Spanish Territory Research Articles

Water Interpretation Centers: A Case Study in Spanish Territory

The shortage of water in the Iberian Peninsula has become one of the most pressing environmental problems and of greater transcendence in recent decades. This issue is also underlined at the international level because of climate change. The proliferation of interpretation centers that focus their attention on water in Spain is a relevant response to the need for public awareness of the problem of water as a scarce resource, as well as at the international level. Among the issues that we raise in this work we highlight: to what extent has been the strategy of the construction of Water Interpretation Centers (WIC) and if its contents, methodologies, resources and facilities have effectively contributed to a greater awareness of the population on the problem of water? Finally, how are these centers fragile in time in relation to their stability and the working conditions of their staff? The methodology is based on descriptive–evaluative research, with the following phases: preparation of a census of interpretation centers at the state level, and the design and submission of a form around six topics and data analysis. In conclusion, we can highlight that 150 centers have been registered. Finally, the main conclusion is that the crisis has affected the sector, causing a drop in financing and in the supply of activities, where it has not recovered at present.

Optimizing the Recognition and Feature Extraction of Wind Turbines through Hybrid Semantic Segmentation Architectures

Updating the mapping of wind turbines farms—found in constant expansion—is important to predict energy production or to minimize the risk of these infrastructures during storms. This geoinformation is not usually provided by public mapping agencies, and the alternative sources are usually consortiums or individuals interested in mapping and study. However, they do not offer metadata or genealogy, and their quality is unknown. This article presents a methodology oriented to optimize the recognition and extraction of features (wind turbines) using hybrid architectures of semantic segmentation. The aim is to characterize the quality of these datasets and help to improve and update them automatically at a large-scale. To this end, we intend to evaluate the capacity of hybrid semantic segmentation networks trained to extract features representing wind turbines from high-resolution images and to characterize the positional accuracy and completeness of a dataset whose genealogy and quality are unknown. We built a training dataset composed of 5140 tiles of aerial images and their cartography to train six different neural network architectures. The networks were evaluated on five test areas (covering 520 km2 of the Spanish territory) to identify the best segmentation architecture (in our case, LinkNet as base architecture and EfficientNet-b3 as the backbone). This hybrid segmentation model allowed us to characterize the completeness—both by commission and by omission—of the available georeferenced wind turbine dataset, as well as its geometric quality.

CoVidAffect, real-time monitoring of mood variations following the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain

The COVID-19 outbreak and the ensuing confinement measures are expected to bear a significant psychological impact on the affected populations. To date, all available studies designed to investigate the psychological effects of this unprecedented global crisis are based on cross-sectional surveys that do not capture emotional variations over time. Here, we present the data from CoVidAffect, a nationwide citizen science project aimed to provide longitudinal data of mood changes following the COVID-19 outbreak in the spanish territory. Spain is among the most affected countries by the pandemic, with one of the most restrictive and prolonged lockdowns worldwide. The project also collected a baseline of demographic and socioeconomic data. These data can be further analyzed to quantify emotional responses to specific measures and policies, and to understand the effect of context variables on psychological resilience. Importantly, to our knowledge this is the first dataset that offers the opportunity to study the behavior of emotion dynamics in a prolonged lockdown situation.

Prediction of Factors That Affect the Knowledge and Use Higher Education Professors from Spain Make of ICT Resources to Teach, Evaluate and Research: A Study with Research Methods in Educational Technology

Due to the rise of new technologies, further development of digital competence by professors is necessary. The aim of this paper is to know the pedagogical digital competence of lecturers in Spain, focused on a model called PDC-TER: ICT resources to Teach, to Evaluate and to Research; as well as to predict those variables that affect the level of this competence through different regressions (Multiple Linear Regression, MLR). A study has been carried out in the Spanish territory, with a total of 867 lecturers. For it, an ex post facto non-probabilistic study based on the survey technique has been proposed. The results show that the professors have an average level of digital pedagogical competence, while in the 2.0 tools for teaching and research dimensions, it has a medium high level of competence, as well as a medium level in relation to the use of tools 2.0 for the evaluation. Furthermore, one of the variables predictive of the level of digital competence in the three dimensions of the PDC-TER model, is the number of research and innovation projects in which they have participated. These data highlight the need to improve the digital competence of professors in order to meet the demands of the qualified professions of the future, and therefore, prepare students for it.

Reflexiones críticas y prácticas en torno al régimen jurídico del cambio nacional y transfronterizo del domicilio del menor de edad

El cambio de domicilio del menor dentro del territorio español o a otro país distinto al de su residencia habitual, constituye uno de los conflictos más frecuentes entre padres que ejercen conjuntamente la patria potestad. En la solución de estas controversias, resulta irrelevante si los proge­nitores se encuentran divorciados, fueron pareja de hecho o no llegaron a convivir nunca. Sin embargo, y como decisión fundamental que afecta al interés del menor, el traslado de su domicilio no puede ser acordado de forma unilateral por uno de los progenitores, sino que precisará del consentimiento del otro, y en su defecto, de autorización judicial. Es materia de este este estudio el análisis del régimen jurídico, en Derecho interno español y en DIPr, por el que se rige el cambio de domicilio del menor a través del examen del Auto de la Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona de 9 de octubre de 2019.

Made by Migrants: Southeast Asian Ivories for Local and Global Markets, ca. 1590–1640

Investigation of the early development of ivory carving and trade centered around colonial Manila from the late sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries reveals that the production of ivories depicting Christian subjects in the Spanish Philippines was inextricably linked to three interlocking developments in Southeast Asia: maritime trade, migration, and competition. Ivory carvers in Southeast Asia supplied the quickly rising ivory market on a regional and transoceanic scale with visually impactful sculptures of Christian iconography, which claimed authoritative status as preferred religious objects in the colonial Spanish territories.

Exploration of deep-seated geothermal reservoirs in the Canary Islands by means of soil CO2 degassing surveys

The Canary Islands are the only Spanish territory that holds potential for high enthalpy geothermal resources, although there is no evidence in the islands of hydrothermal fluid discharges in the surficial environment except for Teide volcano fumaroles in Tenerife. We herein report the results of several diffuse carbon dioxide (CO2) degassing surveys carried out at six mining licenses across Tenerife (Berolo, Guayafanta, Abeque, Garehagua and Garehagua II) and Gran Canaria (Atidama), covering a total of 640 km2 and more than 3230 sampling sites. Selected geochemical molar ratios, spatial distribution of CO2 efflux, statistical-graphical analysis of CO2 efflux, isotopic composition of CO2 (δ13C–CO2), the calculated volcano-hydrothermal contribution of CO2 and the deep-seated CO2 efflux were studied. These data were combined and used for geothermal exploration, demonstrating an effective reconnaissance strategy that reduces risk and cost. Garehagua II, Garehagua (both located in the north-south volcanic rift of Tenerife) and Abeque (located in the northwest volcanic rift of Tenerife) are, in this order, the mining licenses studied that showed the highest potential to contain geothermal resources, based on the geochemical indicators ranking proposed.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain: Hygiene habits, sociodemographic profile, mobility patterns and comorbidities

COVID-19 constitutes the largest pandemic in the last 100 years. In view of the rapid spread of the virus, it is necessary to study the sociodemographic characteristics, hygiene habits, activity and mobility, and comorbidities of SARS-CoV-2 infection to be able to implement prevention strategies. For this purpose, a survey including the variables of interest was designed to try to understand the exponential spread of the virus despite the implemented severe restrictive mobility measures during the period of maximum confinement in Spain. This study conducted throughout the Spanish territory aims to clarify other routes of transmission of the COVID-19 during confinement, risk factors, and the effectiveness of the recommended hygiene measures to detect critical points of exposure to the virus and thus reduce its spread in this and possible future pandemics that could compromise public health.Our results show that living with a COVID-19 patient increased the risk of contagion by 60 times. Among all the sociodemographic variables analyzed, walking the dog have shown to have the strongest effect by increasing the risk by 78%. The most effective hygiene measure reducing the prevalence of the disease was the disinfection of products purchased from the market upon arrival home (which reduced the risk by 94%), above other hygiene measures, such as wearing masks, gloves, ethanol disinfection, bleaching and others. The mobility variable studied that showed the largest increase in the prevalence of the disease was working on site at the workplace (increased the risk by 76%). A significant higher prevalence of the disease was also detected among respondents who used the modality of acquiring basic commodities using home delivery service compared to those who chose in-store shopping.

Design and validation of an instrument of self-perception regarding the lecturers’ use of ICT resources: to teach, evaluate and research

This study is part of a research about the use of ICT resources by Higher Education teachers to teach, evaluate and research (UICT-TER). The aim, in this case, is the creation and validation of a measuring instrument on the use of ICT resources based on the UICT-TER model. After the preparation and application of the instrument to a sample of 867 Higher Education teachers in the Spanish territory, the reliability, content validity, comprehension and construct validity were analyzed. In the initial creation of the instrument, three dimensions corresponding to a total of 24 items were established, achieving a final version of 16 items. Regarding content validity, the experts (n = 4) positively assessed the construct, dimensions and items of the questionnaire. The reliability analysis through Cronbach’s alpha were highly satisfactory and in relation to the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the results found a good fit of the model. In addition, the instrument had external evidence of validity through different descriptive analyses with the variables gender, type of university (public-private), employment relationship (full-part-time), area of knowledge of the teaching staff (Science and Engineering-Architecture, Health Sciences, Art-Humanities and Social-Legal Sciences). Taking into account all the results obtained, the instrument created meets the psychometric properties required to be considered a valid and reliable instrument to measure the use of ICT resources according to the UICT-TER model in the Higher Education.

Margins of documents, center of power: a case study on the Consejo de Indias’ annotated paperwork and the construction of legality in an imperial archive

This article focuses on a set of reports sent from the Spanish overseas territories in the New World to the Consejo de Indias (Council of the Indies) in Spain. Special attention will be paid to the annotations that appear in the margins of the documents, since they bring light to the activities that were taken over by a wide array of the Consejo’s officials in order to treat the information that came from America. We will demonstrate that such activities—classifying, summarizing, but also linking documents to one another across time and space—were at the core of the process of decision-making in the Spanish monarchy. The main challenge of this research, however, is that most of the marginal annotations were anonymous, and that not all of them were written by the same person, nor did they have the same functions. In order to overcome those obstacles, we will combine a visual, paleographic, and textual study of the sources aimed at exploring the links between the overseas reports, the marginal annotations and the royal decrees to which they had given rise. In doing so, we will highlight the paradoxical nature of the archive which, through its classifying process, gives access to a wide range of documents and, at the same time, separates them from one another and even tends to erase the connections that used to exist between them. Examining the margins of the documents will thus enable us to better understand the relationship between archival techniques, political communication and the development of imperial legality in the Spanish monarchy.

Conyza (Asteraceae): una valoración crítica basada en las poblaciones de Cataluña, España

Se examina el género Conyza para entender mejor la diversidad infragenérica en el NE de España, principalmente en Cataluña. Cada taxon se trata con una breve descripción y comentarios, además se ha elaborado una clave dicótoma que incluye tanto las especies presentes actualmente como las presuntamente desaparecidas. Se reconocen dos táxones infraespecíficos poco conocidos: C. Canadensis var. glabrata y C. Bonariensis var. angustifolia, además de analizar la identidad y el estatus de otros táxones a veces citados.

The Production and Marketing of Mineral Water in 21st Century Spain

Since the end of the last century, Spain has become a country of reference in the European Union due to its volume of bottled mineral water. This study aims to analyze the evolution of the key aspects of this sector over the last two decades. Through this research, it has been verified that (i) Spanish mineral water has been analyzed for a long time from a medicinal and geochemical point of view, and not so much in commercial analysis; (ii) water has great diversity due to the abundance of hydrogeological domains that this country offers; (iii) a very strict legal framework must be complied for its commercialization; (iv) its consumption has been growing; and (v) the business structure is characterized by the predominance of a small group of companies, with a very important role in multinational corporations. Three nature reserves: Montseny, Sierra Nevada, and Guadarrama Mountains, stand out from the rest of the Spanish territory in terms of catchment and packaging of natural mineral water, which is an increasingly strategic resource.

Fest and revolt In Alboroto y Motín de Indios de México / Fiesta y revuelta en Alboroto y Motín de indios de México

Este estudio examina la manera cómo Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora describe el binomio fiesta-revuelta en Alboroto y motín de indios de México. La investigación está estructurada en cinco partes. La primera toma como punto de partida el concepto de polis y los órdenes que rigen el bien común. La segunda alude a la percepción del fasto desde las diferentes perspectivas de los miembros de la polis novohispana. La tercera parte analiza la importancia del letrado en la organización virreinal. En la cuarta parte se examina el papel activo de las indias en la organización y desarrollo de la revuelta. Finalmente, en la quinta parte, propongo la existencia de una conciencia colectiva plebeya en el virreinato de Nueva España. A través de este análisis se llega a conclusión de que el motín de 1692 presenta las características propias de las revueltas que tuvieron lugar en los territorios españoles a lo largo del siglo XVII, en los cuales, durante el momento festivo, surgía una acción contestataria que trataba de imponer la isonomía en la polis This research analyses how Carlos de Sigüenza and Góngora describes the dichotomy of festivity-revolt in Alboroto y motín de Indios de México. This study is structured in five parts. The first one takes as its starting point the concept of polis and the regulations for the common good. The second one alludes to the Spanish splendor produced in the different members of Novohispanic polis. The third part analyses the letrado’s function within the viceregal organization. The fourth part examines the active role of Female Indigenous in the revolt’s organization and development. Finally, in the fifth part, I propose the existence of a Plebeian collective consciousness within the viceroyalty of New Spain. Through this analysis, the study concludes that the revolt that took place In 1692 has all the characteristics of the revolts that happened in the Spanish territories throughout the 17th century, in which, during a celebratory event, there could arise insurrectionary actions to impose the isonomia in the polis.

The Price Elasticity of Cigarettes: New Evidence From Spanish Regions, 2002-2016.

There is an agreement in the literature that tobacco price elasticity is around -0.4 for given location. Furthermore, works only focus separately, on the temporal dimension or the spatial dimension, however, there are studies that show the existence of spillovers between different geographical areas due to the spatial dependence in tobacco consumption. The novelty of this study is the measurement of the effect that neighboring regions have on the price elasticity of cigarettes. This study simultaneously analyzed, first, a dynamic spatial model used to measure the price elasticity of cigarettes in the short term and long term of the 47 provinces that make up the Spanish territory, detailing the influence of neighbors. Second, given the spatial arrangement of the elasticities observed in the provinces, we can detect behaviors typical of large-scale illicit trade and cross-border purchasing since geographical location can be an important factor in smuggling, and politicians should take this into account when making price policies. Results reveal that the consumption of the regions is influenced by the consumption of the neighboring regions in the same period. The price elasticity of cigarettes in the long term exceeds in many cases, in absolute value, unity. This result is novel because tobacco has historically been treated as an inelastic demand good. Finally, we found that the regions that are most sensitive to price are those bordering France and Gibraltar or tourist regions, demonstrating the effect that smuggling has on the behavior of the regions. These results are important because the price in Spain is set by the central government and fiscal policies regarding the price of tobacco can have different effects in different regions. This study has shown that the consumption of cigarettes is influenced by the neighboring regions and also measured different sensitivities for each region. Regional cooperation in tobacco control policies may have better effects than the elaborated policies based on historical information. Policy makers should consider that tobacco could be an elastic good in the long term and that cooperation between countries in terms of price differential should be taken to avoid tobacco smuggling. The allocation of resources to control smoking should consider the special dependence shown in this report. Also, academics should account for spatial dependence to measure tobacco consumption instead of temporal analysis.

Construction flaws in facing brick facades and the risk of associated litigation

This paper presents a study of the most common types of construction flaws in facing brick facades. It is intended to examine the intervening parameters and know the interrelations between them, developing a risk evaluation framework through a process of categorisation. The 274 cases analysed correspond to the totality of the period of the study and cover the entirety of the Spanish territory. Adaptation of the weighted factor method allows to establish and quantify risk categories according to the number of variants of interrelations and according to the number of cases, subsequently determining the risk of lawsuit for each construction flaw. The results include a dual study according to the two above-mentioned concepts, providing a standardised codification of each case, as well as its individual risk factor. As for the evaluation, five risk categories are established (very high, high, moderate, low and very low), allowing to demonstrate that, by intervening on certain interrelations (whether in the design stage or at the execution stage) it is possible to clearly reduce the probability of litigation, as well as the number of associated construction flaws. Consequently, establishment of the aforementioned categories constitutes a very useful tool for risk managers – requiring first their identification and, secondly, their control and reduction.

La actuación de las Cortes Generales durante el estado de alarma para la gestión de la crisis del COVID-19

Mediante el Real Decreto 463/2020, de 14 de marzo, el Gobierno declaraba el estado de alarma en todo el territorio nacional para la gestión de la situación de crisis sanitaria ocasionada por el COVID-19. Esta figura, con antecedentes en nuestra historia constitucional y prevista ahora en el artículo 116.2 de la Constitución, cuenta con el único precedente de 2010 cuando, el 4 de diciembre, se declaró el estado de alarma para la normalización del servicio público esencial del transporte aéreo, como consecuencia de la crisis de los controladores aéreos. Sin embargo, la peculiaridad que subyace a la actual declaración, pues son razones de salud pública las que han llevado a su adopción, obliga a una nueva reflexión en torno a esta institución. En particular, se hace preciso un estudio de cómo el Parlamento, institución democrática por excelencia, ha tratado de adecuar su funcionamiento, exigido por el artículo 116.5 de la Constitución, a las medidas sanitarias impuestas. Asimismo, se concluye con el análisis de una serie de cuestiones constitucionales que, como consecuencia de la declaración del estado de alarma, se han ido planteando. En concreto, se abordan tres cuestiones principales: la adecuación de la declaración del estado de alarma, el efectivo funcionamiento de las Cortes durante su vigencia y la articulación de sesiones telemáticas.

First nation-wide estimation of tobacco consumption in Spain using wastewater-based epidemiology

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has become a very useful tool to monitor a population's drug consumption or exposure to environmental and food contaminants. In this work, WBE has been applied to estimate tobacco consumption in seven Spanish regions. To this end, 24 h composite wastewater samples were taken daily for one week in 17 wastewater treatment plants, covering altogether a population of ca. 6 million inhabitants. The samples were treated by enzymatic deconjugation and the wastewater content of two human-specific nicotine metabolites (namely, cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine) was measured to estimate the daily consumption of nicotine. The population-weighted average nicotine consumption in the seven analyzed regions was 2.2 g/(day∙1000 inh.), without any daily pattern. This average estimated nicotine consumption value agreed with the value derived from official tobacco sales data. Differences in consumption among the seven studied regions were found, being Galicia, the region with the lowest rate, and the Basque Country and Catalonia those with the highest rates. However, no conclusive correlation was found between those values and the prevalence data taken from two different national surveys, nor sociodemographic and health data. This study demonstrates that this tool can complement other indicators in order to accurately assess tobacco consumption rates at regional and national levels and provides the most extensive application of the approach in the Spanish territory.

Changes in Dietary Behaviours during the COVID-19 Outbreak Confinement in the Spanish COVIDiet Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether dietary behaviours of the Spanish adult population were changed during the COVID-19 outbreak confinement. For that purpose, an online questionnaire, based on 44 items including socio-demographic data, Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) Adherence Screener (MEDAS) as a reference of a healthy diet, processed foods intake, changes in their usual food choices and weight gain was distributed using social media and snowball sampling. A total of 7514 participants (37% aged below 35 years, 70.6% female, 77.9% university-level education or higher) from all the Spanish territory completed the questionnaire. Results outlined healthier dietary behaviours during the confinement when compared to previous habits. Overall, the MEDAS score (ranging from 0 to 14, whereby higher a scoring reflects greater adherence to the MedDiet) increased significantly from 6.53 ± 2 to 7.34 ± 1.93 during the confinement. Multivariate logistic regression models, adjusted for age, gender, region and other variables, showed a statistically significant higher likelihood of changing the adherence to the MedDiet (towards an increase in adherence) in those persons who decreased the intake of fried foods, snacks, fast foods, red meat, pastries or sweet beverages, but increased MedDiet-related foods such as olive oil, vegetables, fruits or legumes during the confinement. COVID-19 confinement in Spain has led to the adoption of healthier dietary habits/behaviours in the studied population, as reflected by a higher adherence to the MedDiet. This improvement, if sustained in the long-term, could have a positive impact on the prevention of chronic diseases and COVID-19-related complications.

A new view of the native revolts in Spanish Florida and the West Indies in the 16th century

This study is a more general research of the Christianization of Florida in the 16th and 18th centuries. This topic became a separate study since when compiling the chronology of Christianization and the foundation of settlements, there were revolts of local residents. When identifying the causes of these revolts, identical and recurring events were identified. To identify them we studied the cause-and-effect relationships between Spaniards and natives. We compared primary sources, their translations from various Spanish sources, as well as recent archaeological finds and research, reviewed data on the nature of the revolts, researchers work; we also compared the facts and the process of describing events during Christianization. To complete this work it was necessary to find the kinship and the root cause that gave rise to the prerequisites for the revolt. We decided to step over the theory of class struggle and apply the search for the cause of revolts in interpersonal relations (social psychology), studying the chronology of witnesses of that time. The author uses the gender factor, i.e. the relationship between man and woman, as a new concept when considering the processes of revolts of natives and introduces a new term expectation formula, applied to the relations between the local chiefs (caciques) and Spaniards. The gender factor is important as an increase or, conversely, as a decrease in the expectation formula, at a low or zero value when revolts begin. At the same time, the expectation formula has a clear dependence on the size of the ego of the local leaders, who assumed certain benefits for themselves and that can be seen in the formula of the cause-and-effect relationships that led to revolts against the Spanish crown. As a result, we came to the conclusion that socio-psychological and behavioral universal factors can explain both the acceptance and rejection of the union of aborigines with Europeans, without involving the study of the theory of class struggle. When the expectation factor was lowered or dropped, the union broke up, and this led to a revolt of the natives on the Spanish territories.

Covid-19: análisis métrico de vídeos y canales de comunicación en YouTube

The objective of this work is to determine the volume of videos on Covid-19 published and disseminated through YouTube, and directly or indirectly related to the Spanish national territory, to characterize the impact of those videos (in terms of views, likes and comments received), and finally to categorize the channels through which the videos have been broadcast. For this, 39,531 videos published between January 1 and April 30, 2020 have been analysed. The results show that the number of videos on Covid-19 grew since the establishment of the state of alarm in Spain, and they have been slightly decreasing over time, including certain upswings linked to political decisions. The videos achieve on average high volumes of views, likes/dislikes and comments, and have been published mainly by the media. The videos related both to Blogs and Entertainment are very numerous but with less impact. The videos belonging to the categories of Education and Science and Technology are less numerous, but had a high impact, especially in view counts. In addition, it is concluded that YouTube search filters are not accurate enough to be used in informetric studies without a high data cleansing workload. Likewise, the existence of channels applying defective positioning techniques makes it difficult to carry out this type of study.