitative phenomenological approach was used to gain a deeper understanding of caregivers' lived experiences. Data were collected using in-depth interviews to explore six caregivers' experiences of hospitalization. ResultsThe caregivers' accounts highlight the different determining factors in the transition process of a chronically ill patient's family caregiver during the patient's time in hospital. The most important themes emerging from the analysis were the importance of cultural beliefs and attitudes, meaning of the situation, caregiver's training and knowledge, socio-economic status and the hospital as a community. These categories can be analyzed using transitions theory. ConclusionsThe most important conclusion is that the hospital in this study was not designed to accommodate caregivers, and the mechanisms used to meet caregivers' needs endanger their privacy, health, and coexistence in the hospital's rooms. Transitions theory provides a holistic understanding of the experience of the family caregiver.

Antecedents of perceived entrepreneurial ability in Catalonia: the individual and the entrepreneurial context

The main purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of perceived entrepreneurial ability within a given context. Taking the cognitive approach we examine the role of several individual-level factors and the entrepreneurial context in the form of personal knowledge of other entrepreneurs and territorial location in influencing positive perceptions of entrepreneurial ability. The proposed hypotheses are tested on a dataset of 1961 respondents randomly selected from the adult population in Catalonia region in Spain. Our results reveal that among the individual level factors, a median level of education, experience (both prior entrepreneurial experience and job), task specific knowledge and age have a significantly positive influence on perceived entrepreneurial ability in Catalonia. However, among the entrepreneurial context it is the knowledge of other entrepreneurs rather than territorial location that have a significantly positive influence on perceived entrepreneurial ability. Previous studies have reported that nascent entrepreneurs tend to have significantly favourable perceptions of their entrepreneurial ability. In this study using the cognitive learning framework we examined the antecedents of such perceived entrepreneurial ability thereby extending the stream of studies that look at pre-entry factors that influences entrepreneurial cognitions. The value of our research is in identifying and explaining the combined role of individual-level resources and the contextual environment in influencing one of the most important drivers of nascent entrepreneurship in an economy. The main implication of our study is that favourable perceptions of entrepreneurial ability can be influenced through participatory learning as well as behavioural modelling. Our study points to several ways through which favourable perception of entrepreneurial ability can be influenced within a given context.

Elder Employees’ Well-Being Following Organizational Restructuring: Testing the Direct and the Moderating Effects Among Spanish Workers

This explorative study aims at finding the effects of organizational restructuring on older workers’ well-being. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in companies in the Catalonia region in Spain, which have implemented restructuring prior to the study. The sample consists of 89 respondents, 46 of whom are age 50 and older (26 males, 20 females) and 43 of whom are younger than age 50 (19 males and 24 females). The Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure was used for measuring burnout and scales developed by Arsenault and Dolan were used for measuring anxiety and depression. It was found that layoffs contributed significantly to the respondents’ burnout and depression levels. This effect diminished if the respondent had a managerial position but was not as much influenced by managerial and coworkers’ support as was expected. In this data set social support does not play a substantial mitigating role in the impact of the layoffs, besides some modest contributions at certain levels. Coworkers’ general support is highly positively correlated with coworkers’ handling of the change and negatively correlated with anxiety only among the younger employees, though negatively related to physical burnout only among elder employees. Elder employees tend to perceive implementation of changes more negatively than their younger counterparts, which may be reflected in their higher anxiety level.

Serological survey of mumps immunity among health care workers in the Catalonia region of Spain

Susceptible health care workers are at risk of acquiring and transmitting mumps to or from patients. A survey was carried out in 639 health care workers from tertiary public hospitals and primary care centers in the Catalonia region of Spain during 2009 to determine the prevalence of immunity to mumps among this group. The prevalence of immune health care workers was 87.5% (95% confidence interval, 84.7-89.9). Vaccination with 2 doses of vaccine should be reinforced in health care workers to minimize the risk of mumps transmission in health care settings.

Well-Being Among Elder Employees in Companies Experiencing Restructuring: The Spanish Story

This explorative study aims at finding the effects of organisational restructuring on older workers’ well-being. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in companies in the Catalonia region in Spain, which have implemented restructuring prior to the study. The sample consists of 89 respondents, 46 of which are 50 years and older (26 males, 20 females) and 43 are younger than 50 (19 males and 24 females). Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM: Shirom & Melamed, 2006) was used for measuring burnout and scales developed by Arsenault & Dolan (1983) were used for measuring anxiety and depression. It was found that layoffs contributed significantly to the respondents’ burnout and depression levels. This effect diminished if the respondent had a managerial position, but was not as much influenced by managerial and co-workers’ support as was expected. In this data set social support does not play a substantial mitigating role in the impact of the layoffs, besides some modest contributions at certain levels. Co-workers’ general support is highly positively correlated with co-workers’ handling of the change and negatively correlated with anxiety only among the younger employees, while negatively related to physical burnout only among elder employees. Elder employees tend to perceive implementation of changes more negatively than their younger counterparts, which may be reflected in their higher anxiety level.

Heat Waves and Cause-specific Mortality at all Ages

Mortality has been shown to increase with extremely hot ambient temperatures. Details on the specific cause of mortality can be useful for improving preventive policies. Infants are often identified as a population that is vulnerable to extreme heat conditions; however, information on heat and infant mortality is scarce, with no studies reporting on cause-specific mortality. The study includes all deaths in the Catalonia region of Spain during the warm seasons of 1983-2006 (503,389 deaths). We used the case-crossover design to evaluate the association between the occurrence of extremely hot days (days with maximum temperature above the 95th percentile) and mortality. Total mortality and infant mortality were stratified into 66 and 8 causes of death, respectively. Three consecutive hot days increased total daily mortality by 19%. We calculated that 1.6% of all deaths were attributable to heat. About 40% of attributable deaths did not occur during heat-wave periods. The causes of death that were increased included cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, mental and nervous system disorders, infectious and digestive system diseases, diabetes, and some external causes such as suicide. In infants, the effect of heat was observed on the same day and was detected only for conditions originating in the perinatal period (relative risk = 1.53 [95% confidence interval = 1.16-2.02]). Within the perinatal causes, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive system, and hemorrhagic and hematologic disorders were the causes of death with stronger effects. Heat contributes to an increase in mortality from several causes. In infants, the first week of life is the most critical window of vulnerability.

Assessing the Macroeconomic Impact of Water Supply Restrictions Through an Input–Output Analysis

Water supply restrictions due to droughts generate significant costs to many economic agents. Although these costs are difficult to assess, this article presents a methodology to quantify, from a general equilibrium perspective, the macroeconomic impact of water supply restrictions through the estimation of aggregate production functions that include water consumption by sectors. Simulations with an Input–output model suggest a loss of 0.34% of GDP in the case of modest restrictions on the water supply and 2.8% in the case of more extreme restrictions for 2005 for the Catalonia region in Spain.

Nationality and low-cost trip duration. A microeconometric analysis

This study examines the determinants of trip duration of international tourism using low-cost carrier services from the UK, Germany, France and Italy; top tourist emitting countries in the EU. Data is from a survey conducted for one of the largest low-cost carriers tourist markets; the Girona–Catalonia region in Spain. A model of traveller/tourist demand is estimated using an econometric duration model. It is found that that while there are some common effects for associated with the four nationalities of tourist, some differences exist relating to such things as age or education.

Methodology for the assessment of the impact of existing high voltage lines in urban areas

This paper presents a methodology for the assessment of the impact of existing high voltage lines in urban areas. This methodology is based on the numeric evaluation of several impacts which are combined with weight factors. The novelty is that it opens up the possibility of citizen participation, basically in the way in which impacts and weighting factors are determined. The proposed methodology has been applied first in the municipality of Rubí, a mid-sized town near Barcelona, and later on in several municipalities in the Catalonia region in Spain. The results were used to prioritise mitigation action in the Catalonia Energy Plan.

Weathering of gilding decorations investigated by SR: development and distribution of calcium oxalates in the case of Sant Benet de Bages (Barcelona, Spain)

In this paper seventeenth century gilded paintings from the crypt of Sant Benet de Bages, a medieval monastery in the Catalonia region of Spain, near Barcelona, have been studied. Cross sections from two different gilded decorations were studied by means of optical microscopy and electron microscopy and EDS to determine the statigraphy and elemental composition, and by means of FTIR coupled to a microscope to determine the binding media associated to each layer. These preliminary results demonstrated that gilded decorations were made by the application of a gold foil on a mordant substrate on a gypsum base, while the mouldings of the vaults seem to be gilded on a bol with a glaze on top of the gold leaf. It is interesting to notice that the first remained unaltered, while the gilded vault mouldings look almost black, due to the darkening of the organic material. To elucidate the causes involved in the darkening of the sample from the vaults a set of synchrotron μXRD and μFTIR experiments have been carried out on these samples at the ESRF (ID18F and ID21, respectively). High brightness and small spot working conditions revealed the development and distribution of calcium oxalates in the binding media, which seem to be responsible for the darkening. Results point out the fact that weddellite (CaC2O4·2H2O) is the phase formed in those layers where organic material has also been identified or at least it would be supposed to be by bibliographic sources and not necessarily those superficial as it would have been suggested due to the similarities with patinas formation.